13 
important points or add to our knowledge of the species. The manner 
of attacking the ears of corn and the semi-solid excrement of the worm 
which is left behind along its path into the ear, paves the way and pro- 
vides a fertile soil for the germinatiou and subsequent growth of all 
kinds of molds. The additional decay resulting in this way, aided by 
the ravages of Dipterous and other larvre which revel in such matter, 
perhaps fully equals the actual damage done directly by the worm. In 
large fields of corn not often more than one large worm is found in a sin- 
gle ear, but when the fields are small, and especially when surrounded 
by cotton fields, there are often three or four nearly grown worms in a 
single ear, and perhaps as many more newly hatched ones. This is a 
direct result of the preference of the moth for the corn when the lat- 
ter is in close proximity to cotton fields and of suitable age. When the 
field is small the female often passes through it several times during a 
single Might, depositing eggs as she does so. In this way I have often 
observed the same female deposit eggs three times on the silks of 
an ear of corn during a single visit. This of course is not the normal 
method of deposition, and occurs only under the circumstances men- 
tioned. If it were so the numbers of worms would be greatly reduced 
through the agency of their cannibalistic habits, to be discussed here- 
after in considering the history of the worms. Other females visiting 
the field may also deposit on the same ears of corn, and so on. As a 
result of this as high as fifteen to twenty-five eggs have been found on 
the silk of a single ear of corn, and in addition as many more on the 
husks and leaves. 
In regions where corn is cultivated extensively a second crop is 
planted late in July to produce a fodder crop by the end of the season. 
These fields are invariably badly infested. When these are near cot- 
ton fields they afford a great protection to that crop. 
Except on cotton, hereafter considered, no observations of special in- 
terest were made on any of the other well-known food plants, though it 
was noted that the tomato crop suffered severely from Boll Worm dep- 
redations. 
Other Plants. — As additional food plants of economic importance 
which are attacked by Boll Worm are to be mentioned the muskmelon, 
watermelon, and cucumber. The cucumber is attacked usually by eat- 
ing a hole near the base from below up into the center and then tunnel- 
ing the length of it to the anterior end. The melons are usually bored 
from the under side near the base, but occasionally at almost any other 
point. The female was seen depositing on the following weeds : Relen- 
ium tenuifolium, Amarantus retroflexus, A. sjrinosus, probably Erigeron 
canadense, and one undetermined species of Panicum. 
It was evident, however, that the young worms did not relish any of 
the above weeds as food plants and left soon after hatching. This was 
further verified by taking some branches of the plants just named to 
the laboratory and placing newly hatched worms upon them. They 
