REPORT ON MISCELLANEOrS COTTON INSECTS 
IN TEXAS. 
INTRODUCTION. 
Economic entomology has heretofore been concerned with but a few 
of the many species of insects affecting the cotton plant. The leaf 
caterpillar and bollworm, and recently the boll weevil, have been 
exhaustively studied as being the most important insect enemies of I he 
cotton crop, but very little attention has been given to numerous 
others which frequently cause more or less injury. 
The reason for this is found in the manner of the growth of cotton. 
the methods of its culture, and the nature of the injury done by these 
miscellaneous insects. Cotton is one of the most rank growing of all 
our staple crops, is cultivated over large areas, and matures its fruit 
normally for over a month. Consequently, any insect which does only 
local injury, which does not entirely destroy the young- plant, and which 
does not defoliate the older plants nor destroy the most of their fruit, 
has been hardly worth combating; for the planter could better afford 
to stand the loss than to attempt fighting these pests by artificial 
means. 
But with the advent of the boll weevil, and the consequent necessity 
for early cotton and intensive culture with reduced acreage, conditions 
have somewhat changed, and injuries which before were unheeded are 
now decried as further reducing the small margin of profit in the 
weevil district. Any insect which destroys the young plants, necessi- 
tating replanting, or which checks their growth while young, prevents 
an early maturity and consequently exposes the crop more to the 
attacks of the weevil; and later in the season when the weevil has 
levied its heavy tax upon the crop, any additional injury by insect 
pests seems a most onerous loss to the planter. 
These considerations led to the investigation of the cotton inserts o( 
Texas reported below. A single season is far too short a time in 
which to thoroughly cover so large ;i subject over a State with such 
varied conditions, and the writer fully appreciates the incompleteness 
of this report. However, he has endeavored to collect or refer to all 
the available information concerning the economic aspect o( tin 1 species 
treated, so that these notes may form the basis for a further and more 
exhaustive treatise upon cotton insects in the future. 
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