142 COTTON-PLANTER'S MANUAL. 



worm must perish, as we have just seen them perishing bj 

 myriads while wending their way through a various and lux- 

 uriant herbage in search of that food intended for them by 

 nature. In ten days from the time that the worm becomes a 

 chrysalis on the borders of the cotton fields, a host of flies are 

 seen issuing therefrom : they go forth in search of food for 

 their forthcoming progeny ; now it is to be found their days 

 are numbered, in ten more if they meet with no cotton leaves, 

 they themselves must die, and thus put an end to the whole 

 race. But their search is continued, and now, when the weary 

 insect is ready to finish its term of days, a tender but sparse 

 foliage crowns the leafless twigs of the cotton plant. On them 

 the eggs are deposited: they hatch, the worm eats, returns 

 again to its chrysalis. The cotton stalk still puts forth new 

 leaves, they grow and expand until the fields again look 

 green ; ten days, ay, forty elapse, yet there is not a worm to 

 be found. One would have thought that this second crop of 

 leaves would scarcely have been sufficient for a single repast 

 for them, yet the food that they so lately devoured with such 

 voraciousness is now left untouched. What is the matter ? 

 Why don't they eat, their food is spread before them ? Read 

 on, the answer will be found in the sequel. Let us examine 

 the cause. In nearly every fourth leaf we find a chrysalis 

 writhing and contorting itself at the touch. Ah ! here is the 

 explanation of the difficulty ; this is no ten days' chrysalis, 

 but that in which it is to hibernate, possibly for one winter, 

 perchance for twenty. Let us take a pocketful of these home, 

 and place them beneath tumblers, and wait patiently to see 

 what they will produce. If I had found a treasure my delight 

 could not have been greater than that I experienced at the 

 idea of unravelling this mystery. But man is prone to disap- 

 pointment, as we shall soon see. About the 15th of Novem- 

 ber, the insect appeared, but mirdbile dictu ! as different from 



