33 
the increased number of moths which are able to escape in perfect con- 
dition from a moist, wet soil, as compared with a dry and harder one. 
Abundance of suitable food appears to be a vital necessity for the 
normal longevit}^ of the moths. Thus, during July and August moths 
kept without food in the laboratory lived for about six days, which 
was about half the length of life of females supplied with food. Fur- 
ther, laboratory records show that oviposition does not reall}^ begin until 
after the female has been able to partake of food. The food of boll- 
worm moths during the months of July and August, under outdoor 
conditions, consists partly of such nectar as may be obtained from 
flowers, but principally of nectar from the nectaries of cotton flowers 
and squares, and it would appear reasonable that during periods of 
drought this nectar supply would be far less copious than during 
rain}^ weather. Occasional showers would at least furnish an abun- 
dance of water collected at the base of flowers and elsewhere, which 
the moths have been frequentl}^ observed to feed upon. So far as the 
adult stage of the insect is concerned, there would appear to be some 
foundation for the belief that the insects are more successful during 
rainy than dry weather. 
There is but little information bearing on the influence of climatic 
conditions on the pupal stage of the insect except that pertaining to 
the effect of low temperatures, which will not be discussed here. 
During the larval or bollworm stage it is most exposed to the attack 
of parasitic and predaceous insect and other enemies which, on the 
whole, are much more active during dry than rainy weather. Various 
species of wasps, principally of the genus Polistes, are very effective 
predatory enemies of the bollworm. From early in the morning until 
late in the evening, during fair weather, these insects may be seen 
busily searching the cotton plants for larv^, and the sum total of boll- 
worms destroyed by these hunters in the course of a single day must 
result in considerable pecuniary gain to the planter. Rainy weather 
keeps the large majority of these wasps from the fields, and the boll- 
worms are thus permitted to develop to that extent unmolested. 
Other predatory enemies, as tiger and ground beetles and their larvse, 
robber flies, etc., are also noticeably more active in fair than rainy 
weather, and the cessation of the attacks of these species during such 
weather is doubtless an important reason for the more serious depre- 
dations of the bollworm. 
An important hymenopterous parasite of the smaller bollworms, 
when on cotton or other plants where they feed more or less exposed, 
namely, 2flcroplitis nigripennis Ashm., appears, from general observa- 
tions made during the season of 1904, to be out in greatest abundance 
during clear weather; and this is probabh^ true of other parasitic 
insects, such as Tachinid and other flies. 
