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13 
cotton field, and fly low with a quick darting motion when disturbed. 
About sunset they begin to feed upon the honey secreted by the cow- 
pea and blossoms of clover, as well as upon the nectar of the cotton 
plant and other honey-secreting plants. Mr. Mally speaks of seeing 
the moths eating at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, and Mr. Mullen states 
that he has noticed them feeding freely during all hours except the 
early morning hours, and during 1892 noted them particularly deposit- 
ing their eggs in broad daylight. 
Number of generations.—The average time occupied by the insect in 
its transformations from egg to the adult is about thirty-eight days. 
The number of annual generations is about five. In the cotton-growing 
States the worms of the first three generations feed usually in the corn- 
fields. In fact, in choice of food plants, cotton seems to be secondary 
to corn. They feed upon corn by preference until this becomes too hard 
to be readily eaten. The worms of the first generation make their 
appearance the latter part of April or early in May, and feed almost 
exclusively upon the leaves and terminal buds of corn. The second 
generation, appearing in early June, feed upon the tassels and forming 
ears of corn, while the third appears in July and feeds upon the hard- 
ening corn. When the fourth generation appears, the corn has become 
too hard for appropriate food, and the moths therefore fly to neighbor- 
ing cotton, which carries at that time plenty of tender young bolls. A 
few worms will have been found upon cotton before this time and will 
have fed upon the leaves and flower buds only in the absence of bolls. 
Others will have been found upon tomatoes, if these are grown upon 
the plantation, while still others have been feeding upon cowpeas. As 
a general thing, bollworms are seen in force upon cotton about the first 
of August, and usually these individuals belong to the fourth genera- 
tion. The fifth generation makes its appearance about the middle of 
September, and about the middle of October, or even earlier, the cater- 
pillars enter the ground for transformation to pup. 
Hibernation.—The bulk of the bollworms hibernate in the pupa state 
underground. In a warm fall the moths have been known to issue 
during the month of November, and Mr. Mally has shown that fre- 
quently a few moths hibernate. These hibernating moths appear and 
.begin laying eggs much earlier than the moths which issue from over- 
wintered pupx. This results in something of a confusion of generations 
the following season, and at Shreveport, La., Mr. Mally found a series 
of small broods along with the more or less regular large ones, a sixth 
generation of worms appearing a little later in the fall and hibernating 
in the pupa state. In evidence of this fact he adduces the finding of 
young bollworms as late as November 20. Young and old worms may, 
in fact, be found simultaneously after the middle of May. Mr. Mally’s 
observations, however, extended through two seasons only, and this 
State of affairs may be exceptional, particularly as the winter of 1890-91, 
when he made his observations, was unusually mild in Louisiana and 
