THE ARMY-WORM IN NEW YORK. 



Leucania Mnipun£la Haworth. 



Order Lepidoptera ; family Noctuid^. 



Perhaps no common name of an insect is so familiar to 

 agriculturists and others as that of "army-worm." However, 

 but comparatively few people are familiar with the story of an 

 army- worm's life, — what it is, where it comes from, the wonder- 

 ful transformations it undergoes, and many other interesting facts 

 about it. The most serious outbreak of this insect known in the 

 history of New York state and of the country at large occurred 

 last year. As the newspapers teemed with more or less exag- 

 gerated accounts of its ravages and habits, it attracted unusual 

 attention from all classes, resulting in a greater demand for 

 definite, detailed, illustrated information than we were able to 

 supply at the time. Fortunately we succeeded in breeding many 

 of the insects through their different stages and broods in cages 

 at the insectary, and were thus enabled to obtain many new and 

 life-like pictures of army-worms, their parents, and other interest- 

 ing phases of their life. In order that agriculturists and others 

 may be prepared with definite information in case of future out- 

 breaks of the insect in New York, the following account of its 

 work in the state has been prepared. 



What are Army-worms. 



The name " army- worm " has been applied to several different 

 insects which sometimes appear in great numbers and devastate 

 large areas of field or orchard crops. The term is sometimes 

 applied to the canker-worm in many localities in our state. How- 

 ever, what has come to be recognized as the army-worm proper 

 or the army-worm by entomologists is shown at work, nearly 

 natural size, in figure 68, and twice natural size in figure 70. It 

 is a striped, sixteen-legged larva or caterpillar, resembling, and 

 in fact, closely allied to, the well-known cutworms. It is aptly 



