372 REPORT 4, UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



holds its wiuj^'s tightly closed, roof- shaped, over its back, ouly the fore 

 wings being visible; the former, on the contrary, carries its wings 

 slightly elevated, and also slightly open, so that a portion of the abdo- 

 men and of the hind wings can be plainly seen, as is shown at figure 9 

 of the plate, which, as also the corresponding figures of the Cotton 

 Worm moth, were sketched by us from nature in the field. 



In passing through a cotton-field or an adjoining patch of cow-peas 

 , during the day any number of Boll Worm moths will be flushed and will 

 fly away with that blind, quick, darting motion common to nearly all 

 Noctuids in the broad light of day. At night-time, however, their flights 

 are longer. Judge Johnson says : '^ They seem to prefer to hide in the 

 cow-peas and in the clover — when these grow near — and may be seen 

 about sunset sucking the honey secretions of flower-stems of peas, and 

 dipping into the blossoms of clover.'^ Their regular flight begins at sun- 

 down, or shortly thereafter, and they feed, in addition to the plants 

 already mentioned, on the nectar of the cotton plant and of the coffee- 

 weed, and also on other nectar-secreting plants. 



On one occasion Mr. Schwarz found the moth feeding in the middle 

 of the day upon a blossom of Selenium tenuifoUum. 



In feeding, the behavior of the moths is mucji like that of Aletia, the 

 antennae being kept in almost constant vibration. They have also been 

 observed to hover before a gland, steadying themselves with their fore 

 legs. When at rest and sucking nectar, as before stated, they do not 

 fold the wmgs like Aletia, but keep them raised and partly open. The 

 tip of the maxillae or haustellum is armed much as in the Cotton Worm 

 moth, save that the point is not so sharp and the penultimate portion 

 is not so strongly barbed. We have heard no authenticated account of 

 damage perpetrated by the Boll Worm moth, but the similar armature 

 of the maxillae plainly indicates that it is, or has once been, the habit of 

 the moth to pierce the skins of firait. 



NUMBER OF BROODS. 



It is impossible to speak with any degree of definiteness concerning 

 . the number of annual broods of the Boll Worm in the Southern cotton- 

 fields. A confusion of generations begins very early in the season, and 

 we soon find the worms in the field in all stages. Accidental circum- 

 stances may favor the development of the descendants of one moth 

 and retard that of another. Generation after generation is produced 

 ^ until the approach of cold weather, and consequently much depends on 

 the length of the season. The average length of time occupied by the 

 I insect in all of its transformations is, say, thirty-eight days, and this, 

 allowing from the 15th of April to the middle of October as the active 

 period of its life, would give us five broods. This is, so far as we can 

 ascertain from actual observation, the normal number throughout the 

 more southern portions of the cotton belt. 

 As we have already stated under the head of food-plants, the first 



