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thirty days, -wliicli has also been corroborated by others. A caterpillar hatched 

 from the egg, under my own inspection, however, passed twenty days before 

 webbing up; but as it had been kept in confinement in a cold room, most prob- 

 ably the growth was not so rapid as it would have been in the open air and ex- 

 posed to the warmth of the sun. The skin was shed five times during the period 

 of its growth, and on the twentieth day the caterpillar began its web. 



In a very interesting communication from Mr. E. N. Fuller, of Edisto island, 

 South Carolina, he describes the depredations of the caterpillar in his neighbor- 

 hood as follows : 



" In 1840 I discovered their ravages, confined to the luxuriant portions of tlie fields, near 

 the sea-coast of this island. The larvse were destroyed in the latter part of September. In 

 1843 they were first heard of by the 1st of September, when their ravages, limited as in 1840, 

 were quite perceptible at some distance. A frost on the 18th of that month probably de- 

 stroyed them. In 184G they appeared on the 20th of July, and by the 10th of September I 

 suppose there was scarcely a cotton leaf or any tender portion of the plants remaining, and 

 the worms not fully grown deserted the ravaged fields in millions in search of food, failing 

 to find which they died from starvation. The crop of this island was about 40 per cent, of an 

 average one. In 1849 the caterpillars made their first appearance on the 2"2d of August ; 

 their ravages this year, being confined to the low spots, caused no injury of moment. In 

 1852 they were found on the 10th of August about forty miles to the southward, and on this 

 island about the 20th of the same month. They disappeared here, however, without doing 

 injury. 



"Thus they have appeared at regular intervals of three years. In 1855, when they were 

 again looked for, an intense drought from the early part of July was sufiicient to prevent 

 their increase had they made their appearance. The old planters say that in 1S04 and in 

 1825 they appeared as in 184G ; that is, in periods of twenty-one years. 



"As near as I can judge, not having made any record, the length of time from the hatch- 

 ing of the egg to the chrysalis is twelve days ; remaining four days in the chrysalis state, and 

 six days more to the hatching of the egg. This seems to be the case in a season of moisture 

 and beat, without which their progress would probably be more slow." 



Among the many remedies recommended for this fly, or moth, fires and lights 

 in the fields have been highly spoken of as attracting and destroying them. But 

 even this may have its disadvantages, as Colonel Whitner, who has tried it, 

 states that " it attracts the flies from other plantations, althoiigh multi- 

 tudes of moths perished in the flames." An article likewise appeared in some 

 of the southern papers, not long since, recommending white cotton flags about 

 a yard square to be placed in the field, by which the moths are attracted, and 

 upon which they deposit their eggs. 



It is very doubtful, however, whether this plan will prove of any practical 

 utility, as it is not probable that the natural instinct of the moths would lead 

 them to select these flags as proper places to deposit their eggs, in preference to 

 the green leaves of the cotton plant, which forms the food of the young worms. 



Plates similar to those recommended for the boU-wurm have also been used 

 with partial success. But to destroy this pest it will be necessary to ascertain 

 exactly the date of the appearance of the first moths, and then to exterminate 

 them in the best manner, and as quickly as possible. Or, as, when the cater- 

 pillars make their first appearance, a few plants, merely, on certain spots are 

 infested by them, it would be well to cut down and destroy both plants and 

 worms in such portions of the field before the insects complete their transforma- 

 tions and the moths are ready to deposit their eggs throughout the whole neigh- 

 borhood. Could not some favorite aliment be found on which the moth prefers 

 to feed, as in the case of the tobacco-fly, and then poison them with some effect- 

 ive agent ? This would at once rid the fields of the first broods of moths, the 

 progeny of -which, in the second and third generations, might devastate half the 

 fertile plantations of the south. 



