MISCELLANEOUS COTTON INSECTS IN TEXAS. 



INSECTS WHICH AFFECT THE YOUNG PLANTS. 



Prior to the advent of the Mexican cotton boll weevil {Anthmionvus 

 grandis Boh.) the retardation of the cotton crop on account of replant- 

 ing, necessitated by the depredations of insect pests on the young 

 plants, was of little importance. But since it is absolutely essential to 

 mature an early crop of cotton' if injury by the boll weevil is to be 

 escaped, the matter of the injury to the young plants by other insects 

 becomes a matter of much importance. 



CUTWORMS. 



As soon as the young plants have started to grow, and often after 

 they have been chopped, man}^ of them are destroyed by cutworms, 

 which cut off the stems and often 

 make replanting necessary over con- 

 siderable areas. 



Life history. — The complete life 

 history of the species concerned is 

 not known, but the winter is passed 

 in the larval condition in all stages 

 of growth, and in the southern part 

 of the State more or less damage 

 is done to gardens throughout the 

 winter in open seasons. Early 

 garden crops are injured worst in 

 March, the injury often commencing 

 by the middle of February and con- 

 tinuing until the middle of April or 

 tirst of May. When full grown the cutworms form oval cells in the 

 soil and transform into pupae, the adult moths emerging three or four 

 weeks later. The species most commonly found on cotton in 1904 were 

 the black cutworm {Agrotis ypsilon Rott.), the moths and larvse of 

 which are shown in figure 1, and the shagreened cutworm {Feltia 

 inalejida Guen.). Injur}'^ to cotton by cutworms was not as serious in 

 1904 as often occurs, and it is probable that several species other than 

 those mentioned above were concerned. The moths appear from the 



223 



(5) 



Fig. 1. — Agrotis ypsilon, one of the tobacco cut- 

 worms: a, larva; b, head of same; c, adult — 

 natural size (after Riley ii, Howard). 



