6 



STEM MAGGOT. 



Cotton recently planted in Honolulu was noticed soon after 

 germination to be affected by a stem maggot. Only a small 

 proportion of the plants were attacked, but in each case the 

 plant was killed, making replanting necessary. The maggot 

 was found within the stem and above the point of attack the 

 circulation was completely stopped. As a result of such injury 

 the plant wilts and ultimately dies. Below the point where 

 the maggot was working the stem was abnormally swollen. Up 

 to the present time attempts to breed the fly from the maggot 

 have not been successful. It is. however, likely to be a com- 

 mon species, as carnations and pigeon-peas have been noticed 

 to suffer similar attacks. 



WIREWORMS. 



Wireworms (the larvae of Elaterid beetles) are unfailingly 

 present in the soil here, in which they feed naturally on the 

 roots of weeds and decaying vegetable matter. From these 

 they readily turn to cultivated plants, especially ten- 

 der seedlings. They are easily distinguished by their 

 elongate, wire-like form, their shiny yellow or brown 

 color, and their hard, inflexible integument. The one 

 attacking germinating cotton is probably the larva of 

 Simodaetylus cinnam omens Boisd., although other spe- 

 cies may be implicated. 



Wireworms attack the cotton usually just beneath 

 the surface of the ground. The injury is not strik- 

 ingly apparent except in its results — the withering of 

 the plant — but close observation will disclose that the 

 parenchyma is destroyed for the space of an inch or 

 two, which turns brown. Wire-worm attacks, in some 



worm, enl. 



(Original.) instances, have been quite severe, as large a propor- 

 tion as one-third of the plants in a field being destroyed. The 

 necessitated replanting constitutes a serious setback to the 

 crop. 



