BULLETIN 256, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Fig. 1. — Orange 
bud injured 
by katydids. 
(Original.) 
is so large that a day's feeding by a single individual may mean the 
destruction of several small oranges. Once an orange is attacked it 
is invariably rendered unfit for sale, and therefore usually left on the 
ground in the field at picking time. 
The } x oung katydids are on the trees and actively feeding at about 
the time the latter are beginning to lose their petals, and the injury 
usually begins at this stage. The insect will sometimes 
attack the blossom buds, generaUy gnawing a hole 
through the petals to reach the pistil and ovary, these 
organs often being destroyed in a considerable number 
of blossoms (figs. 1, 2). The petals themselves have 
apparently but little attraction for the. insect. 
Whenever as many as 15 or 20 of the nymphs are 
found on a tree, the injury to the immature fruits 
becomes quite noticeable and a quantity badly .chewed 
will be found on the ground (PL I, fig. 1). The injured 
oranges usually ha ve been more than one-third destroyed 
or have received one or more holes large enough to 
admit the head and thorax of the slender katydid nymphs, such 
holes often extending entirely through the oranges. Many other 
oranges which have been two-thirds or more eaten away will be 
indicated by the portions remaining on the trees. The oranges 
which have been only slightly chewed when small and those which 
receive the injury after they are considerably grown and have '•set" 
firmly to the tree remain to ripen only to be " culled'' out either at 
picking time or in the packing-house. At picking time 
many of these damaged fruits are conspicuous owing to 
the clean-cut circular holes in the rind, which vary from 
the size of a dime to about that of a silver dollar (PL I, 
fig. 2; PL II, fig. 1). The insects have the habit, how- 
ever, of chewing into the larger fruits from the side 
toward the tree trunk, seeking the shade and also pro- 
tection from birds, and the injury may not then be noted 
until the fruit is picked. The holes in the more mature 
fruits, as in the very young ones, are often deep, extend- 
ing through the rind and rag, well into the pulp. Many 
oranges are split wide open as the result of katydid 
injury inflicted when they were only about one-fourth 
matured, due to inability to expand along the dried 
edges to accommodate growth (PL II, fig. 2). All oranges which 
have been attacked after the crop has thoroughly set mature with 
the sound fruit, on the trees, and although edible they must be 
considered a dead loss, since they are unfit for shipment. 
Examination in the orchards of hundreds of boxes of oranges 
throughout the San Joaquin Valley during the picking seasons of 
C.*.P. 
ig. 2.— Young 
Xavel orange 
from Yrnich 
the pistil re- 
mains and 
part of the 
fruit has been 
eaten b -y 
katydids. 
(Original.) 
