A study was conducted in 1998 to determine the relative efficiencies of drop cloth and suction sampling methods in cotton. Sample data were recorded for ten arthropod taxa including tarnished plant bugs, big-eyed bugs, lady beetles, minute pirate bugs, nabids, lacewings, spiders, beet armyworms, and tobacco budworms and cotton bollworms (grouped as heliothines). The data indicated the drop cloth caught more insects per meter row than did suction sampling for four of the populations (lady beetles, minute pirate bugs, spiders and heliothines) as well as for total predators. No significant differences between the drop cloth and suction sampling methods were found for the other taxa sampled, but generally low numbers of these insects were present.