A REPORT OF SOME INVESTIGATIONS ON THE CORN INSECTS OF PUERTO RICO

Abstract

During the period August 1935 to June 1936 studies were made by the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine of the United States Department of Agriculture on insects attacking growing corn in Puerto Rico. These studies were financed from a special fund provided by the Department for the purpose and were conducted in cooperation with the experiment station of the United States Department of Agriculture at Mayagüez and the substation of the Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of Puerto Rico at Isabela. As a result of these studies the following four species of insects were determined to be of prime economic importance to the corn crop of Puerto Rico: The corn leaf hopper (Peregrinus maidis Ashmead), the otitid (ortalid) fly Euxesta stigmatias Loew infecting the ears, the fall armyworm (Laphygma frugiperda (A. and S.)), and the corn earworm (Heliothis armigera (Hbn.)). The corn leaf aphid (Aphis maidis Fitch) and the sugarcane borer (Diatraea saccharalis (F.) ) were found in varying numbers, but little damage by them was noted. Control experiments were conducted with the fall armyworm and the corn earworm.