REPORT OF J. C. BRANXER. 
[53] 
* In all cases where the insect remained in the pupa more than twelve clays, the pupa 
had been kept in a close, glass-covered box, which was badly ventilated, or not ven- 
tilated at all. 
The weather was, during this time, for the most, rather cool for the time of year. 
The moths came out generally between 7 and 9.30 o'clock in the evening, though a 
few came out a little earlier, and quite a number, especially toward the last, issued 
as late as 2 o'clock in the morning. 
Broods. — Time did not permit extended observations in regard to the number of 
broods. From what is known of the habit of the insect in the Uuited States, and the 
time of its first app -araiu -e in Brazil, say January 1, and the time when the plague is 
Mttd to end, say June 15, the number of broods can readily be estimated. In case 
the suspension of rains at the beginning of winter lasts longer, of course the number 
of broods will be greater. As the climate of Brazil does not admit of winters suffi- 
ciently cold to kill the pup:e, the numbers that survive tly? rains and the accidents of 
hibernation must be very great. 
On the other hand, the comparatively uncultivated fields in which cotton is grown 
bend to favor the number of iuseet enemies of the cotton insects. On almost every cot- 
ton plant numbers of spiders, beetles and ants were (band. Sometimes a dozen or 
more empty egg-shells were found unon a single plant, and the most careful search 
would not discover a single oaterpillar, either largo or small, while a few small, trans- 
parent spots in the leaves would .show that the young larva- had been there, and 
were probably devoured by some of their enemies. The plants are too high for do- 
mestic fowls to bo of much service in devouring them, but the planters say they are 
eaten by all kinds of wild birds.* 
REMEDIES. 
Tho preventive measures and remedies recommended by Burlamaqui are as fol- 
lows : t 
"These larva) always spare tho plantations that are full of bad grass, especially 
of certain kinds, like I'arthenium hyaterophurua for example. When they enter a plan- 
tation they attack tho [darts in the middle of it lirst. They keep always on the 
shady side, for they fear tho sun, tho wind, and the rain. They prefer those plants 
that are near together, and care but little for those that are at proper distances from 
each other. They never destroy a cotton-field in which the plants are far enough 
apart and completely free from useless plants." 
In some parts of the cotton region it is the custom to replant the cotton about the 
time the plague is at an end, aim then, by the timo they havo disappeared, the young 
cotton will have begun growing. 
No direct remedy is known, and I was unable to hear of any ever having been tried. 
One gentleman, who was said to be an authority in regard to agricultural matters, 
said that he had been told that salt applied to the roots of the plants killed the in- 
sects. 
When asking for some suggestion upon the subject, the answer was frequently given 
that nothing short of the " intervention of God" could stop such a plague when once 
it began. 
LOSSES CAUSED By CATERPILLARS. 
In the absence ot agricultural statistics it is difficult to find out the percentages of 
losses ca ised by Cotton Worms in Brazil, and whatever percentage is settled upon as 
the correct one it must necessarily be unsatisfactory. I was fortunate in obtaining 
notes made in tho province of Sao Paulo in L876 bj Mr. William T. Gepp, of Rio de 
Janeiro. From a well-known planter at Itaicy in that province, who had grown cot- 
ton for a great many years, but who had abandoned it in lti73 on account of the dam- 
age caused by the caterpillars, Mr. Gepp obtained tho following information, which I 
copy from his note-book : 
" Caterpillars prefer good ground ; worn lands not so subject, but tho yield is only 
half crop." The planters were then planting their cotton upon worn ground, pre- 
ferring the half crop to what tho caterpillars would leave them upon better soil. 
# Birds of the parrot family, however, do great injury to cotton, especially when it 
is young aud the bolls are tender. They often swarm into the fields and destroy the 
crop by gnawing into tho green bolls. This is the only part ot the plant disturbed 
by them. 
1 Monoyraphia, por Dr. Burlamaqui, pp. 56, 57. 
