536 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 10 



occurred which could be ascribed to any particular dosage of ammonia 

 though the north end of the series, which was usually occupied by the 

 heavier dosages, produced most eggs both on the ammoniated bran 

 and the checks but when the lighter dosages were shifted to this end 

 the heavy oviposition continued to occur at the north end of the series. 

 The check funnels received 67.4 per cent of the unit-average of the 

 eggs deposited and received decidedly more eggs than the ammoniated 

 units on seven of the nine days the experiments were run. 



A careful analysis of Mr. Richardson's experiments leads us to 

 believe that the apparent discrepancy between his results and ours is 

 only in drawing conclusions. Certainly he obtained marked oviposi- 

 tion in no case where carbon dioxide was undoubtedly absent and we 

 believe that this was the ovi position-inciting principle in his investi- 

 gation as well as in our own. 



THE LIFE-HISTORY OF THE OKRA OR MALLOW 

 CATERPILLAR (COSMOPHILA EROSA HUBNER) 



By H. L. DoziER, University oj Florida, Agricultural Experiment Station 



Introduction 



The attention of the writer was first called to this insect on July 16, 

 1916, on passing by an okra field at Gainesville, Fla., and observing 

 badly eaten leaves of the plants. A search quickly revealed the culprit 

 to be the larva of some noctuid. 



As I shall mention later in this article, the work of this larva has 

 probably been attributed to that of Atitographa brassiccc. 



Since this insect was of undoubted economic importance, a study of 

 it was begun upon which the present paper is based. All investiga- 

 tions were carried on at Gainesville, Fla. 



Dr. Chittenden^ calls this the Abutilon moth but here in Florida it 

 would seem more appropriate to call it the okra or mallow caterpillar, 

 since it is found on such a large number of the Malvaceae. 



History 



The moth was first figured by Hubner (Zeitr. 287, 288) in 1818. It 

 was fully described by Guenee who describes the larva, under the name 

 of Cosmophila, in a few words, giving its food plant as Hibiscus. 

 Comparatively little mention of this species has been made since this 

 time. 



1 Bulletin No. 126, Bureau ot Entomolog>'. This bulletin contains a full bibli- 

 ography. 



