98 REPORT UPON COTTON INSECTS. 



The extracts are from the answers to the question, "Date when the first 

 worms have been noticed in your locality I " 



In 1875, they appeared the 8th of May; 1876, 1st June. [J. H. Krancher, Millheim, 

 Austin County, Texas.] 



Worms were seen in 1873 in May. [H. Hawkins, Hawkinsville, Barbour County, 

 Alabama.] 



I have seen a well-developed caterpillar eating the cotton when I was putting it to 

 stand in May, but the appearance then was no sign that they destroyed the crop ear- 

 lier than usual ; did not propogate or do any harm until the season of the year usual, 

 from June on. [A. Jay, Jaysville, Conecuh County, Alabama.] 



Late in May or early in June. [C. C. Howard, Autaugaville, Autauga County, 

 Alabama. ] 



In 1873. I saw them as early as 20th of May. [R. S. Williams, Mount Meigs, Mont- 

 gomery County, Alabama.] 



The first appearance of the worms is difficult to ascertain, from the fact that they 

 are so few at first and scattered over so large an area of cotton fields. The negroes 

 who mostly cultivate these fields say that the first worms appear sooner than we 

 imagine (say some time in May). Our own observation is that the eggs of the moth 

 are deposited when the cotton begins to bloom ; and this is later some years than 

 others. The average time is the first week in June on the earliest cotton stalks. 

 [Dr. John Peurifoy, Mount Meigs, Montgomery County, Alabama.] 



Early in May, 1868, I found several worms in different localities. [P. T. Graves, 

 Bnrkville, Lowndes County, Alabama. ] 



On swamp land, May 31, 1877. [J. H. Smith and J. F. Calhoun, Minter, Dallas 

 County, Alabama.] 



May 12. J. A. Callaway, Snowdown, Montgomery County, Alabama. 



The first worms that I have ever known were reported as early as May 1. [R. W. 

 Russell, Lowndesborough, Lowndes County, Alabama. 



I think there is a pretty good brood hatched out in May and early in June that 

 would destroy the crop but for the plowing that shakes them off the stalks and covers 

 them with earth. [ J. W. Burke, Faye.tte, Jefferson County, Mississippi. 



May, June, July, August. [D. L. Phares, Woodville, Wilkinson County, Missis- 

 sippi. 



I have had my neighbors tell me that they found the genuine army worm on the 

 young cotton plants when working them for the first time scraping and chopping 

 out, but I cannot say that I have seen any so early myself. These persons were reli- 

 .able and I have governed myself in planting by what they reported to me. [Douglass 

 M. Hamilton, Saint Francisville, West Feliciana County, Louisiana. ] 



Last of May on my place ; have heard of them in other localities sooner. [Wm. A. 

 Harris, Isabella, Worth County, Georgia. 



1869; May 12, 1873; May 24, 1877; June 19, 1878; June 15. [Robert Gamble, Talla- 

 hassee, Leon Connty, Florida. 



Sometimes as early as May. [J. D. Driesbach, Tensaw, Baldwin County, Alabama. 



The 17th of May, 1874. [P. D. Bowles, Evergreen, Conecuh County, Alabama. 



Thus we see that there is not as long an interval between the disap- 

 pearance of the last brood in the fall and the appearance of the first 

 brood in the spring as there has been supposed to be. In fact the inter- 

 val is as short as possible ; for the moths oviposit on the cotton as soon 

 as there is sufficient food for the Iarva3. The first larva found by Mr. 

 Ttelease this season had consumed several plants. 



A topic of scarcely less interest than the date at which the cotton-worms 

 first appear is th e localities in which the first brood occurs. Every planter 



