314 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



Illinois. It punctures the young or green fruit, causing what is known 

 among strawberry-growers as " buttoning," i. e., a partial or even com- 

 plete drying and hardening of the berry. Professor Forbes, in his last 

 report on the Insects of Illinois (Thirteenth Report of the State Ent o- 

 mologist), devotes an extended article to this insect, among the other 

 species treated of as injuring the Strawberry, and indulges in some 

 criticisms of the statements of previous authors in reference to the 

 poisonous effects of the puncture of the bug, as indicated in the passage 

 from our previous writings which we have quoted (p. 313). Based on 

 statements of Mr. D. B. Wier, of Lacon, 111., and on his own observa- 

 tions of the effects of the bug on strawberries, he discredits its poisonous 

 influence, remarking that it would require M the very strongest evidence 

 to warrant a belief in so extraordinary a phenomenon." He further 

 argues : 



" It is contrary to the order of nature that a habit of this sort 

 should be acquired, unless it were beneficial, directly or indirectly, to 

 the species acquiring it. It is not only impossible to show that the 

 plant-bug would be benefited by any such supposed poisoning of its 

 own food, but it is at once evident that it would be seriously injured 

 thereby, since this would at once amount to the prompt destruction of 

 the very parts of the plant from which it was drawing its own food 

 supply." 



Our own evidence, and that of Harris and others whom we might 

 quote, is rejected on the gratuitous supposition that we were not suffi- 

 ciently familiar with the common blights of fruit trees to distinguish 

 between them and the effects of this insect, and that Harris w r as equally 

 ignorant of the appearance of the potato-rot and confounded it with the 

 work of this bug. We feel confident of the correctness of our own 

 observations, however little the poisonous effect may be apparent in 

 other cases, and we venture to suggest that the peculiar " buttoning" 

 of the strawberry , now admittedly produced by this insect, is very good 

 confirmation of a poisonous and withering influence, as all analogy would 

 indicate that no such peculiar result would follow from a simple, innocu- 

 ous puncture, whether by an insect or by some delicate instrument. 

 The general argument of its being u contrary to the order of nature," 

 &c, seems to us to be without force; for, on such grounds, it would 

 be difficult to account for any injurious insect's work that jeopardizes 

 the welfare or life of the plant which it injures. It is like arguing that 

 the poisonous effect of a mosquito puncture must be a myth because 

 the irritation so often results in the death of the irritator, and because 

 it is known that other Diptera puncture still more sharply without 

 poisonous effect. We recognize the general application of the law 

 referred to by Prof. Forbes ; but it is by no means of universal appli- 

 cation, and has little force against a general feeder like this Lygus. 

 The history of natural science furnishes numerous instances of erroneous 

 conclusions deduced from general law as against inductive fact, and 

 on Prof. Forbes's reasoning it were impossible to account for the devel- 

 opment of any poisonous influence (as the sanguinary taste of Leptus, 

 the deadly effects of minute micro-organisms, etc.), and all parasites 

 should, like the mythical vampire, do their work without irritation, or, 

 for that matter, without ill effect. Indeed, the argument would be 

 unworthy of further notice were it not intended to invalidate the observ- 

 ations of others. 



REMEDIES. 



"In the great majority of cases we are enabled to counteract the in- 

 jurious w ork of noxious insects the moment we thoroughly comprehend 



