254 INSECT PESTS OF FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD 



is found in various parts of Asia and Africa and in Hawaii, Brazil 



and Mexico, having been introduced from the latter country 



into Texas. 



The adult is a small moth of brownish color and with narrow, 



fringed wings. The wing expanse is never as great as one inch. 



The larva is a small, smooth, 

 pinkish caterpillar with 

 eight pairs of legs and pro- 

 legs, being in this respect 



very unlike the boll weevil 



FIG. 218 The pink bollworm: outline , , . , . ,, T , 



drawing of larva, showing structure; larva whlch 1S footless. It 

 much enlarged. (After Busck, Jour. Agr. feeds entirely within the 

 Research, Vol. IX, No. 10.) bollg and even m t h e seec j s 



of cotton and it is in the seeds that it is most likely to be carried 

 from place to place. 



Since it is in the process of extermination it is not necessary 

 to do more here than to call attention to the seriousness of the 

 insect and to repeat the warnings to cotton growers .to report 

 promptly to the Federal or State authorities the presence of any 

 insect which might possibly be the pink bollworm. 



The Red Spider * 



The so-called red spider is a very minute reddish mite which 

 attacks a great variety of cultivated plants and is frequently 

 injurious, often being mistaken for a fungous disease and called 

 a rust. They pass the winter mainly as adults and they breed 

 continuously throughout the growing season of plants, migrating 

 from plant to plant in search of food. They are found over most 

 of the eastern part of the country and on the Pacific coast but 

 are much more abundant in the cotton growing regions than 

 elsewhere. 



Leaves of badly infested plants turn yellow, wilt, droop and 

 finally fall off. 



Control measures recommended as summarized by McGregor 

 and McDonough, 1. c., are: 



" To prevent injury to cotton by red spiders the following 

 steps should be taken: (1) Destruction .of all weeds around the 



* Tetranychus telarim Linn. Family Tetranychidae. Order Acarina. 

 See McGregor and McDonough, Bulletin 416, U. S. Dept. of Agr. 



