280 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OP AGRICULTURE. 



their bark, and about certain pbeds near this village — Washington, Miss. The weather 

 was and had been nuHeasonably warm. A few cool d'ays followed, during which I could 

 not find a single moth. But again, on the 27th or 2Sth of the same month, I saw them 

 in equal numbers." I leave it to naturalists to say whether or no this settles the ques- 

 tion of hibernation. It is positive evidence, so far as it goes. Whether they continued, 

 to exist until the cotton plant was large enough to support their progeny I cannot say; 

 nor could I satisfy myself as to where they found shelter. 



Equally interesting are the observations of Mr. John P. Humphreys, 

 late naturalist and entomologist to the State department of agriculture 

 of Georgia, who says in a letter which we recently received from him : 



Ist. That it Mhernates in the chrysalis state. — This may be true of other "cut- worms" 

 (which in some cases I doubt, while in others I know), but there is not the slightest 

 warrant for any such supposition in the history of A. argillacea, Hiibn. This question 

 I have subjected to the most crucial test, selecting 3,200 larvae and noting their change 

 into the pupa state. I planted them in detached groups (as chrysalids), tinder dif- 

 ferent soils, and at different depths (the latter to do away with cavilings). Some I 

 E laced just beyond the frost-line, others at the line, and, again, others just above the 

 ne. (Was there ever a chrysalid foolish enough, when forced to bury itself under 

 terra firma, to leave its work of protection half-way done?) In every instance the pupa- 

 tion under ground was a failure. You well know how bewildered an ant becomes when 

 its antennse are removed; just so with A. argillacea when the chrysalis is entombed. 

 I am giving you general outlines, which, I am sure, will appear plausible to j'ou as an 

 insect physiologist. Two of these moths (preserved in my cabinet) did actually bur- 

 row upwards from a depth of three inches, in soil that was quite loose and not com- 

 pacted by the cold and the winds of winter (to say nothing of accidental pressure), 

 and their wings were so much mutilated by their escape as to serve them no longer aa 

 instruments of flight. These experiments, repeated over and over, have proven to me 

 the impossibility of anything bordering upon a general pupation of A. argillacea under 

 ground. 



2d. That it Mhernates as a moth. — This is overwhelmingly true. Not under the leaf- 

 less stalks of cotton, nor under the clods of dirt and rocks about them, but beneath 

 the scales of pine trees in neighboring forests, in cotton-gin houses and elsewhere 

 (particularly in the first-named), have I found the A. argillacea in numbers from De- 

 cember until May, wings perfect, no scale abrasions, and agility equal to that of any 

 brood. I have found the moth in iron concretions not far from Cuthbert (Randolph 

 County, Georgia), in the vicinity of Burgess Mills. This curious contrast you may 

 note en passant : while the first broods (May to Juno 16) invariably appear first in the 

 hamraock-growth-bordered plantations, the moths of the last brood are found in mid- 

 winter principally amid the pine growths. On this point, however, I have no space 

 to elaborate. Your own reasoning will be as good aa that of any one else. 



In another letter Mr. Humphreys states : 



I found the moth (A. argillacea, Hiibn.) hibernating on Saint Simon's Island, Geor- 

 gia, February, 1876, and near Brunswick at the same time. I also found it in Ran- 

 dolph County, Georgia, November 8, 1876. The hibernating moth has been seen in 

 barns and cotton-gin sheds from November to May, in the counties along Chatta- 

 Jioochie River, Decatur, Early, Clay, and in Thomas, Brooks, Lowndes, on the Glynn 

 (Atlantic) coast. 



And Professor Grote himself, in the paper in which he proposes the 

 theory of migrations, says : 



The last brood of worms changed into chrysalids in myriads on the leafless stems, 

 clinging by their few threads as'best they might, and disclosed the moth in the face 

 of the frost, many of the chrysalids perishing. Afterwards, on sunny winter days, I 

 have noticed the live moth about gin-houses and fodder-stacks, or the negro quarters. 



Professor Grote adds : " Was this a true hibernation, or merely an 

 accidental survival *? The locality and the condition seem to me alike 

 artificial." It appears to us that just the conditions described may be 

 found on any plantation in the South, and that a few " accidental sur- 

 vivals " are all that is necessary to perpetuate the species in any locality. 

 It has often been urged, by those who believe that the presence of the 

 cotton- worm in our country is dependent upon the immigration of moths 

 from other countries, that, did the species hibernate in our territory, 

 the moths would be seen early in the spring. We believe that the only 



