POWERS OF FLIGHT OF THE MOTH. 89 



One of the most remarkable things in the natural history of this in- 

 sect is the powers of flight which the moth possesses. There is no 

 reason to believe that the species can survive the winter north of the 

 cotton belt ; still, the moths have been repeatedly taken far north of the 

 limit of cotton culture ; we are, therefore, forced to conclude that these 

 moths have flown, aided perhaps by winds, from some portion of the 

 cotton belt to where they were found. Dr. Packard has taken the moth 

 on Coney Island and in Salem Harbor. Mr. Edward Burgess states 

 that it flew aboard his yacht in Boston Bay, September 9, 1873. Mr. 

 Grote informs me that it has occurred at Buffalo in September and Octo 

 ber, and that he has heard of it at Chicago, Detroit, London, Ont., 

 Albany, and New York. Professor Eiley reports it from Chicago, and 

 the letter of Mr. P. E. Hoy, already quoted, shows that it has occurred 

 at Eacine, Wis., in the autumn, repeatedly, in great numbers. It will 

 be : oted that, in all the instances in which the date of the occurrence 

 of the moths in these northern localities is given, they were found only 

 in the autumn. This confirms the conclusion that the moths cannot en- 

 dure a northern winter and that their presence in the Northern States 

 is dependent on migrations from the South. 



Dr. Hoy states that he has never found the moths at Eacine earlier 

 than the last week of August. But the fact that they occur there in so 

 great numbers as his letter indicates is very remarkable ; and what is 

 more wonderful, Dr. Hoy informs me that he has repeatedly found the 

 moth while the wings were yet soft, not quite dry ! This indicates with- 

 out doubt that the moths had just emerged from the pupa state ; and 

 that the larva has a food -plant in that locality. The numbers in which 

 they occur there strengthens, if possible, this conclusion. For it is 

 easier to suppose that a few moths have migrated to that locality each 

 year, and that it is the progeny of these moths which swarm upon the 

 melons, than it is to suppose that the insect should migrate to that 

 place year after year in swarms, while it is but rarely observed, and 

 then in small numbers, elsewhere in the Northern States. As yet we 

 have no idea what this food-plant is. The immature moths were taken 

 " in the woods at night while sugaring " ; this indicates that it is not a 

 cultivated plant ; and we venture to predict that the plant is not com- 

 mon in the Southern States ; else the larva would have been observed 

 upon it during the seasons that the cotton fields have been stripped of 

 their foliage.* 



* As Dr. Hoy did not know the larva of Aletia argillacea, I sent him specimens to 

 compare with the different larvae in his collection in order to ascertain if he had taken 

 it at Eacine. Just as this report is going to the press I receive from him a larva which 

 undoubtedly belongs to this species. Respecting it, Dr. Hoy says: "I send to-day 

 the only Wisconsin larva of the Aletia. I only received live, one of which I pre- 

 served ; 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 by Mary Deel, August 10, 1879 ; food-plant not satisfactorily 

 described j unknown to me.' " 



Since the above was written Dr. Packard notes, in the January number of the 



