26 CIRCULAR 4 5 7, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



The meal moth (Py rails farinalis (L.) ) was found feeding in the 

 spawn on one occasion. The adults may be controlled by pyrethrum 

 dust mixtures and probably would never be of importance in houses 

 that are dusted regularly for fly control. 



Sowbugs, also known as "pillbugs" and "wood lice,'- are elongate, 

 convex, slate-gray crustaceans, with seven pairs of legs. Fully grown 

 specimens may be one-half of an inch in length. They occasionally 

 become numerous enough in mushroom beds to cause some damage by 

 eating holes in the buttons and in the caps of matured mushrooms. 

 In a cellar or other small area it is possible to control sowbugs by 

 hand-picking them off the beds. Where they congregate in clusters 

 along the edges of the beds, hot water may be poured on them. Py- 

 rethrum dusts as used for the mushroom flies will give some control 

 if they actually come in contact with the sowbugs. In. using dusts, the 

 beds should be allowed to dry slightly, and should not be watered for 

 approximately 24 hours after application of the insecticide. Light 

 fumigations with calcium cyanide when the sowbugs are feeding on the 

 surface of the beds (usually at night) are said to be effective. Poi- 

 soned baits are also effective against these creatures, but their use in 

 mushroom houses cannot be recommended because of the danger of 

 accidentally getting poison on the mushrooms. 



Slugs seldom become numerous enough to be of importance, but 

 where they do, hand picking is the most effective remedy. 



Crickets sometimes become pests in mushroom beds by eating holes 

 in the caps. They are not difficult to discover and can be collected 

 by hand-picking methods and destroyed. 



