HISTORY OF THE LITERATURE. 
32o 
and excited a temporal y interest in the subject. It was followed by sev- 
eral unimportant articles in the Southern Agriculturist and other south- 
ern periodicals daring LSJ9; but the interest apparently soon died out, 
and there was a dearth of items tor a number of years — a fact which is 
partially explicable on the ground that the worms were at no time re- 
markably numerous between 1825 and 1S4G. The one noticeable article 
during this period is that of Hon. Whitemarah E. Seabrook (1S44), who 
devotes three pages ot his memoir upon cotton to the consideration of 
the Caterpillar, its history, and the means employed against it. This ac- 
count, though short, is accurate and valuable and has been much quoted. 
As one would naturally expect, the year 1846 brought forth a great 
number of articles good and bad. The first among these to be mentioned 
is the letter written by Thomas Affleck to the American Aariculturiti 
in August. 1*4(1, from which we have already quoted in Chapter III, 
describing the devastation in Mississippi and giving an account of the 
past history together with some facts in tin- natural history of the insect 
The most interesting point about this letter is. however, the Fad that it 
contains in the following words the first hint of the migration theory, 
which has since occupied so much attention among writers on the Cot- 
ton Worm: u liut whether we at all times receive OUT supply from this 
source" [hibernation J -or whether (which I think is quite as probable) 
they are not unfrequently brought on a gale of wind from the West 
Indies, .Mexico, or the coast old uiana, will be difficult to decide." 
From 1840 to 1852 followed quite a Btream of articles in the Southern 
Cultivator, JJe Bote's L'< rietc, American Cotton Planter, and other promi- 
nent periodicals; but very lew were of any permanent value. During 
the fall and winter of KS4(>-'47, Dr. 1>. B. G-orham, of Bayou Sara, La., 
made observations which led to an article in J>c Bou?$ Review (Gorham, 
1847), in which the migration theory is quite extensively elaborated. 
The idea was an original one with Dr. 6 or ham, and be arrived at it from 
the observation that all the late fall pupa* that he collected were para- 
sitised. Hence, arguing a total destruction of the last brood, he was 
forced to some other conclusion than hibernation to account for the start- 
ing of the btock the ensuing year. His views were plausibly expressed, 
although based upon so erroneous a standpoint, and his article excited 
much interest among the reading planters. The article will be of per- 
manent interest, however, only as containing the first mention of any 
parasite upon the Cotton Worm. The author gives quite a full descrip- 
tion — although he gives the species no name — of Pimpla conquisitor. It 
is interesting to notice that of all the articles which this announcement of 
the new theory called forth not one of the writers accepted Dr. Gorham's 
views. Among the more prominent of these papers may be mentioned 
the editorial by William Jones in the Southern Cultivator (Jones, 1847), 
and the article by P. Winfree in J)e Bow's Review of the same year. The 
latter writer was the first to mention the good offices of ants in killing 
the caterpillars. 
