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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 nests 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 under- 

 neath being strewn with their dissevered wings. 



In addition to these we may mention particularly the Blue Bird {8iar 

 lia stalls Baird), the Orioles {Icterus haltimore Daudin and J. spurius 

 Booap.), and the Quail [Ortyx virginianus). 



With regard to the predaceous insect enemies we need hardly do more 

 than refer back to the corresponding foes of Aletia. Mr. Glover has 

 given an account of a small spider, probably a Theridioid, which feeds 

 upon young Boll Worms as they are piercing the involucre, making its 

 nest between the involucre and the boll. Professor Jones has mentioned 

 spiders, Ladybird larvae (Goccinellidce), Acayitliocephala femorata^ the 

 Wheel Bug {Prionotus cristatus), the Spined Soldier-bug {Podisus spino- 

 sus), and the Tiger -beetles (Gicindelidce). Several of the commoner spe- 

 cies of Ground-beetles destroy the worms as they enter the ground to 

 pupate. 



With regard to Ants the evidence is contradictory. Professor Jones 

 says : " I never have seen ants eating them [the Boll Worms] in any 

 state, until they had been killed or injured by some other agent, or had 

 died, except when the worms were confined in jars j even this was a very 

 rare occurrence. I think I observed it but twice, and both these in- 

 stances were at my residence. No instance occurred in the laboratory 

 where my work was done." 



Mr. Trelease, however, details a contrary experience in his report made 

 to Professor Comstock in 1879, as follows : 



Like the Cotton-caterpillar, the Boll Worm is more abundant in wet than in dry 

 places ; at least, such was my experience, and it is also said to do better in wet than 

 in dry seasons. This is "readily explained by the hostility of ants, which are more 

 abundant in dry than in wet places, and in fair than in rainy seasons. 



Early in June several half-grown " bud- worms" were collected on Indian corn and 

 transferred to cotton-plants with a view to watching their actions. Care was taken 

 to place them upon plants on which there -w^ere no ants. Seating myself beside them, 

 I awaited developments. At first they evinc«d no desire to do more than conceal 

 themselves beneath the leaves from the glare of the sun. But it was not long before 

 a stray ant appeared on the plant, and, finding the larva, proceeded to run round and 

 round it, biting it whenever it could. 



Soon, however, finding that unaided it could do little, the ant left the plant, and, 

 after watching it a short time, I lost sight of it; but in a few minutes it returned ac- 

 companied by several others of the same species. In a little while the worm was so 

 worried that it fell from the plant, and was soon killed and carried off by its torment- 

 ors, which followed it to the ground. 



Several times I saw this repeated, the Boll Worm being killed in each case within an 

 hour after the time when they were placed on the cotton. The black ant was also 

 seen to kill these larvae upon several occasions, and once or twice when the worms had 

 not been interfered with by me. 



The truth of the matter probably is that certain species of ants de- 

 vour the eggs and young of the Boll Worm, as well as an occasional 

 full-grown specimen with the same avidity that they do Aletia, 



