274 REPORT OP THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



in his collection, and was rewarded by receiving from him a specimen 

 which was undoubtedly the larva of Aletia argillacea. Respecting it Dr. 

 Hoy said : 



I send to-day the only AVisconsin larva of the AJclia. I only received five, one of 

 which I jireserved; the other four died in my breeding-cage, as I did not know what 

 they were, and was deceived as to the plant on which they were found. This is my 

 record: "Taken in Pike Woods hy Mary Dcel, August 10, 187U; food-plant not satis- 

 factorily described ; unknown to me." 



A detailed description of the adult is appended. 

 * Alexia argillacea, Hiibner. 



$ 2 . — Color above light brown tinged with olive-green and wine color. Expanse 

 of wings one and three-sixteenths inches to one and seven-sixteenths inches (SO""™ to 

 SB""). Length of body thi-ec-sixteenths to eleven-sixteentL? inches (13'"™ to l?"""). 

 Head varies from light brown to wine color, with a small whitish tuft before. Anten- 

 nae clothed with dark- wine colored and white scales above, and short yellow hairs 

 below. Mandibles conic, light yellow, furnished at the tip with a brush of spiny 

 hairs. Labial palpi densely clothed with short stales which are white and wine color 

 mixed; second joint twice the length of the first; third joint equaling the first in 

 length but much smaller. Thorax same color as head. Anterior wings tinged with 

 wine color on the inner and middle part, shading into a light olive-green on the ex- 

 ternal portion. In some specimens the anterior wings are light olive-green through- 

 out ; in other specimens the reddish tinge is very pronounced. 



External to and in front of the central portion of the anterior wing is a conspicuous 

 black or grayish spot, composed of dark scales interspersed with Vi-hite ones. Parallel 

 to the anterior margin of the wing is a row of four minute white spots; one is sit- 

 uated at the base of the wing, one between the dark discal spot and the anterior mar- 

 gin of the wing, the other two at equal distances between these ; one or more of these 

 spots are frequently wanting, and sometimes each one is surrounded by reddish scales; 

 the anterior wing is also marked by three transverse wavy lines, of a reddish color 

 margined with white ; the inner line is one-fourth of the length of the wing from the 

 body, the second line is near the middle of the wing, and the third line is outside the 

 discal spot. Fringe white with six reddish spots ; posterior wings with basal portion 

 light, and outer part clouded ; lower surface light brownish gray ; anterior wings 

 with disk clouded and a short reddish band on the outer third of costa ; posterior 

 wings with a transverse, narrow, wavy, brown band near the middle of the wing. 

 Described from 75 specimens. 



The three crops oip woR:*rs. — l!?'otwitlistanding that there are 

 probably five or six broods of cotton- worms every year in the southern 

 and central parts of the cotton belt, it is generally believed that there 

 are only three broods. These have been designated by the planters as 

 the first, second, and third crops respectively. It is impossible to state 

 a rule by which it can be determined to what broods the three crops 

 correspond, as this differs in diiierent localities and different seasons. 

 Almost invariably the first brood of worms, and very often the second, 

 also, are so small that they eseape the notice of observers. After a 

 brood of sufficient size to be easily perceived has been developed, in 

 about two more generations a sufficient number of worms is produced 

 to strip tha cotton of its foliage. The result of this, as will be shown 

 later, is the destruction of the greater part of the worms also. The sub- 

 sequent broods are small; on this account, and because of the cotton 

 crop being destroyed, the planters lose interest in the development of 

 the worms, and the later broods are not noticed. In a word, the idea 

 of there being only tliree " crops" of worms has arisen from the fact 

 that as a rulethere are only three broods of sufficient size to be noticed 

 by the planters before the cotton crop is destroyed, or before the cotton 

 has reached a stage of maturity, after which the eating of the foliage 

 by the worms is not considered a calamity. In some instances the first 

 cro}) of worms is doubtless the second brood of the season; in some in- 

 stances it is not until the third brood is produced that the worms are 

 of sufficient numbers to be observed, and thus designated as a crop. 



