THE COTTON BOLLWORM. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The cotton bollworm {HeUothis ohsoleta Fab.) is one of the oldest, 

 most widely distributed, and most destructive of injurious insects. 

 Its presence has long been felt by cotton planters throughout the 

 South, and since about 1850 much attention has been devoted to it by 

 entomologists. 



The more important results of the earlier investigations conducted 

 bv the General Government were published in the Agricultural Ee- 

 I^orts of the Patent Office for 1854 and 1855, in Comstock's Report on 

 Cotton Insects (1879), and in the Fourth Report of the United States 

 Entomological Commission (1885). More recently Bulletins 24 and 

 29 (old series) of the Division of Entomology were issued in 1891 and 

 1893, respectively, as the result of supplementary investigations. In 

 389(5 Dr. L. O. Howard gave a very comprehensive account of tliis 

 species in Bulletin 38, Office of Experiment Stations, which was later 

 revised and made available for general distribution as Farmers' Bulle- 

 tin 47. 



Since 1903 Congress has provided for a continuous investigation of 

 the bollworm, on account of the serious injury inflicted by it in the 

 western portion of the cotton belt during the past few years. The 

 results of this investigation have been published in Farmers' Bulle- 

 tins 191 (1904) and 212 (1905) ; and in Bulletin 50 (new series) of the 

 Bureau of Entomology, in which Messrs. A. L. Quiiintance and C. T. 

 Brues give a very complete and concise account of the insect to date. 



The dissemination of knowledge resulting from the general distri- 

 bution of the several j^ublications upon the life history, habits, and 

 best means of control has not been entirely void of results. Never- 

 theless the great majority of planters have allowed its ravages to con- 

 tinue unchecked from year to year. 



The crisis in cotton culture in Texas, brought about by the intro- 

 duction and spread of the well-known cotton boll weevil, has awak- 

 ened the planters to the importance of reducing injury by other cotton 

 pests, in order to better their chances of securing a fair crop of cotton 

 in spite of the presence of the boll weevil. Fortunately the methods 

 found to be of most value in boll weevil control and those which are 

 being largely adopted throughout the weevil -infested area of Texas 

 are also of paramount importance in lessening bollworm ravages. 



290 



(7) 



