for ml-$-lp£ication,-- - ,-Rad^sr a^.as r «wes.t p£ gfche-- ; Mississippi -R’iver delayed plant- 
ing and fruiting of cotton and na.de conditions* extremely 'favorable for .a rapid 
build-up and a sharp upturn in damage to the 1940 crop. 
Another -factor; that-,. contributed- to,., the. Increase ip. damage -was the .shortage 
of. calcium. arsenate. apidy dusting ^ ;na^Jhinery .during .the. critical, -period- f or con- 
trol* - The. shortage -.was particularly severe ..in. States east of the Mississippi 
-that ..-had not been dusted extensively In recent years .and did hot have. .dusting 
machines or ■ insect icr des on hand. At I’lj&uenca, S, C,.‘ the. average.., increased 
yields -from plots dusted. with .calcium arsenate, was 4-13 . pounds, of seed cotton 
per acre* or 105 percent; at Tallulah, 455 pounds, or , 46 • percent; at 
Waco, Tex,, 459 pounds,. , or 85 percent „ £he weevil damage .in 1941. .was 
greater -than in 1940 in-«very State and for the Cotton .Belt as 'a whole about 
equal to the damage caused in 1932 * - 
- The numbers of weevils entering hibernation in the fall of 194l . wer.e some- 
what spotted but were proba.bly smaller, on the average than in 1940, In some 
sections of the Southeast very little food was available-.rlate ..In -the season be- 
cause; of lack of fruiting and fall destruction of cottpn.. stalks. In the middle * 
section of the belt- defoliation by leaf .worms and proldpged dr.^ weather" forced 
weevils ' into hibernation ear ly in the season,, ..In sections of Texas protection 
from leaf worn by arsenicals and continued rains . permitted cotton to fruit until 
late and large numbers of weevils to go into hibernation quarters, (U. C. 
Loftin, Bureau of Entomology and. Plant Quarantine, tJ. S. D. A.) 
COTTON LEAP W0BM„-»*The- first reported occp.pren.ee of the cotton' leaf worm 
was' a. nearly full-grown larva, • collected in the lower Rio’ Grande, Valley of ; 
Mexico , 25 miie.s southwest of Mat amor os.* Tamaulipas.,. .on May 9». larvae were' 
found on June 6 abous 225 miles to the north in Calhoun County, Tex., and by 
the first of July, a few- fields were ; being defoliated, ip the lower Rio Grande 
Valley of • Texas., A 'separate infestation was reported from Marian. .County, Ela, , 
on July 12. ■ Earing- the last week- in July leaf worms were reported as rather * 
generally distributed throughout southern and south— central Texas and practical- 
-ly all of Louisiana, and as present in the Presidio Valley of west Texas and in 
northern Mississippi, ■ The appearance of -the -leaf worms, in Mississippi was". near 1; 
4 -weeks earlier than in 1940, • - 
'By the middle of August reports were received of infestations in. western 
Tennessee, the Pecos Valley o.f Texas and Mew Mexico, and 'the Santa Cruz Valley 
of Arizona, The infestation by this time was general in mpst of Texas and the 
southern two-thirds of Oklahoma, and was abundant enough to cause damage in. 
Missouri and Arkansas, and serious defoliation in southern and central Texas , 
The infestation in northern Elorida remained light' and' spread slox^ly. 
Light infestations that caused- local damage .were reported from Georgia, South 
Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia.* during September. Moths were reported 
damaging fruit in Missouri between September 20 and 25, strawberries in 
Nebraska on September 24, and in Minnesota on October' 2. Very heavy flights 
of moths were reported in Illinois, Massachusetts ,. and Rhode Island during the- 
first week of October, 
The cotton leaf worm caused more damage in 194l than 'for -several years. 
Considerable quantities of arsenicals were used for control in Texas, Louisi- 
