372 EEPORT 4, UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 
holds its wings tightly closed, roof-shaped, over its back, only the fore 
wings being visible; the former, on the contrary, carries its wings 
slightly elevated, and also slightly open, so that a portion of the abdo- 
men and of the hind wings can be plainly seen, as is shown at figure 9 
of the plate, which, as also the corresponding figures of the Cotton 
Worm moth, were sketched by us from nature in the field. 
In passing through a cotton-field or an adjoining patch of cow-peas 
during the day any number of Boll Worm moths will be flushed and will 
fly away with that blind, quick, darting motion common to nearly all 
Noctuids in the broad light of day. At night-time, however, their flights 
are longer. Judge Johnson says : " They seem to prefer to hide in the 
cow-peas and in the clover — when these grow near — and may be seen 
about sunset sucking the honey secretions of flower-stems of peas, and 
dipping into the blossoms of clover." Their regular flight begins at sun- 
down, or shortly thereafter, and they feed, in addition to the plants 
already mentioned, on the nectar of the cotton plant and of the coffee- 
weed, and also on other nectar-secreting plants. 
On one occasion Mr. Schwarz found the moth feeding in the middle 
of the day upon a blossom of Helenium tenuifolium. 
In feeding, the behavior of the moths is much like that of Aletia, the 
antennae being kept in almost constant vibration. They have also been 
observed to hover before a gland, steadying themselves with their fore 
legs. When at rest and sucking nectar, as before stated, they do not 
fold the wings like Aletia, but keep them raised and partly open. The 
tip of the maxillae or haustellum is armed much as in the Cotton Worm 
moth, save that the point is not so sharp and the penultimate portion 
is not so strongly barbed. We have heard no authenticated account of 
damage perpetrated by the Boll Worm moth, but the similar armature 
of the maxillae plainly indicates that it is, or has once been, the habit of 
the moth to pierce the skins of fruit. 
NUMBER OF BROODS. 
It is impossible to speak with any degree of definiteness concerning 
the number of annual broods of the Boll Worm in the Southern cotton- 
fields. A confusion of generations begins very early in the season, and 
we soon find the worms in the field in all stages. Accidental circum- 
stances may favor the development of the descendants of one moth 
and retard that of another. Generation after generation is produced 
until the approach of cold weather, and consequently much depends on 
the length of the season. The average length of time occupied by the 
. insect in all of its transformations is, say, thirty-eight days, and this, 
allowing from the 15th of April to the middle of October as the active 
period of its life, would give us five broods. This is, so far as we can 
ascertain from actual observation, the normal number throughout the 
more southern portions of the cotton belt. 
As we have already stated under the head of food-plants, the first 
