THE 



l^encau£iitgjaolo|i|y 



VOL. 1. 



ST. LOUIS, MO., JULY, 1869. 



NO. 11. 



CIjc g^jmrkait dBntomokgbt. 



PUBLISHED ; 

 R,. 1=. STXTIDI.E-5r Sz CO., 



104 OLIVE STREET, ST. LOITIS. 



TE RM.S One dollar per anmun in ailvance. 



EDITORS : 



BEN.T. D. WALSH Rock Island, 111. 



C'lIAS. V. UlLE Y, 2130 Clark Ave St. Louis, Mo. 



COTTON INSECTS. 



The Cotton Army-worm. 



{N'octua lAnomis] xylina, Say.) 



Editors American Entomologist : 



As the Sotitiioni cotton planter^ arr il.. |,lv intercstcil 

 inlearnin;; soiiii-tliinLr al>oiit tin' in-. -ci^ that ]>rry upon 

 their cropv wljjili tluy do not alica.lv kn(.^^ . I w'rito to 

 request noii. in lic-lialiot tlio-,. wh,, i\\r in tlii- |iarticu- 

 larsci-lion, to mli-lifn llicin nimii ilic rolln»iii- ,|iies- 



tlie wiiitrr M-a-ony II you an>\v.T, in tlir ilirv>alis 

 state, at wliat porioil in the sprint' or suninu'r does it 

 emerge in the I'orm of a flv? It" in the spring or early 

 summer, on wliat does it" subsist until it attack.s the 

 cotton plant ? 



"We think if thi'<o point- n;-vr d<-tinitplv -otflcd. some 

 plau i-oiild l..> drvi-rd l,y ^^■lli,■ll thi< in-iTt comUI be 



havof'\\ il!i oni- .■nitun ,-r..|i. riir->- .|Uc-tion.- have 

 been di>cii-sr,l l,v :,n A^rirnltiii-al ( lul, oi-ainzed in 

 this county, and, although a good deal of information 

 has been elicited, still there remains much to be learned 

 before we can attain to a practical knowledge ot the 

 subject, and we lia\ e no mean.s at hand bv which this 

 knowledge can be accjuired. 



I have SI rii -c\cial numbers of tlie AMERICAN Ento- 

 MOLoci.sT. \\l,icli have been sent to the office of the 

 LiUrttj A.:<,„,,:,, hut liave found nothing in elucidation 

 of the questions propounded. 



We desire also to know something about the Boll- 

 worm, which I believe is universal in the cotton region, 

 and which attacks the fruit of tlie cotton plant from the 

 time it is first formed until it arrives nearly to the stage 

 of maturity. Please give its history and mode of pro- 

 pagation ; and tell us, if yon can, how it may be destroyed 

 or its ravages prevented. 



Yours, &e., .7. K. GALLNEY. 



Bloomfield, Amite Co., Miss. 



In answer to the above letter anil to a pub- 

 lished request made iu the Southern Uuralist, 

 wc will at present briefly illustrate the natural 

 history of two of the worst insect enemies of 

 the cotton plant, namely the Cotton Caterpillar, 

 (ilias Cotton Army-worm, and the Boll-worm. 

 As we have ourselves never spent sufficient time 



in the cotton-growing- sections of the South to 

 make any personal observations on these insects, 

 we lean for much of our information on the 

 observations of the Entomologist to the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, Mr. Townend Glover. 

 Snys this gentleman*— .speaking of the difficul- 

 ties under which these observations were fre- 

 quently pursued — " I have encountered many 

 hardships, difficulties and dangers, in exposing 

 myself to unhealthy regions, in sickly seasons, 

 where I necessarily perforined tedious journeys, 

 in which I was steamed or scorched by the hot 

 sun during the day, and drenched by heavy 

 rains or chilled by clammy dews at night, ac- 

 companied more or less by hunger and thirst, 

 lussitude and disease. In the course of my 

 wanderings I was annoyed by gnats and flies, 

 which regaled themselves on m\ blood ; irritated 

 by ants, chigas and ticks, that filled my skin or 

 flesh with eruptions and sores; assailed with 

 fury by bees and wasps that tortured me with 

 their stings; and I was warned of my danger 

 by the hiss and rattle of serpents that lay con- 

 cealed along ray path. Tiiese dangers and an- 

 noyances, troubles and trials, were alternated 

 by pleasures, joys and sudden delights, which 

 110 one can realize except the lover of science." 

 Such is a sample of the trials which sometimes 

 attend the proper study of a single insect, espe- 

 cially in the more southern States. 



Whether or not corn be king in the North, 

 cotton is undoubtedly king in the South, for it 

 there absorbs almost universal attention. No 

 policy which the General Government might 

 pursue could so increase the prosperity of the 

 Southern States as would two successive good 

 cotton crops. A thorough knowledge, then, of 

 these insects, which on the average of years 

 destroy fifty million dollars' worth of cotton in 

 the South, is of the utmost importance. Such a 

 knowledge becomes still more necessary, when 

 we find such advice going the rounds of the 

 papers ds that which we commented upon on 

 page 15 of our first number. 



There arc four distinct caterpillars, producing 

 four perfectly distinct moths, which have been 

 designated in various parts of the United States 



• Department Report for 1S57, pp. \i\-'l. 



