239 



bugs uot unfrequeutly migrate in cousiderable numbers to a distance even of several 

 miles. 



At first, only adults are seen ; these at once attack the fruit upon the trees. A 

 Tveek or ten days later, tbe wingless young apx^ear, always upon the ground, cluster- 

 ing upon tbe fallen fruit. If tbe trees are not stripped and tbe fruit harvested 

 before tbe young brood become adult and acquire wiugs, tbe entire crop will be lost. 

 Even tbe packiug-bouse is uot safe from invasion, and fruit is apt to be destroyed 

 after it bas been gathered and stored in tbe bins. 



In puncturing the orange, the bugs insert their slender sucking beak, often its en- 

 tire length, and although the oil of tbe rind forms their principal food, they never- 

 theless frequently regale themselves with draughts of juice from ^be pulp within, 

 and are sometimes seen to suck tbe juices from the surface of split or injured fruit, 

 tapping it; witb the tips of their probosces, after the manner of flies. 



The sucking-tube, having the fineness of a hair, leaves no visible wound upon the 

 outside of the fruit, and within, no indication of its passage. An orange which has 

 been attacked therefore shows no outward sign of injury; nevertheless, a single 

 puncture causes ft to drop in a few hours from tbe tree, and to decay in one or two 

 days. 



It is quite useless to pack for shipment to a distance the fruit from a grove which 

 is attacked by Red Bugs, since the unsound fruit decays in the packages and soon 

 ruins the whole. 



During November and December, 1888, damage of this character was 

 rei^orted from Florida. Mr. Ac L. Duncan, of Dunedin, Hillsborough 

 County, wrote under date of ^N'ovember 8, stating that it had recently 

 appeared in great numbers in his vicinity, but that it was confined to 

 a few trees. A subsequent letter (November 22) from the same gentle- 

 man stated that there is no cotton grown in his neighborhood, '' or at 

 least very little," and that the bug was spreading through most of the 

 groves up and down the coast. Under date of January 2 he again 

 wrote that the damage had ceased and that the bugs had almost en- 

 tirely disappeared. Eev. William F. Nigels, of the same place, writ- 

 ing to the Florida Farmer and Fruit-Grower, December 10, makes sev- 

 eral statements which are of considerable interest. His letter, a copy 

 of which was forwarded to us bv Prof. Curtiss, the editor of the Farmer 

 and Fruit-Grower, is as follows : 



A new enemy to the orange is giving trouble to the orange growers of this penin- 

 sula ; it is the old- time cotton bug, the insect that stains the cotton in the boll, which 

 gives it a yellowish color and hence lessens its market value. A. few years ago this 

 insect was known to exist in two orange groves about 7 miles from here, in one of which 

 the fruit was nearly all destroyed by it, and it seemed to have disappeared. A month 

 ago, however, it reappeared in great numbers in different localities, and it seemed to 

 attack the orange trees at once. As no cotton has been, raised here for a number of 

 years, it is difficult to account for its sudden appearance and in such numbers. My 

 own trees have been, thus far, singularly exempt from its ravages, although I have 

 trees in three different fields, while tbe insect exists in several surrounding groves. 



I have occasionally, heretofore, found a few, both young and old, among dead 

 weeds, in fence corners, and where trash bad accumulated ; but I always destroyed 

 every one I could find, knowing that they did no apparent good and might do evil ; 

 and to this precaution and care may be due its absence from my trees. From limited 

 observation, I judge that its habitat is uot at all peculiar ; as already stated, it can 

 live anywhere and on anything, and survive our light frosts. 1 have found it mostly 



