244 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



H. Klippart of Ohio, and Dr. Asa Fitch of New York, — the 

 principal facts in its natural history were made known to the 

 world, and the parent-moth identified. The remaining ob- 

 scure points in its history — viz., the number of annual broods, 

 the state in which it hibernates, and the mode, time, and 

 place of oviposition — were first fully elucidated by the 

 writer in 1876. 



Leucania unipuncta, the progenitor of the army-worm, is 

 a light, reddish-brown or fawn-colored moth, principally char- 

 acterized by, and receiving its name from, a small but distinct 

 white discal spot on the primaries, which have also a dusky 

 oblique line running inwardly from their tips. This moth 

 was first described by the English entomologist Haworth, 



in the year 1810, in his " LepidojDtera 

 Britannica " (p. 174), as JVoctua uni- 

 puncta. Subsequently the French en- 

 tomologist Guende, overlooking Haworth's description, and 

 regarding it as a new species, named it Leucania extranea. 



Haworth's name takes prece- 

 dence. It is considered a com- 

 mon species in European col- 

 lections, and Guenee mentions 

 it as occurring in Brazil. A 

 variety without the white spot 

 is found in Java and in India ; 

 and still another — lacking the white spot, and having a dark 

 border on the hind-wings — occurs in Australia. Specimens 

 undistinguishable from ours have also been collected in the 

 latter country and in New Zealand. 



The sexes, at first glance, are not easily distinguished. 

 There are no colorational differences ; nor does the abdomen 

 of the one sex differ materially in size and form from that of 

 the other. Yet a careful examination with an ordinarj- lens 

 will enable one to separate them with sufficient certainty by 

 the smoother antennae and more pointed abdomen of the 

 female, compared with the more hairy or ciliate antennse and 

 the blunter abdomen of the male. In both sexes the tip of 

 the abdomen is covered with a brush of long hairs ; and, the 

 moment these are brushed away, the sex is at once easily 

 ascertained. If the tip of the abdomen of the male be 

 denuded, by means of a little friction with a stiff camel's-hair 



