Insects Attacking the Sweet Potato in Hawaii by David T. Fullaway surveys the insects associated with an important Hawaiian food crop. Hawaii Agricultural Experiment Station issued the work as Bulletin No. 22 in 1911, printed in Honolulu by Paradise of the Pacific Press.
A crop and its insect community
The introductory material places sweet potatoes in household gardens and larger cultivated areas. It also explains the commercial importance of markets in Honolulu and the seasonal opportunity then discussed for San Francisco.
Fullaway’s purpose is broader than naming damaged leaves. He describes principal pests through appearance, life history, feeding habits and natural enemies, using illustrations to help readers interpret the account.
The regional focus is central. Reported abundance, distribution and significance refer to the Hawaiian observations and literature available when the bulletin was prepared.
Cutworms and the sweet-potato sphinx
The first pest accounts concern cutworms and the sweet-potato sphinx. Enlarged figures connect caterpillars with their adult moths, helping readers understand that different-looking stages belong to the same life cycle.
Descriptions of feeding are accompanied by observations about development and behavior. These passages allow the reader to follow the insect as a living organism rather than treating it only as a cause of missing foliage.
For a historical gardening reference collection, this combination of form, habits and injury is the bulletin’s main attraction. It records the way an entomologist organized information for growers.
Miners, borers and leaf rollers
Separate sections treat the sweet-potato leaf miner, stem borer and leaf roller. The sequence distinguishes insects that feed in different parts of the plant or create different kinds of shelter.
A further account concerns a tortricid leaf roller. The illustrations show several stages, while the text discusses the connection between larvae, damaged leaves and adult moths.
The terminology and scientific names are those used by Fullaway. Readers following modern taxonomy should treat these names as historical references rather than assume that every name remains unchanged.
These sections are useful for comparing patterns of injury. Mining, boring and rolling leaves represent different behaviors, even when all result in a damaged sweet-potato plant.
Two root-attacking weevils
The bulletin distinguishes two weevils attacking the rootstock or tuber. It contrasts a small, darker, more compact insect with the slender metallic form discussed as Cylas formicarius.
Drawings of larvae, pupae and adults support the comparison. Accounts of tunneling connect the immature stages with roots that can be badly damaged before the problem is obvious from outside.
Fullaway also discusses related host plants and the persistence of an infestation. These details place the pest within the landscape and crop cycle rather than confining it to the harvested root.
Natural enemies and minor pests
A short minor-pest section includes leafhoppers, a caterpillar, coccids and a beetle. The author distinguishes insects considered less important from those receiving extended treatment.
The concluding beneficial-insect account adds predatory wasps and bugs to the specific parasites mentioned earlier. This is valuable because the bulletin does not portray every insect on the crop as an enemy.
The discussion records natural interactions observed or reported at the time, including caterpillars used by wasps and smaller insects attacked by predatory bugs.
Historical treatments and audience
Control passages include cultural measures and chemical treatments, including arsenical insecticides. The chemical practices belong to the history of agriculture and should not be reproduced as present-day food-crop advice.
This free ebook suits agricultural historians, readers studying Hawaiian crops and researchers interested in early insect-life-history accounts. Its range of pests and attention to natural enemies distinguish it from a single-insect circular.
The PDF contains 33 digital pages, including preliminary and blank material. It retains the title page, contents, list of illustrations and original pagination. Enlarge small drawings and captions, and read the accounts within their Hawaiian setting and 1911 scientific context.
Book details
- Author: David T. Fullaway
- Publisher: Hawaii Agricultural Experiment Station; Paradise of the Pacific Press, Honolulu
- Year: 1911
- Edition: Bulletin No. 22; 1911
- Digital length: 33 PDF pages
- Language: English
- File size: 2.83 MB
