604 
JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 
[Vol. 17 
nylanderia and Pheidole dentata Mayr. being unusually common. Not a person 
in the area could be found who has seen or been troubled by the Argentine ant since 
the second batch of poison was put out. 
It is, of course, a little early to say positively that the Argentine ant has been 
eradicated from Fayette, yet the writer has every reason to believe, and does believe 
quite positively that the pest has been eradicated from this town. 
So far as known no other town in the United States has ever accomplished eradi¬ 
cation of the Argentine ant. This experience should be an incentive to other towns 
to fight the ants as Fayette has done. 
M. R. Smith, Ant Specialist , Mississippi State Plant Board , 
A. &. M College, Mississippi. 
The so-called Cotton Flea. — During 1923 and 1924 considerable attention has been 
attracted principally in southern Texas to a new and severe form of injury to cotton. 
The very young squares are blasted, the number of fruiting branches is reduced and 
the main stem of the plant grows excessively tall. All varietal characteristics are 
obliterated and the plants resemble “sterile rogues.” This injury reached its climax 
in South Texas in 1923. During that season the loss from this cause was much greater 
than from the boll weevil. In hundreds of fields no crop whatever was produced. 
In 1924 the injury has been much less but is still very considerable in Calhoun and 
neighboring counties on the coast of Texas. In one field recently (July, 1924) examined 
only 765 bolls were found on 1000 plants. What appears to be the same form of 
injury, has recently (July, 1924) been reported from Georgia and South Carolina. 
It is the consensus of opinion among farmers in Texas that the injury is caused by 
an insect, Psallus seriatus Reuter, a Capsid, is the species generally pointed out. 
This insect was reported as an enemy of cotton some years ago by Dr. L. O. Howard 
on material submitted by the late J. D. Mitchell of Victoria, Texas. It is recorded 
by Van Duzee from Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Florida and various northern and 
other western states. 
During 1923 an investigation of this problem was undertaken in Texas. It dealt 
largely with epidemiological considerations. The results obtained suggested that 
the so-called flea might have a connection with the injury described. During 1924 
exact experiments were conducted in Calhoun County, Texas, in which, by the appli¬ 
cation of dust insecticides beginning early in the season the hopper was eliminated 
from the series of plots in different fields, the plant reactions being carefully observed 
in the treated and untreated areas. Other experiments have dealt with the introduc¬ 
tion of large numbers of hoppers into cages in which cotton plants are growing. The 
work has not yet advanced far enough to warrant any very definite conclusions but 
there are strong indications that the insect transmits a virus of some kind, thus bring¬ 
ing about the profound changes in the habit of growth of the plant, which are 
entirely out of proportion to the number of the insects which have ever been 
found in the fields. A full report on these experiments including the results of ob¬ 
servations on the occurrence of the trouble in Texas and other states will be prepared 
at the end of the season. 
W. D. Hunter, Bureau of Entomology 
Notes on Winter Mortality of the three Coccids Pseudaonidia duplex (Ckll.), 
Chrysomphalus aonidum (Linn.), and Chrysomphalus dictyospermi (Morg.), at New 
Orleans, Louisiana. On January 6, 1924 when the official minimum temperature of 
