Geology and Natural History. 233 
Stream, off the Carolinas and out of sight of land, in the month of 
August, large numbers of a moth, the Agrotis annexa of Treit- 
schke, 
Again, I have been struck by the absence of parasitic checks to 
the cotton worm in the south. I could never discover any, 
although such may exist. Spreading, as I believe it to do, as a 
moth, the absence of peculiar parasites to the worm ma be rea- 
; alr 
that in order to make the first brood of the cotton worm t e prog. - 
eny of the so-called “ hibernating ” individuals (as Professor Riley 
would suppose), a period of several months has to be accounted 
for, since these “ hibernating ” moths could not wait till midsum- 
not normal but accidental, and the worm is not “ gregarious” like 
the “tent caterpillar.” Its “hibernation” with us must also be 
regarded as accidental, or at least as barren of results. For when 
has vani 
spring comes the Aletia illa ished, an to be 
found with the hibernating species of Lepidoptera, renewedly 
active. And if it were se Feb n ould 
find no cotton plants upon which to deposit its eggs. If oviposi- 
tion ever takes place in ibak months in a cotton belt, the young 
cotton, free from worms, disproves its efficacy. 
It is dese, that im the southern portion ns of Texas, or the 
Floridian peninsula, the Aletia may sustain itself during the entire 
year; I have no means of oppor on this point. obser- 
vations are made on its occurrence over the central and principal 
portions of the cotton belt, and ita which I believe it to be 
importe — every season that it occurs and from more 
southern re 
nous to the Southern States (vhs it becomes an annu an the cot- 
ton-worm mot May be con nsidered not a denizen, but a visitant, 
brought by various causes to breed in a stra nge region, and that 
it naturally dies out with us in the cotton belt, unable to suit 
itself as yet to the altered economy of its food plant and to con- 
tend with the changes of the seasons 
’hen this fact is comprehended, it will simplify the process of 
artificial extermination by limiting the gp cers od durin 
successfully attack the cotton worm, and by doing away with a 
certain class of proposed remedies. 
