THE ARMY-WORM IN NEW YORK. 43 



during the month of July, in 1883, was reported in several newspapers. 

 Upon requesting of Mr. W. C. Devereaux that he would endeavor to 

 ascertain what the insect was, as there was no probability of its being 

 the true army-worm, Leucania utiipuiicta Haworth, he replied: 



The worm, as you supposed, is not the Leucania imipuncta. Its feed- 

 ing was done entirely on the foliage of swamp trees, taking a broad belt, 

 and working on the very highest ones, consuming the entire foliage ex- 

 cept the midribs. It showed a preference for ash and soft maple, 

 although it fed on elms coming within its range. It has been said that 

 it was a " measuring-worm," but no webs or tents were seen. 



Mr. Devereaux was prevented from visiting the locality where the in- 

 sect occurred, and was therefore unable to give any information of its 

 true character. 



The moth of the army-worm is a rather common insect in the State 

 of New York, and is known to collectors as an annoying visitor in their 

 " sugaring " operations; but it is seldom that the larva presents itself in 

 injurious numbers, so as to merit the appellation of the " army-worm." 

 It seems, however, to have made a formidable demonstration, in August 

 of 1882, in the neighborhood of Saratoga Springs. Examples of a black 

 caterpillar (about one inch long, with two stripes the length of its body) 

 which were represented as having destroyed twenty-five acres of meadow 

 in the town of Saratoga Springs, were sent by Mr. F. D. Curtis, of 

 Charlton, to the Department of Agriculture at Washington, for name. 

 Answer was given, that " although badly shriveled and almost unrecog- 

 nizable, they seem without doubt to be the genuine army-worm " {^Bulle- 

 tin No. 2 — Division of Entomology — U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1883, 

 p. 28). 



As injuries from this insect have been recorded in but few portions of 

 the State of New York, it is of interest to note in connection with the 

 above statement that Saratoga county is among the few places where it 

 is believed to have previously occurred. Dr. Fitch, in mentioning its 

 appearance, as the black worm, in Worcester, Mass., in May of 1817, 

 adds, (quoting from the Albany Argus : 



This black worm is also destroying the vegetation in the northern 

 towns of Rensselaer and eastern section of Saratoga. Many meadows 

 and pastures have been rendered by their depredations as barren as a 

 heath (6th-9th Reports Ins. N. V., 1865, p. 116). 



The only other New York localities of its occurrence given by Dr. 

 Fitch in his excellent account of this insect, /oc. cit., pp. 1 13-126, are the 

 following: 



Here in our own State, the worm has appeared in the vicinity of Buf- 

 falo, and at several other points toward the western and southern line of 



