THE CAMPHOB THRIPS. 21 
OCOTEA. 
Another genus closely related to Camphor is Ocotea, whid 
represented in the southern part of Florida by the lancewood, Ocotea 
cabesbyana (Michx.) Sarg. Professor Watson found that effort- to 
feed camphor thrips on this plant met with negative results. The 
larvae died in 48 hours and the adults lived only a few day-. He 
also made an extended search of the trees in their natural habitat 
and found no thrips on them. 
OTHER PLANTS. 
Some thrips were fed on orange and oak branches also. On 
orange an adult lived 23 days and several larvas from 4 to 12 day-. 
On oak several larvae lived also for 10 or 12 days, and adults for 
longer, one as long as 24 days. In neither case did they lay any 
eggs on the plants. These experiments show, however, that life can 
be maintained for a short time on almost any kind of plant food. 
Even when fed on dead camphor wood, one adult lived for 21 da -. 
although most of them died in a very few days. When confined in 
jars without any food the thrips always died in less than a week. 
Eggs, however, were sometimes laid on the cotton stoppers. Checks 
were conducted on all these experiments by feeding thrips on live 
camphor wood under the same conditions, and in every case they 
were alive when the experiments were terminated. 
NATURAL ENEMIES. 
The camphor thrips is known to be the prey of lady-beetles (family 
Coeeinellidffi) and doubtless has other insect enemies, both pre- 
dacious and parasitic. A lady-beetle larva was found feeding upon 
the immature thrips on a camphor tree, and when confined in a vial 
ate both larvae ana adults. No specific determination of this predator 
was possible because the larva died before reaching maturity. An 
adult of the lacewing fly Crysopa oculata Fab. was found in a cage 
over a small camphor tree and no doubt had fed on the thrips. 
Several dead specimens of camphor thrips collected in the field and 
some found in the breeding jars had been attacked by a fungu>. 
but it is not known whether this fungus was the cause of their death. 
Two insect enemies of the closely related bay thrips. Oryptoihrips 
laurelif doubtless prey upon the camphor thrips also. These are an 
internal hvnienopterous parasite, Tetrastichus sp., and a predacious 
bug. Anthocoris sp. 
CONTROL MEASURES. 
SPRAYING. 
As the camphor thrips spend the greater part of their life within 
the cracks and lesions of the bark and in other protected places, it 
u>ually is impossible to reach them with any spray material. Even 
the most thorough application when applied at a high pressure will 
have no effect on them when in these protected places. A- a result 
a satisfactory control can not be obtained by spraying, although on 
warm bright sunshiny days, when the adults and larva 1 are feeding 
on the buds and young leaves and running about over the tree-, n 
is possible to obtain a fair percentage of mortality by spraying. 
