DISAPPEARANCE OF THE LAST BROOD. 93 



and young mulberries. The latter seems a favorite ; nearly all the leaves of half a 

 dozen young mulberry plants are rolled up by the worms . A few worms of the 

 present brood I have found webbed up in the cracks of the bark of old field pines 

 standing in the field. Most that I have seen have been on the east, north, and west 

 sides ; have seen none on the south side of the trees. The greater part of the present 

 brood, however, are webbing up in any leaves that they encounter, grass leaves ex- 

 cepted. 



The web made by the present brood of worms is sin\ply a leaf rolled once and bound 

 together by the silk. In the case of those worms webbing up in the crevices of pine 

 bark, a thin gauze of silk was all that protected them. Through this web the worm can 

 easily be seen. Thus far, I see no tendency on the part of the worms to make a denser 

 cocoon than those of the preceding brood. I have noticed the moths occasionally fly 

 up from a mass of sweet-potato vines, among which Cassia obtusifolia and C. occidentals 

 were growing. Perhaps the glands on the leaf stalks of these two species may have 

 offered some attraction, though I have not seen any moth upon the plants. In some 

 old stumps in my field I have not yet found any chrysalides, nor have I noticed any 

 in the ground. 



OCTOBER 16. 



As I wrote you October 10 the caterpillars were then moving about in search of , 

 food, the cotton leaves being nearly all eaten up. After about two days only a few 

 worms were to be seen, the greater part having disappeared, or webbed up in all sorts 

 of leaves, in the crevices of bark of pine trees, and, in one instance, in the mosquito- 

 netting in one of the rooms in my house. 



After the great majority of the worms had left the plants a few might be seen for 

 several days, eating the cotton boll or stretched at length along the petiole or one of 

 the ribs of a denuded leaf. These stragglers would eat into large bolls (nearly full 

 grown). Since day before yesterday, October 14, 1 have not noticed any worms in the 

 field. The leaves were about all eaten up by the 10th or llth, so that the worms were 

 noticed only a few days afterwards, and then only as stragglers from the main army 

 of worms, which had gone in search of food or had webbed up. I saw no worm eating 

 anything except the leaves and bolls and young buds of the cotton plant. 



OCTOBER 21. 



On last Friday night we had some frost, and for the past three nights I have not 

 noticed any of the cotton moths at my baited trees; but there is another moth which 

 comes, whether the weather be cokl or warm. I have a few chrysalides under a glass 

 shade ; several moths have come from them since the cool weather set in, and I expect 

 to see quite a number of the moths yet from the last brood of worms which webbed up 

 after they had eaten up all of the cotton leaves. 



OCTOBER 26. 



Since last writing we have had two or three heavy white frosts, viz, on the nights of the 

 22d, 23d, and 24th. On these nights I saw no moths, except one or two species of which I 

 wrote last week. I do not know their names, but they are not Aletia. On the morn- 

 ing of the 23d three moths came from the chrysalides which I have under a glass shade, 

 on a shelf on my porch exposed to the weather. The moths were benumbed with cold 

 and apparently dead ; but they all revived after being brought into a warm room. I 

 turned them loose next day when it was warm and pleasant. Last night the ther- 

 mometer stood out-doors at 60 F., and on visiting my baited trees I found several of 

 the cotton moths there. They seem to lie up during the cold spells and to come out 

 when the weather moderates. I have in mind always to find out, if possible, whethor 

 the chrysalides are formed in the ground. I have found many on the ground, but 

 they had evidently dropped from The plants after having webbed up there ; other 

 worms having eaten away the leaves which sustained them. There are hundreds and 

 perhaps thousands of chrysalides of the last brood of worms, webbed up in the leaves 



