236 DI8EA8E8 OF THE COTTON PLANT. 
the larva still sticking to the end of the pupa. After re- 
maining in this state for a few days, this skin again splits, 
and the perfect lady-bird emerges, furnished at first with 
soft wings, hut which afterward harden, and serve to trans- 
port it to the distant colonies of cotton lice, in the midst 
of which the eggs are again deposited, to form new broods 
for the destruction of the planters' greatest pest. The per- 
fect lady-bird also devours aphides, but not in such num- 
bers as their larvje, in which state it also destroys the 
chrysalis of the butterfly (^Argynnis columbina), seen so 
often in the cotton fields. I have repeatedly observed them 
in Georgia, killing the chrysalides of this butterfly, which 
hung suspended from the fence-rails, and on the under side 
of the boughs of trees and shrubs. It appears to attack the 
chrysalis chiefly when soft, and just emerged from the 
caterpillar skin. It is in this state that these wandering 
larvae attack it, and biting a hole in the skin, feed greedily 
upon the green juice which exudes from the wound. 
Sometimes, however, it becomes a victim to its own rapa- 
city ; for the juice of the chrysalis, drying up by the heat 
of the sun, quickly forms an adhesive substance, in which 
the larva is caught, and thus detained until it perishes. 
Indeed, so very voracious are these larvae, that they will 
even devour the defenceless pupae of their own species, 
when found adhering to fences or walls. 
Many planters imagine that these lady-birds are in 
some mysterious manner connected with the appearance of 
the cotton louse, or even that they are the progenitors of 
the aphis itself. This erroneous impression is formed in 
consequence of these insects being always found in similar 
situations at the same time, and abounding on plants al- 
ready weakened by the attacks of the cotton louse. Their 
sudden disappearance is also accounted for, as, with the 
