8 FARMERS’ BULLETIN 131. 
therefore do well to learn to recognize the moth at sight, as in this 
way they could be warned of the probable subsequent injurious 
abundance of the caterpillar. The moths may readily be known by 
their plain brownish-gray appearance and the presence of a single 
very small, almost pure white speck or spot near the center of each 
of the front wings (see figs. 2,@and 5). The moths seldom or never 
lay their eggs near the spot where they have developed and fre- 
quently fly for many miles before doing so. Thus there are seldom 
two successive outbreaks during the year in any given locality. It 
is not yet definitely known where or how the army worm lives over 
the winter, but the indica- 
tions are that it does so in 
the partially grown cater- 
pillar stage. 
HISTORY OF THE ARMY 
WORM IN THE UNITED 
STATES. 
The army worm has been 
known as a serious pest on 
cereal and forage crops in 
the United States since early 
colonial times. As early as 
the year 1632 it is recorded 
as injuring corn in New 
England by Peter Kalm, a 
Swedish naturalist who 
traveled in this country. In 
Fic. 6.—Winthemia quadripustulata, a fly parasitic the aS 143 a great out- 
on the true army worm: Adult. Much enlarged. break of the army worm 1s 
(Omen) recorded as having occurred 
throughout that portion of the country now known as the North 
Atlantic States. From then down to the present time the insect has 
hampered agriculture and robbed the farmer mercilessly at compara- 
tively short but irregular intervals of time. The most recent serious 
invasion occurred during the summer of 1914, at which time the 
entire agricultural region east of the Rocky Mountains and north of 
the Gulf States suffered to a greater or less degree. From the past 
history of the insect the farmer may confidently expect to be com- 
pelled to cope with it from time to time, and he should ever be on the 
alert during the spring and early summer months in order to dis-: 
cover the pest before it has made serious inroads upon his crops. 
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