CHAPTER III. 



REMEDIES. 

 NATURAL REMEDIES. 



The remarks made in Chapter VI, of Part I, concerning the efficacy of 

 insectivorous birds and of predaceous insects will apply equally well 

 here. Strange to say, but one parasite upon Heliothis has been found. 

 This was bred from a chrysalis received September 15, 1879, and proved 

 to be TacUna aletiae. (See Chap. VI, Part I.) 



Professor Eiley, in a foot note in his fourth Missouri report, mentions 

 Heliothis armigera as being among the species from which he had bred 

 Tachina anonyma. (For the habits of the Tachina flies see Chapter VI, 

 Part I.) 



As to actual observations upon birds, Mr. Glover says : 



Insectivorous birds also serve as very useful agents in the diminution of the boll- 

 worm. In proof of this fact I will state that I have seen a king-bird, or bee-martiu, 

 chase and capture a boll-worm moth not ten paces from where I stood, and which I 

 was in pursuit of at the same time ; also, that some young mocking-birds, kept in 

 their nest near an open window, were fed daily by their parents with insects, among 

 which were quantities of the boll- worm moth, as was proved by the ground undei- 

 neath being strewn with their dissevered wings. 



It will be well to reconsult the list of birds given in the chapter above 

 referred to in this connection. 



As to predaceous insect enemies, we have just referred in the last 

 chapter to the most effective the ants and further discussion will be 

 unnecessary. Of the others, those doing most good will probably be the 

 wasps, the asilus flies, the devil's coach -horses, the lady-bird larvae, and 

 the golden-eyed lace- wing fly larvae. The ground-beetles will play a 

 more important part, in all probability, in destroying the boll- worms 

 than they do in destroying the cotton- worms, on account of the former 

 descending into the ground to pupate. 



Mr. Glover gives an account of a spider which is said to destroy the 

 boll-worm, in the following words : 



Another description of a small spider, about the tenth of an inch in length, of a light 

 drab color, with two or more dark spots on its back, was found very numerous inside 

 of the involucre or ruffle of the cotton-bloom, where it is said to be useful to the 

 planter in destroying very young boll-worms. In many cases, where the eggs of the 

 boll-worm moth had been deposited and hatched out, and the young worms had eaten 

 through the outer calyx and already pierced a hole in the young bud or boll, it was 

 frequently observed that no worm could be discovered inside ; but, upon opening such a 

 ruffle, this small spider was almost invariably found snugly ensconced in its web ; hence 

 it was surmised that the young worm had entered between the ruffle and the boll or 

 bud, and had been destroyed by the spider, the nest of which was found in such situa- 

 tions. 



311 



