429 



in flower pots and placed in a large closed case, in a leafless condition, so 

 tLat no other insects could intrude. Three other perfectly healthy vines 

 from our own greenhouses were then planted, on which there were 

 neither leaves nor root-gall-lice, and placed in juxtaposition with the un- 

 healthy vines. These were tended carefully during the summer, put out 

 foliage, and finally all died, with the exception of one vine, apparently 

 from the Phylloxera. During all the time the experiment was carried 

 on, the foliage was examined day by day to see if any leaf-gall-lice 

 made their appearance on the foliage, but not the least sign of 

 a gall coidd be found, even with a magnifier, on any of the vines, which 

 grew finely until late in summer or early autumn, and put out abundant 

 foliage. 



The present month, (October,) the vines having lost their foliage, the 

 whole six were examined, and the roots were found swollen, as if from 

 the effects of the root-lice, but not a single leaf-gall had been produced 

 on any of the leaves. We cannot give the names of the vines, as acci- 

 dentally the labels were thrown away by the laborer when he removed 

 the dead vines in order to have them and the earth in which they 

 were grown thrown into the furnace, as is always done when noxious 

 insects are discovered, for fear of dissemination of new injurious insects. 



It is also to be remarked that the grape-vines in the immediate neigh- 

 borhood of the infested plants, in the Department grapery-, which were 

 mentioned in a previous report, do not show the least symptom of 

 disease, and appear in a perfectl}' healthy condition. 



As, although this experiment was carefully conducted, there may have 

 been some climatic or other cause which prevented the leaf- galls from 

 making their appearance, from the root gall-lice known to be there, 

 as it is stated they are identical, we shall repeat the experiment next 

 year on a larger scale and make the results known to the public. 



The cotton-worm. — A question having arisen as to whether the 

 cctton arm^'-worm, Anomis xylince, {Aletia Argillasea, of Hnhner,) passes 

 the winter in the egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, or moth state. Prof. A. 

 E. Grote, of Buffalo, at the meeting of the American Association for 

 the Advancement of Science, held at Hartford, in August last, read a 

 very able essay on the subject, in which he stated that he had observed 

 the cotton-worm during five seasons in Central Alabama, and on many 

 different plantations. He states that the earliest period at which he had 

 cbserved the young worms was the last week in June, and that their 

 appearance was always heralded by the perfect fly, the latter coming to 

 lights in houses at least a week before the worm appeared in the fields ; 

 and that the worm is always heard of first to the southward of any given 

 locality. It comes as an army from the south, and the broods arrive 

 consecutively, as long as the season lasts, and that this southern army 

 is killed by the advancing winter and the death of the food-plant — the 

 cotton-plant — on which it feeds exclusively, refusing to eat anything 

 else ', and that the specimens of the fly taken in the Northern States 

 have merely followed the water -courses, as the moths are cai)able of 

 extended flights; and that it originates at the south, and its appearance 

 is due m every instance to a fresh immigration (of the moths) from more 

 southern regions, nay, even farther. Professor Grote concludes that 

 ^' the insect is not indigenous with us, but is an annual ; not a denizen, but 

 a visitant, unable to contend with the variations of our climate; and he 

 believes that the process of artificial extermination may be simplified by 

 limiting the period of successfid attack, and doing away with certain 

 proposed remedies. The agent of destruction must be directed against 



