70 
gnawed in one side near the base and the contents eaten out, leaving 
onl\' a hollow shell still retaining its original shape (see PL IX, 
lig. 4). Subsequent injmy to squares is done in the same wa}^ 
except that the hole eaten by the full-grown larva is considerably 
larger. Bolls are scarcely ever attacked by newly hatched larvae, 
although the latter can subsist on them without difficulty in the 
absence of other food. Larvfe one-third grown or larger may bore 
into the bolls at a point not far from the base or farther up on the 
side, as shown in figures 1 and 2, Plate X. If the boll is small, like -the 
one shown on Plate IX. figure 5, the entire contents are appropriated, as 
in the case of a square, but if it is large usuallv only one or two 
'•locks'' are badly eaten (see PI. X, figs. 3 and 4z). When the larva 
leaves the boll its exit is most generally made through the entrance 
hole, although a second opening is sometimes made. The excrement 
left in the boll l)y the departing larva usually stains what fiber may be 
left in that lock to a dark brown, and often favors fermentation and 
the development of mold, which quite often ruins the boll entirelv. 
If two or three locks have been destroyed the boll may open more or 
less imperfectly, as shown on Plate X. figure 4, or fail to open at all. 
In such bolls the large hole made by the bollworm is always plainly 
to be seen. 
The flowers are often attacked soon after they have opened and 
before the petals have become pinkish. Usually the pistil, stamens. 
and ovary are destroyed and the flower ruined (see PL IX, fig. 2). 
The stamens especially seem to be very well liked and injury may be 
confined to the destruction of these (see PL IX, fig. 1). 
The leaves of the cotton plant are not fed upon by the bollworm 
unless squares and bolls are very scarce. Under such conditions they 
take very readily to leaves, eating them in a' way similar to the cotton 
worm {Alabama [AJeiia] argillacea). In the large field cage in the 
laboratory garden at Paris a method of feeding not noticed elsewhere 
was observed. Tiie squares and bolls had practically all been 
destroyed and the large larvae, boring through the axillary buds into 
the stem, caused it to break at that point and wither and die. 
CHARACTER OF INJURY TO OTHER PLANTS. 
The feeding habits of the bollworm on other plants than corn and 
cotton are rather beyond the scope of the present bulletin and can only 
be briefly referred to. 
On tomatoes the green fruit is usually the part chosen, the young 
larva boring through the skin at almost any place, while the older 
ones prefer to enter near the insertion of the stem (see PL XI, fig. 2). 
Tobacco is injured at the growing tips or "bud '' early in the season 
(see PL XI, fig. 1), but later, if the plants are not topped, the green 
seed pods are preferred. 
