XXTV 
INTRODUCTION. 
Should you do so, please observe carefully the following suggestions : 
Write only on one side of the paper blanks sent; and, if more room is desired to 
answer fully, write on another sheet, numbering and lettering to correspond with 
letter and number of question. 
If any special points arise before the termination of the season, please communi- 
cate freely, marking your envelope " cotton insects." 
Respectfully, &c, 
WM. G. LE DUC, Commissioner. 
THE COTTON WORM. 
This insect (Aletia argillacea* Hubn.) will naturally receive most attention, being, 
as it is, by far the most injurious of the different enemies of the cotton plant. Data 
are requested on all the following topics : 
PAST HISTORY OF THE COTTON WORM. 
1. Give, so far as you can from trustworthy records, the earliest year in which cot- 
ton was grown in your State, county, or locality. 
la. During what year (exact or approximate) did the worm first make its appear- 
ance in your locality, and, as far as you are aware, in the State ; in other words, how 
many years elapsed after cotton first began to be grown before the worm began to 
work upon it ? 
16. Specify the years when it has been unusually abundant and destructive. 
INFLUENCE OF THE WEATHER ON THE INSECT. 
2. State what you know from experience of the effects of weather on the insect, and 
more particularly — 
2a. The character of seasons most favorable to its increase. 
2b. The character of the summer and winter — whether wet or dry, mild or severe — 
that have preceded years in which the worm has been abundant and destructive. 
2c. Do wet summers favor its multiplication? 
2d. Effects of different kinds of weather on the eggs. 
2e. Effects of different kinds of weather on the moths. 
2f. Month of year when greatest injury is done. 
STATISTICS OF LOSSES. 
3. Give, as correctly as you can, estimates of the loss to the crop in your county and 
State during notable cotton-worin years. 
MIGRATION OF THE MOTHS. 
It is a well-established fact that the parent moth of the Cotton Worm is often found 
in autumn many hundred miles away from the cotton belt, and there is no reason to 
doubt that it is often carried by favorable winds to northward regions, where it 
cannot perpetuate its species and must therefore perish. Mr. A. R. Grote and others 
even believe that the species perishes each year with the plant, and that the moth 
always comes into the cotton States from more southern countries, where the cotton 
plant is perennial ; in other words, that the moth is habitually migratory, and cannot 
survive the winter in the great cotton regions of the States. While there are many 
facts that lend weight to this theory, there is also much to be said against it; and 
we desire to collect all facts that in any way bear on the question. While we hope 
to get much valuable information on this head from the Signal Bureau, we also ask 
for the experience of correspondents. 
4. Please state, therefore, as nearly as you can from the records, the prevailing direc- 
tion and force of the wind in your locality, first, 
4a. In the month of February; second, 
4b. In the month of March; third, 
4c. In the month of April ; fourth, 
4d. In the month of May ; fifth, 
4e. In the month of June; sixth, 
4f. Whether, in your opinion, there are winds from the south that are sufficiently 
strong and constant to counteract the prevailing trade- winds, which are toward the 
equator. 
* The Noctua xylina of Say. 
