[50] REPORT 4, UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



Koster, -whose Travels in Brazil cover the period from 1809 to 1815, in speaking of 

 cotton culture in the northern provinces says:* "The profits which are obtained in 

 favorable years by the planters of cotton are enormous; but frequently disappoint- 

 ments are experienced. Oftentimes a whole crop is totally lost, and, instead of large 

 returns, the year proves entirely unproductive ; or, after a fair promise, the grub, the 

 caterpillar, the rain, or the excessive drought, destroys all hope until the following sea- 

 son." 



Referring to the cotton plants in the province of Minas Geraes, Auguste de Saint- 

 Hilaire says:t "lis ont uu ennemi redoutable; c'est une chenille arpenteuse qui en 

 mange les feuilles, et fait beaucoup de tort." In a foot-note he adds:t "J'ai conclue 

 qu'elle ^tait arpenteuse, de la description qu'on m'en a faite, car je nel'ai point vue. 

 Serait-ce le Noctua gossypii Fab.?" 



Mr. Lyman says : § "Along the coast the climate is unfavorable, and the ravages of 

 insects are such as to make the cotton crop very uncertain." 



Dr. Antonio Rego, in his Almanack do Povo para 1867, in speaking of the drawbacks 

 to cotton raising in the province of Maranhao, says: 1| " The development of cotton 

 growing is subject to certain drawbacks, among which are * * * insects, such as 

 the caterpillar, and others less injurious." » '» » 



Dr. Burlamaqui, the then secretary of the Sociedade Auxiliadora da Industria Na- 

 cional at Rio de Janeiro, wrote a monograph upon the cotton plant in 1863, in which 

 he says :^ " The Xoctua gossi/pii caterpillar of the cotton plant generally lives alone, 

 but it often forms part of numerous swarms. Then, as if they had been convoked to 

 give the planter a lesson, they march in close columns, enter the cotton field, and in 

 less than twelve hours destroy the leaves and flowers and the tender capsules and 

 young twigs. This destruction may be recognized at a great distance by the odor of 

 the droppings. As soon as one cotton field is destroyed they march to another, destroy 

 that, and so on. Fortunately, however, the number of caterpillars- gradually decreases, 

 for many of them passing into the chrysalid stage, bury themselves in the earth. 

 These attacks do not occur every year, or at fixed periods." 



Dr. Miguel Antonio da Silva has the following reference to caterpillars that injure 

 the cotton plant: ** "The plantations are exposed ^ * * to the attacks of divers 

 enemies. The most relentless of these are two species of noctuellas (noctua suhterranea 

 and noctua gossypii), the latter of which, in the larval state, often despoils the plants 

 of their foliage, flowers, and fruit in the space of twenty-four hoirrs!" 



These brief references constitute the literature of the subject of the Cotton .Worm 

 in Brazil; and it should be borne in mind, at the same time, that there is nothing to 

 indicate that Dr. Burlamaqui and Dr. Silva knew of the existence of such insects in 

 that country. ■ 



Outside of the cotton-growing districts one never hears of them, even though he 

 make the most careful inquiry, unless perchance he encounters a planter of cotton or 

 a resident of the cotton-growing region. 



In 1871 the Novo Mundo published a short article upon the Cotton "Worm in the 

 United States. With reference to this subject in Brazil, the article says : +t " Up to 

 the present it does not appear that the cotton plants in Brazil have suffered much 

 from the insect proper to them." These remarks received the indorsement of the edi- 

 tor of the Auxiliador da Industria Xacional, the leading authority on agricultural mat- 

 ters in Brazil, to such an extent as to be copied in that journal U in 1878, together 

 with the very poor illustration that accompanied the original article, a fact which 

 would indicate that it is not generally known, even to-day, that the caterpillars do 

 serious damage to the cotton plants. A'nd.such indeed is the case. 



Although diligent inquiry was made at Parii, Maranhao, and Pernambuco, no one 

 was found who had any knowledge of an insect injurious to the cotton plant. In the 

 last-mentioned city I hoped that the agricultural society would be able to furnish 



* Travels in Brazil, by Henry Koster, vol. ii, p. 172; 2d ed. 



Woyagedans les provinces deRio de Janeiro et Minas Geraes, par Auguste de Saint-Hil- 

 aire (1817-'18), vol. ii, p. 108. 



tThis note was made in 1817-'18. 



^Cotton Culture, by J. B. Lyman, p. 154. 



\\AlmanacJc do Povo para 1867, par Dr. Antonio Rego, Maranhao. 



^ Monographia do Algodoeiro, i^elo Dr. F. L. C. Burlamaqui, Rio de Janeiro, 1863, p. 

 56. It should be remarked in regard to what both Dr. Burlamaqui and Dr. Miguel 

 Antonio da Silva say in regard to Cotton Worms, that it is not clear that they refer 

 to caterpillars as being found in Brazil, and the fact that their writings upon cotton 

 are largely compiled from writers upon cotton in other countries would strengthen 

 this doubt. But such cannot be said of any of the orther writers quoted. 



^*Eevista Agricola do Imperial Instifuto Fluminense de Agrieultura, No. 5, Sept., 1870, 

 p. 12. Vide also foot-note on preceding page in regard to Dr. Burlamaqui's remarks. 



+t O Xovo Mundo, May 24, 1871, p. 123. 



tt Auxiliador da Industria Xacional, 1878, pp. 159-160. 



