FACTS ON HIBERNATION. 107 



warrant for any such supposition iu the history of A. argillacea Hiibn. This question I 

 have subjected to the most crucial test, selecting 3,200 larvae and noting their change 

 into the pupa state. I planted them in detached groups (as chrysalids), under dift'er- 

 ent soils, and at different depths (the latter to do away with cavilings). Some I 

 placed just beyond the frost-line, others at the line, and, again, others just above the 

 line. (Was there ever a chrysalid foolish enough, when forced to bury itself under 

 terra Jirma, to leave its work of protection half-way done!) In every instance the pupa- 

 tion under ground was a failure. You well know how bewildered an ant becomes 

 when its antennae are removed ; just so with A. argillacea when the chrysalis is en- 

 tombed. I am giving you general outlines, which, I am sure will appear plausible to 

 yon as an insect physiologist. Two of these moths (preserved in my cabinet) did 

 actually burrow upwards from a depth of three inches, in soil that was quite loose and 

 not compacted by the cold and the winds of winter (to say nothing of accidental pres- 

 sure), and their wings were so much mutilated by their escape as to serve them no 

 longer as instruments of flight. These experiments, repeated over and over, have proven 

 to me the impossibility of anything bordering upon a general pupation of A. argillacea 

 under ground. 



2d. That it hibernates as a moth. This is overwhelmingly true. Not under the leaf- 

 less stalks of cotton, nor under the clods of dirt and rocks about them, but beneath 

 the scales of pine trees in neighboring forests, in cotton-gin houses and elsewhere 

 (particularly in the first-named), have I found the A. argillacea in numbers from 

 December until May, wings perfect, no scale abrasions, and agility equal to that of 

 any brood. I have found the moth in iron concretions not far from Cuthbert (Ran- 

 dolph County, Georgia), in the vicinity of Burgess Mills. This" curious contrast you 

 may note en passant, while the first broods (May to June 16) invariably appear first in 

 the hammock-growth bordered plantations, the moths of the last brood are found in 

 midwinter principally amid the pine growths. On this point, however, I have no 

 space to elaborate. Your own reasoning will be as good as any one else. 



Iu another letter Mr. Humphreys states : 



I found the moth (A. argillacea Hiibu) hibernating on Saint Simon's Island, Georgia, 

 February, 1876, and near Brunswick at the same time. I also found it in Randolph 

 County, Georgia, November 8, 1876. The hibernating moth has been seen in barns 

 and cotton-gin sheds from November to May, in the counties along Chattahoochie 

 River, Decatur, Early, Clay, and in Thomas, Brooks, Lowndes, ontheGlyun (Atlantic) 

 coast. 



And Professor Grote himself, in the paper in which he proposes the 

 theory of migrations, says : 



The last brood of worms changed into chrysalids in myriads on the leafless stems, 

 clinging by their few threads as best they might, and disclosed the moth in the face 

 of the frost, many of the chrysalids perishing. Afterwards, on sunny winter days, I 

 have noticed the live moth about gin-houses and fodder-stacks, or the negro quarters. 



Professor Grote adds : " Was this a true hibernation, or merely au 

 accidental survival ? The locality and the condition seem to me ..alike 

 artificial." It appears to us that just the conditions described may be 

 found on any plantation in the South, and that a few "accidental sur- 

 vivals" are all that is necessary to perpetuate the species in any locality. 

 It has often been urged, by those who believe that the presence of the 

 cotton-worm in our country is dependent upon the immigration of moths 

 from other countries, that, did the species hibernate in our territory, 

 the moths would be seen early in the spring. We believe that the only 

 reason it has not been observed at that season of the year is that it 

 occurs in small numbers and that very few observers have thoroughly 



