HISTOKY OF THE LITERATURE. 323 



and excited a temporary interest in the subject. It was followed by sev- 

 eral unimportant articles in the Southern Agriculturist und other south- 

 ern periodicals during 1829 ; but the interest apparently soon died out, 

 and there was a dearth of items for a number of years — a fact which is 

 partially explicable on the ground that the Avorms were at no time re- 

 markably numerous between 1825 and 1846. The one noticeable article 

 during this period is that of Hon. Whitemarsh E. Seabrook (1844), who 

 devotes three pages of his memoir upon cotton to the consideration of 

 the caterpillar, its history, and the means employed against it. This ac- 

 count, though short, is accurate and valuable and has been much quoted. 



As one would naturally exi)ect, the year 1846 brought forth a great 

 number of articles good and bad. Thefirst among these to be mentioned 

 is the letter written by Thomas Affleck to the American Agriculturist 

 in August, 1846, from which we have already quoted in Chapter III, 

 describing the devastation in Mississippi and giving an account of the 

 past history together with some facts in the natural history of the insect. 

 The most interesting point about this letter is, however, the fact that 'it 

 contains in the following words the first hint of the migration theory, 

 which has since occupied so much attention among writers on the Cot- 

 ton Worm : ^' But whether we at all times receive our supi)ly from this 

 source" [hibernation] "or whether (which I think is quite as probable) 

 they are not unfrequently brought on a gale of wind from the West 

 Indies, Mexico, or the coast of Gaiana, will be difficult to decide." 



From 1846 to 1852 followed quite a stream of articles in the Southern 

 Cultivator, Be Boic^s Review, American Cotton Planter, and other promi- 

 nent periodicals ; but very few were of any permanent value. During 

 the fall and winter of 1846-'47, Dr. D. B. Gorham, of Bayou Sara, La., 

 made observations which led to an article in Be Bow^s Review (Gorham, 

 1847), in which the migration theory is quite extensively elaborated. 

 The idea was an original one with Dr. Gorham, and he arrived at it from 

 the observation that all the late fall pupaB that he collected were para- 

 sitised. Hence, arguing a total destruction of the last brood, he w^as 

 forced to some other conclusion than hibernation to account for the start- 

 ing of the stock the ensuing year. His views were plausibly expressed, 

 although based upon so erroneous a standpoint, and his article excited 

 much interest among the reading planters. The article will be of per- 

 manent interest, however, only as containing the first mention of any 

 parasite upon the Cotton Worm. The author gives quite a full descrip- 

 tion — although he gives the species no name — of Bimpla conquisitor. It 

 is interesting to notice that of all the articles which this announcement of 

 the new theory called forth not one of the writers accepted Dr. Gorham's 

 views. Among the more prominent of these papers may be mentioned 

 the editorial by William Jones in the Southern Cultivator (Jones, 1847), 

 and the article by P. Winfree in Be Boio^s Review of the same year. The 

 latter writer was the first to mention the good offices of ants in killing 

 the caterpillars. 



