260 TOBACCO PRODUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 



Some of the schedules returned state that in the earlier stages of growth in the field tobacco plants have 

 been attacked by the Epilachna borealis (northern lady bird). This insect is shaped like the common "box 

 turtle", is of a lemon-yellow color, spotted all over with black, and when caught in the hand emits a few drops 

 of a clear yellow fluid of unpleasant odor. It is nearly as large as the Colorado potato beetle, but rather more 

 hemispherical, and the Jarva, pupa, and imago are often found together on the same plant. They are usually 

 found upon pumpkin, melon, and cucumber vines. The larva is a short, convexed slug, of a uniform bright yellow 

 color, covered all over with short, bristly hairs, and has a pair of very black eyes. It undergoes all its 

 transformations 011 the plants it infests, and the pupa is suspended by the adhesion of the caudal extremity. This 

 species and several others of the same family hibernate beneath the rough outer bark of the wild cherry, and 

 sometimes upon the apple trees in neglected orchards. These insects, as well as some others hereafter mentioned, 

 are rarely found upon tobacco plants except near trees or shrubbery or close to fences. 



Tree crickets ((Ecantlms niveus) are often found upon tobacco plants in Tennessee, North Carolina, and other 

 southern tobacco regions in July and August, and in Pennsylvania and farther north in August. Though usually 

 found on trees, these crickets show a decided partiality for tobacco, perforating the tender top leaves about the 

 time they are expanding. It does not kill the leaf nor arrest its growth, but the holes increase in size. Although 

 these holes are circular when first made, they become oblong as the leaves lengthen, and always in the longitudinal 

 direction of the leaf. These crickets, when young, either leap away or hide among the leaves when approached, 

 but after their wings are fully developed they can both leap and fly to a considerable distance. The male tree 

 cricket is nearly white, sometimes tinged with green ; the wings lie flat on the back, one lapped over on the other ; the 

 legs are all long and slender, the posterior pair much the longest, and formed for leaping; the antenna? are very 

 long and thread-like, and are generally thrown backward when the animal is at rest. The female is more robust and 

 shorter in the body ; the wings are short and deflexed, and her color is various shades of green and brown. Her legs 

 and antennse are also shorter than those of the male, and at the end of the abdomen she is provided with a sword-like 

 ovipositor. She perforates the raspberry and blackberry canes, as well as the tender branches of other shrubbery, 

 with this instrument, and deposits her eggs therein, where they remain all winter and hatch in the spring. Tobacco 

 cultivators have noticed that these insects are most abundant on tobacco growing under or near trees. Clean 

 culture, and the clearing up of fence corners and neglected spots about the tobacco fields, will do much to prevent 

 injury by crickets. 



Various species of grasshoppers, especially the meadow grasshopper (Orchilemum vulgare), sometimes feed upon 

 the tobacco plant, eating the leaves of the newly-set plants while in a wilted condition, but the injury from this 

 source is slight, and rarely occurs with any but late plantings. 



Several species of heniipterous insects puncture tobacco plants. These insects are true bugs, and are not provided 

 with mandibular organs. They do not eat the plant nor cut holes in it, but are provided with a sharp proboscis, 

 with which they pierce the plant and suck out its juices. One of these, the ritytocoris linearin, is a small gray insect 

 about a quarter of an inch long, having generally a conspicuous yellowish V-shaped mark on the back, occupying 

 that part called the scutellum. This bug is found upon the potato, and has been observed in Tennessee upon parsnip, 

 tomato, and late cabbage plants. The Emckistus puncticeps is a much larger insect than that last described, and 

 is capable of greater injury. It belongs to the family Scutellarida;, distinguished by ;i triangular lobe that extends 

 from the base of the thorax downward on the wing covers. This insect is half an inch long and three-eighths 

 of an inch across at the broadest part. Above, it is of a yellowish color, and closely punctured darkly, giving it a 

 grayish hue; below, it is a light greenish yellow. It has a longer and more slender proboscis than the species 

 that prey upon other insects; otherwise it might easily be confounded with them, and no doubt frequently is. It 

 also lacks* the thoracic spines ; but these are very variable in their development, and not alw;-iys a safe distinguishing 

 characteristic. These bugs are found on mulleins, thistles, and other weeds, and have also been found upon 

 tobacco plants in several localities, feeding upon the sap of the leaves, but it is doubtful whether any great injury 

 can be charged to their account. The ordinary observer is apt to mistake the purpose for which many insects visit 

 various plants. The spiued tree-bug (Podisws spinosm), the large tree-bug (Podism cynicits), the Stiretrus diana (a 

 plant bug of a purple-black color, with red or orange marks on the thorax and scutellum), and the Stiretnifi fimbriatus, 

 the ground colors of which are orange or yellow, with black markings, are sometimes found upon or in the 

 immediate neighborhood of tobacco plants. These bugs should not be destroyed, unless upon careful examination 

 they -are found actually feeding upon the juices of the leaves, as it is more than probable that their presence is 

 beneficial, rather than injurious. 



From the early part of June until the sharp frosts destroy their food in the fall the larvie of the sphinx moths 

 infest the tobacco. In Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri both the Sphinx Carolina and the 

 Sphinx quinqwemaculata are found, and they are both reported as found in the tobacco-fields as far north as latitude 

 41 30'. South of latitude 35 only the S. Carolina has been observed. The larvae of these two Sphin(jid(V are so well 

 known to all tobacco-growers as to need no description here. They have always been regarded as the most inveterate 

 enemies of the tobacco plant, and, despite plans adopted for their destruction, the horn- worms seem to be as numerous 

 as ever. In some seasons there are comparatively few in certain localities, but it has been noticed that the fields 

 of such districts are often visited late in Julv or August of the next year by a "heavy shower" of horn-worms 



