24 REPORT UPON COTTON INSECTS. 



was one of the worst years we have ever had. The caterpillars ap- 

 peared very early in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida, earlier 

 than they had ever before been observed. In Texas, they made great 

 havoc in the coast counties, but the inland counties did not suffer so 

 much. Walker, however, and some of the surrounding counties, lost 

 from 50 to 60 per cent, of the crop. In Louisiana and Mississippi, ac- 

 cording to Dr. Harris,* the caterpillars destroyed, on the average, one- 

 third of the entire crop. The state of things in Mississippi was well 

 described by Mr. Affleck, writing, September 9, 1846, to the American 

 Agriculturist. Mr. Affleck says : 



The caterpillar, cotton-worm, cotton-moth (Noctna xylina), or chenille of the French 

 West Indies, Guiana, &c., has utterly blighted the hopes of the cotton-planter for the 

 present year, and produced most anxious fears for the future. I have heard from the 

 greater part of the cotton-growing region the news is all alike the worm has de- 

 stroyed the crop. I have no idea that any considerable portion of any State will 

 escape. * * The present year the crop is unusually backward, at least four 

 weeks later than usual. We have but just commenced picking ; usually beginning 

 about the last week in July or the first week in August. At this moment every field 

 within this region of country, say south of Vicksburg, is stripped of everything but 

 the stems, the larger branches, and a few of the first bolls, already too hard for the 

 the worms' power of mastication. The full-grown bolls not yet become hard are com- 

 pletely eaten out, a circumstance I have never heard of but once before, in 1825. The 

 fields present a most melancholy appearance ; looking from the bluff at Natches across 

 the river to those fine plantations back of Vidalia, nothing is to be seen but the brown 

 withered skeleton of the plant. 



The devastation in Alabama equalled, if indeed it did not exceed, that 

 in the States just mentioned. From nearly every part of the State it 

 is reported to have been one of the very worst years. Our correspond- 

 ent in Barbour County states that, when the leaf supply failed, the cat- 

 erpillars fairly ate the bark off the plant, a thing which has not been 

 done since. The old inhabitants even now gauge all destructive years 

 by the standard of 1846. 



In Northern Florida the damage was even greater than usual. I quote 

 from Colonel Whitner : 



It was found webbed up on the 7th of July. The second brood began to web up on 

 the 26th of that month, and, by the 20th, the part* of the field in which the worm 

 was first seen were found to be eaten out, and the fly, the worms large and small, ;uxl 

 the chrysalides were discovered at the same time, a state of things never before ob- 

 served. By the 5th of September the damage amounted to a loss of more than one- 

 half of the crop. 



It will be seen from this that only nineteen days elapsed between the 

 spinning up of two successive broods, which is certainly indicative of a 

 very quick development. The confusion of broods of which Colonel 

 Whitner speaks has always been noticeable in years when the caterpil- 

 lars have been at all abundant since that time. As the season advances 

 the confusion becomes more marked until we have them as eggs, cater- 

 pillars, chrysalides, and moths at one and the same time. 

 * Entomological Correspondence, p. 169. 



