INSECTS INJURIOUS TO TOBACCO 221 



The Budworms * 



Two caterpillars of the same genus commonly attack the bud 

 of tobacco and have been distinguished by Dr. L. 0. Howard as 

 the true budworm and 

 false budworm, the latter 

 being the same as the 

 well-known cotton boll- 

 worm or corn ear-worm. f 



"The true budworm 

 (Chloridea virescens) oc- 

 curs in the more south- 

 ern portions of the to- 

 bacco-growing regions/' FIG. 186. The true budworm (Chloridea vire- 



<jnv<? Dr HnwarH t " hiit scens): a, adult moth; 6, full-grown larva, 



says IJr. Howard,? from side; c> same> from aboye; ^ seed _ pod 



has not been noted in to- bored into by larva; e, pupa natural size. 

 bacco-fields north of (After Howard, U. S. Dept. Agr.) 



Maryland. The adult insect is a small greenish moth, well illus- 

 trated in Fig. 186. The larva or caterpillar of this moth, also illus- 

 trated, is nearly always found in the bud of the tobacco-plant about 

 the time the plant is ready to top. In some seasons they occur in 

 large numbers and damage the tobacco considerably. In the 

 early part of the season, as a general thing, but few of them are 

 found, and in ordinary seasons they are not especially noticed 

 during the early" worming" of the tobacco. In August they 

 begin to be more abundant, and generally leave the plant about 

 the end of the month, entering the ground, transforming to pupae 

 and issuing as moths toward the end of September. These dates 

 are for Virginia, but hold reasonably well as far south as Mississippi. 

 The greatest damage done by this insect is by the August brood, 

 when it enters the rolled-up leaves or bud of the plant. In 

 September and October the next generation of caterpillars is found 

 boring into the seedpod and occasionally into the flower-stem . . . 

 The caterpillars of the last fall generation enter the ground and hib- 

 ernate as pupae. The insect has several other food-plants aside 

 from cotton, but its most abundant food in the South is the weed 



* Chloridea virescens Fab., and C. obsolete, Fab. Family Noctuidce. 

 t See corn ear-worms for full description and illustrations, 

 j Farmers' Bulletin 120, U. S. Dept. Agr. The principal Insects Affect- 

 ing the Tobacco Plant. 



