THE COTTON -SQUARE BORER. 41 



Decpml)er 9. He tiLso tsent a pupa from Beeville November 29, the 

 butterfly from which emerged December 20. 



Butterflies of this species are always common about the cotton tield, 

 and may ]>e seen laying* their egg-s upon the foliage. Injury is more 

 prevalent, however, where cotton adjoins or succeeds cowpeas, upon 

 which plant the larvse feed readily, according to the testimonj^ of 

 planters preferring it to cotton. Injury to cotton squares is exactly 

 like that done by young ])oll worms later in the season, but occurs when 

 the flrst squares appear. Often when the squares have been destroyed 

 a larva will bore into the young stalk. Local injury to .young cotton 

 is often quite serious. 



Life Jtlxtorij. — The butterflies appear about the middle of April and 

 eggs are laid in May. The larvie of this generation are most injurious 

 to cotton, and l)utterflies from them emerge late in June and early in 

 July. A third brood of butterflies emerges in August. Larva? are 

 taken during September and October, and pupa? later in the fall, so 

 that it seems probable that the winter is usually passed in the pupal 

 stage, in old leaves, under ruljbish or bark, etc., though sometimes a 

 butterfly emerges in Deceml)er and may hibernate. Mr, SanV)orn 

 observed the butterflies October 15, 1904, more abundant than at any 

 time during the summer. At that time thej' were feeding on castor 

 bean ))lossoms. The difl'erent generations are by no means distinct, 

 and (piite possibly four ma}' occur in a season. After the first brood 

 the larvje are so parasitized that injury to cotton is not usually appar- 

 ent, though considerable damage was noticed October 8, 1901, at 

 Clay, Tex. 



In addition to the food plants noted in the previous accounts — cotton 

 and cowpeas — eggs and larva^ have been taken on "goatweed" {Crotoi) 

 c<i2>!f<ititK)^ and a single larva, apparently of this species but not reared, 

 was found boring into a half-grown peach in Ma3% other fruit bearing 

 marks of similar injury. 



The small yellowish or almost transparent ^^g is laid on the leaf 

 stem just at or upon the base of the leaf. The female, in ovipositing, 

 liends the ovipositor downward and forward, so that she ma}^ deposit 

 her ^gg upon the under side of the leaf though resting upon the upper 

 surface. No eggs have been observed \\\)o\\ the squares. The eggs 

 hatch in from two to five days. The larva becomes full grown in fif- 

 teen or sixteen daj'S in midsummer, though twenty-nine days are 

 required in May. The length of the pupal stage averages about ten 

 days. Thus the complete life cycle occupies about a month. The 

 records of rearings are summarized as follows: 



