414 REPORT UPON COTTON INSECTS. 



seen them in numbers sufficient to attract attention during warm days in February 

 and March, and am satisfied that they had come out from their winter quarters to enjoy 

 the warm sun and in quest of food, and in this manner many of them perish, and no 

 large numbers are left to propagate in the early summer ; and hence no great destruc- 

 tion to the cotton that season. Greatest loss after cold, hard winter. [I. D. Dries- 

 bach, Baldwin. 



ARKANSAS. 



From the southwest. [Norborne Young. Columbia. 



FLORIDA. 



All the winds that continue for any length of time are either from the east, south- 

 east, northeast, or westerly. The south winds here are of short duration generally. 

 [F. M. Meekin, Alachua. 



GEORGIA. 



The parent of the cotton- worm migrates here from more southern regions, and is a 

 fly. The egg is deposited, and when the worm is grown it webs itself up generally in 

 the leaves of the cotton, and is transformed into a black worm, and in about seven or 

 eight days there issues from that a pale yellow butterfly, as can be seen by the sam- 

 ples I send you in box marked A. That fly can now be seen here hourly, migrating 

 southward. [S. P. Odom, Dooly. 



I do not believe in the migration of the moth, but think it is sustained through the 

 winter in the cotton regions. [William Jones, Clarke. 



The wind comes from south and southeast during first part of the year. [E. M. 

 Thompson, Jackson. 



Variable ; from south to northwest and from northeast to south. [M. Kemp, Marion. 



From southwest. [William A. Harris, Worth. 



Southeast. [Timothy Fussell, Coffee. 



LOUISIANA. 



The prevailing winds are generally from the south, southeast, or southwest ; not 

 often from the north. [John A. Mary man, East Feliciaua. 



No opinion of an ordinary cotton planter who is not scientific nor at all Informed on 

 entomology or the history of insect life is worth much on the subject of the history 

 of the cotton-worm. We are governed only in forming our opinions by what we 

 observe under our own eyes and in our own sections. The moths may possibly be 

 wafted great distances by favorable winds, but the general belief is that the insect 

 hibernates here, and is to bo found here now annually, no matter how or where it may 

 have come from at some former time. We do not observe weather and seasons close 

 enough to tell accurately about winds, cold, heat, rains, dry seasons, and many other 

 points, and no records are kept of such matters, as far as I'know, except latterly by 

 persons in government employ at signal-stations, forts, arsenals, or by parties engaged 

 in explorations or surveys ordered by the general government. I cannot, therefore, 

 say anything on these topics worth writing to you more than I have already written. 

 It has been observed by many planters hero within the past fourteen years that many 

 places are favorable to the appearance of the worm and its after increase, and partic- 

 ular spots or localities on these different plantations. There are no reasons apparent 

 for this incident, and though it is.'generally and almost annually observed, I have never 

 heard any plausible reason assigned, nor any even attempted. These places are scat- 

 tered here and there over our whole parish, with all varieties of soil, localities, condi- 

 tions, and surroundings, and still some seem to bo selected as breeding spots for the 

 worms every year or landing places, if it is true that the moths are blown here annu- 

 ally from other parts of the world. [Douglas M. Hamilton, West Feliciana. 



MISSISSIPPI. 



I am convinced by long observation that the moth is not migratory, for this reason : 

 when the worm has appeared in the most frightful numbers, / know that they hatched in 

 the fields, and a,fter running their course they died in the cotton-fields by the million. 

 They always first appeared in small numbers, and increased for two succeeding gen- 

 erations to the most frightful numbers. The wind was as follows : February, west 

 and northwest ; in March, south and southwest ; in April, south and southwest ; in 

 May, west ; in June, east. [George V. Webb, Amite. 



As to migration, they only migrate as far as the winds carry them. [W. Spillman, 

 Clarke. 



From the 20th of September to the 20th of March, or from the autumnal to the ver- 

 nal equinox, the general bearing of our winds is from northeast to north and north- 

 west, with occasional breezes from the opposite points of the compass, and from the 

 vernal to the autumnal, from south to southwest, with occasional northwest and north 

 winds. During the first period condensation appears to commence in the cast and 

 brings us our rains from that quarter, and during the latter period from the northwest, 



