24 SOME INSECTS INJURIOUS TO TRUCK CROPS. 



mopolis, Ala.; Lake Bearsford, Florida; Bastrop County and else- 

 where in Texas. 



The above localities indicate a distril)ution ranging from the 

 transition life zone through the upper to the lower austral. The 

 occurrence of the species in Florida, Alabama, and Texas would 

 indicate that it is to be found throughout the Gulf region. The 

 insects observed by Glover Avere stated to appear in the Carolinas, 

 Georgia, and Florida in early October. 



BIOLOGIC LITERATURE. 



The spanworm under consideration was described under the name 

 of Boarmia 'pampiriaria by Guenee in 1857.- In 187G Dr. A. S. 

 Packard gave a detailed description of the moth, w^ith a consideration 

 of its distribution and remarks on the larva and pupa, the former 

 being stated to feed on pear.^'- In 1881 Dr. G. H. French '' had a 

 note on the larva observed feeding on Avillow^ and geranium ; larvse 

 transformed to pupa? September 1(3 and October 2, and the imagoes 

 issued April 17 of the following year. During the year 1883 this 

 species was observed by Dr. J. B. Smith,^ then a temporary agent 

 of this office, doing injury at Cotuit, Mass. During that year the 

 spanworms were so abundant in the cranberry bogs in that vicinity 

 that their numbers could be compared only to the army worm 

 {Helioph'da vnipuncta Haw.). In the case in question they began in 

 a space about a rod square, devoured that, and spread in a direct 

 line across the bog. The number of moths that would have been 

 produced from these insects should they have been permitted to 

 transform was described as being '' frightful." A rather full account 

 by Dr. S. A. Forbes followed in 1884,** in which the statement was 

 made that the larva was found in midsummer feeding on leaves of 

 strawberry in southern Illinois. Larva^ obtained August 1 pupated 

 on the 11th, and the moths emerged on the 2'2d, giving eleven days as 

 the pupal stage at that season. Larva^ collected September G, about 

 half grown, were believed to represent a second generation. The 

 larva of this species came under the observation of the writer on 

 asparagus first in 1897.^^ In 1899 Doctor Lugger ^- stated that the 

 caterpillars were found on apple and blackberry, and that there were 

 at least two generations annually. 



As this is one of the commonest species of its genus, of wide dis- 

 tribution, and authentically determined as living on cotton, there 

 seems little doubt that it was the type of Glover's account of " the 

 larger spanworm,'" figured and described in his accounts of insects 

 frequenting the cotton plant, published in 185G ^ and again in 1878.'^ 

 A curious blunder was made by M. D. Landon, who figured this 

 species as the "cotton caterpillar {Noctua xylinay in 1865,^ this 

 illustration being a crude cop}' taken from Glover's first or 1856 

 account of this spanworm. 



