REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 193 



"Sturgeon Falls, Ont., July 17. — It is reported that a small black worm or cater- 

 pillar, about one inch long, is making considerable havoc in our locality. This insect 

 attacks oats especially, the leaves of which it eats up, leaving only the stem ; the ground 

 is all covered with them. Last year this insect made its appearance in the neighbour- 

 ing township, Caldwell ; but there were none here. " — Joseph Guerin. 



"Mattawa, Ont., July 23. — On a farm of mine some 26 miles from here, on the 

 Ottawa river, an army of the most destructive bugs have made their appearance, and 

 seem likely to entirely destroy the late sown timothy grass, oats and corn. It is a dark 

 coloured grub, black on back, striped lengthwise with lighter markings, lighter col- 

 oured on the under side. They feed on the tender leaves of corn at night and hide in 

 the centre of the shoots during the day, and on oats they hide under anything on the 

 ground that affords them a shelter. They are completely destroying oats. Please let 

 me know what can be done to stop the ravages of this, to me, new pest. Could I use 

 an insecticide on corn 1 " — A. Lumsden. 



In the reply on July 24, the insect was named, and then its habits were described. 

 " With regard to an insecticide, it is of course very difficult to apply any remedy to 

 such a crop as timothy, and I should imagine at this time that that crop is sufficiently 

 advanced to be cut. The fields might then be rolled to destroy the caterpillars. It is 

 even more difficult to make any application to corn, and the only one that occurs to me 

 as likely to be practicable, would be dusting the plants with a mixture of Paris green 

 and flour, wood-ashes, land plaster, or any other fine and perfectly dry powder, in the 

 proportion of one pound of Paris green to 50 of the powder. " 



"August 1. — Since the reception of your letter of July 24th, I have visited my 

 farm and found it to be an army worm that was destroying the crops there. I am 

 anxious to know of some method of compassing their destruction, and told my farmer to 

 follow out your suggestions, as well as one of my own, of giving them shelter under straw 

 in the early morning and then burning it in the heat of the day, say 2 p.m. Where 

 the oats, timothy and clover plants grow, the young feed first on the grass, then attack 

 the oats, but rarely touch clover, as is evidenced by a field seeded to grass last year, 

 when they first appeared. This year there is an immense growth of clover, but not one 

 blade of timothy, and they are doing the same thing this season. I had my men kill 

 them out of the corn, which is now getting past them. I find the grubs are now enter- 

 ing the second stage of their existence, and I find them in large numbers about an inch 

 under the surface of the ground, at the roots of plants. Will these remain hyberna- 

 ting all fall and winter, or may we expect a destroying army this fall again 1 Could you 

 suggest some method of destroying them in the soil, or would fires kept burning in 

 June at night, catch the moths 1 I found the worm in destructive force as far north 

 as the upper end of Lake Temiscamingue, 325 miles from here." — A. Lumsden. 



The following letter was received from the Farmer's Advocate, of Winnipeg, with 

 some specimens of ears of wheat, the chaff of which had been much nibbled on the 

 outside : — 



" I send by mail a few specimens of the caterpillar that has done such havoc to 

 the wheat during the exhibition week. When I left home on Thursday, there was 

 nothing to be seen. On Sunday the whole field was covered ; by Wednesday almost 

 every head was the same as those I inclose, and every leaf stripped from the stock. By 

 Sunday they had pretty well disappeared, and had apparently gone into the ground to 

 turn into the chrysalis state, and I inclose a few in that condition. They have only ap- 

 peared in the new land and summer fallow, but far worse on the new land. I hope 

 you will be able to find out what they are and say whether they are likely to appear 

 next year." — James Glennie. 



In The Nor 1 -west Farmer for August, 1894, is an article on the Army Worm, in 

 which the statement is made that the caterpillar was reported by visitors at the Winni- 

 peg Industrial Exhibition to have been seen in considerable force on wheat crops 15 or 

 20 miles north-west of Portage la Prairie. 

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