244 SCHOOL ENTOMOLOGY 



tember. Each female deposits a single egg mass (most other 

 species lay several egg masses), of about 100 eggs just be- 

 neath the surface of the soil. During this season the females 

 may frequently be found with the abdomens thrust deep in 

 the soil, as the process of egg-laying requires some time. 

 The eggs are yellow and arranged irregularly in a mass which 

 is coated with a gluey substance to which the earth adheres, 

 and which protects them from variable conditions of moist- 

 ure and temperature. 



Deep plowing in late fall or early spring effectually 

 buries the eggs too deep for the young nymphs to emerge. 

 On alfalfa land thorough disking is often used for the same 

 purpose. Thorough harrowing in the fall so as to pulverize 

 the soil for the depth of an inch will break up many of the 

 egg masses, though it is not as sure a control as plowing them 

 under. 



When the young emerge, they may sometimes be de- 

 stroyed by burning over stubble, grass and rubbish where it 

 is present in sufficient quantities, or by augmenting it with 

 straw, which may be done to advantage on cold days when 

 the nymphs are congregated in such shelter. Plowing a 

 badly infested field in a square, working toward the center so 

 as to drive the young nymphs inward, will result in burying 

 many of them in the furrows, and the last may be burned or 

 trapped in holes as described below. Dust furrows may be 

 made as described for chinch-bugs and handled in the same 

 manner, the little hoppers drifting to the bottom, where they 

 are killed by the heat on a hot day or are caught in the post- 

 holes sunk every few feet in the bottom. This method may 

 be used to advantage in plots of corn, cotton, or garden truck 

 which have already become infested, by running furrows 

 around the field and occasionally through it, and then driv- 

 ing the young hoppers toward them. This may readily be 



