374 EEPOET UPON COTTON INSECTS. 



caterpillars do not molest the cotton. Though I have seen a good deal of this plant in 

 some cotton, I never noticed that it saved the latter. 



It is sometimes stated that rusted cotton is never eaten by Aletia. The term rust is 

 applied by farmers to a fungoid disease (rust proper), to the " red spider," and to 

 leaves which dry up from disease in other parts of the plant, so that it is hard to say 

 what is meant by this statement. As a rule, the moths certainly do lay their eggs on 

 healthy cotton in a vigorous state of growth. 



NATURAL ENEMIES. 



For convenience of discussion, the natural enemies of Aletia may be divided into two 

 classes : 1, those which are not parasitic ; 2, those which live at its' expense as para- 

 sites. Tho first of these may be subdivided into the different zoological groups of which 

 it is composed ; the second, so far as my observations go, consists entirely of insects. 

 This arrangement may be seen by an inspection of the following table ; and in the dis- 

 cussion which follows, the order there adopted will be adhered to : 



1. Mammals. 



I 



4. Insects. 



2. Parasitic. < Insects. 



The only mammals that I have seen feeding upon Aletia are one or two species of 

 bats, which are usually spoken of by the planters as " leather-winged " bats, to dis- 

 tinguish them from the night-hawk, which goes by the appellation of " bull-bat." On 

 the 25th of August, having occasion to study the moths of Aletia while feeding on the 

 fruit of the jujube-tree (lUiamnus zizyplius) I hung a lantern on a branch of a small 

 tree of this species, where hundreds of the moths were collected. While making the 

 observations for which I had gone out, I noticed that a number of bats, of several 

 species, were flying in the vicinity of the tree, under which they repeatedly darted, 

 each time catching a moth, which was immediately carried off. Planters tell me that 

 in seasons when the caterpillars are very numerous and the cotton is eaten up before 

 they have reached their full size, they migrate in large numbers, so as to fill the wagon- 

 ruts in the roads and collect in large piles in the fence-corners. When this is the case, 

 pigs, and even dogs and cats, are said to feed upon them. 



But two species of wild birds were seen ealiug the larvae of Aletia ; these were the 

 mocking-bird (Mimus polt/glotus) and the indigo bird, or blue-bird as it is called in 

 Alabama (Cyanospiza ciris). Once the nest of some sparrow was found in a cotton- 

 plant, and as these birds feed their young on insect-larvae, it is probable that they 

 may be counted among the enemies of the cotton caterpillar. The wild-turkey (Me- 

 leagris gaUopavo) is not uncommon in the part of Alabama where my observations were 

 made, and its tracks are often seen in the cotton-fields. Though I did not see turkeys 

 feed upon the caterpillar, I saw places where their tracks were numerous, and where 

 the cotton was more or less broken, as if by their leaping upward after Iho larvae on 

 the higher branches of the plant, and I am assured by planters that these birds have 

 been scon to feed upon the worms. Both chickens and domesticated turkeys eat the 

 larvae on the cotton near houses, and the latter birds are said to sometimes seriously 

 injure the cotton in jumping after the caterpillars. 



Very frequently leaves of cotton are found folded and webbed by Aletia, while the 

 pupae have been removed through clearly-cut triangular apertures, evidently made by 

 the bill of some bird. I am told that the rain-crow (Cocci/gus aincrir-ininn) destroys, 

 many pupae of this insect. I have been told -that the night-hawk or bull-bat (Chor-' 

 deiles vtrginianua) has been seen to catch the moths of this species when flying. 



Twice spiders were seen to kill Aletia. One day in July I sawa small j limping-spider 

 (No. 2, July 23) (Attus nubilux) leap upon a half-grown larva, which it killed and 

 sucked the juices from. About twilight of August 27, while watching numbers of 

 moths engaged in eating rotting peaches on the ground, I heard a rather loud rustling 

 among them, and several took Sight from the point where the noise was heard. Going 

 to the spot, I found that a large ground-spider had captured one of the moths, which 

 was beating its wings in futile efforts to escape. Owing to the darkness, the spider 

 was allowed to escape, so that I did not determine the species. In Alabama the largo, 

 green, spiny spider (Oxyopvs riridann) is abundant on cotton-plants, and it is not im- 

 probable that it may sometimes catch Aletia in its larvae and perfect states. 



To preserve the order thus far followed, it will be necessary to separate the im para- 

 sitic insect enemies of Aletia into those which destroy the egg, those which destroy the 

 larva, those which destroy the pupa, and those whicli destroy the moth ; though this 

 will, in a few cases, necessitate the insertion of the same insect in two or more of these 

 groups. 



I have seen but one insect destroying the egg of Aletia, viz, the larva of one of the 



