32 



CIRCULAR 2 41, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



CONTKOL 



The control of the insect is rendered difficult because of the large 

 variety of plants upon which it may feed, and its ready migration 

 from one to the other. Upon potatoes and other low -growing crops 

 the use of copper sulphate spray is perhaps the most available direct 

 treatment, but for large areas this is rather expensive. Moreover, 

 its most successful application is limited to times when the crop is 

 young or short enough for the spray to reach the foliage thoroughly. 



THE CLOVER LEAF HOPPER 



The clover leaf hopper, Agallia sanguinolenta Prov. (fig. 13), is 

 one of the most abundant and widespread species of American leaf 

 hoppers, but very little has been done in the matter of working out its 



Figure 13. — The clover leaf hopper (Agallia sanguinolenta): a, Adult, XlO; 

 o, c, nymphs ; d, face ; e, elytron ; f, female genitalia ; g, male genitalia. (After 

 Osborn and Ball) 



habits and life history, and that little has been within the last few 

 decades. It was treated as a grass insect in 1890 in an article by the 

 writer (lJf, p. 29). It was discussed as a sugar-beet insect by Bruner 

 in a bulletin on sugar-beet insects in 1891 (13, p. 68) under the name 

 Agallia sicci folia, and in the same year the writer (22, p. 258) dis- 

 cussed it in its various stages as a clover pest and also mentioned it as 

 a sugar pest under the name now used. 



It is a small gray insect, with dark markings, and may be recog- 

 nized by reference to Figure 13. 



Distribution is general from New England through southern 

 Canada, Washington, and Oregon, and south to Georgia, Mississippi, 

 Florida, West Indies, and Vera Cruz, Mexico, and it is also found in 

 Arizona and California. 



It affects a wide range of crops, as might be inferred from what 

 has already been said, but it shows a preference apparently for clover, 

 alfalfa, and other legumes, and the nymphal stages have been taken 

 so far almost exclusively on plants of this group. The writer believes 

 the injury in clover fields or alfalfa to be very considerable, not only 

 in checking the growth but very probably in lessening the seed pro- 

 duction by its attacks on the blossoms and newly forming seed. 



