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Phthia picta (Drury), a tomato bug 
Fer.ton (26) in 1936 reported excellent control of this insect in 
the Rio Grande Valley by the liberal application of a derris-sulfur dust 
(0.5 percent rotenone). 
According to S. E. Jones (49) in 1938, P. picta has been a 
recognized pest of summer-grown tomatoes in southern Texas since 1933. 
It has been found in seven semiarid counties southwest of San Antonio and 
in the lower Rio Grande Valley. Preliminary control tests in v.-hich screen 
cages -fre re used to confine the insects on the tomato plants were conducted 
during August and September 1935, Both adults and nymphs were used in 
these tests and treatment -.1th each material was replicated six times or 
more. The average kills of nymphs and adults obtained in cage tests 'with 
the various dusts are tabulated as follows: 
Dust Mortality 
Percent 
Derris-sulfur, 0.75 percent rotenone 97 
Derris-sulfur, 0.5 percent rotenone 85 
Pyrethrum- sulfur, 0,125 percent pyrethrins 5 
Hicotine-sulfate-lime, 10 percent 
nicotine sulfate 5 
A derris-sulfur mixture containing 0.75 percent of rotenone was 
used on a field scale during 1955 and again in 1936. Two applications 
of this dust at the rate of 25 pounds per acre were effective in keeping 
this insect under control. 
Physomerus grossipes (F.) 
Used as a test insect by Killer (54) in 1935 in studying the toxic 
value of different species of derris. The insects were immersed in solu- 
tions and suspensions of toxic materials. 
Lygaeidae 
Bli ssus hirtus L'ontd., the hairy chinch bug 
Maxwell and IlacLeod (62) in 1936 reported tests of insecticides 
against the hairy chinch bug. hreas of turf 16 square feet or more in 
size were treated in preliminary experiments. The most satisfactory 
dry materials from the standpoint of cost, effectiveness, and safety 
were rotenone and tobacco dust. The 0.5 percent and 1 percent rotenone 
dusts used were commercial preparations. A dust containing 1 percent of 
rotenone, applied at the rate of 2 5 pounds per 1,000 square feet, caused 
65-percent mortality in 1934, and 61-percent mortality in 1935; and a 
dust containing 0.5 percent rotenone caused 70.2-percent mortality in 
1935. These results were referred to by the New York Agricultural Experi- 
ment Station at Cornell University (66) in its 1936 annual report 
(published in 1937). 
The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (13) in 1939 
recommended tobacco dust .containing 1 percent of nicotine, or cube dust 
containing 1 percent of rotenone, at the rate of 25 pounds to 1,000 
