INSECTS IN SHIPMENTS OF SUGAE CANE. 5 



The black smut or fungous growth in the honeydew secretion of the leafhopper and 

 the red discoloration about the openings to the egg chambers in the midribs of the 

 leaves are the most pronounced symptoms of the work of the leafhopper on cane. 



When one considers that this pest was inadvertently transported 

 from Austraha to Hawaii, there is no reason to suppose that it couhl 

 not be brought from Hawau to the United States, more especially 

 after the opening of the Panama Canal. 



THE PINK MEALYBUG. 



(Pseudococciis sacchari CkU.) 



The pink mealybug (Psettdococciis sacchari Ckll.) is not known to 

 ©ccur m the United States, though we have an aUied species. It is 

 a soft creature which infests the cane in a similar manner to the 

 form wliich occurs in the United States, which is considered in another 

 place in this pubhcation. It occurs in Cuba, Porto Rico, South 

 America, and probably elsewhere. We have received some specimens 

 from Costa Rica. 



THE WEST-INDIAN MOLE CRICKET. 



{Scapteriscus didactylus Latr.) 



The West Indian mole cricket (Scapteriscus didactylus Latr.) is 

 recorded from the West Indies generally and from South America, 

 but it is especially destructive in Porto Rico, where "it abounds 

 over all the island and attacks practically all cultivated plants."^ 

 This insect burrows in the soil and feeds on the cane and other 

 plants. Its peculiar life history makes it very difficult to control. 



The omnivorous habit of the mole cricket of Porto Rico indicates 

 that the sugar planter may not be the only one who will lose by the 

 careless introduction of sugar cane. It seems possible, too, that 

 insects not known to attack sugar cane but wliicli attack other plants 

 may be transferred from place to place in shipments of cane. 



OTHER FOREIGN INSECTS. 



There are many other insects of lesser importance that attack 

 sugar cane in the Tropics, but it will hardly be necessary to consider 

 them here except to state that an insect which is of little harm in 

 one country may become surprisingly injurious if brought to another 

 country. The reason for tliis is that in its native place a species 

 usually has natural enemies of one kind or another which check its 

 progress, while if the injurious species becomes established in a now 

 home its enemies are seldom mtroduced with it and the harmful 

 insect reaches its maximum development. Insects that are con- 

 sidered of little consequence by our tropical friends may become of 

 almost tragic importance to us if we allow them to enter our borders. 



» Second Annual Report of the Experiment Station (of the Sugar Producers' Association of Porto Rico) 

 lor the Year 1911-1912. Report of the KntomoIogLst by D. L. Van Dine. Rio Piedras, P. R., 1912. 



