DISEASES OF THE COTTON PLANT. 163 
down each wing-case, from the thorax to the upper margin, 
where they form an acute angle. The legs are yellowish- 
green, the hinder pair being much longer than the others, 
and furnished with bristles on the tibia. In the larva 
state, they are able to leap with great agility ; but it is 
only in the perfect state that they are able to fly, the 
under-wings being hidden by the wing-cases, and not per- 
fectly developed in the larvae or pupse. There are several 
species of these insects found upon cotton, which it will 
not be necessary here to describe, as their natural history 
and habits are nearly the same. 
In using the lantern already described, it was found 
that thousands of these small insects were attracted from 
some grape-vines in an adjoining field. The use of fires 
or lights may therefore be recommended to destroy them, 
when they become very numerous, although, as regards 
the cotton, they are not often found on it in numbers suf- 
ficient to do much harm. 
The Cotton Caterpillar. — {Noctua zylina.) 
The leaves of the plant are sometimes entirely devoured 
by what is commonly known to planters as the " cotton 
caterpillar," or " cotton army-worm." It does not appear 
every year in immense numbers, but at uncertain intervals. 
This season (1855), it first made its appearance in the 
vicinity of Tallahassee about the month of August, on the 
plantation of Mr. Hunter, and then spread gradually 
through the rest of the plantations in that region. In 
October, it had already committed considerable ravages in 
several of the cotton-fields, not so severe, however, as had 
been anticipated, though the crops on several plantations 
were somewhat injured. 
