42 REPORT 4, UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



Passing over to the West Indies, we lind that the caterpillar was de- 

 structive to cotton in the Bahamas from the earliest cultivation of the 

 plant. In 1788 we are told by various narrators that 280 tons of cotton 

 were destroyed. In 1794 two-thirds of the crop on Acklin's Island was 

 lost. From this time up to the emancipation of the slaves, in 1834, the 

 worms were injurious every year, but at this time the cultivation of the 

 crop ceased until the outbreak of the civil war in the United States, 

 when it was again begun, only to cease at the close of the struggle. 

 According to the inhabitants, the Cotton Worm has not been seen since 

 a great hurricane which visited the islands in 186G, and Mr. Schwarz, in 

 the spring of 1879, was unable to find a trace of it in any stage. 



In Cuba the cultivation of cotton ceased some fifty years ago, and 

 Mr. J. P. Guarch^, United States consul at Matanzas, wrote the Depart- 

 ment, in 1855, giving as the reason the superior profits of sugar cane 

 and tobacco, and the fact that "the soil generates a worm which 

 attacks the cotton plant and destroys the greater part of the crop almost 

 every year. This worm is said to infest the planta:tions of our Southern 

 States, but its ravages there are represented to be trifling in comparison 

 with what they are here." 



In Santo Domingo, Porto Eico, Trinidad, Barbuda, and Guadaloupe, 

 the Cotton Worm has probably always been present, but we have no 

 absolute information beyond the fact that in the British Museum Cata- 

 logue of Lepidoptera,Part XIII, p. 989, four specimens of Anomis grandi- 

 puncta (synonym of Aletia xylina) are entered from Santo Domingo. 



In Martinique it exists without much doubt, as appears from the fol- 

 lowing: 



United States Consulate, 

 Martinique, W. 7., December 11, 1879. 

 Cotton is not cnltivated to any extent in Martinique. There is not a cotton xilanta- 

 tion upon the island ; there are only a few traces here and there, and these grow wild 

 upon the southern part of the island. The worst insect enemy is a green-looking 

 worm with white points on either side. I am told that this worm has been here since 

 the first cultivation of cotton upon the island. The prevailing direction of the wind 

 during the months of March, April, June,and July is east-northeast. — [W. H. Gar- 

 field, United States Consul. 



Cotton was formerly one of the staple crops of this island, and Mr. 

 Grote in his report to us states that he was informed by the Hon. Rob- 

 ert Toombs that in 1801-'02 there was an emigration of French cotton 

 planters from Martinique to Georgia on account of the ravages of the 

 Cotton Worm. 



In the northern countries of South America Aletia is abundant with- 

 out doubt. The British Museum (loo. cit.) possesses specimens from 

 Venezuela, and the following note from Maracaibo refers to this species: 



United States Commercial Agency, 

 Maracaibo, Venezuela, February 18, 1880. 



* * * The worst enemy of the cotton plant is the caterpillar. There are two 

 distinct kinds. One is green and rather small, and the other kind has a green belly 



