THE CORX-WORM IN" NEW YORK — THE SOUTHERN BOLL-WORil. 117 



This well-known pest of the cotton and corn fields of the Souilicrn 

 States has, during the past year, made its appearance for the first time, 

 as an injurious insect, in the State of New York. Examples of the 

 caterpillars, nearly full-growu, eating into ears of corn beneath tiie 

 husks, botli at their tips and at their base, were first received by me 

 from Ontario coujity, where their abundance and destructiveness were 

 exciting considerable alarm. A communication from the editor of the 

 Ontario Coiinfu Times accompanying examples of the cater])illar for 

 identification, stated : '^ It has attacked the growing corn when the 

 corn is soft, entirely devouring patches of the kernels, and when the 

 kernels harden, reducing them to a state resembling coarse meal." My 

 reply to the request for information in relation to the depredator was 

 published in the Ontario County Times., as above cited. 



The " Boll-Worm " of the Southern States. 



The caterpillar is the notorious "' boll-worm " of the Cotton 

 States, which annually commits such serious depredations upon 

 the cotton crops, by burrowing into the bolls and destroying them. It 

 is very common throughout the south, where it is present in every 

 cotton field to a greater or less extent. In some years, over large dis- 

 tricts of the south, the losses resulting from it have exceeded those of 

 the "cotton-worm," Aletia argillacea Hubn. 



The eggs of the moth, shown in Fig. 27 at a and 1), which are very 

 similar to those of the cotton-worm moth, and of which the female 

 lays about 500, are placed, according to the latest and most reliable 

 observations, not generally upon the involucre of the blossom, as 

 represented by Mr. Glover, but upon the leaves, on both surfaces, 

 oftener upon the lower. The newly hatched caterpilhirs from these 

 eggs feed at first upon the leaves, but only for a short time, when they 

 migrate to the flower-buds or boles. Entering a bud tli rough a round 

 hole eaten therein, they feed upon the interior, destroying the organs, 

 and causing the bud to fall. In this manner a single caterpillar may 

 destroy a large number of buds. Later, the bolls are similarly 

 entered, and their entire interior eaten away, or spoiled through the 

 entrance of rain causing decay. 



Tiiere are probably five annual broods of this insect in the Southern 

 States, of which the last two, appearing in August and September, are 

 the most injurious to cotton. The eggs of the first three broods are 

 usually laid upon corn. 



From observations made «i Alabama, it appears that the eggs of 

 the first brood are laid in early ^lay; of the second brood, during the 

 first half of June, and of the third brood, about the 1st of July; of 

 the fourth brood, upon the cotton bolls by the Ist of August, and of 

 the fifth brood, early in September. 



