26 EEPORT 



Florida Plantation" {Atlantic Monthly^ May 1879, p. 641). The worms 

 were this year very destructive in southern Arkansas, and also did some 

 damage in North Carolina. 



There were not lacking those who, on the coming of 18G7, prophesied 

 a year of general devastation on account of the space — 21 years — be- 

 tween this year and 1846 ; but, contrary to their expectations, 1867 was 

 but little worse than 1866. Texas, it is true, suffered severely, but the 

 other States were comparatively exempt. The districts along the Mis- 

 sissippi River in Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi were damaged 

 considerably, but the interior counties were injured but little. In Ala- 

 bama, Georgia, and Florida the total losses were slight. Here and there 

 the crop of a small district would be taken, but the average loss was 

 low. In the latter part of the season the worms were numerous in 

 Bouth and North Carolina, but they injured the crop but little. 



1868 proved to be one of the most disastrous years on record. The 

 worms appeared in May in Texas, and the gravest fears were expressed 

 from this early advent. On the whole, the loss in Texas and Louisiana 

 did not equal that of the previous year. In Mississippi the loss was 

 rather greater than in 1867. Alabama and Georgia suffered exceed- 

 ingly ; the loss in the latter State was entirely unprecedented. Through 

 the central part of the State the arerage loss is reported at 50 per cent. 

 In Alabama, with a few exceptions, the central and northernmost 

 counties were damaged the most, the exceptions being Conecuh, Cren- 

 shaw, Barbour, and Montgomery. In South Carolina the crops were 

 injured in some localities to the extent of a loss of 33 per cent. In 

 North Carolina, though numerous, the worms were not destructive, clear- 

 ing away the leaves just in time to assist in the ripening of the bolls. 



One cannot help but notice, in studying these appearances of the 

 worm from year to year, that they come in waves, gradually increas- 

 ing, until at length, from one cause or another, they break and almost 

 disappear. 1825, 1846, 1868, and, as we shall see, 1873, 1876, and 1881, 

 are the culminating points of such waves or series of years during which 

 tt e ravages of the worms have been gradually increasing, and in the 

 year following each of these comes the breaking, and the next wave is 

 begun. With a few unimportant exceptions, this rule is observed 

 throughout the entire history of the Cotton Worm. 



This result is natural, and arises from the tendency of the worms to in- 

 crease in geometrical proportion and at a more rapid rate than their 

 parasites. But whenever they have multiplied beyond the power of 

 their food-plant to sustain them, or whenever meteorological conditions 

 unfavorable to their increase obtain, the parasites get the upper hand 

 and the break in the series occurs. This rise and fall has often been 

 noticed by writers on injurious insects, but from the very nature of the 

 case it is not regular, and cannot be depended upon. 



1869 proved to .be a year of drought, and there was a sudden decrease 

 in the loss from the caterpillars. Here and there the crop of a county 



