JOxJ TRUCK-FABMING AT THE SOUTH. 



of those instances of remarkable and sudden change in 

 the food-habit of a tolerably common and otherwise well- 

 known species, which led us to the remarks on p. 152 of 

 this volume anent ' New Insects Injurious to Agricul- 

 ture.' As in other cases of this sort, the causes of such 

 changes are not readily ascertained. In this particular 

 case, the new habit may be only temporarily developed in 

 a restricted region, either by the disappearance or the poor 

 condition of Solanum Carolinense; or it may become per- 

 manent, and cause D. juncta, hitherto looked upon as 

 harmless or even beneficial, to vie with its ten-lined rel- 

 ative in destructiveness. Time alone will indicate, as we 

 have no grounds upon which to base any confident pre- 

 diction." I may mention that the horse-nettle was 

 neither absent, nor in poor condition, and, that after 

 writing to Prof. Kiley, I found the perfect insect on both 

 egg-plant and the former. 



The same author writes: "Another case very similar to 

 that just mentioned, may here be recorded. There is a 

 small tortoise-beetle ( Cassida Texana) easily distinguished 

 from its congeners by the uniformly pale-green color of 

 its upper surface, and the coarse striae of punctations on 

 the elytra. In 1879, we found it in all stages abundant- 

 ly in Southern Texas, feeding on the leaves of Solanum 

 elceagnifolium. Dr. Oemlernow writes (June 13th) that 

 he finds eggs, larvae and imagos of this beetle quite com- 

 monly depredating on his egg-plants, though there is no 

 previous record of any such habit, and, indeed, the spe- 

 cies is not recorded from the Atlantic States, albeit we 

 have found it this very season at Washington on Solanum 

 Carolinewse." Probably neither of these insects may 

 ever become very destructive pests; but finding in our 

 cultivated crops more abundant and succulent food than 

 its former, wild-growing and tougher food plant afforded, 

 the probabilities are that both will increase, and the pres- 

 ent is the proper time 'for their destruction. 



