82 EEPORT 4, UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



rolling prairies. The worms were observed there in a field situated on 

 top of one of the highest hills, and they have been observed there at 

 similarlj^ early dates in past years. The soil is, however, of that rich, 

 black nature peculiar to one part of the South Texan prairies. 



A second circumstance which, according to the unanimous reports of 

 planters and observers, appears to necessarily accompany the early ap- 

 pearance of the worms, is that the cotton plants must be in a well- 

 advanced and luxuriant condition. The earliest worms are never known 

 to appear in fields in which the growth of the plants has been retarded 

 from one cause or another, as, for instance, late planting, the attacks of 

 plant-lice, overflow, poor, exhausted, or sandy soil, &c. 



A third fact is worthy of mention in connection with this early ap- 

 pearance, viz., that in open countries, or in countries where the prevail- 

 ing soil is low and rich, there is almost always a gin -house or other build- 

 ing, a hay-stack or some other shelter near by where the moths have, to 

 all appearance, hibernated. Of the five localities in South Texas where 

 the first worms were observed by Mr. Schwarz in the spring of 1879, 

 three were in the immediate vicinity of gin-houses, with no other build- 

 ing, fence, or tree in the neighborhood. In the fourth a gin-house and 

 other buildings, as well as trees, were close by j while in the fifth (that 

 in Lavaca County, already mentioned) the nearest object which could 

 have served for the hibernation of the parent moth was an open stable 

 about one hundred yards distant, but covered with a thick thatch of hay. 



In all cases observed or reported, the first worms occupy but a limited 

 patch in the field, and are not scattered over the whole field or over 

 large portions of a planta^tion, as is the case with subsequent genera- 

 tions. The extent of this patch seldom exceeds two acres and some- 

 times does not embrace one-fifth of an acre. 



Still a fourth circumstance connected with the appearance of the first 

 worms is noticeable, and one that, as we shall see farther on, has much 

 importance from the practical side. It is that they recur year after year, 

 not only in the same counties, but also in exactly the same spots. 



The condition of the plant has already been alluded to. In every 

 case it was luxuriant, advanced, and vigorous. This condition of the 

 plant has so much to do with the matter under consideration that there 

 must be a cause for it, whether in the greater attraction for the moth 

 possessed by such plants or the greater facility with which the eggs 

 hatch or the worms develop upon the same ; for when produced arti- 

 ficially by the use of manures and good cultivation, it may, and often 

 does, have the same efi'ect, and counteracts the otherwise unfavorable 

 condition of soil and location. 



As throwing light on the subject, and as a rational explanation of the 

 facts, it is well to remember that the most advanced and luxuriant plants 

 most copiously exude from the secretory glands the sweet fluid upon 

 which the moths feed and by which, it is fair to presume, they are at- 

 tracted ; also that the moths' fondness for shade and moisture is grati- 



