PALMER WORM ITS APPEARANCE IN 1853. 223 



eating what the canker worm had left,' was an event well calcu- 

 lated to make a deep impression upon community, and to strike 

 superstitious and weak-minded persons with awe and terror. 

 The facts here stated we obtain chiefly from Webster on pestilen- 

 tial diseases, vol. i, pp. 286, 293. 



Another remarkable visitation of these insects occurred in the 

 year 1853, unparalleled by any event of this kind within the 

 memory of the present generation. It at this time appeared 

 suddenly in excessive numbers, over all the eastern part of the 

 State of New-York, and all the New England States, the news- 

 papers noticing it everywhere from Maine to Connecticut. Al- 

 though we have no definite information respecting it beyond 

 these limits, it was probably numerous in most parts of our 

 country, several specimens of the moth having been sent me 

 this year from the state of Mississippi, this being the only in- 

 stance in which I have ever received this insect from any of my 

 correspondents. It was on the sixteenth day of June that it first 

 attracted notice in the section where I reside, but in the southern 

 part of the State it began to be observed about a week earlier. 

 When attention was once directed towards it, it was found to be 

 common in all the orchards and forests around; and within a 

 few days of the date mentioned, its depredations were so conspic- 

 uous that in every town and neighborhood thoughout this dis- 

 trict of country it was noticed and had become the leading sub- 

 ject of conversation, commonly before they were aware at each 

 locality that every place aronnd them was invaded in the same 

 manner; and the worms were sent to me from different directions 

 by persons who supposed it did not extend beyond the vicinity 

 where they resided. It was currently regarded as a new and 

 unknown insect; and in the prevalent ignorance upon matters 

 of this kind, the most absurd and extravagant conjectures with 

 regard to the origin and transformations of this worm were 

 passed from mouth to mouth, even among educated men and 

 persons of good general intelligence. 



As it is probably atmospherical causes or some peculiarity of 

 the seasons which favors the multiplication of this as of other 

 insects, it merits to be observed that the weather had been re- 

 markably dry and hot for some time previous to its advent. And 



