THE BOLL WORM CHARACTERS AND TRANSFORMATIONS. 365 



The duration of the egg state is said bj^ Prof. E. W. Jones to be from 

 three to five days, but in spring and late fall a longer time elapses be- 

 fore hatching, while in midsummer the worms may occasionally appear 

 in two days from the time of oviposition. 



The Larva (Plate III, Figs. 2, 3, 4, 6; Plate lY, Figs. 3, 6, 10, 13, 

 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22).— The newly-hatched Boll Worjn has much 

 the appearance of the young Cotton Woim. It is rather darker in 

 color, however, and though walking like a looper to a certain degree, its 

 pro-logs are much better developed than is the case with Aletia. No 

 marked difference in the size of the legs is observable, except that the 

 anterior pair, although apparently perfectly formed, is shorter and 

 weaker than the others. The head is large, as are also the piliferous 

 tubercles, while the hairs are long and stout in proportion to the size of 

 the body. The larva feeds at first at the spot on which it was born, be 

 it leaf, petiole, stalk, involucre, corolla, or boll; but it soon manifests a 

 migratory tendency, crawling from one leaf to another, and letting itself 

 drop and swing suspended from a line of silk, until, sooner or later, a 

 young bud or boll is found, into which it bores. It often happens that 

 several days pass while the young worm is searching for a boll, during 

 which time it feeds upon the leaves. Indeed, as will be instanced later, 

 the worm may and does occasionally pass the whole of its larval exist- 

 ence with no other food than leaves. 



The ijassage of the young Boll Worm into the flower bud is a fre- 

 quent — perhaps the most frequent — cause of the flaring of the involucre 

 and the final dropping of the bud or young boll. (Plate IV, Figs. 8, 9.) 

 The idea that this " shedding of cotton," as it is called, is mainly caused 

 by insects, is not generally accepted at the South ; yet such is the case, 

 and the Boll Worm is the chief of the malefactors. An examination 

 of the shed bud or boll will show that in nearly every case it is pierced 

 by a small hole. (Plate IV, Fig. 2.) Frequently granular exciement is 

 to be seen on the involucre, between it and the boll, and when this is 

 the case it is proof positive of the agency of Heliothis. But frequently, 

 also, a hole or puncture is to be seen with no sign of excrement. In 

 such cases it is probably the work of some Hemipterous insect. Of 

 these, Mr. Glover has briefly described Calocoris rapidtis Say,*and C. 

 bimaculatns H. Schf., in the following words:* 



I observed tliree insects (C. Mmaculatus) when confined under glass, sucking tbe sap 

 from the buds and young balls, tlieir only food. The young eventually completed 

 their transformations into perfect insects. They were observed, moreover, to eject 

 large drops of green sap from their abdomens, which could only have been procured 

 from the buds themselves. * * * The perfect insect is seven-twentieths of an inch 

 in length ; the antennas are brown and green, the eyes brown ; the thorax somewhat 

 triangular; the anterior part green, and shaded with reddish-brown posteriorly: the 

 legs brown and green ; the wing-cases with a cross, shaped like the letter X, forming 

 four triangles, those nearest the thorax being reddish-brown ; the side triangles are 

 green. 



* See Bibliographical List : Glover (18,55). 



