[50] REPORT 4, UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 
Koster, whose Travels in Brazil cover the period from 1809 to 1815, in speaking of 
cotton culture in the northern provinces says:* "The profits which are obtained in 
favorable years by the planters of cotton are enormous ; but frequently disappoint- 
ments are experienced. Oftentimes a whole crop is totally lost, and, instead of large 
returns, the year proves entirely unproductive; or, after a fair promise, the grub, the 
caterpillar, the rain, or the excessive drought, destroys all hope until the following sea- 
son." 
Referring to the cotton plauts in the province of Minas Geraes, Auguste de Saiut- 
Hilaire saystt "lis ont un ennemi redoutable ; c'est une chenille arpenteuse qui eu 
mange les feuilles, et fait beaucoup de tort." In a foot-note he adds:t " J'ai conclue 
qu'elle 6tait arpenteuse, de la description qu'on nren a faite, car je nel'ai point vue. 
Serait-ce le Noctua gossypii Fab.?" 
Mr. Lyman says: § il Along the coast the climate is unfavorable, and the ravages of 
insects are such as to make the cotton crop very uncertain." 
Dr. Antonio Rego, in his Almanack do Povo para 1867, in speaking of the drawbacks 
to cotton raising in the province of Maranhao, says: || " The development of cotton 
growing is subject to certain drawbacks, among which are * * * insects, such as 
the caterpillar, and others less injurious." * * * 
Dr. Burlamaqui, the then secretary of the Sociedade Auxiliadora da Industria Xa- 
cional at Rio de Janeiro, wrote a monograph upon the cotton plant in 1863, in which 
he says : If u The Xoctua gossyj)ii caterpillar of the cotton plant generally lives alone, 
but it often forms part of numerous swarms. Then, as if they had been convoked to 
give the planter a lesson, they march in close columns, enter the cotton field, and in 
less than twelve hours destroy the leaves and flowers and the tender capsules and 
young twigs. This destruction may be recognized at a great distance by the odor of 
the droppings. As soon as one cotton field is destroyed they march to another, destroy 
that, and so on. Fortunately, however, the number of caterpillars gradually decreases, 
for many of them passing into the chrysalid stage, bury themselves in the earth. 
These attacks do not occur every year, or at fixed periods." 
Dr. Miguel Antonio da Silva has the following reference to caterpillars that injure 
the cotton plant: ** "The plantations are exposed * * * to the attacks of divers 
enemies. The most relentless of these are two species of noctuellas (noctua subterranea 
and noctua gossypii), the latter of which, in the larval state, often despoils the plauts 
of their foliage, flowers, and fruit in the space of twenty-four hours!" 
These brief references constitute the literature of the subject of the Cotton Worm 
in Brazil; and it should be borne in mind, at the same time, that there is nothing to 
indicate that Dr. Burlamaqui and Dr. Silva knew of the existence of such insects in 
that country. 
Outside of the cotton-growing districts one never hears of them, even though he 
make the most careful inquiry, unless perchance he encounters a planter of cotton or 
a resident of the cotton-growing region. 
In 1871 the Novo Mundo published a short article upon the Cotton Worm in the . 
United States. With reference to this subject in Brazil, the article says: tt "Up to 
the present it does not appear that the cotton plants in Brazil have suffered much 
from the insect proper to them." These remarks received the indorsement of the edi- 
tor of the Auxiliador da Industria Xacional, the leading authority on agricultural mat- 
ters in Brazil, to such an extent as to be copied in that journal tt in 1878, together 
with the very poor illustration that accompanied the original article, a fact which 
would indicate that it is not generally known, even to-day, that the caterpillars do 
serious damage to the cotton plauts. And such indeed is the case. 
Although diligent inquiry was made at Para, Maranhao, and Pefnambuco, no one 
was found who had any knowledge of an insect injurious to the cotton plant. In the 
last-mentioned city I hoped that the agricultural society would be able to furnish 
* Travels in Brazil, by Henry Koster, vol. ii. p. 172; 2d ed. 
iFoyage dans les provinces deRio de Janeiro et Minas Geraes, par Auguste de Saint-Hil- 
aire (1817-'18), vol. ii, p. 108. 
tThis note was made in 1817-'18. 
fyCotton Culture, by J. B. Lyman, p. 154. 
|| Almanack do Povo para 1867, por Dr. Antonio Rego, Maranhao. 
If Monographia do Algododro,ipe\o Dr. F. L. C. Burlamaqui, Rio de Janeiro, 1863, p. 
56. It should be remarked in regard to what both Dr. Burlamaqui and Dr. Miguel 
Antonio da Silva say in regard to Cotton Worms, that it is not clear that they refer 
to caterpillars as being found in Brazil, and the fact that their writings upon cotton 
are largely compiled from writers upon cotton in other countries would strengthen 
this doubt. But such cannot be said of any of the other writers (footed. 
**&evi8ta Agrieola do Imperial Instituto Fluminense de JgriouUura, No. 5, Sept., 1870, 
p. 12. Vide also foot-note on preceding page in regard to Dr. Burlamaqui's remarks. 
tt Kovo Mundo, May 24, 1871, p. 123. 
tt Auxiliador da Industria Xacional, 1878, pp. 159-160. 
