THE COTTON STATNER. 97 



seed rather than from the excrement of the bugs. The writer's 

 observations support this view in regard to the source of the stain, 

 for an examination of a considerable amount of seed cotton which 

 had been badly stained by the bugs showed almost invariably that 

 the stain was most intense immediately surrounding the seed. (PI. II, 

 fig. 3.) Sometimes it is only the libers at one end of the seed that are 

 affected, but more often all of the fibers attached to a damaged seed 

 are more or less brownish at their bases while at the outer ends they 

 rarely show traces of stain. It is inconceivable that the excrement 

 of the cotton stainers should stain the fiber in such a manner. More- 

 over, according to the writer's observations the amount of excrement 

 is too small to result in any appreciable damage. On one occasion 

 as many as a dozen adult cotton stainers have been observed on a 

 single plant feeding on the seed of the open bolls with no trace of 

 stain that would be expected if the insects voided their yellowish 

 liquid excrement with sufficient frequency to damage the lint. In 

 the laboratory 8 specimens, including 4 males and 4 females, 

 w^ere confined in a cage, the bottom of which was covered about an 

 inch deep with seed-cotton having pure white fiber. In 10 days, 

 during which the bugs fed on a green cotton boll and a piece of orange 

 rind, the cotton seed and the lint were unstained, although in one or 

 two instances excrement had been voided on the sides of the cage. 

 While there is undoubtedly some staining of the cotton fiber, due to 

 the excrement of the bugs from the evidence at hand, the writer con- 

 cludes that damage from this source is inappreciable. 



At present the cotton stainer is the most destructive cotton pest 

 in Florida and presumably does occasional damage to cotton in 

 Georgia and neighboring portions of South Carolina and Alabama, 

 where its occurrence has been recorded by Dr. L. O. Howard.^ Its 

 outbreaks are sporadic, however, and rarely occur over large areas. 

 Dr. E. H. Sellards, formerly entomologist at the Florida Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, reports that the cotton stainer was abundant 

 in 1904, and in one instance it was claimed that the complete de- 

 struction of 25 acres of long-staple cotton was due to this insect.^ 

 In 1902, Smith & Johnson, of Hawthorn, ginned about 1,000 bales 

 of long-staple cotton, of which about 200 bales were classed as stained. 

 Fortunately, owing to the gregariousness of the bugs, the badly 

 stained cotton is usually brought to the gins in concentrated lots. 

 The staining of the cotton by the cotton stainer means a loss of about 

 one-half of its value when at its worst. Intermediate prices are 

 brought for different degrees of damage. 



Mr. Johnson, who is a member of the firm mentioned above and 

 who has had considerable experience with the cotton stainer, has 



a Bul. 33, Office Exp. Sta., p. 349; also Farmers' Bui. 47, p. 30, 1896. 

 & Rep. Fla. Agr. Exp. Sta. for fiscal year ending June 30, 1905, p. 27, 

 22348— Bull. 86—10 7 



