f ' * 
INFLUENCE OF WET WEATHER ON ALETIA. 83 
fled in such low places where the cotton is rank. These places are also 
just those where the dews are heaviest, and the facts which follow render 
it quite certain that moisture aids both the hatching and the develop- 
ment of the worm. Another suggestion may here be made that also 
helps in the explanation ; the natural enemies of the worm, especially 
the ants, are less abundant in low, wet land than in that which is higher 
and drier. They will, therefore, be less efficient in destroying the young 
worms, which for this reason will stand a better chance of developing 
uuchecLed. 
Influence of wet weather. 
In the foregoing pages we have seen that the insect, both in its larva 
and perfect states, has a predilection for low, moist ground, where the 
cotton is luxuriant. We may safely infer, therefore, that the meteoro- 
logical influences that produce over large areas the conditions Thus 
described for limited areas will prove favorable to the development of 
the worms ; and, indeed, it is the uniform testimony and experience of 
all who have closely observed the facte that wet weather is favorable 
and ary weather unfavorable thereto. This appears not only from the 
testimony of observers and of correspondents of the Department and of 
the Commission in this country, but also seems to be the case in South 
America. The United States consul at Pemambuco, for instance, says 
u it comes and disappears with the rain." A study of the past history 
also reveals the same fact, and in no instance more strikingly than in 
the consideration of the year 1873. As indicating this in a most forci- 
ble way we introduce agaiu the tabulated statement of correspondents 
of the Department showing the relative influence of each cause of dam- 
age. Rain and worms go hand in hand. 
North Carolina. — Rains, frost, worms. 
South Carolina. — Rains, frost, worms. 
Georgia.— Worms, more than all other causes combined; rains, frost, drought, high, 
winds. 
Florida. — Storms of rain, worms. 
Alabama. — Worms, rains, frost. 
Mi$ti*nipi i. — Worms, spring rains, drought, frost. 
Louisiana. — Worms, rains, high winds. 
Texas. — Worms, rains, drought, frost, bad gins and inexperienced ginsers. 
Arkansas. — Rains, worms, drought, frost. 
Tennessee. — Drought, frost, rains, plaut-liee, a cold and wet spring. 
We have not to deal here with those severe rains, especially those 
accompanied by gales of wind, such as occur occasionally in the South, 
especially during the autumnal equinox, which have been known to kill 
the worms, beating them down and sweeping them into windrows and 
heaps, such as was the case in Mississippi in 1825; in Matagorda 
County, Texas, in September, 1875, and in the Bahamas in 1866 ; for in 
these and similar cases the destruction of the worm is always accom- 
panied by the utter loss of the crop. 
