THE WOKK OF 1879. 7 



edge among the people of the South regarding the real habits of the cotton-worm, and 

 I find that the opinions of the most observant are seldom founded on intelligent ob- 

 servation; and that such opinions are consequently of little value. This state of 

 things is due to three evident causes : First, the general unhealthiness of the region 

 in which the insect does most damage, and the intense heat that prevails during the 

 months when most of the observations must be made ; secojid, the fact that the culture 

 of the crop is turned over to uneducated and unobserviug negroes ; third, the failure 

 to discriminate between the cotton-worm and the Boll-worm (Heliothis armigera) in 

 their later stages, and the natural difficulty that besets the solution of some of th e 

 questions, such as the winter habits of the Aletia. 



It had often been a wonder to me that no true parasite had ever been found infest- 

 ing this insect since there scarcely exists a plant-feeding species that is not attacked 

 by some parasite. No less than nine distinct species of these parasites have been dis- 

 covered on the cotton-worm this summer, and this fact has an important bearing oil 

 several of the knotty questions that present themselves in our inquiry. Again, I had 

 wondered what plants the moth naturally fed from, since it was known to be fond 

 of sweets, and had, to my knowledge, done considerable injury by boring into various 

 ripe fruits. The cotton plant is peculiar for having a gland on the under side of from 

 one to three ribs of the more mature leaves, and a still larger gland at the outer base 

 of the three lobes of the involucre. As soon as I learned that these glands secreted a 

 sweetened liquid, I inferred that the plant would be found to furnish nourishment to 

 the moth as well as to the larva, and drew attention to this belief in the Atlanta, Ga., 

 Constitution, of September 8, 1878. It was with no small degree of pleasure that at 

 Baconton subsequently, in company with Professors Comstock and Willett, I was able 

 to prove my anticipation correct, by studying the normal habits of the moth with a 

 dark -lantern at night. The moth is, therefore, attracted to the plant by the sweets 

 which this last affords, and as these sweets are first produced when the plant begins to 

 flower and fruit, we have here a possible explanation of the well-known fact that the 

 worm is seldom noticed on the young plant till about the time of fruiting. We have 



so discovered that the moth feeds on the honey copiously secreted from glands oc- 

 curring at the apex of the peduncle just above the pods of the cow-pea (Dolyclios), ex- 

 tensively grown through the South as a forage plant ; also on the sweet exudation 

 from the flowers of Paspalum Iceve, a tolerably common grass. It is by taking advan- 

 tage of this love for sweets which the moth possesses that we shall probably arrive at 

 one of the most effectual ways of preventing the ravages of the worm, for if we can 

 allure the first moths of the season to certain death, we nip the evil in the bud. 



Upon the 1st of May, 1879, Professor Biley's resignation taking effect 

 at that date, I was placed by you in charge of the Entomological Division. 

 The printing of a report upon the investigation had just been ordered. 

 Two months of the fiscal year yet remained ; and my first step was to 

 secure the appointment of Mr. William Trelease, of Brooklyn, N". Y., as 

 a special agent. Mr. Trelease was instructed to proceed to the cane- 

 brake region of Alabama, in order to make and report observations upon 

 the first appearance of the worms, and upon several points respecting 

 which there was doubt. 



Upon reviewing the material which was at hand for the report it was 

 found to consist chiefly of biological, statistical, and chronological data ; 

 but little work had been done as yet upon experiments with remedies, 

 it having been Professor Kiley's plan to leave the practical part of the 

 investigation for the season of 1879. It was therefore deemed advisable 

 that Mr. Trelease should be kept in the field until the appearance of the 



