94 REPORT 4, UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION, 



quently, however, the young larvae in the act of molting. I never no- 

 ticed them dragging, or trj ing to drag, dead worms into their nests. 

 At Selma, Ala., T never saw the ants destroying an (tgg of Aletia. I 

 witnessed it at Columbus, Tex., but cannot tell at present whether this 

 egg had not been previously injured by some other enemy. When I 

 • returned from Texas I had a very high opinion as to the efi&cacy of these 

 two si)€cies of ants, but since my stay at Selma, where I paid particu- 

 lar attention to the subject, I have modified my opinion. Out of about 

 ten cases where the ants are seen destroying worms it is quite certain, 

 in my opinion, that in nine of them the victim was previously severely 

 injured by some other enemy. In spite of this fact, however, there cau 

 be no doubt in my mind that the ants, on account of their enormous 

 numbers, are to be considered as the most important enemies of the 

 Cotton Worm.'' 



The reports of other agents in much the same strain seem to prove 

 quite conclusively^ that the work of ants has been to some extent over- 

 rated ', still their numbers must always make them important enemies 

 of the worm. The great difference of opinion amongst observers upon 

 this point is to a certain extent, without doubt, due to the difference in 

 location, as in some localities the ants may be more active than in others, 

 or different species may be concerned. It is, moreover, a question 

 wherein preconceived ideas will have great weight in considering evi- 

 dence. Take, for instance, the case of an observer who sees, upon one 

 or several occasions, an ant in the act of devouring an egg. of Aletia. 

 He will be pardoned, perhaps, for considering this conclusive evidence 

 of the good done by the emmets; but when we remember that many 

 eggs are pierced and sucked by species of Triphleps and allied plant- 

 bugs, and that in all of these broken eggs more or less of the contents 

 is left, it becomes possible that the ants may in such case act simx3ly as 

 scavengers after the feast of the Triphleps. One thing seems quite con- 

 clusive, viz., that they are useful chiefly against the newly-hatched or 

 newly-molted or disabled worms. 



The leaf-cutting ant of Texas {Oecodoma fervens) should also be men- 

 tioned here, for when it invades a cotton field it makes a clean sweep 

 of every worm and pupa 5 but it also ruins the plant, taking off leaves, 

 blossoms, bolls, and tender stalks. 



Certain of the true wasps 

 {Vespa Carolina Drury, V. 

 germanica L.), some Paper- 

 wasps {PoUstes hellicosa 

 Cress., P. ruMginosa St. F.), 

 and some Digger-wasps 

 (Spliex ccerulea De Geer, 8. 

 ^ pennsylvanica Linn., and an 



EiG. 11.— PoZisees rMbi^mosa ; a, wasp, &, spring nest. undetermined spccics) Oc- 

 casionally carry off a worm. Of other larger Hymenoptera, Monedula 

 Carolina^ Fabr., Elis ^-notata^ Fabr., E. plumipes, Drury, Pelopwus cceruleuSy 



