PEEFACE. 11 



certain class of collectors who " covet " specimens 

 it never becomes a rational employment, although, 

 by the constant acquisition and sale of material, it 

 may be made a lucrative one. As indulged in by 

 such persons it loses much of its refining influences 

 and educational value, and becomes merely the 

 opportunity for the display of human passions and 

 idiosyncracies. 



Among the different species of Noctuida3 which 

 I have watched from the egg to the moth-stage is 

 Aletia Argillacea of Hiibner, the " Cotton- Worm " 

 of the Southern States. As this species has inter- 

 ested me for many years, I give my observations 

 upon it from the Alabama Geological R-eport, and 

 they will apply, generally, to the mode of develop- 

 ment in the family Noctuidse. The cotton-worm 

 is, in its earliest stage, a fertilized egg, which is de- 

 posited by the female moth on the leaf of the cotton- 

 plant. Within this egg, which is so small as not 

 to be readily perceived, the growth of the young 

 " worm " rapidly proceeds, until in a few days it is 

 large enough to commence its free existence, and 

 escapes by eating its way through the " shell." If 

 we now examine this worm or larva, we find that 

 the body is made up of successive rings. The first 

 three of these " rings " or segments, behind the head, 

 bear each a pair of horny, jointed legs, six in all, 

 armed Avith bristles and terminating in a claw. If 

 we compare the cotton-worm, in this stage, with 

 the common rain- or earth-worm, for instance, we 

 see that it differs by possessing these jointed legs, 

 although the bodies of the two animals are alike in 



