INSECTS INJURIOUS TO TOBACCO 



235 



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 abun- 

 dant, and generally 

 leave the plant about 

 the end of the month, 

 entering the ground, 

 transforming to pupa3 

 and issuing as moths 

 toward the end of Sep- 

 tember. These dates 

 are for Virginia, but 

 hold reasonably well 

 as far south as Missis- 

 sippi. 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 



FIG. 168. False budworm or cotton bollworm 

 (Heliothis obsolete): a, adult moth; b, dark 

 full-grown larva; c, light-colored full-grown 

 larva; d, pupa natural size. (After How- 

 ard, U. S. Dept. Agr.) 



the next generation of 

 caterpillars is found 

 boring into the seed- 

 pod and occasionally 



into the flower-stem. . . . The caterpillars of the last fall genera- 

 tion enter the ground and hibernate as pupae. The insect has 

 several other food-plants aside from cotton, but its most abun- 

 dant food in the South is the weed known as ground cherry 

 (Physalis viscosd)." The life history of this species is very 

 similar, therefore, to the false budworm or bollworm. 



The corn ear- worm (see page 181) is usually found attacking 



