372 REPORT UPON COTTON INSECTS. 



the leaves. Probably it -will appear at first sight as if nothing conld be more conclu- 

 sive than this testimony, and such would be the case if one could be sure that the 

 moths found were always Aletias. But while I have the greatest confidence in the tes- 

 timony of some of these men, I should hesitate before saying that anything is proved 

 by the statements of men not accustomed to making careful scientific observations. 



If any reliance is to be placed on the testimony of planters, that given above, com- 

 ing from many sources, will, if taken in connection with what has been stated con- 

 cerning the distribution of the first brood of larvae, make it appear extremely probable 

 that Aletia survives the winter at least as far north as Dallas County, Alabama. 



It is commonly believed by planters that the caterpillars are, as a rule, more plenti- 

 ful after a cold than after a mild winter. This is sometimes brought forward as evi- 

 dence that the moths do not hibernate with us, for severe winters ought to destroy 

 more of them than mild ones; therefore, if they really survived the winter in this 

 country, there would be more larvae after a mild than after a severe season ; but when 

 this is considered carefully it seems to confirm the theory of hibernation. If the moths 

 come from some tropical region every spring, it is hard to see what connection there 

 would be between the severity of our winter and their greater or less abundance the 

 next spring and summer; but if they hibernate in our cotton-belt, this is readily ex- 

 plained; for of the thousands which seek hibernacula in the fall, some will certainly 

 fail to secure a sufficient protection from the cold and will freeze to death ; in other 

 words, each moth, in seeking its winter quarters, stands a certain chance of not find- 

 ing a sufficiently warm place. In a very cold season moths will perish in places where 

 they would be safe if the cold were less intense, but those which have secured safe 

 quarters will remain dormant there till the warmth of spring calls them forth to lay 

 their eggs : they take the chance of failure but once. But in a mild winter each warm 

 day entices many from their retreats, and some necessarily fail to return to as well 

 protected places as they previously occupied, so that the next succeeding cold spell 

 kills them ; they take this chance many times in such a winter. 



As the winter advances the number of moths constantly diminishes, until in April, 

 when the cotton begins to appear above the ground, comparatively few are left to lay 

 their eggs upon it; and the general testimony of planters is that scarcely any of this 

 brood are seen after the middle of April. 



From the eggs laid indiscriminately on the leaves of young cotton by these moths, 

 the first brood of larvae hatch. On the plantation where I did most of my work, only 

 four of this brood were found, and it will be instructive to notice where they were 

 found. May 21 a full-grown larva was found <5n some small cotton which, I am told, 

 was planted April 30, and was well up by about May 8. This cotton, however, imme- 

 diately adjoined some which was planted a month earlier, and it is probable that the 

 caterpillar was hatched on the older cotton. This was on a rather damp piece of 

 ground. May 23 another was found in the same field, but in a dry, sandy place. On 

 the same day another was found on some cotton of the earlier planting, on a dry clay 

 hilL June 3 another full-grown larva was found, this time on cotton growing in dry, 

 sandy soil a mile from the place where the ethers were found, aud at a considerably 

 higher altitude. This cotton was sown about April 1. When found the larva was 

 webbed up, but had not yet transformed into a pupa. Two things will appear from 

 this : 1. Individuals of this first brood differed in age by nearly two weeks. 2. They 

 were found on bottom land, clay, and sand, in a swamp, on an elevation rising from 

 this, and on a ridge considerably removed from the swamp. 



The second brood of larvae was first noticed by me on the llth of Jane, when I cap- 

 tured a half-grown larva on the bottom land near where the first worm was found the 

 month before. I had, however, learned of the capture of partly-grown worms of this 

 brood a week and a half earlier, in the canebrake west of Selma and near Montgom- 

 ery, both of which places, it will be noticed, were further north than the point at 

 which I was located. I found a few other larvae of this brood at intervals up to the 

 7th of July, when the first pupa was seen. These lArvae were, with one or two excep- 

 tions, all found in damp bottom-land near where I' found the first, and I had previously 

 been told that the first caterpillars were always found about this spot, though none 

 were commonly seen before the latter part of June. 



July 14, having been absent from this plantation for a week, I returned, and on exam- 

 ining the bottom-laud just mentioned, I found quite a number of caterpillars belong- 

 ing to the third brood. Some were very small, others were nearly half an inch long, 

 and one or two which were half-grown were seen. At the same time two pupae be- 

 longing to the second brood were seen. Owing to the fact that there are very few 

 larvae of the first and second broods, this is tlifl first that planters usually see of the 

 caterpillar, though I am told that this brood sometimes appears a couple of weeks ear- 

 lier; hence they call this the " first crop." Larvae of all sizes, with some pupae and a 

 few moths belonging to this brood, were found up to about August 1, shortly after 

 which eggs and larvae of the fourth brood were seen. With few exceptions this brood 

 was confined to bottom land. 



Like the preceding, the fourth brood, or so-called "second crop," was chiefly con- 



