25 



^afternoon of the seventh day of these observations a male was ob- 

 served courting a female, and later in the same afternoon, in a brief 

 stop in a field, two pairs of the bugs were seen copulating. During 

 tlie last three days spent in investigating this insect many pairs were 

 found mating. The reason for the reappearance of the mating 

 instinct was not apparent. Messrs. Conduit and Vaughan, both in 

 the employ of the Tlahualilo Company, assert that five or six weeks 

 earlier in the season the adults were frequently seen copulating on 

 the cotton plants. 



TIFE HISTORY AND HABITS. 

 ADULTS. 



Methods. — Owing to the scarcity of the bugs during the investiga- 

 tion and to the ease with which the}^ can be detected when present, 

 the plan of tagging bolls and plants in the field and making records 

 twice a day, was found to give good results. Some observations were 

 made with adults in confinement in tumblers, and with others con- 

 fined in large wire screens in the fields. 



Feeding habits. — The adults seem to be able to detect food from a 

 distance, though this point was not definitely determined. In each 

 of three cases when an adult escaped from a cage out of doors in a 

 field where the plants were widely separated, it was afterward found 

 on the plant nearest in its direction from the cage; in other words, 

 the bugs did not pass over or near any other cotton plants in going 

 to the plant upon Avhich they were found. 



In confinement, the adults fed on the fruit of the China tree and 

 twigs of the mesquite tree, as well as upon cotton bolls. Five adults 

 left in a glass with a two-thirds grown bollworm for six hours 

 showed no carnivorous tendencies. 



Although the adults feed upon all parts of the cotton plant in the 

 field, the bolls are much preferred to the stems and leaves. Fifty- 

 seven field records show the total number of times the bugs were re- 

 corded as feeding on bolls to be 43 ; on leaves, 4 ; on stems, 10. The 

 Jjugs were recorded resting on bolls in the field ten times ; on the leaf, 

 once; and on the stem, once. The bolls are undoubtedly preferred on 

 account of the rich juice of the seed which the insect is able to reach 

 (except probably in the older bolls with well-matured lint) by means 

 of its mouth setse. The examination of many bolls shows that the 

 immature seeds are the objective points of the insect's attack. A 

 preference is almost invariably shown for bolls growing near the 

 tops of the plants. 



In feeding on the cotton plant, the adult generally occupies a con- 

 spicuous position, especially when on a boll. The writer has never 

 found them inside the bracts of a square, and when on a boll, never 

 entirely hidden by the bracts. 



When feeding upon a cotton boll the mouth setse do not remain 



