The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-01-11

The Green Bug and It's Foe.
age to the crops of small grain. In
the United States it first came to no.
tlce IN 1887, two years later being
found in large numbers in MARYLAND.
A Few years later they were found in
Indiana and through the south In
lSO1 they destroyed crops in Missouri
In 1907 the bug made its first appear
ance in Kansas. Prof. Hunter in his
historical sketch said in part:
RMS green bug is one of the plant
lice and is included in the same
family as the green fly of the house
and greenhouse plants and the woody
aphis' of the apple. Its general struc-
ture groups it with the chinch bug.
the squash bug, and the scale insects.
In common with all these it takes its
nourishment, not by chewing the plant
as the grasshopper does but by pierre
ing the plant with beak we'll adapted
for drawing therefrom the plant
juices. 1t is about 1-16 OF an inch in
length, pea-green in color, with a dis
t1nctly darker green stripe down its
back. In common with other plant
lice, its different forms and the WAYS
in which these forms appear, are of
almost magic interest. In its economy
it plans to spend the winter as an egg.
These eggs are deposited early in
the fall by true females on the leaves
of the host plant. Out of these eggs
in the early spring hatch the form
known as the stem mother Judging
from other species it is probable that
these stem mothers are wingless and
reproduce without fertilization The
offspring of these stem mothers NAV
be either winged or wingless, and they
in turn reproduce without fertfliza-
ton. Throughout the whole sum-
mer season there are no males nor
true females, but each and every in
dividual gives birth to young. at the
rate of about two per day, during the
greater part of the life of each in
dividual.
In our experimental laboratory,
from May to September. the average
HE IS thirty-six days, and the avera ge
production per individual, fiftysix.
Each individual begins 10 reproduce
when abe ut seven days old and ceases
the process of reproduction five to ten
days before death. This is an aver
age computed from the life record of
many individuals. Now when you take
into consideration that there are no
sterile individuals among these sum
mer green bugs'-that each and every
one of the offspring begin to repeat
the series of reproductions when
seven days old and that the offspring
are born and do not have to await the
slower process OF Matching from an
egg as do most other insects, you can
understand in a measure, how these
insects can appear in such countless
numbers in time so short as to be al
most incredible.
Its rate of growth and reproduce
ton is obviously very much slower at
THIS season of the year, January The
subject of temperature in relation to
the green bug is an important one
and our studies upon that phase are
not yet completed. Suffice it to say,
that such weather as we have had
during the month of December, the
green bug requires from thirty to
sixty days to reach maturity. Even
developments in the laboratory re-
quires three times as long as it did in
the summer months
Now were all these forms wfngless
the economic problem would be great
ly simplif1ed. On the contrary, how
ever, many of these agamic green
bugs become winged and fly to other
fields, there to found new colonies
which establish new series of agamic
generations. Thus the spring and early
summer is spent, subsisting principally
upon wheat: oats and other small
grains, until these plants have become
too mature for Succulent nourishment
Then, if need be, the green bug can
tide over the brief period between
reaping and sowing on certain grasses
of the meadows and pastures. This
inconvenience has not been caused
| them, however, this year, as our field
observations have uniformly shown
that they have taken advantage of the
volunteer grains allowed to stand by
the farmer, unmindful of his own in
terest, at this critical and vulnerable
period in life of this thrifty insect. Vol
| unteer grains have long ferried the
Hessian fly over the perilous period in
| Its LIES journey, and it seems now
| that the green bug is using the same
| material for the same purpose.
The tastes of the green bug include
rather wide range of plants. With us
| II mas prospered on wheat, oats, rye,
barley. spelt, corn and number of
the grasses. 1t is also recorded on
sorghum So you see this shifty spec
| les is not likely to want for food. Adap-
liability and ability to subsist on such
| large range of food plants is no
i small factor in it's successful exist
| ence.
The life of the green bug how
ever, is not all clear sailing There
| are certain other insects which subsist
| largely upon it, devouIing great num-
! oers- Chief among these predaceous
forms may be elassed the 'ladybugs,'
nttle red-spotted beetles, common in
| the grain fields. These are we'll known
| in the adult stage. but the immature
oark-spotted, slug-like voracious grubs
from which they develop, are not so
| wen known. These little slug like. i'm
| mature forms were frequently sent to
the department last summer accom-
| panied by the information that they
were causing the injury to the wheat
On the contrary they were an active
agency in reducing the number of
| green bugs One of these by actual
count will eat from so to 40 green
| bugs a day."
Musical selections interspersed the
| papers Miss Irma Doster gave a vfo-
sn NUMBER, Mr.. Oscar barlow. the