THE COTTON WORM US OTHER COUNTRIES. 
41 
history be reliable it is fair to presume that it was indigenous, because tbere is no 
knowledge of commercial relations with foreign countries at that period. 
• •••••« 
The winds here are easterly and southeasterly. — 8. T. Trowbridge, U. S. Consul, 
Vera Cruz, Mexico, March 3, 1880. 
I send you a bottle containing various kinds of worms that destroy the cotton and 
plant. They are all I have been able to procure. This is now the part of the year in 
which the worms usual ly a pp< ar, and they have been gathered near San Andres Tuxtla, 
on the Houthern coast from here. 
• »••••» 
On the coast they are called paloma* (moth) or nalomiUa (chrysalis or aurelia). Said 
paloma is ash-color, and is nocturnal in its habits. The moth produces a multitude 
of microscopic eggs on the plant, which eggs create the worm, also microscopic, and 
which commences immediately to devour the plant, and so continues until it gets to 
the state of enrolment, in order to pass through the last metamorphosis. I have not 
been able to obtain sufficient data to say whether they were imported into this coun- 
try, but I am assured that they do not make their appearance every year at the same 
place, or, better said, they only come one or two years in succession, then disappear 
for six or eight years. They are not to be found in all the country atone time. Their 
reproduction is usually ascribed to our southern coast. 
• • * • • • » 
I understand their invasion cau be victoriously combated by sprinkling dry chloride 
of lime over the ground and plants, or an aqueous solution of the same, and I have 
recommended this remedy to those living on the coast for a trial. — R. de Zayas Euri- 
quez, Vera Cruz, March U, 1880. 
[The worms sent by Sefior Enriqnez arc the genuine Aletia of all sizes, but mostly 
full-grown. The facts communicated in flie above reports are most interesting, not 
only on account of the remote period to which the growth of cotton may be traced 
on this continent, but also because of the general observations as to the reoccurrence 
of the insect iu injurious numbers at irregular periods only. In other words, the iu- 
•ect presents the same phenomena in Mexico as in this conntry, and the same facta 
upon which the theory of aunnal immigration to the United States have been largely 
based will hold equally true of a country essentially below the frost line. This ail 
goes to prove the correctness of our conclusions that the absence of Aletia during cer- 
tain years is apparent only, and that its undue multiplication during other years is 
paralleled by similar phenomena in respect of many other insects, and notably of the 
Northern Army Worm, the apparently sudden appearance and disappearance of which 
over vast regions is eveu more marked than in the case of Aletia. Yet, as we have 
shown in the case of both these insects, they may always be found in limited numbers 
even when their presence is not suspected.] 
The fallowing notes on the appearance of the worms in Yucatan, we 
extract from our correspondence: 
United States Consulate at Merida, 
November 1879. 
The culture of cotton is very slight here. It is cultivated only in the southern part 
of this city, and in very small quantity; it grows to the height of 12 feet. No other 
insect enemies are known but the worm, and this worm is exactly as described ; that 
is, a green worm with white lines and black dots. This worm is always on the cotton 
leaf, and there is no doubt that eating the leaf it kills the plant. It does not touch 
the boll, as it remains always on the leaf. If possible I will send specimens. 
Cotton has been growing here for more than sixteen years and grows wild, but it is 
inferior to the cultivated plant. The prevailing direction of winds during March, 
April, June, and July is generally southeast. — [M. Ceballos, U. S. Vice-Consul. 
