62 
ing to better methods for its destruction are necessary. It has been 
reported of the beet-root louse, which will receive next treatment, 
that in spite of heavy flooding and plowing in winter, the exposure of 
infested soil to frost, the number of the insects the following year 
was much larger. JS^evertheless, in some localities these farming 
methods might be employed with better success against one or the 
other of these two insects. The best that can be recommended at the 
present time is to avoid planting beets on land where other food plants 
of this root-louse grow and where it is known to be established, and 
to practice judicious rotation of crops. It is advisable also to search 
for these food plants and destroy such as are of no value. Where the 
insects are found here and there in fields it might be found profitable 
to kill them by means of kerosene emulsion applied to the roots so as 
to soak down into the ground, making use of this remedy before rain- 
fall or following it where possible with a copious flooding of water. 
Possibly in time some of our insect friends, such as certain forms 
of lad^^birds, syrphus flies, or parasitic insects, may come to the res- 
cue and solve the problem. Ants are without doubt associated with 
this as with other root-lice and serve as distributors of infestation by 
carrying wingless lice from plant to plant. If ants occur in the same 
fields and it can be seen that they foster the root-lice, their nests 
should be sought out and destroyed. 
THE BEET ROOT-LOUSE. 
{Tychea brevicornis Hart.) 
The above name is suggested for a subterranean plant-louse 
described in 1894 (18th Kept. Ins. 111. for 1891-92, p. 97), and found 
about corn roots in Illinois. Considerable complaint has been made 
of injury to sugar beets in Colorado in 1901 and 1902 by what is now 
considered this species. It was described as sapping great numbers 
of beet roots, diminishing the stand to a large extent. The winged 
insect was noticed as earh^ as April 1st. A correspondent of the 
division of entomolog}^, Mr. W. K. Winterhalter, stated that many 
fields in the Arkansas Valley were infested, and expressed the opinion 
that if the pest should continue to spread, the sugar-beet industry 
might be seriously damaged. It is quite apparent that this insect is 
increasing as a pest, and that it will be diflicult to control, as it has 
already shown its capability of development on a variety of plants, 
including wild grasses and cereals, among which are corn and sor- 
ghum, and such weeds as pigweed, lambs-quarters, ^'salt-grass," and 
purslane. 
Remedies. — The remedies to employ are the same as for the pre- 
ceding species of root-louse. 
