TRIFID.E. 155 



the tomato-grower, and it may justly be considered the worst 

 enemy to the tomato in that section of the country." Another 

 writer says : "In Maryland in 1869 these worms did great 

 injury to the tomato-crop, eating alike the ripe and the unripe 

 fruit, gnawing great holes in them, and rendering them unfit 

 for market use. One worm would sometimes entirely ruin a 

 number of tomatoes on one plant." Other observers have 

 found this voracious creature feeding on the "chick-pea" 

 (Ciccr arictinum), the young larvae upon the leaves, the larger 

 boring into the pods, the common scarlet-runner (Phaseolus 

 vulgaris) and other leguminous plants, boring into the pods 

 and eating out the contents. One further detail must not be 

 omitted — Professor Comstock states that " on a plant, and 

 undisturbed, large boll-worms have been seen to catch smaller 

 ones, which they devoured, or simply pierced the skin with 

 their mandibles so that the juice could be sucked, and the 

 refuse dropped ; " and that whenever these creatures were 

 sent him from the South, although plenty of food was 

 enclosed, " in case more than one boll-worm was mailed in 

 the same box one only would reach us alive, all the others 

 having been destroyed." And further, that in a state of 

 nature this larva preys frequently upon the pupa of the 

 cotton-worm {Aletia argillacea), forcing its way " into the 

 leaves folded and pre-occupied by Aletia, the latter having 

 already passed into the pupa state, for the express purpose 

 of feeding on these pupae. Many cases of this sort were 

 seen." In some sense, therefore, this most effective destroyer 

 seems to assume also the character of a protector of the 

 crop! 



Pupa stout, red-brown, anterior surface shining, mouth 

 with a projecting ridge ; front portion minutely granulated, 

 wing and limb-covers finely sculptured with shallow incised 

 lines ; the anterior margin of the segments also sculptured 

 with coarse punctures ; cremaster very short and rounded, 

 producing two long straight tapering spikes. In a smooth 



