29 
EUPHORIA. MELANCHOLICA. 
These beetles, together with the four species of larvae immediately 
following, are perhaps of greatest importance in this connection. The 
first observation upon this species was made at Lamar, Mississippi. 
It led me to believe that the beetles did original boring into the bolls in 
order to reach the soft parts and their juices inside. Subsequent ob- 
servations have not verified this opinion. The beetles observed at 
Lamar were found on a boll with their heads inserted into a small per- 
fectly round hole about an eighth of an inch deep, or just deep enough to 
reach the soft parts beneath the pericarp. Few Boll Worms had been 
found in the field, and it seemed quite probable that the beetle had eaten 
out the cavities themselves. At Holly Springs, Mississippi, where the 
beetles were found quite plentifully in some fields, none were ever again 
seen under similar circumstances. 
Flying about among the cotton plants during an afternoon they would 
be seen to alight on some boll which had been recently bored by the 
Boll Worm, but which had already been deserted by it. Here the 
beetle would sip of whatever juices there might be coming out of the 
injured boll. This is quite profuse at times, especially from those bolls 
of which the Boll Worm has but partially destroyed a certain section. 
From these proceeds a profuse frothing ferment, highly relished by the 
beetles, for occasionally two or three may be found at such bolls. 
When no boll with this tasteful exudate is found, they often alighi on 
the tender-growing portions of a branch where leaf and flower buds 
may as yet be found but partially developed. They crowd down be- 
tween these and puncture the tender and juicy peduncles, nearly 
always attacking those bearing flower buds. The small form supported 
by this peduncle dries up just as those bored by the newly hatched 
Boll Worm, and when dried enough to fall readily can not easily be 
distinguished from young Boll Worm work. With a view of determin- 
ing whether the beetle ever did original boring upon cotton bolls if left 
to its choice, a number were placed on branches of cotton in a breeding 
cage, so as to be kept under observation. The results of these studies 
during confinement showed plainly that the beetle did its most injurious 
work by puncturing peduncles bearing forms or puncturing the very 
small bolls ; in either case they were always shed. It therefore appears 
that if the beetle bores or eats into bolls at all, it certainly is an excep- 
tional method of attack. 
PLATYNOTA SENT AN A. 
The larva of this Tortricid moth is a small, green, slender, hairy 
worm, having a brown head, and is about half an inch long. It attacks 
forms and squares much the same as the young Boll Worm does. After 
the work is done and the worm has gone, its work can not be distin- 
guished from young Boll- Worm ravages. These larvae continue their 
