1915 EN^TOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 89 



and snakes and toads and everything else) it occurred to me that the 

 beetles mig*ht he useful. I wired Prof. Webster and he told me to 

 send them to New Mexico. The chief harm done by the army worm was the time lost 

 by the farmers. , I managed to send hundreds and thousands of black beetles to New 

 Mexico for the control of the Eange Caterpillar. Later when the army worm had 

 gone, the beetles came to the light and were found under the wheat sheaves. I be- 

 lieve that if it was not for the army worm there would have been no beetles. So far 

 as the control is concerned, I found that the ditching was the only way. I did try 

 poison, but there were too many of them, and they would go over it and get into the 

 ditch and the corn. 



Prof, Deaeness : Eegarding the sudden appearance of the army worm is there 

 any explanation ? 



Mr. 'Gibson : It is not thoroughly understood how such insects increase in num- 

 bers so suddenly, but I believe, of course, that it is largely a question of parasites and 

 weather conditions. As far as we know the army worm hibernates as a partly-grown 

 caterpillar. We have been trying to find out definitely in what stage the caterpillar 

 does pass the winter, but we have not been able to hear of any locality where speci- 

 mens of the overwintering brood were located. One correspondent reported that he 

 found four caterpillars of the fall brood on corn. These, however, were specimens of 

 the corn ear worms. I should like to know if Mr. Baker has received any reports 

 regarding this brood. 



Mr. Baker : We received reports of the second brood, but found none on exam- 

 ination. All reports proved to*be false. We have no definite record of any second 

 brood this year. Any records we received proved on examination to be something 

 else. 



Mr. Gibson: In Noi^a Scotia Mr. Saunders spent several days searching for 

 eggs and young larvae, but was unable to find any specimens whatever. Mr. Hudson 

 also made search in Western Ontario, and investigations were also undertaken near 

 Ottawa where the worms appeared, without results. 



Mr. Baker : We have failed at Guelph also in securing the egg stage. We got 

 one small cluster of eggs in the field, but no appearance of eggs in our rearing cages. 



Prof. Dearness : Mr. Gibson mentioned that a large number of the moths had 

 been taken on Sable Island. I suppose they were carried there by the wind. 



Mr. Gibson : We intend to look up the records in this respect to find the direc- 

 tion of the wind during the days the moths were attracted to the lighthouses, but wq 

 have not yet been able to do so. Sable Island is 140 miles east of Nova Scotia. 



The President : That observation regarding the occurrence of the army worm 

 moths at Sable Island was more or less incidental or accidental. The primary reason 

 for getting it was that we wrote to the Superintendent at Sable Island, which is 

 under the Department of Marine Fisheries, in connection with our work on the 

 Brown-tail Moth in order to get records of flight. We hoped to be able to get de- 

 tails as to seasonal flight, etc. of those moths attracted there by the Sable Island 

 lights. We did not receive any Brown-tail Moths, but we got adults of the army 

 worm which we happened to be working on at the same time. 



Mr. King : At w'hat date do the birds migrate ? Would it be about the middle 

 of May? 



The President : I think Mr. Criddle would be better able to give you data 

 regarding the migration of these two species of bird, or Mr. Calvert, but Mr. Criddle 

 I? in Manitoba which is more on the direct line of migration. There should be no 

 migration during the time you speak of. There may possibly be, but the reason 



7 E.S. 



