8 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO MUSHROOMS. 
treille) and the dooryard sowbug (Porcellio levis Koch), are illus- 
trated in figures 5, 6, and 7. is 
Sowbugs live in damp, dark places, such as beneath boards, in 
cellars, and in the cracks of sidewalks. When disturbed many spe- 
cies roll up to form a ball, lying quite still until the danger is past. 
(See fig. 5.) During the night they issue from 
their hiding places to feed upon decaying vege- 
table matter, molds, and other material present 
in damp soils, although at times the roots of 
plants and even the green leaves are not es- 
chewed. 
The young are carried about in a pouch, 
formed by several modified anal plates on the 
abdomen of the female, until able to shift for 
themselves. When released by the female the 
young are similar in appearance to the adults, 
although much smaller, and are likewise cap- 
Fic. 5.—The greenhouse able of damage. There 
pillbug (Armadillidium : 
vulgare) extended, 1s probably only one 
inal) eee. COrls- generation annually, the 
young making their ap- 
pearance in the spring and requiring one sum- 
mer to reach maturity. 
The destruction occasioned by sowbugs is 
due to their attacks on the caps or fruiting 
bodies of the mushrooms. These they attack 
Fic. 6.—The greenhouse 
while quite small, destroying them or injur- pillbng \(Armadilitiians 
ing their appearance. vulgare) _eputracted. 
Much enlarged. (Orig- 
They do not, as a rule, inal.) 
attack the mycelium, 
but eat holes in the young “buttons, which, 
on the completion of the growth, become much 
larger and disfigure the product. 
Sowbugs are, more frequently than at first 
might be thought, carried into the mushroom 
house in compost which has been allowed to 
stand outside. The heat of the manure is 
relished by them, and they collect in numbers. 
Fic. 7.—Dooryard sowbug remaining there throughout the growth of the 
nlareed, (Original) * Spawn, but becoming injurious with the first 
growth of the mushrooms. The writer has 
seen sowbugs collected in manure piles to such an extent that numbers 
ageregating a pint or more in quantity might have been collected. 
from a shovelful of material. 
