APPENDIX I REPORTS OF OBSERVERS. 371 



Since, in the course of its life, Aletia exists in the four states of egg, larva, pupa, and 

 imago, four theories have been possible concerning the form in -which it lives from one 

 year to another ; for unless one or more of these forms survived the winter, the species 

 would necessarily cease to exist. 



Thus, some planters believe that it may pass the winter in the egg, and it is known 

 that some lepidoptera do hibernate in this state. But it is improbable that Aletia does 

 so, at least in the United States, for the following reasons : The larva, on its emerg- 

 ence from the egg, must be where it can readily obtain food, else it will perish of starva- 

 tion. Now, so far as I am aware, it never feeds on anything but parts of the cotton- 

 plant ; therefore the eggs must be deposited either on some part of this plant or on 

 something closely adjoining it, from which the newly hatched larva can readily reach 

 the plant. But the cotton-plant is an annual, perishing at the end of the first season, 

 and in preparing the ground, in winter, for the planting of the next spring, the stalks 

 of the dead plants are broken down and plowed under. This would be likely to destroy 

 any unhatched eggs laid on the plant late in the fall. For the same reason eggs de- 

 posited on plants growing as weeds in the cotton-field or in the ground would in all 

 probability be killed. 



As there are numbers of insects, including some lepidoptera, which are known to hiber- 

 nate as larvae, it has been suggested that this species may pass the winter so. Lepidop- 

 terous larvae, which survive the winter, are usually protected from the cold in one of the 

 following ways : 1. Wood-borers are inclosed in the cavity which they have already 

 formed in the tree on which they feed. 2. Some leaf-eaters form hibernacula of the 

 leaves of their food plant. 3. Others either burrow into the ground or shelter them- 

 selves beneath stones or clods of earth. As Aletia is a leaf-eating caterpillar, it must 

 hibernate in either the second or third way if it passes the winter in the larval state. 

 Arriving iu the cotton-belt about the middle of May, 'and leaving about the middle of 

 September, as I did, I was unable to make any observations bearing upon this point ; 

 but I cannot learn that these caterpillars have even been known to web leaves about 

 themselves excepting when about to pupate ; and even if they were to do so, the plow- 

 ing under of the dead plants would be likely to destroy many of them. My own obser- 

 vations show me that during the spring and summer they never enter the ground 

 nor creep beneath stones, and I am told that they are never found when the ground is 

 plowed late in the winter. These facts make it appear extremely improbable that 

 Aletia ever passes the winter as a larva. 



Many farmers believe that this insect hibernates as a pupa, burrowing into the ground 

 for protection from the cold. Years ago the observations of scientific men showed 

 that frost kills such Aletia pupae as are still webbed up in the leaves when cold weather 

 comes on ; and I have never seen one taken from the ground, nor have I learned of an 

 authentic case where this has been done, the planters who have found them mistaking 

 other pupae for those of Aletia. 



A large number of insects, including some lepidoptera, are known to hibernate in 

 the perfect state, and from the improbability of its surviving the winter in any other 

 form, as shown above, and from the fact that thousands of moths are seen late in the 

 fall, and a small number early in the spring, it appears pretty certain that Aletia 

 hibernates as a moth. This being granted, we come to one of the points about which 

 scientific men have had many disputes, viz, whether the moth hibernates in the cot- 

 ton-growing regions of the United States, or whether the species becomes extinct in 

 our country each year, the caterpillars of the next year being developed from eggs 

 laid by moths coming from within the tropics. Not being in the cotton-belt during 

 the winter, I was unable to demonstrate from my own observation which of these 

 theories is the true one ; but I am inclined to believe in the first-mentioned, for the fol- 

 lowing reasons: On the 17th of May I located myself on a plantation situated in Dal- 

 las County, Alabama, on the Selma and Gulf Railroad, about '23 miles south of Selma. 

 Here, on the 21st of the same month, a fully-grown Aletia larva was found, which 

 shortened preparatory to pupation that night. This was the earliest caterpillaB seen 

 on that plantation. But on the 17th of May a full-grown larva was found on the 

 plantation of Col. C. T. Lewis, situated nearly west of Selma, and therefore con- 

 siderably further north than my locality. Now, if the moths which deposited the eggs 

 from which these larvae were hatched came from some southern region, as the Bahamas, 

 we would expect to find the earliest larvae in the most southern sections of the 

 cotton-belt, neglecting the difference in temperature which would tend to produce 

 the same result ; but those which were found this season showed the reverse to be the 

 case, making such migration appear improbable. Moreover, planters assure me that 

 on warm afternoons in winter they often see scores of these moths sunning themselves 

 beneath the eaves of negro cabins and other buildings. A number of planters have 

 told me of finding these moths within the hollows and beneath the loose bark of dead 

 trees in midwinter. When discovered they were perfectly torpid, but when taken into 

 a warm room they soon showed signs of life, and in a short time were able to fly rapidly 

 about the room. One man told me that last January, while having a thick bed of 

 fallen leaves raked open, he found a large number of these moths lying torpid among 



