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into the water. I am myself strongly inclined to the latter opinion, because we so often 

 find at Port Hope large quantities of insects washed up on the lake-shore at different 



times in the summer, and as far as my observation 

 goes, always on the days following a stiff northerly 

 wind or squall during the preceding night. We have 

 found, for instance, in June, hundreds of specimens of 

 the large green Carab, Calosoma scrutator, (Fig. 1) — 

 usuall\ r a very rare beetle indeed—and others of the 

 same genus ; these are carnivorous insects, feeding 

 upon caterpillars and other destructive creatures, and 

 are said to especially frequent wheat fields at night. 

 There has been no extraordinary occurrence of these 

 beetles in the State of New York that I have ever 

 heard of, and the prevalent winds, especially at night,, 

 have not led me to suppose that they could have got 

 into the lake from any other quarter except from our 

 own fields. 



This question about the Cotton Moth has been several times discussed at meetings, 

 of the Entomological Club of the American Association, and so far we have not been 

 able to arrive at any definite conclusion. My object in bringing it before our Society 

 to-day is to try and enlist the services of Canadian entomologists and botanists in settling 

 the question finally. What we want to ascertain is whether the insect breeds in this 

 country, and if so, what its food-plant is. The Cotton-plant (Gossypium herbaceum) 

 belongs to the Mallow family (Malvacece), and therefore we naturally expect the cater- 

 pillar of the Cotton Moth to feed upon one or more plants of this botanical family. 

 There are none, however, indigenous to Canada, but several are common in gardens, such 

 as the Hollyhock, and Hibiscus, and the Mallow weed. We should be very glad if all 

 our botanists, as well as entomologists, would keep a look out upon plants of this family 

 next season, and report at once if they find them infested with caterpillars of any kind. 

 I have no doubt that our President, Mr. Fletcher, will willingly undertake to examine 

 and identify any specimens that may be sent to him, and I shall be glad to do the same, 

 if it is found more- convenient to communicate with me. 



Before closing, it may be interesting to mention that the destructiveness of this 

 insect in the cotton fields of the South is almost beyond belief. Prof. Riley shews in 

 his report, from carefully obtained statistics, that during the fourteen years succeeding 

 the civil war in the United States the average number of bales of cotton produced 

 amounted to 3,449,200 per annum, and that 594,497 bales were lost during the years of 

 worst attack ■; by this insect ; the value of these bales, at a low average price, was no 

 less a sum than .$29,711,000 ! Of late years the percentage of loss has been much 

 diminished by the use of Paris green and other arsenical poisons, for which the planters 

 have very largely to thank their entomological friends. The loss in 1881, for instance, 

 is computed at 193,482 bales, worth a little less than $9,000,000 — a saving of about 

 twenty millions of dollars per annum. Much of this improvement may undoubtedly 

 be placed to the credit of entomologists, and certainly the country gets back many 

 hundredfold the few thousand dollars spent upon this branch of economic science. 



Prof. Macoun suggested the basswood tree as a possible food-plant of the larvae, 

 because there were not in the district sufficient malvaceous plants to furnish food for such 

 numbers of insects. 



Mr. Fletcher said that careful search had been made for several years on this tree, 

 as well as on all plants allied to the cotton plant, but no traces of larvae had been found. 

 He had hitherto been inclined to believe that the moth bred in Canada, and that the 

 theory of migration from the cotton States was not tenable, but what he had learned 

 concerning the appearance of these insects this autumn had somewhat changed his- 

 views. 



