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-yeung larva will travel from bud to bud, deserting each before it falls. — 
he bud pierced just before opening is forced into premature bloom, 
‘but the worm usually feeds upon the stamens and pistil, rendering it 
incapable of fructifying. As the bollworms grow, they begin to vary 
greatly in general appearance. Full-grown worms may be found of 
almost every intermediate stage of color between light green and dark 
brown or rose. They may be unstriped and unspotted, or they may 
possess dark stripes or black spots. These color varieties are not 
caused by different food, since many variations occur in specimens 
feeding upon the same plant. Upon cotton the larger worms take the 
larger bolls, the young ones having confined themselves in the main to 
the flower buds and the newly formed bolls. They then practically 
progress downward, the young ones being found mainly upon the top 
crop, while the older ones bore into the older bolls of the middle crop, 
the bottom crop being seldom seriously damaged by this insect. Often 
a single worm will practically destroy several large bolls, and one 
instance is on record where 18 young bolls and many blooms and 
unopened flower buds have been destroyed by one not fully grown 
worm. The bollworm is not only a voracious plant feeder, but it is also 
a cannibal. Older worms feed upon younger ones, and it has often been 
known to eat the chrysalids of the cotton caterpillar. With an abun- 
dance of vegetable food at hand, the larger worms will seize upon their 
small brothers, biting through the skin and feeding upon the juices of 
the body. In ears of corn the remains of several young worms are 
often found, while the strong, large worm which has destroyed them is 
the only living occupant of the ear. The larva occupies from two 
weeks to a month in reaching full growth. 
The pupa, or chrysalis.—Unlike the cotton caterpillar, the bollworm 
enters the ground in order to transform. It forms an oval cell com- 
posed of particles of earth held together by a loose, gummy silk, or the 
pupa may be perfectly naked. It is of a light mahogany color, darker 
toward the head, and the duration of this state is from one to four 
weeks. 
The adult insect.—The adult insect of the bollworm is a moth about 
the size of the cotton-worm moth, but has a stouter body and is more 
extensively marked, as well as more variable in its markings. Its 
general color varies from a dull ocher-yellow to a dull olive-green. The 
fore wings have arather dark band near the tip and the hind wings are 
also bordered with a darker band. The wing veins are lined with black 
and the fore wings have also several dark spots. There is great varia- 
tion in these markings, and they are intensified in some individuals and 
almost lacking in others. When the moth is at rest, the fore wings are 
slightly open, whereas in the cotton-worm moth they are closed in a 
roof-shaped manner. Themoth flies normally about dusk, lays about 500 
eggs, and is not a fruit feeder like the cotton-worm moth. During the 
day they hide in cowpeas and in clover, when these grow near the 
