Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1911-10-11
THE PEST NOT ARMY WORMS
JAS. II. Rice Thinks 1t Leaf Caterpil.
lar--COnradi to Make Report.
columbia State

\Soluhuld oldlc.J
That the pest now doing great
damage to South Carolina cotton is
not the feared "army worm," as is
generally believed, but the cotton
leaf caterpillar (argillacea Alabama),
is the statement made by James II.
Rice, Jr., State game warden, and
an authority on the fcuna of South
Carolina. Mr., Rice explains that the
cotton leaf caterpillar has for years
extracted its toll from the cotton
fields of America and uses the de-
vastation at this time as hint to
the people of the necessity Of pre-
serving the insect-eating birds of the
State.
Mr.. Rice's letter to the State is as
follows
"The caterpillar now damaging
cotton In the State is not heliophila
unipuncta (the army worm), but the
cotton leaf caterpillar (argillacea
Alabama), pest that has taken toll
of cotton ever since it was planted in
America, the damage running from
SIS, 100000 to $50,OO0,O0O year,
and even higher in exceptional years.
They are very different insects,
although moths are the parents of
both.
In the first place the army worm
belongs to the same family as the
boil worm (heliothis obsoleta), and
the common cutwOrm epsilon agro-
tis). They live in low wet places
and certain years when they become
too numerous they are forced to
migrate in search of food; 1t is then
they become a menace A line Of
army worms crossed South Carolina
in 1852, causing widespread dam
age; mammoth host swung across
Alabama in 1881, which was "A
miles in length. This latter was
stopped by being parastized by the
tiny Chalcis fly, the flies shooting
eggs into the bodies of the caterpil-
lars and the eggs Matching in two
days maggot that destroyed the
caterpillar. Something similar hap
pened on the sea islands two years
ago.
"The cotton leaf caterpillar Is
grayish with tiny hairs over the
body; dark stripes run along the
sides. The moth is brownish, some
times whitish, and there are roundly
about 1000 eggs to the female, with
from two to three generations annu-
ally. They sometimes migrate in
vast swarms.
"Nighthawks or bullbats eat guam
titles of the moths In the late even
ings, as do whipporwills. screech
owls and chuck-wills- widows at
night. 1t is not uncommon to find
more than SO of these moths in a
nighthawk's stomach-all of which
are females, from which one can
form a vivid idea of the value of the
nighthawk.
Robins eat quantities of the pu-
pids in winter, tearing open the cases
to get at them
THE present outbreak Of the cot
ton leaf caterpillar is one of the
many instances to which called at
tention last winter before commit
tee of the General Assembly, warning
them that before the boil weevil ar
rived there would be insect outbreaks
that would jar the teeth in their
heads.
'They will remember that, whe-
ther they are prepared to own it or
not, and for the present that much
is sufficient.
"The pine-bark beetle is another
red-hot reminder of the necessity Of
saving the insect-eating birds.
"How many more object lessons
does the General Assembly need?
Meantime the farmer-he pays the
freight"
COnradi to Present Report.
Prof. A. T.. Conradi, State entomol-
ogist. with headquarters at Clemson
College, will within the next few
days prepare report telling the
probable effect the ravages Of the
caterpillar will have on the cotton
crop next year.