ANTS VS. INFLUENCE OF WEATHER. 135 



on the plant, compared -with the number already on the wing. Proposing to myself a 

 certain number, I proceeded, but I had not gathered many until my attention was ar- 

 rested by the stings of the ants on my hands, revenging themselves on me for dis- 

 turbing them while at their noble work of protecting me against my great enemy. 

 When I opened the leaves I found a number that contained neither living chrysalis 

 nor the shell from which the miller had made its timely exit, but a shell severed in 

 twain at the middle of the body. The examination was continued until it was found 

 that more than one-half of all I opened had been thus destroyed. 



My curiosity was then excited to know if it were the ants and why the middle was 

 made the point of attack. Soon I had the pleasure of witnessing their assault, and 

 discovered the reason they regarded the middle as the vulnerable point. When the 

 chrysalis was bitten or stung it would move or flounder, each end moving back and 

 forth violently, but the middle remained almost motionless. If the ant had taken hold 

 of either end it would have been thrown loose or perhaps wounded ; but at the middle 

 it could not be wounded nor its hold broken. And in two to five minutes after the 

 assault was made the prize was captured, and the slain furnished a bountiful repast 

 for all present, say from one to two dozen. 



With this first observation we were not content, but from time to time went and 

 watched until every doubt of casualty or uncertainty was removed. And as we had 

 begun to form a new theory on witnessing this first victory, and as we were anxious 

 to know whose side these little soldiers were fighting on, we felt we were more than 

 repaid for our trouble iu being able to perfect that theory, which to our mind was 

 fully demonstrated ; and for ten years we have not seen any reason, either from the 

 press or our own observation, to change the conclusions at which we then arrived, and 

 which we sent to the Texas Farmer and was published in that journal. 



The theory is the following, viz : The ant will protect the cotton plant from the rav- 

 ages of the caterpillar if no wet lands are planted and if the high lands are not plowed 

 when too wet, either of which may prove fatal. 



For the last ten years we have seen the miller in May without a single exception, 

 and once in April. When the seasons have been wet the worm has appeared in force ; 

 when dry they have done no harm. As to the condition or state in which it passes 

 through the winter, we are not fully satisfied, for we have seen the miller in midwinter 

 in the rotten places of old timbers. 



Suppose in a field of one hundred acres there be one acre of land protected from the 

 ant by being too wet for its habitation, for it can neither live nor work on wet lands, 

 and by the 15th of May one miller makes its deposit of 2,000* eggs, which entomolo- 

 gists are agreed is the reasonable number ; now by the same ratio on June 15 we will 

 have 4,000,000 ; on July 15 we will have 8, 000, 000, 000 worms enough to consume every 

 leaf on the hundred acres and a whole neighborhood besides ; and if we would allow 

 the increase to be one-half the above the result will be the same. 



And, again, if there should be half a dozen millers in May to begin the work, how 

 vast the number would be seen in July. Yet, with the hope there will be no worms 

 this year, planters will risk the planting of that wet acre. 



In the next place, many planters plow their lands when wet, and thereby destroy 

 the ant by imbedding them in mortar, from which they cannot extricate themselves. 

 If the soil is stirred with a plow while in proper condition it will take it but a few 

 hours to repair its house, and then he is ready for the field again. 



When we first presented this theory we were met with the statement that by ob- 

 servation it was known that the worm sometimes defoliated the highlands first; conse- 

 quently the wet-land theory was incorrect. But our observations were not at fault on 

 this subject ; for when the fly made its appearance, if the weather was showery or plants 

 wet until a late hour in the morning and at an early hour in the evening with the dew, 

 it would leave low laud for higher ground and drierplants to deposit its eggs. There- 

 fore, the highest and driest portions of the field would be the first destroyed; and 



* Figures four times too large. J. H. C. 



