The many advantages provided by early crop maturity, such as lower late-season insect control costs and reduced losses in fiber (quality and yield from exposure to inclement weather, has made it a priority in many cotton breeding programs (Sprott et al. 1976). Unfortunately, the considerable benefits of earliness are often lost due to the effects of a key pest of cotton in Texas and parts of the South, the cotton fleahopper (Pseudatomoscelis seriatus Reuter). This insect causes yield reductions by destroying small squares early in the growing season. In addition to fruit loss, fleahopper damage also leads to delayed crop maturity and thus increases the vulnerability of cotton to late season pests such as Heliothis spp. and the boll weevil, particularly when their natural enemies are destroyed by insecticides directed against the fleahopper (Adkisson 1970).