Noctuidae 
Genus PTER^THOLIX Grote 
(i) Ptersetholix bullula Grote, Plate XXIX, Fig. 8, $ . 
The habitat of this little moth is the Gulf States. 
Genus Alabama Grote 
(i) Alabama argillacea Hubner, Plate XXIX, Fig. u, $. 
(The Cotton-worm Moth). 
Syn. xylina Say; grandipuncta Guenee; bipunctina Guen6e. 
The Cotton-worm Moth is one of a number of insects which 
annually inflict a vast amount of damage upon the crops in the 
southern por¬ 
tion of our 
country. In 
Prof. Com¬ 
stock’s “Re¬ 
port upon the 
insects which 
are injurious to 
cotton,” pub¬ 
lished in 1879, 
and in the 
“Fourth Re¬ 
port of the 
United States 
E n tomological 
Co m mission,” 
there is given 
a great deal of valuable and interesting information in regard to 
this species. Much may also be learned about it from the study 
of the “Missouri Reports” published by the late Prof. C. V. 
Riley. The range of the insect is very broad. It sometimes, 
though very rarely, occurs as far north as Canada. From this 
northernmost location it has been found ranging southward as 
far as Argentina. It sometimes appears to migrate in swarms. 
A number of years ago, during a heavy snowstorm in November, 
myriads of the moths suddenly appeared in the city of Pittsburgh, 
and they came flying in the evening to the electric lights. From 
one store the proprietor said that he had swept them out by the 
Fig. t 51 .—Alabama argillacea. a. Egg; b. immature 
larva; c. lateral view of mature larva* d. dorsal vievi 
of mature larva; e. leaf in which pupation takes 
place; /. pupa. (After Riley.) 
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