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 caterpillar makes its way to the newly-formed boll, and applying itself vigorously, very soon gains an entrance. Here it rests for a time, eating away at the best it can find. It ultimately emerges and is transformed into the pupa, taking up its quarters in the ground, until the next change takes place, when in a week or two's time it appears as a moth much the same in size as its cousin the Alethia, but coloured ochre yellow to dull olive-green and being more varied in its markings. It will lay during one season about 500 eggs.
Many remedies have been applied for the extirpation of this particular insect, but these only seem to have met with partial success. It will readily be seen how much more difficult this pest is to deal with than the preceding one. Living as it does in the boll and in the ground for a great part of its existence, it will be exceedingly difficult to get at.
In Mexico what is known as the Cotton-Boll Weevil (_Anthonomus grundis_) appears to do great mischief to the Cotton plant. It does most damage during the larvæ stage, eating up the tender portions of the boll while in residence here. When matured it is only a little under half an inch in length.