42 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 
FALL ARMY WORM 
Laphygma frugiperda Sm. & Abb. 
This sporadic pest attracted notice the past season for the second 
time in recent years on account of injury by the larvae to lawns. 
The earlier outbreak occurred in Buffalo in 1900, the caterpillars 
destroying the grass of lawns by cutting it off just below the ground. 
Several reports of injuries to lawns were received last fall from 
persons in New York City, while Mr Roy Latham, of Orient Point, 
stated that the caterpillars were very abundant under date of Sep- 
tember 11th, occurring in corn, Hungarian and wild crab grass. 
The latter he considered a source of the pest and stated that acres 
of lawn and Hungarian had been ruined. The last part of Sep- 
tember he reported thousands of caterpillars on corn, there being 
at that time many very young ones. 
Characteristics of outbreaks. The work of the fall army worm 
is most easily recognized because it usually occurs much later than 
that of the true army worm. It feeds by preference upon a variety 
of grasses and, under certain conditions at least, seems to display 
a marked preference for lawns. This latter habit has not only 
been observed in New York State but also in Illinois and West 
Virginia. The caterpillar responsible for this trouble is smaller 
and more slender than the true army worm, Heliophila uni- 
puncta Haw., and is peculiar in the somewhat narrower, nearly 
black head with a more or less distinct, inverted, Y-shaped mark 
in front bordering the eyes and extending down to the mouth- 
parts. 
Description. The moth is al- 
lied to that of the true army 
worm, Heliophila unti- 
puncta Haw., though quite 
different in coloration, since 
there is no minute, white spot 
on the forewings. These in the 
fall army worm are rather dull 
grayish brown, with indistinct, 
oval, lighter markings as _illus- 
trated in the accompanying 
figure. 
Fig. 2 Fall army worm. a, Moth, the plain, gray form; b, forewing of 
mottled form; c, larva extended; d, abdominal segment of larva: e, lateral 
view of pupa; d, twice natural size, others enlarged one-fourth. (After 
Chittenden, U. S. Div. Ent., Bul. 29, 1901) 

