NOTES FROM TALLAHASSEE, FLA. 105 



by rain. But I am sorry to say that notwithstanding all my efforts I have failed 

 again to find Aletia, although the country here looked very promising. 



The country in the vicinity of this city is very rolling, almost hilly, and numerous 

 ponds, here called "beautiful lakes," are in the depressions; but there are no large 

 creeks or rivers here. It is not at all a "bottom-laud," but cotton is planted under 

 various conditions: on top of the hills in sandy soils, on dry "hummock land," and on 

 the edges of the ponds. The growth of the plant is here better than I have seen since 

 leaving Bayou Sara. 



The cotton-worm makes its appearance here every year in large numbers, and very 

 early in the season ; several planters are positive of having seen the worm in the lat- 

 ter part of May. In other words, here again is a district where it is more than prob- 

 able that A. argittacea is indigenous. The worms are injurious every year, as nothing 

 is done here for their destruction except some occasional attempts with Paris green. 

 The damage is never uniformly distributed, owing doubtless to the nature of the coun- 

 try. In 1878 the worms injured only the cotton on the lower fields, but from contra- 

 dictory statements I find it impossible to give the exact amount of damage done. 

 When the owner of a field says that in 1878 the worms destroyed his entire cotton crop, 

 and his neighbor, speaking of the same field, asserts that the worms did but little 

 harm, it is rather difficult to find out the truth. However, it is certain that in 1878 they 

 had here a fair crop, amounting in average from three-fourths of a bale to one bale per 

 acre. v 



This locality is most promising for the purpose of hunting A. argillacea ; as, with the 

 exception of a few large hammocks, hiding places for hibernation are not so abundant 

 as in the other southernmost cotton districts which I have visited. Induced by my 

 previous failure to find the imago of A. argillacea, and influenced somewhat by Dr. 

 Anderson's assertion that four pupae had survived the cold weather of December, I 

 spent considerable time in looking for pupse in places where they might have found 

 accidental shelter. Such places are the gin-houses, and when the cotton fields run on 

 a half-cleared hammock where numerous fallen leaves have accumulated. But all 

 the pupae found in such places were unfortunately either empty or frozen, and I did 

 not even find parasites, although I found several pupae from which the parasites had 

 escaped. A number of eggs (I send them with this) which I found during a most 

 careful examination of a gin-house do not appear to be those of Aletia. As at this 

 season there is much plowing going on, I had ample opportunity to convince myself 

 that no pupae are in the ground. I offered a prize of five cents for each pupa brought to 

 me, and received eight. All, however, were killed by the frost, and it is certain that 

 not a single pupa of the number was found in the ground. One negro brought me a 

 large Attacus pupa as the "web" of the cotton-worm, and wished ten cents for it on 

 account of its size. 



The few hammocks in the vicinity of Tallahassee are quite large, and, of course, are 

 full of very tall, old trees, and a thorough exploration of them is out of the question. 



From Tallahassee Mr. Schwarz proceeded to Savannah, Ga., via 

 Gainesville, Fla. In the latter place he found no trace of the cotton- 

 moth. While at Savannah he visited Saint Simon's, one of the Sea 

 Islands. Concerning the results he states : 



I am sorry to say that I have failed again to find any trace of Aletia argillacea, 

 although these Sea Islands are most favorable for an investigation. The woods, half 

 hammock and half pine woods, peculiar to the islands, are very open, and hollow trees, 

 &e., are comparatively scarce. 



From Savannah Mr. Schwarz took steamer to the Bahamas; and as an 

 account of the results of this trip are given in Appendix I, further quo- 

 tations from letters will be unnecessary. 



In considering the results of Mr. Schwarz's observations, it should be 



