XXXIV IXTRODUCTION. 



that have beset its preparation, it must be remembered that they are 

 such as are incidental to most scientific worlv of an official nature, or 

 done under the Government. We hope and believe, notwithstanding, 

 that the work will prove of standard value to all in any way interested 

 in the matter of which it treats. 



Chapters I and II, pertaining to classification, nomenclature, destruct- 

 iveness, characters, habits, and natural history of the Cotton Worm, are 

 condensed as much as possible. The reasons for abiding by the specific 

 name of the species originally proposed by Say are more fully given in 

 Kote 2 than in the text, and if the statements in regard to habits and 

 natural history have at times the appearance of being dogmatic where 

 they conflict with previous statement by others, it is because the facts 

 have been so fully studied as to leave no room for question. The full 

 hibernation of the species, within our limits, was not established till 

 the spring of 1882, by our finding the newly- hatched worms the latter 

 part of March on rattoon cotton in South Georgia and Florida, but it 

 was to Mr. Koebele^s unflagging industry (chiefly at night), while 

 stationed at Archer, Fla., fcM? this purpose, that the hibernating moths 

 were obtained during the months of December, January, February, and 

 March. 



Chapter III consists of a summary, with as little detail as possible, of 

 the past marked appearances of the Cotton Worm in the United States 

 chronologically given, and of the history of remedies proposed for it. 

 The history of the literature is given separately in Chapter XIV. 



In Chapter IV brief consideration is given to the distribution of 

 Aletia xylina in other countries than the United States, showing that 

 it is confined to the Western Hemisphere. 



Chapter V, by Messrs. Minot and Burgess, treats of the anatomy of 

 Aletia by two competent histologists, and while it will have interest 

 l)rincipally for the scientific reader, it will jjrove a valuable contribu- 

 tion to a phase of the subject hitherto untouched. 



Chapter VI, by Professor Smith, treats of the cotton belt, its general 

 characteristics, and its peculiarities from meteorological, agricultural, ar- 

 boricultural, and geological standpoints. This subject of the cotton belt 

 and its characteristics is one that always interested us from the possi- 

 bility that, after careful study, it might indicate the preferred hibernat- 

 ing regions of the moth. Its proper consideration required not only a 

 thorough knowledge of the country, but geological knowledge which we 

 did not possess, and it is doubtful whether one could be found more 

 thoroughly fitted to consider it than Professor Smith. His work has 

 shown, if anything, that there is not, as we anticipated there might be, 

 any necessary connection between the surface characteristics of the 

 country and hibernation. This last evidently depends more on mean 

 winter temx^erature and earliness of spring, and if any conclusion is 

 warranted, it would seem to be that the dark, low, and rich soils most 

 conducive to the increase of th^ worm are not the most conducive to 



