APPENDIX I REPORTS OF OBSERVERS. 349 



day on or under the leaves of the lower part of the plant under the dead leaves which 

 lie upon the ground or beneath stones. I never saw this insect far from the c^tton- 

 fiekls, but in or near the fields they may be seen on different plants and shrubs. I 

 have been informed that in slavery times the slaves were " taxed " to collect by hand 

 every day a quart of these bugs. At the present time their habit of crowding during 

 the hot hours of the day under the dead leaves upon the ground gives the natives a 

 way to destroy them in large numbers. Dry leaves, twigs, &c., are placed in suitable 

 places protected from the sun and set on fire at noon ; or, still better, a few cotton- 

 seeds are thrown up in such heaps of dry debris and attract vast numbers of the in- 

 sects, which are very fond of sucking these seeds. However, as this remedy is not 

 applied universally, it has but little or no effect, and it will be very difficult, in my 

 opinion, to find any effective remedy against this pest, unless it can be attacked in the 

 egg state. 



The damage done by this insect is enormous; it destroys regularly the entire sum- 

 mer crop, i. e., that picked in January, and destroys half or more of the second crop. 

 It was very destructive in slavery times,- but decidedly less numerous in the years fol- 

 lowing 1862 up to about 1868. Since that year the insect has regularly every year 

 caused the damage stated above ; in the year 1879 even the May crop was almost en- 

 tirely destroyed by the combined influence of a great drought and this pest. 



The number of other insects living upon or found on the cotton-plant on Long Island 

 is quite considerable, and have been collected by myself with great care. They may 

 be divided in the following classes: 



First. Insects living actually upon the cotton-plant: Aphis sip.; 2 Homopterous insects 

 covering the more tender twigs and even the trunks of the older trees with their eggs ; 

 Microlepidopteron, mining in the leaves ; Hypothenemus, is boring in the tender twigs ; 

 a large Buprestid, living in the dead stalks ; Drapetes sp., feeding upon the bark of 

 the twigs; unknown insects, of which the eggs were found in clusters of three to fif- 

 teen on the under side of leaves, and of which I raised the young larvae. 



Second. Insects found on cotron attracted by the cotton Aphis : Numerous ants ; sev- 

 eral species of Coccinellidae ; larva of Chrysopa sp. 



Third. Insec*s living in the bolls injured by the cotton-bug ; two species of Lepi- 

 doptera (also found in the United States), and several Coleoptera. 



Fourth. Insects found on the cotton-tree, which I observed live elsewhere also, or 

 which do not appear to me to live exclusively upon cotton ; two species of Lepidop- 

 tera; several Herniptera and Coleoptera. None of these insects do any serious harm, 

 with the exception, perhaps, of the insect designated above as " 2 Homopteron," which, 

 by fastening its egg, covered with a white flocculent matter, around the young leaf- 

 buds, causes them to wilt and to die. 



A full list of the species of the insects found by myself on the cotton-plant on the 

 Bahamas can only be given when the specimens are properly mounted. A large part 

 of my notes have not been incorporated in the foregoing report, which I beg to con- 

 sider only as a preliminary one, written in a very hasty manner. The conclusions 

 which can be drawn from my observations, especially the conclusions as to the hiber- 

 nation of Alftia in the United States, will bo forwarded to the department in due time. 

 I have the honor to remain, yours, very respectfully, 



E. A. SCHWARZ. 



SAVANNAH, GA., April 13, 1879. 



C. V. RILEY, 



Entomologist, Department of Agriculture. 



REMARKS ON THE HIBERNATION OF ALETIA. 



The principal result of my trip to the Bahama Islands is the conclusion that an im- 

 migration of Aldia from the Bahamas to the United States has been impossible, at least 

 since the year 18615. With almost equal certainty it may be concluded that an immi- 

 gration of the insect from Porto Rico or Hayti or any other island of the West Indies 

 is impossible, because such an immigration would doubtless have restocked with cotton- 

 worms the Bahama Islands before reaching the coast of Florida or Georgia. 



Now, in view of the fact that in Florida and on Saint Catharine's Island (the only 

 one of the sea islands of Georgia where at the present time cotton is planted to any 

 extent) the cotton insect has appeared regularly every year since 1866, though not nu- 

 m^rous enough to do any serious damage, it appears very probable that Aletia is indig- 

 enous within our country. 



There is still the possibility that Aletia could immigrate every year to the United 

 Sta es from Mexico or Yucatan or South America. To this I have to remark : 



First. That to my knowledge nothing definite is known about Aletia and its habits 

 in the countries mentioned. We do not know even whether the insect occurs there at 

 the present time or not. It is, however, safe to say that as cotton is raised in those 



