234 INSECTS AFFECTING VEGETATION 



the fifth molt and the spinning of the cocoon and pupation. Pupa- 

 tion takes place within a slight cocoon of white silk in the "retreat" 

 where the caterpillar has lived, however, the cocoon is sometimes 

 made beneath the leaf-sheaths of cane, and in other favorable places. 



No special remedies are employed in cane fields against this pest. 

 Swezey suggests that in fields of young cane a spray of Paris green 

 or arsenate of lead might be used with effect, and mentions that "at 

 times laborers have been sent over the field to pinch the caterpillars 

 in their retreat between the folded cane leaves. 



The Sugar-Cane Mealy-Bug. This insect is identical with the 

 sugar-cane mealy-bug common on cane in the southern parishes of 

 Louisiana. The mealy-bug of the cane belongs to a very large family 

 of insects, Coccidae, which are world-wide in their distribution. In 

 Louisiana the mealy-bug infests, aside from sugar cane, the Johnson 

 grass (Sorghum halepense} and the saccharine sorghums. 



The feeding habits of the mealy-bug are similar to those of the 

 cane leafhopper; that is, their mouthparts are formed for piercing 

 the epidermis of the plant and sucking the plant sap from the inner 

 tissues. The distinction in the feeding habit is that the leafhopper 

 is active throughout its entire life cycle, and jumps or flies from 

 plant to plant, while the mealy-bug when partly grown remains 

 practically stationary and feeds upon but one portion of the same 

 plant. 



Where the cane mealy-bugs occur in Hawaii, they can be found 

 about the lower leaves of the cane, congregating for the most part 

 behind the older leaves near the ground. The species may be recog- 

 nized by the white mealylike covering of the adult female, to which 

 the common name applies. The insects occur in a mass and whn 

 abundant are readily observable by the white covering of the females. 

 This white covering serves as a receptacle for the eggs, which, upon 

 close examination, may be observed embedded therein. 



In Louisiana the insects occur not only about the lower leaves of 

 the plant, but are to be found also around the crown and beneath the 

 surface of the ground about the roots of the plant. In this latter 

 location they hibernate during the cold months of winter on both 

 cane and Johnson grass. 



The young mealy-bugs upon hatching from the eggs are quite 

 active and disperse over the cane plants, finally congregating when 

 partly grown about the lower nodes of the stalk. The females are 

 practically inactive, remaining in a mass about one of the nodes or 

 beneath the leaves throughout their development and secreting about 

 themselves in these locations the characteristic white covering. The 

 young males do not remain stationary on the plant, but, after com- 

 pleting their development, spin a narrow w T hite cocoon within which 

 they transform to a delicate winged adult. 



Since the common method of distribution is by the transporta- 

 tion of infested seed cane from plantation to plantation or from one 

 part to another of the same plantation, care should be exercised to 

 select clean stalks and not those which are infested, for seed cane. 

 The practice of burning the trash after harvest is very effective in 



