AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 
88 
outside corner of the wing-cases to the posterior edge, forming a 
dividing mark somewhat shaped like the letter X. 
the centrinus perscillus. 
(Denoted by PI. VII. fig. ?,) about three-twentieths of an inch in 
ength, of a greyish color, with a rather long, curved rostrum, or but, 
vas^ found in the terminal shoots, as well as in the blossom , but I 
could not perceive that in any way it injured the plant. I have also 
seen very young boll-worms in the terminal shoots, but, upon exami- 
nation, i have generally found the egg deposited upon the outer calyx 
of a young bud or boll, the parenchyma, or tender succulent substance, 
of ■which, was mostly eaten, and the young bud pierced or its contents 
sucked or eaten out. 
INSECTS FOUND ON THE FLOWER. 
The flower of the short-staple cotton is of a yellowish-white color 
the first day of its blooming ; it then gradually assumes a pinkish 
tinge towards its outer edge ; the second day, it partiall 3 r closes, turns 
pink, and presents such an entirely different appearance that it can 
scarcely be recognised as the same flower. _ >f 
There are several insects which infest this flower, or bloom, as 
it is frequently termed, some for the sake of the nectar, or honey ; 
others for the pollen ; and a few for the corolla itself. 
THE BLISTER-FLY. 
( Cantharis strigosa.) 
Several blister-flies, or cantharides, found in Columbia, South Caro- 
lina, were seen to devour the petals of the cotton-flower. One of these 
insects is a little more than half an inch in length, (1 1. VII. fig. 
8 ) of a reddish-brown color, with the eyes and a spot on the head 
black. Two long black marks are seen on the thorax, and two longi- 
tudinal stripes, also black, on each wing-case ; the legs and antennro 
are black ; and the abdomen protrudes somewhat beyond the wing- 
cases. Some of them aro smaller than others, measuring not quite 
half an inch in length, and are of a rusty ash-grey white; others are 
of the same color, hut with two broad, longitudinal black stripes on 
the elytne. The two last mentioned vary so much in the distinctness 
of their stripes, some of them being the medium between the perfectly 
grey and the striped, that it is somewhat difficult to determine 
whether they are the same insect or not. The under-wings are 
clouded, and nearly black. . 
These insects, although they eat holes in the petals, do but little, 
if any damage to the crop ; yet, together with the chauliognathus, 
