52 INSECTS AND MAN 



the plants of their leaves, the caterpillars often devour the 

 squares and small bolls in which the immature stages of 

 the weevil occur. Furthermore, the defoliation of the 

 leaves allows the sun to exert its full force on the fallen 

 squares, thereby withering them up, together with their 

 contained weevil larvse and pupae. At the present time, as 

 the result of the beneficial work of Alabama argillacea, 

 farmers in infested regions are rapidly giving up the 

 practice of poisoning the formerly much dreaded caterpillar. 

 Will the Mexican cotton-boll weevil ever come to be looked 

 upon as beneficial who knows ? 



It must not for a moment be imagined that the American 

 cotton crop was free from serious pests before the advent of 

 the Mexican cotton-boll weevil ; indeed, we have mentioned 

 one enemy of this useful plant, in the shape of Alabama 

 argillacea. A more widespread and destructive pest is the 

 so-called cotton-boll worm, Ghloridea obsoleta ; in fact, till 

 the weevil went north from Mexico, this so-called worm, 

 which is in reality the larva of a moth, of the family NOG- 

 tuidve, was the chief destroyer of cotton in the United States. 

 So nearly cosmopolitan is this insect, that it would be easier 

 to detail the countries where it does not occur than to 

 mention the places where it is found ; its origin is obscure, 

 but in all probability its original home was somewhere in 

 the New World. Though we are here only considering 

 Chloridea obsoleta in the light of a cotton pest, it is equally 

 destructive to maize, tomatoes, and tobacco, and, in its wild 

 state, has been known to feed on seventy different plants, 

 a number that is materially increased if we add a con- 

 siderable number of other plants on which it has been 

 artificially fed. 



As a rule, these insects only turn to cotton when the 

 maize begins to harden ; then the moths feed on the nectar 

 secreted by the flowers, and lay their eggs indiscriminately 

 over the plants. The amount of damage done to the 

 cotton plants depends on the age of the maize in the 



