59 



At the completion of this study all of the leaves were removed 

 from each cubic foot area. The total surface area for each leaf, av- 

 erage leaf surface, total leaf surface, and average leaf surface per 

 cubic foot were obtained by use of a portable area meter model Li-Cor 

 Ll-3000 in sequence with a Wang computer, model Wang 600 Programmable 

 Calculator. 

 Results and Discussion 



Snail density and its effect on sooty mold . Snail hours and per- 

 cent of mold present are indicated in relation of mold to the various 

 snail populations in Figure 23. In the controls without snails the 

 percent of mold present was a constant 97.14% level of infestation for 

 the entire six day period. Where one snail was permitted to graze over 

 a one cubic foot area of leaf surface, the entire surface was cleaned 

 at 26 snail hours (Figure 23). This was equal to just over five days 

 in this test. As would be expected, where three snails were placed on 

 a cubic foot of citrus, it was calculated to take 3.5 snail hours, approx- 

 imately one-third of the time necessary for one snail. 



The following calculation shows the average surface (S) area 

 grazed by the snail per snail hours. Numerical values for these calcu- 

 lations are found in Table 3. 



S = Surface area grazed per snail hours. 



~ 2 3 



S = 3415.06 cm (average leaf surface area/ft ). 



26 snail hours* 



2 

 5 = 131.34 cm /snail hours. 



The average total leaf surface area (dorsal and ventral surface) 



of the citrus tested equals 28.8024 cm /leaf (Table 3). Determination 



* - Number of hours calculated necessary to clean the surface 

 of one cubic foot of citrus per snail (Figure 23). 



