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the facts. Your agent, unfortunately, has been located in regions not 

 especially infested, and it transpires that owing to the scarcity of adults 

 at any season in the localities under observation that hibernating speci- 

 mens would be rarely found. 



There is no question but that many pupse do not issue in the fall, but 

 remain as such over winter. Many of these even enter the pupa state 

 as early as the middle or latter part of September and remain quiescent 

 until April or May. The decided overlapping of the broods from the 

 beginning of the season is thus easily explained, for doubtless the 

 hibernating moths appear earlier than those issuing from the pupae in 

 spring. 



Observation proves beyond a doubt that a great majority of the 

 destructive brood on cotton in August and September issue as imagos 

 before the close of the season. The facts also prove that instead of the 

 number of worms which might rightfully be expected from these imagos 

 to appear in greatly increased numbers absolutely appear in decreased 

 numbers. This indicated that some of the moths of this brood were 

 bent upon hibernation and refrained from depositing at this time. In- 

 deed, the facts disclosed by the latest observations warrant the asser- 

 tion that many of the imagos resulting from this destructive brood 

 hibernate. The majority of the worms spoken of in previous reports 

 as found so late in the season are mostly those from the eggs of belated 

 females of the preceding brood and worms whose most rapid develop- 

 ment has been hindered by various, perhaps accidental, unfavorable 

 environments. Furthermore, as previously stated, the broods from the 

 very first of the season overlap. Doubtless, therefore, a great portion 

 of the worms found during the latter part of September and later con- 

 sist also of the lap, so to speak, of the last brood, and should not be 

 counted as a separate brood or even a partial one. 



NATURAL ENEMIES. 



The cannibalistic habit of the Boll Worm makes it its own greatest 

 enemy, as will be shown under the head of remedial measures. All the 

 enemies noted in Bulletin No. 24 of the Division have been observed 

 again. The same special stress and importance must again be repeated 

 in speaking of the egg parasite (Trichogramma pretiosa). Its value can 

 not be overestimated. Among birds the Sapsucker, Crow Blackbird, 

 and Crows deserve special mention. Another species of Eobber Fly 

 was noted catching the imagos. Observations upon the habit of ants 

 {Solenopsis geminata) earlier in the season makes it absolutely certain 

 that at that season they frequently capture a Boll Worm. They do so 

 mostly when the worm travels or comes out of the ear of corn to molt. 

 They seldom enter an ear of corn for a deliberate search after their vic- 

 tim. Later in the season, when there is a greater diversity of insect 

 life and also vegetable growth, the ant loses special interest in the Boll 

 Worm. 



