Several field studies have indicated that cotton fleahoppers (Pseudatomoscelis seriatus Reuter) prefer some wild host plants to cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.). The relative attractiveness of volatiles from selected wild plants to adult cotton fleahoppers was determined in a series of two-choice olfactometer bioassays. Fleahoppers were attracted by volatiles from each of three flowering wild plants - false ragweed (Parthenium hysterophorus L.), wooly croton (Croton capitatus Michx.), and horsemint (Monarda punctata L.) - in preference to volatiles from squaring cotton. Odors of false ragweed were preferred to those of wooly croton and horsemint which were comparable in attractiveness. Revolatilized chemical compounds, collected from the head-space volatiles of each of the three wild plants tested, retained their attractiveness. These results indicate there is good potential for successful isolation and identification of the preferred attractants, and the subsequent development of synthetic mimic attractants that may be useful in the development of new attractant-based biorational management techniques for cotton fleahoppers.