SOME LEPIDOPTERA LIKELY TO BE CONFUSED WITH 

 THE PINK BOLLWORM 



By Carl Heinrich x 



Specialist on Forest Lepidoptera, Bureau of Entomology, United States Department 



of Agriculture 



INTRODUCTION 



The purpose of the present paper is to define the characters which will 

 distinguish the larva and pupa of the pink bollworm, Pectinophora 

 gossypiella Saunders, from those of other Lepidoptera attacking cotton 

 or related malvaceous plants and of still others feeding on plants 

 other than malvaceous but frequently found in the neighborhood of 

 cotton fields. A few (Dicymolomia julianalis Walker and Crocidosema 

 plebeiana Zeller, for example) so closely resemble the pink bollworm in their 

 habits and their larval stages that they are only to be distinguished by a 

 careful examination of their structure. It is hoped that the present 

 paper will make the differentiating characters clear and will enable 

 entomological workers to distinguish the forms treated. 



The field work upon which this paper is based was conducted through- 

 out the area in southeastern Texas where the pink bollworm has been 

 found to occur, as well as in Cameron County, at the southern extremity 

 of the State. Special attention was devoted to discovering whether the 

 pink bollworm was attacking plants other than cotton. Thousands of 

 seed pods of okra and other malvaceous plants were examined. In one 

 case, at Smiths Point, in Chambers County, all the seed pods of a plant 

 related to cotton (Hibiscus lasiocarpus), growing in the immediate 

 vicinity of a field where a heavy infestation by the pink bollworm had 

 occurred during a previous year, were removed and given minute exami- 

 nation. Similar investigations were made with reference to other wild 

 and cultivated malvaceous plants growing in or about fields where the 



1 This study was conceived and arranged by Dr. W. D. Hunter, in charge of the Pink Bollworm 

 Eradication, to aid the work of his inspectors. To the necessary preliminary field work the following 

 entomologists were detailed by Dr. Hunter: H. C Hanson, J. D. More, E. L. Diven, A. C. Johnson, and 

 Carl Heinrich. For a short period Mr. Herbert Barber was also associated with the work. The material 

 and notes on which the paper is based are all due to these workers. Especial mention should be made of 

 Emerson Liscum Diven, who had a major part in the investigations and who lost his life in an aeroplane 

 accident while scouting for cotton areas and who,* had he lived, would have worked up the results as 

 here given. 



With the exception of Plate 107, all the drawings accompanying this paper were made under the writer's 

 supervision by Mr. H. B. Bradford, of the Bureau of Entomology. Plate 107 (also originally by Mr. Brad- 

 ford) is reproduced from Busck's article on the pink bollworm (In Jour. Agr. Research, vol. 9, no. 10, p. 

 343-37°, 1917)- The writer is especially indebted to Mr. Bradford for his painstaking and accurate drawings. 



To Mr. Busck the writer is indebted for many helpful suggestions and both to him and to Dr. Dyar for 

 verification of some of the identifications. 



Journal of Agricultural Research, (8°7) Vo1 " XX? No- " 



Washington, D. C. Mar - "> "9 21 



wy 



Key No. K.-92 



