rs Hews FARMERS’ BULLETIN 131, 
The army worm injures crops in but one way, and that is by eating 
away all the tender portions of the leaves, the immature seed, and 
sprouts, and when numerous it may even devour the plants down 
to the very ground. The more important and by far the most con- 
spicuous injury is always inflicted by the nearly full-grown cater- 
pillar, whose greed and capacity for food are almost unbelievable. 
The pupa takes no food. The moth subsists principally upon the 
nectar gathered from flowers. 
FOOD PLANTS. 
The army worm feeds by preference upon grasses, both wild and 
cultivated; next, upon the grasslike grains, such as the several varie- 
Fic. 3.—Map showing localities in the United States in which the true army worm has 
been destructive. (Original.) 
ties of millet, which suffer severely during outbreaks of the insect. 
Wheat in its unripe stages, corn, oats, and rye seem to be preferred 
in the order named. In some portions of the country alfalfa also 
suffers injury; apparently damage to this crop occurs only in the 
Southwestern States—Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Arizona. 
Occasionally clover is attacked, but such occurrences are rare. 
WHERE INVASIONS OF THE ARMY WORM COME FROM. 
The true army worm usually appears in the fields very suddenly, 
and it seems quite certain that the moths at times fly in great num- 
bers for many miles, in the direction of the prevailing winds, and 
alight in a body to deposit their eggs at some place favorable to the 
development of their offspring. This fact accounts for the sudden 
