REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



311 



they remain actively at work until November. They winter, as do all 

 related insects, as fall grown bugs under all sorts of rubbish, under 

 stones, logs in fence-corners, around out-buildiugs, and in similar loca- 

 tions. 



The preferences of this insect are for cruciferous plants, particularly 

 cabbage and turnip, but it also injures mustard and radishes. We 

 mentioned in our Fourth Missouri Report (p. 37) an instance of its hav- 

 ing been found feeding on the garden pea in Missouri; and Mr. Lintner, 

 in the Country Gentleman (Vol. XLV, 1880, p. 079), quotes a letter 

 from a correspondent at Ivy Depot, Va., who states that after his cab- 

 bages and turnips had been destroyed, the bugs commenced to suck iho 

 bunches of late grapes and the shoots on some of his late corn, gather- 

 ing in great numbers near the young silk. 



The bugs are found in great numbers under favorable circumstances, 

 so that the only hitherto successful remedy — that of hand-picking — be- 

 comes almost an unending task. One of our old correspondents, Mr. Ben- 

 jamin R. Townsend, of Austin, Tex., wrote us in February, 1870, that 

 he had within a few days gathered 47,000 of them, and when we con- 

 sider that, according to Dr. Lincecum, half a dozen will kill a cabbage 

 in a day, we get some idea of the vast amount of damage they are 

 capable of doing. 



The only natural enemy so far reported is the well-known Zeptof/los- 

 sus phyllopus of the Southern ootton-fields, and the evidence on which 

 the belief rests is of the slightest. In Glover's MS. notes on the Hem- 

 iptera he quotes a correspondent, Mr. E. T. Earle, of Evergreen, Ala., 

 as authority that the Leptoglossus kills the Murgantia. In our experi- 

 ence, however, the former is uniformly a plant-feeder, and is probably 

 one of the causes of the mysterious decay and fall of cotton-bolls. 



REMEDIES. 



The ordinary poisonous applications have little effect upon this bug, 

 and, indeed, experience shows that it is one of the most difficult species 

 to contend with. In his first report as State Entomologist of New 

 York, Mr. Lintner details an experiment in which he rolled specimens 

 of the bug in London purple, Paris green, hellebore and pyrethrum 

 powder, with no result except that those treated with the two last- 

 named substances showed for a few hours some difficulty in locomo- 

 tion. They soon recovered, however, and appeared perfectly sound, 

 and healthy. Both the hellebore and pyrethrum used in this experi- 

 ment were said to be purchased fresh from the druggist; but we are of 

 the opinion that had the latter been freshly ground and purchased from 

 a wholesale rather than from a retail dealer, the result would have been 

 more favorable. 



Hot water will be found of good avail here, and also the plan of trap- 

 ping the bugs under turnip or cabbage leaves laid on the ground, be- 

 tween the rows, as recommended (p. 299) for cut- worms. On cold nights 

 in the spring and fall this latter remedy will be found particularly e Mi- 

 caceous. 



Clean cultivation and burning of weeds and rubbish piles in winter 

 will prove useful. We may also insist upon the point mentioned by 

 Mr. Lintner, and often brought up by us in treating of other insects, of 

 the great desirability of destroying, as far as possible, the early broods. 

 This point should be especially urged in a case like the present one, 

 where the insect multiplies with such extreme rapidity. The gardener 

 should keep a constant watch upou his cabbages, and upon the nrst ap- 



