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HOSMOEMS 
Hornworms ( Protoparce spp.) were much less than normally abundant in the 
dark fire-cured area in 1940. The adults appeared several days earlier than 
usual and, as a result, the late June infestation was slightly greater than th; 
of an average year. In July, August, and September, however, the infestation 
remained at a very low level, and it is doubtful if the average for the season 
was more then 25 percent of the usual infestation. Some farmers found it un- 
necessary to apply control measures at any time during the season and few of 
them treated their tobacco more than twice. Damage was negligible in most 
fields, and no instance of severe injury was noted during the entire season. 
It is believed that economic losses did not exceed 1 percent, as compared with 
the usual loss of approximately 10 percent. In the Kentucky hurley area, when 
hornworms are always less abundant than in the dark fire-cured area, the infos 
tion was unusually light and the damage correspondingly low. It is believed 
that the unusually cold winter preceding the 1940 season was largely responsib] 
for the paucity of infestation, although the unusual abundance of parasites 
( Apanteles spp.) in August and September wa,s a contributing cause. (L. B. Scot 
Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, U. S. D. A.) 
Despite the severe cold weather in South Carolina, hornworm pupae that 
were ivell surrounded by packed soil survived when only 2 inches below the soil 
surface. Cn the other hand, those larvae that were surrounded by loose porous 
soil, even though 7~S Inches below -the surface, perished because water that 
accumulated in the loose soil apparently froze the pupae. The severe winter 
of 1939-40 apparently did not materially reduce the hornworm population. Where 
individual cells were used for hibernation studies, the number of pupae to sur- 
vive was 24.8 percent of those that pupated. Larvae appeared on field plants 
as early as May 20 and were present throughout the remainder of the season, al- 
though they were not as numerous lake in the season as in 1939. Population 
counts on 200 plants in a field during August showed an. average of 3*19 worms 
per infested nlant.. (N, Allen, Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, 
U. S. D. A.) ■" 
Infestations in the fields in the vicinity of Oxford, H. C., during 19 40, 
were lighter than usual. In some fields larvae of the first brood in June were 
abundant enough .to make nece.ssary the protection of the small plants. This 
infestation, heavier than usual for this time of the year’, was followed, how- 
ever, by second-brood infestations, which were much lighter than usual. Power 
moths per trap were caught during 1940 than during previous sea.sons, (J. U. 
Gilmore, Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, U. S. D, A.) 
In the Connecticut River Valley only slight damage' was done to any fields 
by hornworms. The predominant species in this region is P. quinqucmaculata 
and usually moderate to severe damage is done to isolated fields. In 19 4o 
no such instances of severe damage occurred but the usual slight damage was 
found on a few plants in many fields. Para.sitiza.tion by Apanteles congrega.tu.s 
Say, which is usually heavy, was not much in evidence. (A. W, Morrill, Jr., 
Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, U, S, D, A.) 
