INSECTS. 
101 
two anal feet, and creep along with a gradual motion, quite unlike the 
looping gait of the true cotton-caterpillar, and vary much in color and 
markings, some being brown, while others are almost green. All are 
more or less spotted with black, and slightly covered with short hairs. 
These variations of color may perhaps he caused by the food of the 
caterpillar. Some planters assert that, in the earlier part of the sea- 
son, the green worms are found in the greatest number, while the 
dark brown are seen later in the fall, as we know is the case with the 
cotton-caterpillar. 
The upper-wings of the moth are yellowish, in some specimens 
having a shade of green, but in others of red. There is an irregular 
dark band running across the wing, about an eighth of an inch from 
the margin, and a crescent-shaped dark spot near the centre; several 
dark spots, each enclosing a white mark, are also discovered on the 
margin ; the under-wings are lighter colored, with a broad, black 
border on the margin, and are also veined distinctly with the same 
color. In the black border, however, there is a brownish-yellow spot, 
of the same color as the rest of the under-wings, which is more dis- 
tinct in some specimens than in others, but may always be plainly 
perceived; there is also, in most specimens, a black mark or line in 
the middle of the under-wings, on the ncrvure ; but, in some, it is very 
indistinct. 
These moths multiply very rapidly; for, as I have before observed, 
one female moth sometimes contains five hundred eggs, which, if 
hatched in safety, would rapidly infest a whole field, three genera- 
tions being produced in the course of a year. 
In an interesting communication from Colonel Benjamin F. Whit- 
ner, of Tallahassee, he states that the boll-worm was scarcely known 
in his neighborhood before the year 1841 ; and yet, in the short period 
of fourteen years, it had increased to such a degree as to have be- 
come one ot the greatest enemies to the cotton on several plantations 
in that vicinity. 
It has been recommended to light fires in various parts of the plan- 
tations, at the season when the first moths of this insect make their 
appearance, as they are attracted by light, and perish in great num- 
bers in the flames; and, if the first brood of females be thus de- 
stroyed, their numbers must necessarily be reduced, as it is highly 
probable that it is the second and third generations which do the 
principle damage to the crops. Some successful experiments in kill- 
ing these moths with molasses and vinegar were made by Captain 
Sorsby, a year or two ago, which I here describe in his own words: 
“We procured eighteen common-sized dinner-plates, into each ot 
which we put about half a gill of vinegar and molasses, previously 
prepared in the proportion of four parts of the former to one of the 
latter. These plates were set on small stakes, or poles, driven into the 
ground in the cotton-fields, one to about each three acres, and reach- 
ing a little above the cotton-plant, with a six-inch-square board tacked 
on the top, to receive the plate. These arrangements were made in 
the evening, soon after the flies had made their appearance. The 
next morning we found from eighteen to thirty-five moths to each 
plate." The experiment was continued for five or six days, distribut- 
