14 



been plowed in the winter and cultivated in early spring they are by 

 no means as abundant as usual. 



INSECTS WHICH INJURE THE LEAVES. 



The salt-marsh csiteT-pill&T {Est ig?nene acreea Dru.). — This is one of 

 the so-called "• woolly bear" caterpillars, being about two inches long-, 

 black, and covered with long black and red hairs. (See tig. 12.) The 

 caterpillars have been reported as stripping cotton of its foliage in May 

 at Paris, Tex., in 1885, and in July in southern Texas in 1903. The 

 loose cocoon in which the larva transforms to the pupa is made among 



Fig. 12. — Estigmene. acrxa: a, female moth; 6, half-grown larva; c, mature larva, lateral . 

 view; (/, head of same, front view: e, egg mass— all slightly enlarged except d, more 

 enlarged (from Chittenden.) 



the leaves of the cotton or more often in rubbish on the ground. 

 From these the moths emerge in about two weeks, the complete life 

 C3^cle occup3'ing about fortv-five days. There are probably four 

 broods in a year. These caterpillars have been reported to be unsus- 

 ceptible to poisoning with Paris green when full grown, but like many 

 others could probabl}^ be killed without difficult}'^ if poisoned while 

 still young 



The arge tiger moth {ApantesU arge Dru.). — A similar caterpillar is 

 common upon cotton, but has never been as injurious as is the salt- 

 marsh caterpillar. 



The beet army worm {Caradrind exigiia Hbn.). — X small green cater- 

 pillar, about an inch long, which in Colorado and California has been 

 a serious enem}^ to sugar beets and is known as the beet army worm, 



223 



