It was soon found that the pecan spittle bug was putting in its appearance earlier according to the calendar than in 1951 so an effort was made during the season to correlate insect life history and nut development during the season. Table 4 give some of the principal points in both. Table 4. Pecan Spittle Bug and Nut Development Anna, Illinois, 1952 -------------------------------------------------------------- Insect Date Tree -------------------------------------------------------------- Egg stage Apr. 24 Catkins 1/2 to 3/4 inch First nymphs May 5 Catkins 1 to 1-1/2 inch Many nymphs and spittle May 12 Catkins 2 to 3 inches Fruit buds Peak hatch May 20 Female flowers Spittle drying June 2 Nuts developing 1st. 2nd brood June 27 Hatch mostly over July 7 Spittle drying July 26 -------------------------------------------------------------- Another phase of life history which is of practical importance is the increase of second brood over first. Records were made both at Anna and at Eldred in unsprayed blocks at approximately the peaks of occurrence of nymphs and spittle, and are tabulated in Table 5. Table 5. Pecan Spittle Bug Infestation, first and second broods, 1952 Number of spittle masses per 100 terminals ========================================================== First brood, June Second brood, July ---------------------------------------------------------- Anna 41 62 Eldred 23 50 ---------------------------------------------------------- This table shows an increase of approximately 50% at Anna and 100% at Eldred. It is thought that a 3 inch flash flood which occurred at Anna might have reduced the first brood infestation somewhat after the counts were made and been responsible for no greater increase and possibly that the heat and drought in both places might have resulted in a reduction. Be that as it may the total infestation was not as severe in 1952 as in 1951. 4. Control. _First Brood Sprays_ It was originally planned to spray in both places but at Anna the owner sprayed all but the 1951 check block with parathion early and the infestation was reduced to the point where later hatch did not build up to a sufficient point that good results could be observed so no spraying was done at Anna till the second brood. At Eldred two materials only were available, Lindane and Dieldrin.