102 
AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 
ing the plates over the entire field, each day s success decreasing until 
the number was reduced to two or three to each plate, when it was 
abandoned as being no longer worthy of the trouble. The crop that 
year was but very little injured by the boll-worm. The flies were 
cavmht in their eagerness to feed upon the mixture, by alighting into 
it and being unable to make their escape. They were doubtless at- 
tracted by the odor of the preparation, the vinegar probably being an 
important agent in the matter. As flies feed only at night, the plates 
should be visited late every evening, the insects taken out, and the 
vessels replenished, as circumstances may require. I have tried the 
experiment with results equally satisfactory, and shall continue it 
until a better one is adopted.” It might be well also to try the lan- 
tern-trap before mentioned, as another means of destruction, and, like- 
wise, the method of poisoning recommended in the general remarks 
on insects. As it appears from Colonel Sorsby s communication that 
the moth is attracted by, and feeds with avidity upon molasses and 
vinegar, could not some tasteless and effective poison be mixed with 
this liquid, so that all the early moths which might partake of it 
would be destroyed before laying their eggs? . , , 
A long caterpillar, (PI. IX. fig. 5,) measuring from an inch and 
three-fifths to an inch and nine-tenths in length, and with a thick 
body is sometimes found in bolls of cotton in similai situations as 
the boll-worm. It feeds likewise upon the leaf, and some specimens, 
which were confined in a box, devoured green corn from the ear. 
These insects vary much in color, some being ot a beautiful velvet- 
black, while others are considerably lighter. The head of the cater- 
pillar appears small for the bulky size of the body, and is black, with 
two stripes of yellow, forming an angle on the front. On each side 
of the back runs a longitudinal line, and below the spiracles is seen 
another line of a reddish or ruddy color. The under part is of a 
light-brown. It has six pectoral, eight ventral, and two anal legs, 
and its mode of progression is by a gradual creeping, the same as the 
boll-worm. , . . » 
The chrysalides were formed under ground, in cocoons ot earth, 
agglutinated with silk, and were about four-fifths of an inch in 
length, and of a brownish color. 
The moth measured an inch and three-tenths across the expanded 
wind's • the upper pair were of a brownish color, marked on the mar- 
gin with an irregular band of dirty cream-color, marked with black 
spots on the extreme outer edge. In the centre of each wing was an 
oblique line of the same color ; the body was brown ; the under-wings 
of a dirty, yellowish-white, with a dark shade near where they touch 
the upper-wings ; the antennal were threadlike. 
The eg <r s producing these worms were found deposited in clusters in 
September, and not singly, like those of the boll-worm The old 
caterpillars are subject to a disease which often proves fatal ; and 
hence it is difficult to raise them in confinement. When attacked, 
they appear to bloat or swell very much, become full of a watery 
pulp, suddenly cease to feed, and soon perish, when the outer skin 
turns black, and the inside is found to be lull of a liquid, putrid mat- 
t Perhaps, if they were not subject to this disease, these catei- 
