Adult pink bollworms,Pectinophora gossypiella(Saunders), that emerged from hibernation before small squares were on the cotton plant (21 days before blooming) usually failed to produce any progeny in field cage tests. Thus all emergence up to this time may be considered suicidal. Rate of reproduction by overwintered moths ranged from<1- to 9.4-fold depending on temperature and stage of fruiting on the plants at the time of moth emergence. High temperatures (42°C or more) for the 4 days immediately after emergence greatly reduced reproduction. In the field cages, the rate of reproduction of laboratory-reared moths was ca. 1/10 that of native overwintered moths. Partially sterile moths (irradiated as newly emerged adults with 10 krad of∞Co gamma rays) did not produce any progeny in field cages.