REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 265 



become familiar with the appearance of the egg but know just where to 

 look for it. With this knowledge time may be gained, the loss of which 

 in the application of remedies may result disastrously. As it is now, 

 the worms are rarely observed until nearly full-grown, and then but 

 .little time remains for the protection of the croj). 



The egg is circidar, much flattened, and ribbed; its greatest diameter 

 is a little more than one-fortieth oft an inch (.685°"°); its form is shown 

 in Plate IX, Fig, 1. When first laid the egg is of a beautiful bluish- 

 green color; this changes to a dirty white before it hatches. 



Owing to the fact that the tender foliage at the toj^ of the plant is 

 first destroyed by the cotton-worm, it is generally believed by planters 

 that th(i greater number, if not all, the eggs are laid ui)on that part of 

 the plant. This belief gave rise to the practice which has been carried 

 on in some localities, of cutting off and destroying the terminal shoots 

 of the i>lant; the planters thinking that in this way the eggs would be 

 destroyed and the crop saved. This idea 1 found to be an erroneous one. 

 Earely eggs may be found on any part of the plant above ground, but 

 almost invariably they are deposited on the lower surface of the larger 

 leaves,, and l)y far the greater number of them are to be found on the 

 middle third of the plant. (Plate VII, fig. 1.) 



The eggs are dei)osited singly, and I rarely found more than four or 

 five ui»on a single leaf, even when the moths were most abundant^ stiU 

 they sometimes occur in greater numbers. The duration ot the msect 

 in this state varies greatly, depending upon the season. During the 

 warmer part of the summer months the eggs hatch in little more than 

 two days alter they are deposited, but in the autumn they may remain 

 nearly a week before the larvae issue. 



The larya. — Some time before the larva issues, it can be seen through 

 the transparent shell of the e^g, the eyes, mandibles, and V-shaped 

 suture separating the epicranium from the clypeus being especially promi- 

 nent. A few hours later, after repeated efforts, which are plainly visible 

 with a microscope, the larva succeeds in breaking a hole through one 

 side of the shell, and it soon eats its way out. Occasionally the larva, 

 as soon as it emerges, eats a poition of the egg-shell; usually, however, 

 the shell is left undisturbed. 



The newly-hatched larva is of a very pale-green color, or white with 

 a faint tinge of green; the head is pale yellow, with no trace of the black 

 piliferous spots which are so conspicuous in the later stages; the ocelli 

 are black ; the piliferous spots of the body are at first quite indistinct, 

 but soou become more prominent; the thoracic legs ami the thii'd and 

 fourth pairs of abdominal legs are very long ; the lirst and second i)airs 

 of abdominal legs are mere tubercles. 



The young larva usually remains on the lower surface of the leaf upon 

 which the egg was deposited, feeding upon the iQore tender portions and 

 leaving the upper cuticle unbroken. Sometimes, however, small larvae, 

 which evi<iently have been hatched recently, are found on leaves where 

 no signs of egg-shells can be detected, while shells but no larvae £;re 

 found on larger leaves just below these. Yet 1 believe that the larvae 

 always feed a little before leaving the leaf on which they were born. 

 The young larva does not eat entu-ely through the leaf until it is nearly 

 two days old, and often not until the fourth day after it leaves the egg. 

 Thus the earliest indication of the presence of the worms is numerous, 

 small, semi-transparent spots upon the larger leaves. The smallest lar 

 vae which I fouu<l eating through a leaf in the field measured from 

 five-sixteenths to three-eighths inch in length (8°"" to 9.5"'™). In con- 

 finement the newly-hatched larvae eat the ujiijer surface or lower surface 



