THE TOBACCO BUDWORM AND ITS CONTROL, 5 



rarely injurious in Kentucky and Tennessee. It lias been recorded 

 l"rom Missouri, Ohio, and Connecticut. Perhaps the earliest record 

 of injury by this insect dates back to 1797. At that time Smith and 

 Abbot' wrote as follows: "[This species] eats the bud and blossoms 

 of Khexia, as w^ell as of tobacco; to the latter it is very pernicious in 

 Virginia and other places, as it destroys the main shoot." 



In Georgia in 1886 it wns reported by a planter to have been more 

 injurious to tobacco than the hornworms.- 



SEASONAL HISTORY. 



Eggs and larv» are pi-esent in tobacco fields in Florida and 

 Georgia throughout the growing season. Larva? have been observed 

 as late as August 1 on plants growing within and around old seed 

 beds. 



Eggs are deposited singly on the leaves, usually on the under- 

 side. ' In Florida, during the growing season of tobacco, they hatch 

 in from three to five days. Newly hatched larviie first feed sparingly 

 on the shells of eggs from Avhich they have issued and then eat small 

 areas about the size of a pinhead from the leaf surface. These minute 

 budworms then begin a migration and reach the bud of the plants in 

 about 24 hours. They often stop to feed two or three times but eat 

 only one or two layers of the leaf cells and do no appreciable injury 

 until they reach the bud. 



When the bud is reached the characteristic injury is wrought. The 

 young budworms conceal themselves between the immature, unfold- 

 ing leaves and begin to feed very greedily. They are so small and so 

 well concealed that they can be detected only by the very closest 

 scrutiny, and if a dose of poison mixture has not been placed in the 

 bud before their arrival extensive injury will have been done before 

 any remedial measure can be made effective. 



The larva or worm stage has been found to cover a period of from 

 18 to 31 days during May and June, at the end of which the mature 

 larvae burrow into the soil and pupate. The length of the pupa stage 

 may vary during the summer, covering a period of from 13 to 21 

 da3'S. The emergence of adults from the ground is affected materi- 

 ally by moisture conditions, for it has been observed that a great 

 man}^ moths often appear at the expiration of a dry period. 



After the moths emerge a period of from four to five days may 

 elapse before egg laying begins. Moths kept in captivity laid an 

 average of 331 eggs. From observations during May and June of 

 1010 the average duration of the life cycle was determined to be 37^ 

 days. 



I Smith. Sir James Edward. The Natural History of the Rarer Lepidopterous lusects 

 ol (ioorsiia. 1797. 



^ Phlegethonlius sexta Joh. aud P. qumqui-tnaculata Haw. 



