THE FALL ARMY WORM, OR ‘‘GRASS WORM.’’ 4) 
usually feed more actively at night than during the daylight hours 
and more on cloudy days than on those during which the sun is 
shining brightly ; but when they are numerous and food is not plenti- 
ful they may be seen many times taking or seeking food all day long, 
even in bright sunny weather. 
CROPS ATTACKED. 
The fall army worm attacks a great variety of crops, but its 
favorite food plants undoubtedly are the native grasses such as 
quack or crab grass, Bermuda grass, bluegrass, Johnson grass, etc. 
Where these plants are present in abundance it seldom attacks cul- 
tivated crops, and this serves to emphasize the necessity of clean cul- 
tivation, especially as regards corn, which is usually attacked only 
after the wild grasses, allowed to flourish between the rows, have 
been consumed. When the worms are observed feeding on such 
grasses these should be sprayed immediately with a solution of 
powdered arsenate of lead, 1 pound, or arsenite of zinc, 1 pound, to 50 
gallons of water, in order to kill them before they attack the corn. 
Besides corn, among cereal and forage crops, the fall army worm 
seriously injures kafir, rice, oats, millet, alfalfa, clover, sorghum, 
and cowpeas. The ¢aterpillars are very fond of young sorghum. 
In the South, where it-is a common practice to plant sorghum and 
cowpeas together for a hay crop, these worms frequently devour the 
sorghum plants from among the cowpeas—leaves, stem, and all, 
down to the very ground. 
Cotton is severely injured at times, the caterpillars frequently 
cutting the tops of the plants completely off. Among other culti- 
vated plants sometimes attacked are potato, sweet potato, turnip, 
spinach, tobacco, tomato, cabbage, cucumber, and grape. A full 
list of its occasional food plants would occupy so much space as to 
be out of place in this publication. In the cities of the North 
the fall army worm often devours the grass on lawns so rapidly 
as to cause consternation and astonishment to the owners. 
WHERE INVASIONS OF THE FALL ARMY WORM ORIGINATE. 
This insect is undoubtedly a native of tropical or subtropical 
America. It is apparently unable to survive the winter north cf 
southern Georgia or central Texas, and, for this reason, is able to 
spread throughout the regions commonly visited by severe frosts 
only during the warmer portions of the year. During the years 
of its greatest abundance in the Southern States large numbers of 
the parent moths fly northward, by the aid of favorable winds some- 
times making flights of hundreds of miles. After such flights the 
moths evidently lay their eggs at some chosen spot, the eggs hatch 
