14 . PLANT-BUGS INJURIOUS TO COTTON BOLLS. 
cotton was through the staining of lint in the open bolls by the 
excrement of these insects. In this connection it seems well to refer 
to the common belief among the natives of that part of Mexico where 
the conchuela has been so destructive, that the damage to the cotton 
is effected by the voiding of excrement upon the lint and unopened 
bolls. The author can state positively that such a belief is unfounded 
in this instance, and that he is, moreover, disposed to look carefully 
into the source of all such similar suppositions before accepting them 
as entirely credible. Glover -quotes at length a communication from 
a Sea Island cotton grower in Florida who shows himself to be a care- 
ful observer, capable of distinguishing between fact and theory. 
This correspondent states: 'The pod or boll is perforated by the bug. 
Whether the staining matter is imparted to the fiber of the cotton 
during the perforation directly or by a slow process diffusing itself 
with the sap abounding at the time in the pod is not yet ascertained. 
I am of the latter opinion, from the fact that almost the entire prod- 
uct of the boll is discolored when it opens, which does not seem at all 
to cause a premature development." a As opposed to this source of 
the discoloration Glover merely states: "It has been stated by other 
planters that the faeces of the insect produce the reddish or greenish 
stain." Three years later the same author states 6 concerning the 
injury by the cotton stainer: "It drains the sap from the bolls by its 
puncture, causing them to become diminutive or abortive, but the 
principal injury it does is by sucking the juice of the seed and boll and 
then voiding an excrementitious liquid, which stains the cotton fiber 
yellow or reddish, and very much depreciates its value in the market, 
the stains being indelible." This description of the injury, as well as 
the descriptions presented in the later writings of Glover and others 
on the cotton stainer in Florida, seems to be based on the first account 
of the insect damage from which the above quotations were made. 
In 1879 Mr. E. A. Schwarz, c in a report on insects injuring cotton in 
the Bahamas, refers to the cotton stainer of the Bahamas, later 
identified as belonging to the same species which occurs in this 
country. He states regarding its injury: "It punctures the green 
bolls, thus preventing them from opening; the bolls wilt and finally 
dry up, the half-formed cotton and dried-up seeds giving food to a 
number of other insects; more often the cotton-bug crowds in the 
half or not quite half open bolls, sucking the seeds, thus preventing 
the cotton from blowing, or at least renders the cotton yellow and 
unfit for use." As these observations extended over a period of less 
than ten days, they do not disprove the statements of Glover's 
a Italics are mine. — A. W. M. 
b Agricultural Report, 1858. 
c Report upon Cotton Insects, pp. 347-349. 
