INTRODUCTION. 



The official Cotton Worm investigation, of which this is the final re- 

 port, was begun in the spring of the year 1878, Congress at that time 

 having appropriated the sum of $5,000 to be expended for the purpose 

 of such an investigation under our direction as entomologist of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture. The results of the first 

 nine months of the investigation are summed up in the following quo- 

 tations from our report as United States Entomologist for the year 1878. 

 The quotation also includes the first circular issued in the progress of 

 the investigation: 



INSECTS AFFECTma THE COTTON PLANT. 



Pursuant to an appropriation by the last Congress for the purpose, and in accordance 

 with your instructions, I have carried on a special investigation of the insects injuri- 

 ous to the cotton plant. The commission of inquiry was organized by the appoint- 

 ment of the following gentlemen: As special agents, Prof. J. H. Comstock, of Ithaca, 

 N. Y., whose position as professor of entomology in Cornell University and whose ex- 

 perience with insects injurious to vegetation had well fitted him for such labor ; and 

 Prof. A. R. Grote, of Buffalo, N. Y., whom a residence of several years at Demopolis, 

 Ala., and a special study of the Cotton Worm, had also well prepared for the inquiry. 

 As local agents and observers: Dr. E. H. Anderson, of Kirkwood, Miss.; William J. 

 Jones, of Virginia Point, Tex.; Prof. J. E. Willet, of Macon, Ga.; and Prof. Eugene 

 A. Smith, of Tuscaloosa, Ala. Mr. E. A. Schwarz, of Detroit, Mich., has also been 

 engaged during the winter to visit all the Southern States and the West India islands, 

 with a special view of getting at the facts of hibernation. To Professor Comstock was 

 assigned the cotton region of Arkansas and Tennessee and of Mississippi and Alabama 

 north of Vicksburg and Meridian and the Alabama Central Railroad ; to Mr. Grote 

 that of Florida and Georgia and of Alabama south of the railroad mentioned ; while, 

 with the assistance of the local observers, I have myself given more especial attention 

 to the extremities of the belt, viz : Texas, Louisiana, Southern Mississippi, and the 

 Carolinas. 



The following circular-letter was prepared for the use of agents, and distributed, 

 with corresponding blanks, to correspondents in the cotton belt. It will explain the 

 scope of the inquiry : 



Department of Agriculture, 



Washington, D. C, July 22, 1878. 

 Sir: The entomologist of the department having prepared a series of inquiries for 

 the special scientific observers to whom has been assigned the duty of studying the 

 history and depredation of the worm known as Aletia argillacea, as well as other in- 

 sects which injure the cotton plant, I have caused copies of these circulars to be 

 printed and sent you, in hope that you may feel interest enough in the subject to 

 make report thereon, 



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