REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 327 



that the writer had, with 80 plates of poisoned molasses and \'iuegar, 

 averaged 1,000 moths a. night thioiighout the season. 



The answers of eorrespondcnts to question 7(f of the 1878 eircular 

 show that this remedy has almost entirely fallen into disuse. Some 

 planters, however, still believe in its efficacy. We maj^ quote the fol- 

 lowing : 



But few efforts have been made to destroy the moths, farmers of late years chiefly 

 relyiup on poisoning the worms; however, tlie idea is gaiui'ng foothold tluit it is bet- 

 ter to try and destroy the motli and therel)y prevent the ajipearance of the worm in 

 destructive numbers. The best mode seems to be to set up lights in the field above or 

 in front of some sweet adhe.sive substance. Moths apiiear to bo attracted by all sweet 

 substances. I have seen them attracted by thousands, after the first brood had web- 

 bed up, to dried peaches that were dried on boards in the sun, and had been covered 

 up at night with boards, the moths collecting by thousands under the covering of the 

 dried peaches, hundreds being killed by a lamp in a short time. A mouse made a nest 

 with the dead moths the same night. — [J. H. Kranchor, 



Watermelons cut open and spread around with arsenic sprinkled on will kill the 

 moth. 



I used, with full effect, the arsenite of soda combined with a little vinegar and mo- 

 lasses. I did not use any intoxicating liquids, as I was fully satisfied that every moth 

 imbibing the poisoned sweet was instantly kiUed ; none of the dead ai)pearing at any 

 appreciable distance from the jians. — [AV. J. Jones. 



Little or no effort has been made. My opinion is that something should be done 

 with poisoned molasses and fires or lamps. A few nights ago I placed a cup three 

 inches in diameter, with a little molasses in it, a distance from lights and cotton 

 plants, and found six moths in it next morning, all of them cotton-caterpillar moths. 

 A year or two ago I divided an overripe watermelon and i)laced it in a similar posi- 

 tion, and by eight o'clock at night there were 50 or 75 moths feeding ou it. — [Jno. 

 Bradford, Leon County, Florida. 



The following testimony is from Dr. Anderson : 



As an instance of the effect of light and its fondness for sweets, I will mention what 

 a neighbor told me, and for which, to a great extent, I ha<l ocular demonstration. He 

 was engaged in boiling sirup from the fust of September to the last of October. His 

 yard, where the evaporating pan was, opened u])on a field of 60 or 80 acres of cotton. 

 He each morning found his pan covered with moths, and from first to last thought he 

 had emptied out one bushel of moths. Another case showing strikingly the effect of 

 lights and sweets was told me by a highly valued Texas correspondent. A neighbor of 

 his, by the use of lights and poisoned sweets, had made 1,000 bales of cotton on 1,000 

 acres, while his neighbors who had not used them had been badly damaged. 



During the season of 1878 experiments were made by Professor Smith, 

 at Tuscaloosa, Ala., in the latter part of the season, and by Professor 

 Willet and myself earlier. Concerning Professor Smith's results, we 

 quote from his letters : 



Oeiohcr 10, 1873. — Since writing to you last I have done all I could towards observ- 

 ing the liabits of the moths, experimenting with poisoned sweets, &c. As yet I have 

 not been fortunate in getting a solution by which the moths are readily killed. I have 

 tried corrosive sublimate and arsenious acid, and with them molasses and water in 

 various proportions. The solutions I have smeared upon pine trees standing in the 

 field, upon little shelves set up at jilaces in the field, and upon a dish jilaced upon a 

 stump. To one pine tree in particular the moths seemed to be attracted most strongly. 

 The shelves attracted very few comparatively. I am still engaged in these trials with 

 shallow dishes with perforated shelves, according to your suggestion, and I shall let 

 you know if I find out anything. 



Oeiohcr IG. — Since writing you last I have continued my experiments with various 

 poisoned sweets ; but, I am sorry to say, with but very poor success so far as killing 

 the moth is concerned. I have used for i^oisons arsenious acid, corrosivi* sublimate, 

 strychnia, and iiotassium cyanidi ; these I have mixed in varying proportions with 

 mm and sweetened water. The bait appears to be attractive enough and 1 see the 

 moths partaking of it, and yet no dead moths arc visible next morniug. The propor- 

 tion of rum whi(;h I have mixed with these poisons has been sometimes one-half, and 

 from that down. Of the poisons named above, the potassium cyanidi is perhaps most 

 easily soluble in the liquids used. Smearing the sweetened liquids upon the trunks 

 of trees is, according* to my experience, the best way of exposing them; I have not 

 seen many moths around the dishes set up on shelves and on stumps. I constructed a 



