378 



the captors to tlieir nests, or, wlien too heavy to be dragged away at once, they 

 fed upon it as it lay in the road. This warfare was carried on every day as 

 long as the grass-worms prevailed, and no doubt their numbers were diminished 

 in this way to a considerable extent. 



The grass-caterpillars, when in confinement, very often kill and devour each 

 other ; and, when one is maimed in the least, it stands a very poor chance for 

 its life. Several intelligent planters state that, when the grass and weeds are 

 entirely devoured, and no other vegetable food is to be found, they will attack 

 each other and feed upon the still living and writhing bodies of their former 

 companions. One graes-caterpillar, which was kept in coniinement, although 

 furnished with an abundance of green food, actually appeared to prefer to feed 

 upon other caterpillars, no matter of what kind, so long as their bodies Avere not 

 defended by long, bristling hairs, or spines. 



The grass-caterpillar is from an inch and a half to an inch and three-quarters 

 in length. A longitudinal light-brownish line runs down the centre, and two 

 yellow lines along each side of the back, which is somewhat veined with black 

 lines, and is of a dark color, marked with black spots, from each of which grows 

 a short bristle, or hair. Below these yellow stripes the sides are of a dark 

 color, almost black ; beneath this extends a light-colored line, in which the 

 spiracles are placed ; the lower part of the body is of a dirty green, spotted 

 with black; the head is black, marked with two lines of a yellowish color, 

 forming an angle on the top ; the body is somewhat hairy. This caterpillar has 

 six pectoral, eight ventral, and tv*'o anal feet. 



The above description applies only to the brightest colored specimens of the 

 grass-worm, as they vary much in color and markings, some of them being 

 almost black, and showing their stripes indistinctly. The chrysalis is brownish- 

 black, and is formed in a cocoon of silk under the ground, the sand and small 

 pebbles being so interwoven with it as to cause the whole cocoon to appear like 

 an ovoid ball of earth ; but it is never found webbed up in the leaves, as is the 

 case with the true cotton-caterpillar, already described. The moth measures 

 about an inch and one-fifth across the wings when they are expanded ; the up- 

 per wings are gray, slightly clouded with a darker color, and a lighter spot or 

 ring is faintly seen in the centre; the under wings are of a yellowish white, 

 shaded with gray along the margin near the upper wings. 



Specimens of these caterpillars were brought to me when at Savannah, in 

 Georgia, and they wei-e suspected to have injured the rice in that vicinity in the 

 mouth of June. Colonel Whitner, of Tallahassee, in his interesting communica- 

 tion to this office, speaks of the grass-caterpillar as having stripped fields of 

 grass, in lS-i5, and also as attacking the. corn, sugar-cane and upland rice. It 

 has likewise been said that an insect similar, if not identical with tlie grass- 

 caterpillar, destroys the leaves of the sweet potato. Thus it appears to be 

 almost omnivorous, and not choice in its selection of food, like the true cotton- 

 caterpillar, which is believed to confine itself to the cotton-plant alone. 



The grass-worm cannot be classed among those insects very injurious to cot- 

 ton, although instances have been known where it has destroyed the foliage to 

 some extent. It is more especially mentioned here as being found in cotton- 

 fields, and often confounded >vith the true cotton-caterpillar. The same reme- 

 dies are applicable to this insect as have been suggested for the boll-worm 

 caterpillar, or any other night-flying moth. 



Smith and Abbott, in their v/ork on the insects of Georgia, fi.gure an insect 

 under the name of Phalcena ( Tjcvplirygma) frugiperda, which also feeds upon 

 grass, wheat, and Guinea corn; and as their figures, although very highly 

 colored, bear considerable resemblance to the grass-caterpillar, it may eventually 

 prove to be the same insect. 



