438 INSECT PESTS OF FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD 



The larvae of another insect of the same genus * was reported 

 as seriously injuring the crop in Accomac County, Virginia, in 

 1891. Concerning this injury the grower, C. W. Stockley, wrote, 

 " Last year (1890) was the first time they made their appearance 

 in my potato patch. They came the first of July and deposited 

 their eggs on the leaves; when the eggs hatched these worms 

 would eat the leaves to a comb. This continued for about four 

 weeks. The potatoes where the fly was did not make any yield 

 at all. This year the fly made its appearance the same time as 

 it did last year." Since then no injury has been reported by 

 this species, though the adults are occasionally seen. 



Control. An arsenical spray as advised for the tortoise-beetles 

 will be found effective for destroying the saw-fly larva? and 

 should be applied as soon as the injury is noticed, or preferably 

 just as the eggs are hatching. 



The Sweet-potato Root-borer f 



Since 1890 sweet potatoes have been seriously injured in parts 

 of Texas and Louisiana by a small white grub which bores into the 

 stems and tubers both in the field and in storage, but strangely 

 it has not spread elsewhere in this country. In Texas the worst 

 injury has been in Calhoun and neighboring counties along the 

 Gulf Coast where extensive growing of sweet potatoes has been 

 abandoned on account of the pest. During recent years it has 

 spread to central Texas and there seems to be no reason why it 

 should not spread over the Gulf States. It is a cosmopolitan 

 insect -being reported from China, India, Madagascar, Australia 

 and Cuba. It was first noticed in the vicinity of New Orleans 

 in 1875 and has since spread northward along the Mississippi. J 

 In 1879 it was reported from Florida and was studied by Professor 

 J. H. Comstock. 



The adult beetle is a rather slender insect, about one-quartei 



* Schizocerus privatus Norton. 



t Cylas formicarius Oliv. Family Curculionidce. 



J Bulletin 28, La. Agr. Exp. Sta., p. 999. 



5 See Report U. S. Comm. Agr., for 1879, p. 249. 



