1 64 LEPIDOPTERA. 



authors — Fitch, Riley, Packard, Comstock and others — and it 

 seems desirable to furnish, from their reports, some details 

 as to the ordinary habits of the species. In doing this it 

 may be well to explain that these educated and accomplished 

 gentlemen are unfortunately, in a measure, compelled, from 

 the nature of their duties, to write down to the comprehension 

 of the agricultural community, and thus we find them con- 

 stantly using the term " worm " for caterpillar or larva, and 

 it should be borne in mind that in the following extracts 

 "worm" does not signify an Annelid but a caterpillar. 



" The name ' army worm ' is given to a kind of worm 

 which makes its appearance at irregular intervals, now in 

 one place, then in another, coming out suddenly in immense 

 numbers which keep themselves huddled closely together 

 like an army of soldiers, travelling usually in one particular 

 direction, and devastating the fields of grain and grass 

 through which they pass." 



" We have long been aware that this was a common 

 insect in the Southern States, appearing there in one 

 place or another almost every year. The public prints have 

 repeatedly noticed the fact of trains upon the railways 

 being stopped and detained by encountering an immense 

 host of worms, covering the track sometimes for a distance 

 of two or three miles, and causing the wheels of the 

 locomotive to slip upon the rails as though they were 

 oiled." 



" The first instance in which we find its occurrence clearly 

 indicated is in the year 1743, when it is merely stated that 

 ' in Massachusetts this year there were millions of devouring 

 worms in armies, threatening to cut off every green thing.' " 

 "Twenty-seven years afterwards was the most remarkable 

 period of its occurrence which we have ever had previous 

 to the present year" (1865). 



" In Noah Webster's work on Pestileritial Diseases we find 

 the following notice of it: 'In 1770 a black worm about an 

 inch and a half long devoured the grass and corn. Never was 



