376 EEPORT 4, UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 
chase and capture a Boll Worm moth not ten paces from "where I stood, and which I 
was in pursuit of at the same time; also, that some young mocking-birds, kept in 
their nests near an open window, were fed daily by their parents with insects, among 
which were quantities of the Boll Worm moth, as was proved by the ground under- 
neath being strewn with their dissevered wings. 
In addition to these we may mention particularly the Blue Bird (Sia- 
lia sialis Baird), the Orioles (Icterus baltimore Daudin and I. spurius 
Bonap.), and the Quail (Ortyx virginianus). 
With regard to the predaceous insect enemies we need hardly do more 
than refer back to the corresponding foes of Aletia. Mr. Glover has 
given an account of a small spider, probably a Theridioid, which feeds 
upon young Boll Worms as they are piercing the involucre, making its 
nest between the involucre and the boll. Professor Jones has mentioned 
spiders, Ladybird larvse (Coccinellidce), Acanthocepliala femorata, the 
Wheel Bug (Prionotus cristatus), the Spined Soldier-bug (Podisus spino- 
sus), and the Tiger-beetles (Cicindelidce). Several of the commoner spe- 
cies of Ground-beetles destroy the worms as they enter the ground to 
pupate. 
With regard to Ants the evidence is contradictory. Professor Jones 
says : " I never have seen ants eating them [the Boll Worms] in any 
state, until they had been killed or injured by some other agent, or had 
died, except when the worms were confined in jars ; even this was a very 
rare occurrence. I think I observed it but twice, and both these in- 
stances were at my residence. No instance occurred in the laboratory 
where my work was done." 
Mr. Trelease, however, details a contrary experience in his report made 
to Professor Comstock in 1879, as follows : 
Like the Cotton-caterpillar, the Boll Worm is more abundant in wet than in dry 
places ; at least, such was my experience, and it is also said to do better in wet than 
in dry seasons. This is readily explained by the hostility of ants, which are more 
abundant in dry than in wet places, and in fair than in rainy seasons. 
Early in June several half-grown " bud- worms" were collected on Indian corn and 
transferred to cotton-plants with a view to watching their actions Care was taken 
to place them upon plants on which there were no ants. Seating myself beside them, 
I awaited developments. At first they evinced no desire to do more than conceal 
themselves beneath the leaves from the glare of the sun. But it was not long before 
a stray ant appeared on the plant, and, finding the larva, proceeded to run round and 
round it, biting it whenever it could. 
Soon, however, finding that unaided it could do little, the ant left the plant, and, 
after watching it a short time, I lost sight of it ; but in a few minutes it returned ac- 
companied by several others of the same species. In a little while the worm was so 
worried that it fell from the plant, and was soon killed and carried off by its torment- 
ors, which followed it to the ground. 
Several times I saw this repeated, the Boll Worm being killed in each case within an 
hour after the time when they were placed on the cotton. The black ant was also 
seen to kill these larva) upon several occasions, and once or t wice when the worms had 
not been interfered with by me. 
The truth of the matter probably is that certain species of ants de- 
vour the eggs and young of the Boll Worm, as well as an occasional 
lull-grown specimen with the same avidity that they do Aletia. 
