40 BULLETIN NO. 1, DIVISION OF ENTOMOLOGY. 
ton planter, as the martins leave this section during the full moon of Au- 
gust, and the bull bat some three weeks later, or about the average date 
of the greatest activity of the Aletia. 
The loggerhead shrike has been frequently seen to devour both larve 
and pup of the cotton-worm, and may be well classed as especially 
valuable to the planter. 
I had the pleasure of seeing a small, green tree frog make a good 
meal from the larvee, and as this and several species of lizards are very 
frequently observed in the cotton fields, it isreasonable to suppose them 
quite destructive to the larvee. 
The following spiders I have collected upon cotton: EHpeira fera, 
Misumena vatia, Attus audax, Argiope fasciata, Oxyopes viridans, Gas- 
teracantha. The Attus and Oxyopes I have observed preying upon 
larve. 
Three if not four varieties of ants are found upon cotton. A very 
small, jet-black ant; another black ant, called here among the blacks 
‘¢the little men,” very ferocious, and giving both bite and sting, often 
called the fire-ant; a light-brown ant, and a tiny, reddish ant called the 
sugar ant. This last is very destructive to molting larvie or exposed 
pup, and many instances have occurred indicating that they devour 
the eggs of the Aletia. 
I think most of the wasp family, with bees, ants, and other insects, are 
attracted to the nectar glands of the cotton, and in fact in this section 
most of the honey obtained in this season is from the cotton-plant. 
I have noted at least three species of Polistes, two ot Vespa and two 
of Sphex preying upon cotton-worms. 
~The “ hornet” has annoyed me considerably by seizing worms that I 
was colonizing for experiments, and carrying them away, aud later in 
the season, last year, I saw the smaller “ yellow-jacket ” destroy many 
pup, or begin by biting a piece from an exposed surface of a pupa; the 
ants then would soon carry off the contents. 
The large, black-bodied wasp (Polistes) destroys great numbers of 
molting or prepupal larvee. One bite to each, in the side, a sip of the 
exuding fluid— nothing more, but the mortality from this cause fully 
equals all others. 
The Asilid flies—three species, Proctacanthus milberti (?), Laphria 
thoracica Fabr., and Diogmites discolor L., are very cominon, and the 
Laphria does rapid and effective work now in destroying all sizes of 
larvee. The Proctacanthus, early in the season, was useful in preying 
upon small grasshoppers that were defoliating cotton and young orange 
shoots. Often I have caught this fly on the ground struggling with a 
grasshopper at least double its size. The smaller fly (Diogmites discolor) 
is extremely active and predaceous, and I have taken it while destroy- 
ing Podisus, Nezara, and Anisoscelis albicinctus, and one while piercing 
a small Dragon-fly. 
Parasites have been unusually plentiful this year. At least 40 per 
“Ess 
