150 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
closely packed. These over-wintering lar¬ 
vae only measure about six-hundredths of 
an inch in length in spite of the fact that 
they feed for about three months on the 
foliage before going into hibernation quar¬ 
ters. With the coming of warm weather in 
spring the larvae become active and just 
as the buds are unfolding, they attack 
them and do their most serious damage to 
the trees. In the spring the larvae be¬ 
come voraciousfeeders uponthebuds and 
tender foliage and by May are for the 
most part full grown and ready to enter 
the pupal stage. The above is a short ac¬ 
count of the complete life cycle of the 
pecan case-bearer, and I might say that 
up to the present time the life history of 
this species has been confused with that 
of other insects, especially the bud-moth 
(Proteopteryx bolliana Sling.) 
REMEDY 
Now I would like to say a few words 
relating to the means of control to be fol¬ 
lowed in fighting this pest. The United 
States Bureau of Entomology has been 
maintaining a field station at Monticello', 
Florida for the purpose of studying* the 
insects affecting pecan culture. Since 
this case-bearer is the most injurious in¬ 
sect in the State, we have naturally de¬ 
voted considerable time on its study with 
a view of determining a practical and ef¬ 
fective means of control. A great number 
of dipping and spraying experiments were 
conducted at different seasons of the year 
for the purpose of determining the best 
means of control. Spraying during the 
dormant season and early spring just as 
the buds were unfolding was not found to 
be a good time to fight this insect. By 
far the best means of control is spraying 
with arsenate of lead during the summer 
from about the middle of July to the mid¬ 
dle of September. By making one thor¬ 
ough application of arsenate of lead at the 
rate of three pounds of arsenate of lead 
to fifty gallons of spray mixture, the pe¬ 
can case-bearer can be effectively con¬ 
trolled. 
At this time I want to urge all growers 
who have groves seriously troubled with 
this pest to follow this method of treat¬ 
ment, and I know by actual experience 
your trees will be greatly benefited by 
this kind of spraying. 
In this same family with the case- 
bearer there are three other species, name¬ 
ly Acro ] basis nebulella Riley, Acrobasis 
rubrifasciella Pack and Acrtobasis angu- 
sella Grt., that do damage to pecan buds. 
They are not, however, so troublesome as 
Acrobasis palliolella Rag. 
There is still another case-bearer, Ac¬ 
robasis hebescella Hulst, but this species 
confines its attack to the young pecan 
nuts before they become hardened, and 
from all reports, during certain years, has 
done considerable damage to the nut crop. 
The larva eat their way directly into the 
tender green nuts and hollow them out, 
thus rendering them useless. Usually they 
will drop off during the summer. As 
this case-bearer prefers the nuts, it is an 
insect which, if it should become very 
abundant and generally distributed 
over the pecan belt, would very likely 
prove a most formidable enemy. We 
now have this insect in Florida. In 
some sections of Texas, there is a simi¬ 
lar nut-eating case-bearer, Acrobasis 
caryae Grote, that has been reported do¬ 
ing much damage to the nuts of seed¬ 
ling pecans. 
