When host plants of Heliothis zea (Boddie) and H. virescens (F.) were studied in a 2500-acre area near Brownsville, Texas in 1970, H. zea was found primarily on grain sorghum during the spring and on cotton during June–August. Cotton was the primary cultivated host of H. virescens , but in the spring and fall, it was also common on such uncultivated bosts as Nicotiana repanda Willd., Verbena neomexicana (Gray) Small, and Ruellia runyonii Tharp & Barkley; in addition, H. virescens was found on Aubtilon trisulcatum (Jacq.) Urban in tbe fall.