262 CONSIDERATIONS FROAI STUDY OF INSECTS 



crops, excluding animal products, in New York, is perhaps 

 8150,000,000, and the one tenth that the insects get is worth 

 $15,000,000. It may seem incredible that it costs such a sum to 

 feed New York's injurious insects every year, but it is an average 

 of S66 for each of the 227,000 farms in the state; and there are 

 few farms where the crops are not lessened more than this amount 

 by insects. 



Insects which damage Garden and other Crops. — The grass- 

 hoppers have been mentioned as among the most destructive of 

 these. The larvae of various moths do considerable harm here, 

 especially the "cabbage worm," the various caterpillars of the 

 hawk moths which feed on grape and tomato vines, the cutworm, 

 a feeder on all kinds of garden truck, the corn worm, a pest on corn, 

 cotton, tomatoes, peas, and beans. The last annually damages 

 the cotton crop to the amount of several millions of dollars. 



Among the beetles which are found in gardens is the potato beetle, 

 which destroys the potato plant. This beetle formerly lived in 

 Colorado upon a wild plant of the same family as the potato, and 

 came east upon the introduction of the potato into Colorado, evi- 

 dently preferring culti- 

 vated forms to wild forms 

 of this family. The 

 asparagus and cucumber 

 beetles are also often in 

 evidence. 



The one beetle doing 

 by far the greatest harm 

 in this country is the 

 cotton-boll weevil. Im- 

 ported from Mexico, since 

 1892 it has spread over 

 eastern Texas and into 

 Louisiana. The beetle 

 lays its eggs in the young 

 cotton fruit or boll, the 

 larvae feeding upon the 

 substance within the boll. It is estimated that if unchecked this 

 pest would destroy yearly one half of the cotton crop, a matter 



Cotton-boll weevil : a, larva ; b, pupa ; c, adult. 

 Photograph, enlarged four times, by Davison. 



