348 REPORT UPON COTTON INSECTS. 



combed coral limestone, extends about 65 miles from north to south, with a width 

 varying from 2 to 15 miles. The settlements and fields are scattered over the whole 

 island, which is very hilly, and entirely covered with dense shrubbery. A "field," 

 when cleared of these shrubs, presents the aspect of a perfectly grayish-white rock, 

 apparently without any soil. However, in the numerous cracks and "pockets" of the 

 rocjc some humus has accumulated and renders cultivation possible. Owing to this 

 character of the ground the cotton-plants are planted very scattered and irregularly, 

 there being on one acre often not more than 100 plants. However, these latter are, in 

 this most favorable climate, of very vigorous growth, and reach sometimes a prodig- 

 ious size if they are not trimmed. There are two varieties of short, staple cotton planted 

 in Long Island: "Anguilla" and "Georgia" cotton, the latter, as the name indicates, 

 imported from the United States ; the former probably imported from the West Indies. 

 Georgia cotton is perfectly white, Angnilla a little yellowish ; both are considered as of 

 equal value. The seeds of either kind are black, but not as smooth as that of sea-island 

 cotton. This latter variety was introduced in the Bahamas in 1862, but as it has to 

 be replanted every year is not fit for cultivation. Cotton on the Bahamas is planted 

 during the months of January, February, and March ; it blossoms in August, " blows" 

 in September, and the crop is picked in January. At the same time the plant " fresh- 

 ens" up, and there is a second crop in May. The plant is then trimmed, and blows 

 again in September; and so on. After the third year the plant is considered exhausted, 

 and the field replanted. Each plant leaves, therefore, five crops. Cotton is cultivated 

 on Exuma and Long Island exclusively by negroes, there being no white men on these 

 islands except the " magistrate" and the Episcopal preacher. The cultivation is in my 

 opinion carried on in the most careless way. 



As to the insects injurious to the cotton-plant, my inquiries and investigation con- 

 cerning the cotton- worm gave the following unexpected result. The cotton-worm was 

 well known in slavery times and recently up to 1866. It was injurious every year 

 before 1834, and was to be seen the whole year around, but less numerous after the 

 stormy season, which is in September and October, and most numerous just before the 

 beginning of the gales. 



In general Aletia was not considered by the natives as a very serious enemy of the 

 cotton-plant, as the damage done by it was always small when compared with the 

 ravages of a much more formidable enemy, of which I shall speak later. It is the 

 unanimous opinion of the inhabitants of Long Island that after the famous hurricane 

 of October 1, 1866, this insect has never been observed on that island nor Exuma. In 

 confirmation of this opinion I must remark that I myself, after five days' most scrupu- 

 lous investigation, failed to discover the slightest trace of Aletia. On inquiry I was 

 informed that before the fall of 1866, in March and April, the worms called " chenille " 

 by the natives were pretty numerous and easily found. As the natives were able to 

 observe this insect in former years, they would have seen it also after 1866 if it had not 

 disappeared. 



With this conclusion, and after my failure to find Aletia, I do not hesitate a moment 

 to declare it as a fact that at the present time there is no excessive multiplication of 

 Aletia on the Bahamas, and an emigration of the iusect from those islands to the United 

 States is in the highest degree improbable. 



As for myself, I do not doubt the statement of the natives that Aletia has become 

 extinct on these islands, either in consequence of the hurricane of 1866 or from reasons 

 unknown to me. 



The most formidable enemy of the cotton culture on the Bahamas is one much more 

 injurious to that plant than Aletia has ever been either on those islands or in the 

 United States, an enemy which makes the continuance of the cotton culture on tho 

 Bahamas very questionable. It is the " cotton-bug," a heteropteron, probably a Ly- 

 gaeus, which, if I am not mistaken, has been found also in the United States. It punc- 

 tures the green bolls, thus preventing them from opening; the bolls wilt and finally 

 dry up, the half-formed cotton and dried-up seeds giving food to a number of other 

 insects ; more often the cotton-bug crowds in the half or not quite half open bolls 

 sucking the seeds, thus preventing the cotton from blowing, or at least renders the 

 cotton yellow and unfit for use. 



According to the opinions of the natives the eggs of the cotton-bug are deposited 

 in tho cracks of the rock. I myself found a number of egijs on the leaf of a plant 

 growing under a cotton-tree, but failed to raise the insect, and am therefore not sure 

 that said eggs are really those of the cotton-bug. 



The iusect is less numerous after the stormy season and most numerous before the 

 beginning of the gales. During my visit April 1 the cotton-bugs were said to be not 

 very numerous, but it appeared to me that they occurred in astonishing numbers, for 

 they were to be seen on every cotton-plant. 



Early in the morning and late in the afternoon these insects literally cover all the 

 bolls except the very young ones. On and in a single boll I counted 54 specimens, 

 larvae, pupae, or perfect insects. It is evident that this insect does not like to expose 

 itself to the rays of the midday sun, as it is to be found during the warm hours of tho 



