prominence, both of which belong to the moth tribe of insects, viz.,
_Alethia argillacea_ or Cotton Caterpillar, and the _Heliothis armiger_
or Cotton Boll-Caterpillar.

The operations of the former are mostly confined to devastating the
leaves and buds, while the latter confines its special attention to the
bolls which, were they allowed to ripen, would burst with cotton.

The eggs of the former, too, are laid on the under side of the upper
leaves and vast numbers are deposited. The moth flies by night, and the
eggs laid are extremely difficult to discover--indeed it takes an expert
to quickly find them.

Usually, about midsummer, the eggs are hatched in three or four days and
then comes the period for spoliation.

All that is tender is assimilated, usually the under side of the young
tender leaves found at the top of the plant.

During this stage of its existence the caterpillar moults five times and
the larva period varies somewhat according to the weather from one to
three weeks.

The chrysalis or pupa state covers from one week to four, and at last
emerges as a beautiful olive gray moth with a purplish lustre.

In about four days the female commences to lay eggs very rapidly and
will lay sometimes as many as six hundred during its life. No wonder,
then, with several generations during a season and vast numbers of
moths, that untold damages can be wrought by these particular insects in
a single season.

A number of remedies has been successfully applied in the direction of
spraying various chemical solutions, and in sowing plants which have had
the direct effect of reducing the spread of this terrible pest. Its
method of working can be seen on referring to Fig. 4.

Now the Boll-Caterpillar, though it lives much in the same way as the
Alethia, has a very different method of procedure so far as its
destructive habits are concerned.

And its fields and pastures, too, are by no means confined to one
continent, or to one kind of plant, for it attacks both the tomato and
corn plants. According to Dr. Howard, "It feeds upon peas, beans,
tobacco, pumpkin, squash, okra, and a number of garden flowering plants,
such as cultivated geranium, gladiolus, mignonette, as well as a number
of wild plants." As the name indicates, the Boll-Caterpillar makes the
boll its happy hunting-ground. The eggs are laid in the same way by the
parent moth as the Cotton Caterpillar or Alethia, and when hatched the
young powerfully jawed