The Louisiana cotton-boll. [volume] (Vermilionville [i.e. Lafayette], Attakapas, La.) 1872-1883, 1873-06-18

SAYS of this insect: "The first moth,
that visit a crop deposit their eggs anG
die. These eggs in ten days become
little worms, which fall to eating the
leaf on which they were Matched, anG
as they grow, consume the plant and
pass to another. But age comes or
apace with these ephemeral creatures
the worm presently grows weary of de.
vouring, selects q leaf, rolls himself il
a little cocoon and dies" OF course
this is " serious mistake to think that
the worm dies, else how could it pro.
duce the moth which, as Mr.. Lyman
himself shows, afterward issue from the
cocoon. 1t is astonishing to find such
gross errors creeping into our popular
works, but then, the study of these
contemplate little bugs, even if they
do sometimes totally destroy the crop,
is of course beneath the dignity of the
man who can write q work on cotton cul.
ture ! The truth of the matter is thatt
when they have completed their growth,
the worms fold over the edge of a leaf
Fig. / e. and, after lining the inside
with silk, change to chrysalidcs Zig. l
IN which arc ut first green, but soon
acquire q chcstnut-brown color. After
remaining in this last state Gin which,
though tho insect is inactive, it is yet
full of life, and undergoing wonderful
Development from seven to fourteen
days, or even longer, the moth escapes,
the chrysalis being held fast within the
cocoon by means of several very minute
hooks with which the tail is furnished.
At figure 2 a, this moth is represented
with the wings expanded, and Mt b, with
the wings closed. The general color Of
the upper surface is Il goldcn-yellow in
clining to buff, with Il faint olive tint
car the outer or posterior margin. The
front wings are crossed, as in the above
figures, by more or less distinct, irrcgu-
lar l~ilac-colorcd lines. But the chief
characteristic is q dark s~late-colorcd, on
black spot on the front wings, in which
there arc paler scales forming almost a
double pupil as represented in the fig
ures, while between this spot and the
base Of the wings there is q much
smaller pure white dot. In general
color and in the position Of the larger
spot, this moth bears a remarkable re-
sembIanco to that Of the true Army
worm Of the Northern and Middle
States.
Mr.. Afleck, who certainly had album
dant opportunities for observing the
fact, assured me hat this moth rests
in the position shown in figure 2 b,
namely, with the head DOWN ards. He
wrote on August 22d, 1868 "The Cot
ton moth (Ophin&G ayIjaG of Harris in
his correspondence with mysel) never
alights in any other position, or if by
accident it first assumes another po-
sition, it INSTANTLY wheels around head
dO1rn."
According 10 the best authority, thcro
are three GiG8Gent bro0ds of worms du-
ring the year, the first appearing in
Jupe OF July, and the last, which does
the most damage, appearing in August
or September, o. even later. Mr.. Ly-
man, in the little work already referred
to, says "That nature has made no
provision by which either the fly, the
worm, the chrysalis or the eggs, can
survive the winter or exist for n
length Of time where the cotton plant
is not 4 perennial" But this is surely
an error, which Mr.. Lyman would never
er have made, lad he possessed a better
knowledge of ipsect-life and as Mr..
Glover found that the chrysalis was
by the slightest, frost, the insect
evidently winters oven in the moth
state, rs do many others belonging to
the same Tube. Mr.. w. B. Seabrook
gives strong evidence that this is the
case, in a "Memoir ON the Cotton
read in 1843, before the State
Agricultural Society of South Carolina,
wherein he says: "That the Cotton
survives the winter is nearly GER
ain. An examination of the neighbor-
,oring woods, especially after a mild
has often been successfully
for that purpose" And DIR.
states positively that the moth
ybernates in piles of cotton'seed under
under bark and in c~revices of
rees in dense forests and other seclud-
d places, and that it may often be seen
n peasants days in winter.
*Patent Office Report, 1855, p. II.
Ar A party the other evening, Smith,
funny man, picked from the floor
2mo false hair, and holding it aloft, .
ickedly asked who had lost it. I'm.
~ulsively, the hand of every LADY with
car-shot went to her back-hair. It
as cruel to throw them off their guard
nd expose them 50, but Smith says it :
asn't his fault. ,
A sHREwD old gentleman nee said to
is daughter, bospre, my dear, you new
marry a poor man; but remember
la5 the poorest man in the world is
lo that has none and nothing else.
Good Words l