Bulletin 151, Truck and Garden Insects


page 137) ; thrips (see page 172) ; tarnished plant-bug (see page
149) ; and red spiders (see page 175) ; and wireworms (see page
153).
 DASHEEN
 This plant seems to be almost immune to insect attacks.
The writer has seen the tubers of plants growing in a very
damp place attacked by the larvae of a crane-fly (Tipula sp.)
Some of the tubers were half-eaten and in the hollows were
found empty pupa cases of the crane-flies. This damage would
not occur on well-drained soils. The larvae are legless, dirty-
white, soft-bodied, worm-like grubs. The adults are large, long-
winged, slender-bodied flies having exceedingly long and slender
legs. They are commonly seen hovering over springs or hang-
ing by their hind legs from limbs of trees or the walls of houses.
They are commonly confused with mosquitoes, especially with
the large gallinipers," but incapable of injuring man.
 Dasheens are also attacked by the rotten-log caterpillar, and
quite seriously by the root-knot nematodes (see under general
garden pests, page 128).
 EGGPLANT
 The most destructive pests of eggplant in Florida are plant-
lice, especially the garden plant-louse (Myzus persicae). Con-
trol measures are the same as those given under cabbage, page
144.
 Plant-bugs are as common on eggplant as they are on most
 succulent truck crops. Their ravages are most severe in the
 late fall just before the first cold weather drives them into
 hibernation and when native vegetation is becoming dry and
 unattractive; and also in the early spring when they first
 emerge from their winter quarters. The most common of these
 bugs are: Pumpkin bug (see under cowpeas, page 161); big-
 footed plant-bug (see under potatoes, page 177) ; and leaf-footed
 plant-bug (see under potatoes, page 178). A fourth one, the
 Cotton-Stainer, may be treated here. Its name is derived from
 the nature of the damage done to cotton. As a result of the
 feeding of the bugs, the lint is stained yellow.
 COTTON-STAINER (Dysdercus suturellus)
 Like the leaf-footed plant-bug this insect is occasionally
 injurious to citrus fruits, but neither is as common in groves
 as the pumpkin bug. The cotton-stainer has a marked tendency