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T. C. Barber reports that he has beeh unable to find any flea 
hoppers at Brownsville, Tex., since November, and very few since 
the September hurricane, There is now an abundance of horsenint 
and other host plants in bloom and in previous years hoppers have 
invariably appeared on mint plants prior to this time. Also. during 
other winters we have been able to collect occasional specinens 
upon Tidestromia lanuginosa, but for some reason this Plant was not 
present during the past winter, dying away in November when it should 
have been starting its seasonal growth. There seems to be some con- 
nection between the hurricane of last fall and the absence of cotton 
flea hoppers this spring, os many other plants have been thrown "off 
season" in the same manner as the Tidestromia plants mentioned. 
E, W. Dunman reports that flea hopper nymphs were not found in 
the vicinity of Bryan, Tex., until the last few days of March, which 
is late for that section, On March 30 the croton plants were just 
breaking through the ground in some areas and nymphs in the first - 
and second instars,were observed feeding.on these young, tender plants. 
The delayed emergence means that the early nymphs will find suitable 
wild food on which to feed and the bulk of the pppulation will emerge 
at a time when cotton is available, The Agricultural Experiment 
Station at College Station, Tex., has issued a press release on the 
flea hopper outlook, advising growers that only a small proportion 
of the large number of eggs present this year had hatched by the 
end of March ana that this delayed emergence of the hoppers usually 
means serious damage to early cotton. Ag: ; 
Pink bollworm parasites.--L. W. Noble and S. L. Calhoun, Presidio, 
have been breeding Exeristes roborator Fab. on pink boll worms 
(Pectinophora gossypiella Saund.) in infested cotton locks instead 
of removing the worms, killing them in hot water, and placing them in 
corn—-stalk piths for oviposition, as in the original. technique. A total 
of 1,959 parasites, of which 29.5 percent were females, have emerged 
from the cotton locks, and while some laggard larvae remain, the number 
of parasites produced from a given number of females appears to be 
consideravly less than in the old way.. Much less labor is required 
when infested locks are used, although more space is needed in the 
insectary and infested locks are available only a part of the year. 
Last November 1,000 laggard Exeristes larvae were placed in an out- 
door hibernation cage which was exposed to a minimum temperature of 
12° F, Emergence from these larvae started late in February and over 
76 percent had emerged by the end of March. Adults are also emerging 
from open cotton bolls collected from a field where a colony was 
liberated last fall. These bolls were stored in an open-air insectary 
through the winter, showing’ that breeding in the:field occurred and 
that they successfully passed the first winter. All material infested 
by the pink bollworm was destroyed on March 1 in accordance with 
quarantine restrictions. . “tees he SOR Le 
