INSECTS ATTACKING WHEAT. 



39 



Kansas Farmer of June 28, 1876, published several items indi- 

 cating that the pest was occasioning some excitement in the State. 

 Of 100 pupre received by Doctor Riley from John Davis, of 

 Junction City, 40 per cent, were infested by one of the parasitic 

 Ichneumons. 



From correspondents reporting in 1891, the presence of the 

 worm was determined in several counties. A correspondent send- 

 ing specimens June 13, from Stafford county, says: "They are 

 doing an immense amount of damage to the wheat in this county." 



FALL ARMY- WORM. 

 {Laphygma frugiperda Smith & Abb.) 



Diagnosis. — A naked, pale-brown to dirty-green caterpillar, 

 about one to one and a half inches long, eating grass, corn, rye, 

 wheat, and various succulent plants in the autumn (September 

 and October). 



Description and Life-history — As an adult, this insect is a 

 grayish-brown moth with an expanse of wings varying from one 



to one and a half inches; appear- 

 ing in the fall. The larva or cat- 

 erpillar, in which state the insect 

 commits its depredations, is dark 

 or even pitchy-black'when young, 

 but when full-grown' is of a pale- 

 brown or dirty-green color with 

 more or less pink or yellow in the 

 shape of fine mottlings. The body 

 is longitudinally striped with dark 

 lines. The head is pale yellowish 

 with an inverted white, Y-shaped 

 mark. The body is covered with 

 many small, black tubercles, each 

 tubercle bearing a short, stiff, black 

 hair. The larvse feed voraciously on all sorts of cereals and on 

 many vegetables. They appear only in the|fall, the first ones be- 

 ing seen about September 1, and the last ones about November 1, 



Fig. 19. Fall Armt-woem; «, adult; 

 &, larva. 



