7-1: INSECT RECORD FOR 1899 



by the Apple Aphis was reported^ the insects developing on 

 the under sides of the yonng leaves and causing them to curl 

 up. Later especial damage to garden peas and sweet peas"' 

 was reported from widely separated parts of the state. 



Kerosene emulsion or tobacco decoctions are perhaps the 

 best remedies for plant lice. We have used a special tobacco 

 extract called Rose Leaf Insecticide, made by the Louisville 

 Tobacco Company, with excellent results against these pests. 

 This is a concentrated. liquid which is to be diluted before 

 using, and it has proven one of the most satisfactory insecti- 

 cides upon the market. 



The unusual drouth of the last two summers has also fav- 

 ored the increase of the common Grasshoppers or Locusts. 

 During the summer of 1899 these insects were so abundant in 

 the central and southern parts of the state as to do serious 

 injury to pasture and meadow land, their attacks helping to 

 lessen the crop already shortened by the dry weather, and in 

 some cases by the white grubs gnawing at the grass roots. The 

 species at work was for the most part the common Eed-legged 

 Locust (Melanophis femur-rnhrum) although certain other 

 kinds were unusually abundant. 



The life-history of these different grasshoppers is essen- 

 tially the same. Duiing the latter part of summer the adult 

 females deposit their eggs in the ground, slightly below the 

 surface, in several masses of twenty-five or more each. These 

 eggs remain in position mitil early the following summer, 

 when they hatch into little grasshoppers without wings, but 

 otherwise having the general appearance of the adults. These 

 little creatures feed upon the tender blades of the growing 

 grass, moulting or casting their skins occasionally to provide 

 for their increase in size. They mature in about six weeks, 

 adults of the Red-legged species being common by the last of 

 June. 



There is a state bounty of one dollar a bushel, authorized by 

 a law passed in 1883, for collecting Rocky Mountain Locusts,. 

 and the provisions of this act have commonly been made to 

 apply to the species found in this state. 



* Pr()l)al)ly due to the species of plant-louse recently described as Xrctaro- 

 'phora destntrfor by Prof. W. G. Johnston. 



