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THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



{^rowing subscribers. According to tlic best 

 authority, there arc three diflerent broods of 

 worms during the year, the first appearing iu 

 June or July, and the last, which does the most 

 damage, appearing in August or September, or 

 even later. Mr. Lyman, in the little work al- 

 ready referred to, says: "That nature has made 

 no provision by which either the fly, the worm, 

 the chrysalis, or the eggs, can survive the win- 

 ter or exist for any length of time where the cot- 

 ton plant is not a perennial." But this is surely 

 an error, which Mr. Lyman would never liave 

 made, had he possessed a better knowledge of 

 insect life; and as Mr. Glover found that the 

 chrysalis was killed by the slightest frost, the 

 insect evidently winters over in the motli state, 

 as do many others belonging to the same tribe. 

 Indeed, Mr. W. B. Seabrook gives strong evi- 

 dence that this is the case, in a " Memoir on the 

 Cotton Plant," read in 1843, before the State Ag- 

 ricultural Society of South Cai'olina, wherein 

 he says: "That the Cottou Moth survives the 

 winter, is nearly certain. An examination of 

 the neighboring woods, especially after a mild 

 winter, has often been successfully made for that 

 purpose." We notice that this question of the 

 hybernation of the cotton-worm is now being 

 discussed at great length in late numbers of the 

 Southern Herald, of Liberty, Miss., and the 

 writer apparently concludes that the "caterpillar, 

 while in the chrysalis state, burrows in the earth 

 and there finds a home — a sure retreat from win- 

 ter'schillingblasts." Bnt we have already shown 

 that the chrysalis is formed above ground, within 

 a cocoon built by the worm, of cotton leaves and 

 silk ; and it is contrary to all analogy, that an 

 insect should both spin a cocoon above ground 

 to transform, and likewise enter into the ground 

 for the same object. 



The two principal remedies which have hith- 

 erto been relied upon are, 1st, hand-picking; 

 2ud, destroying the moths by fires, to which they 

 are naturally attracted . The first method is sure, 

 but tedious and somewhat impracticable on a 

 very large scale. The second is most effectual 

 if carried out when the first moths appear, 

 whence we may readily see the importance of 

 ascertaining the exact time in which they first 

 appear in a particular district. If those two 

 methods were persistently carried out through- 

 out any given cotton-growing county, in the 

 early part of the season they would of them- 

 selves be sufficient to save the crop; but the 

 efforts of individuals are of no avail, where 

 there are slovenly neiglibors who neglect (o jier- 

 form these lal)ors. It would thereibre be of in- 



calculable advantage, if something could be ap- 

 plied to the plants which would prevent the 

 moths from depositing their eggs upon them, as 

 the industrious planter could then set at defiance 

 his more slovenly neighbor. Mr. Affleck was 

 enthusiastic in his praise of cresylic soap as 

 such a plant protector, and we have a long let- 

 ter written a few weeks previous to liis death, 

 showing how he had found that no cotton moth 

 had ever deposited an egg on any plant that had 

 been sprinkled with a solution of this soap. In 

 view of this fact, we hope that this solution will 

 be thoroughly tested during the present sum- 

 mer. Caution must be bad, not to use it so 

 strong as to kill the plant, and its application 

 should be repeated as often as is found neces- 

 sary, for at least a month during the season of 

 the first appearance of the moth. 



The Boll-worm. 



{lleliothis armiijera, Ililbiier.) 

 We are more familiar with this insect than 

 with the true Cotton-worm described above, for, 

 iu order to make its acquaintance, it is not neces- 

 sary to reside in the South. It has, indeed, a 

 very wide range, and a Mr. Bond, at the meet- 

 ing of the London, (England,) Entomological 

 Society, on March 1st, 18G9, exhibited specimens 

 of the moth from the Isle of Wight, from Japan, 

 and from Australia ; and, as might be expected 

 from its extended habitat, the insect is a very gen- 

 eral feeder. The "Boll-worm" has become a by- 

 word in all the Southern cotton-growing States, 

 and the " Corn-worm" is a like familiar term in 

 those States, as well as in many other parts of the 

 Union ; but few persons suspect that these two 

 worms — the one feeding on the corn, the other 

 on the cotton-boll — are identically the same in- 

 sect, producing exactly the same species of 

 moth. But such is the fact! It attacks corn in 

 the ear, at first feeding on the "silk," but after- 

 wards devouring the kernels at the terminal 

 end; being securely sheltered the while within 

 the husk. We have seen whole fields of corn 

 nearly ruined in this way, iu the State of Ken- 

 tucky, but nowhere have we known it to be so 

 very destructive as in Southern Illinois. Here 

 there are two broods of the worms during the 

 year, and very early and very late corn fare the 

 worst; moderately late and moderately early 

 varieties usually escaping. The worm cannot 

 live on hard corn, and it is usually full grown 

 when the kernels are in the" milk" state. 



But this gUitton is not even satisfied with rav- 

 iiging these two great staples of the country — 

 lOtloii and corn — but voraciously attacks the 



