REPORT OF J. C. BRANNER. [53] 



In all cases vrhere tlie insect remained in tlie pupa more than twelve days, the pupa 

 had been kept in a close, glass-covered box, which was badly ventilated, or not ven- 

 tilated at all. 



The weather was, during this time, for the most, rather cool for the time of year. 



The moths came out generally between 7 and 9.30 o'clock in the evening, though a 

 few came out a little earlier, and quite a number, especially toward the last, issued 

 as late as 2 o'clock in the morning. 



Broods. — Time did not permit extended observations in regard to the number of 

 broods. From what is known of the habit of the insect in the United States, and the 

 time of its first appearance in Brazil, say January 1, and the time when the plague ia 

 said to end, say June 15, the number of broods can readily be estimated. In case 

 the suspension of rains at the beginning of winter lasts longer, of course the number 

 of broods will be greater. As the climate of Brazil does not admit of winters suffi- 

 ciently cold to kill the pupte, the numbers that survive the rains and the accidents of 

 hibernation must be very great. 



On the other hand, the comparatively uncultivated fields in which cotton is grown 

 tend to favor the number of insect enemies of the cotton insects. On almost every cot- 

 ton plant numbers of spiders, beetles and ants were found. Sometimes a dozen or 

 more empty egg-shells were found upon a single plant, and the most careful search 

 would not discover a single caterpillar, either large or small, while a few small, trans- 

 parent spots in the leaves would show that the young larvae had been there, and 

 were probably devoured by some of their enemies. The plants are too high for do- 

 mestic fowls to be of much service in devouring them, but the planters say they are 

 eaten by all kinds of wild birds.* 



REMEDIES. 



The preventive measures and remedies recommended by Burlamaqui are as fol- 

 lows : t 



''These larvae always spare the plantations that are full of bad grass, especially 

 of certain kinds, like Farthenium hysterojph urus for example. When they enter a plan- 

 tation they attack the plarts in the middle of it first. They keep always on the 

 shady side, for they fear the sun, the wind,, and the rain. They prefer those plants 

 that are near together, and care but little for those that are at proper distances from 

 each other. They never destroy a cotton-field in which the plants are far enough, 

 apart and completely free from useless plants." 



In some parts of the cotton region it is the custom to replant the cotton about the 

 time the plague is at an end, and then, by the time they have disappeared, the young 

 cotton will have begun growing. 



No direct remedy is known, and I was unable to hear of any ever having been tried. 

 One gentleman, who was said to be an authority in regard to agricultural matters, 

 said that he had been told that salt applied to the roots of the plants killed the in- 

 sects. 



When asking for some suggestion upon the subject, the answer was frequently given 

 that nothing short of the " intervention of God" could stop such a plague when once 

 it began. 



LOSSES CAUSED BY CATERPILLARS. 



In the absence ot agricultural statistics it is difficult to find out the percentages of 

 losses caused by Cotton Worms in Brazil, and whatever percentage is settled upon as 

 the correct one it must necessarily be unsatisfactory. I was fortunate in obtaining 

 notes made in the province of Sao Paulo in 1876 by Mr. William T. Gepp, of Eio de 

 Janeiro. From a well-known planter at Itaicy in that province, who had grown cot- 

 ton for a great many years, but who had abandoned it in 1873 on account of the dam- 

 age caused by the caterpillars, Mr. Gepp obtained the following information, which I 

 copy from his note-book : 



'' Caterpillars prefer good ground; worn lands not so subject, but the yield is only 

 half crop." The planters were then planting their cotton upon worn ground, pre- 

 ferring the half crop to what the caterpillars would leave them upon better soil. 



* Birds of the parrot family, however, do great injury to cotton, especially when it 

 is young and the bolls are tender. They often swarm into the fields and destroy the 

 crop by gnawing into the green bolls. This is the only part ol the plant disturbed 

 by them. 



1 Monographia, por Dr. Burlamaqui, pp. 56, 57. 



