INSECTS INJURIOUS TO COTTON 



253 



" Cotton-stainer " * 



The cotton stainer or red-bug is stated by Hunter to be the 

 most important cotton pest in Florida. It occurs in small num- 

 bers in Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama, but does practically 

 no injury there. The principal damage is due to the bugs punctur- 

 ing the bolls in feeding and staining the lint a brownish color. 

 This stain seems to arise from the injured seed, at least it is most 

 noticeable around the seed. The cocklebur seems to be the 



FIG. 181. The red bug or cotton-stainer (Dysdercus suturellus) enlarged. 

 a, nymph; b, adult. (From " Insect Life.") 



most important of the native food-plants, though the bugs feed 

 on the night-shade and Hibiscus and rarely attack oranges. 

 Prevention of the growth of these weeds is therefore of importance. 

 As the bugs usually assemble in colonies, their red color may be 

 easily observed and they may be jarred from the foliage into 

 buckets containing water covered with a film of kerosene. In 

 the fall and winter these insects assemble in numbers on piles 

 of cotton seed, which may thus be used as traps and the bugs 

 killed with kerosene or hot water. 



* Dysdercus suturellus H. Schf. Family Pyrrhocoridce. See W. D. Hunter, 

 Circular 149, Bureau of Entomology, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



