THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



49 



the average life of the moth at from three to five weeks. I have 

 often caught the moths, both in the fall and spring months, even 

 in years when the worms themselves were unnoticed by farmers; and 

 Dr. Levi Bartlett, formerly of Pesotum, Ills., informed me while he 

 was practising in Chicago, that he had himself ascertained that they 

 would sometimes live at least three months, and that he had often 

 found them as late as October. We must also bear in mind that they 

 do not all mature and issue from the ground together, even in the 

 same locality ; but that an interval of from six to eight weeks may 

 intervene between the issuing of the first and last moths. With 

 these facts before us it is easy to comprehend how some of the moths 

 live long enough to deposit their eggs on newly sown fall grain, 

 though grass meadows are more favorite resorts. It also becomes 

 clear that the moths may sometimes lay their eggs before harvest 

 upon growing grain, sufficiently high from the ground, for the egg to 

 be carried off with the straw ; and this accounts for several well 

 authenticated instances of the Army- worm starting from stack-yards. 

 The Army-worm larva varies but little in appearance from the 

 time it hatches to the time when it is full grown. Some specimens 

 are a shade darker than others, but on many thousands examined, I 

 have found the markings very uniform as represented in the annexed 

 cut (Fig. 14). The general color is dingy black, and 

 jit is striped longitudinally as follows : On the back a 

 "broad dusky stripe ; then a narrow black line; then 

 a narrow white line; then a yellowish stripe ; then a 

 narrow sub-obsolete white line; then a dusky stripe; 

 then a narrow white line ; then a yellowish stripe; 

 then a sub-obsolete white line; belly obscure green. 

 Those who are more particular will find a detailed 

 description at the end of this article. 



The chrysalis (Fig. 15) is of a shiny mahogany- 

 brown color, with two stiff converging [Fig. 15.] 

 thorns at the extremity, having two fine, 

 curled hooks each side of them. The 

 general color of the moth is light reddish-brown or fawn color, and it 

 is principally characterized by, and receives its name from, a white 

 spot near the center of its front wings, there being also a dusky ob- 



lique 



line running 



[Pig. 16.1 



Woctua unipuncta. 



4 — E R 



inwardly from their tips. The accompanying 

 illustration (Fig. 16), though darker than it 

 should be, will show wherein it differs from 

 the Southern Cotton Army- worm, notwith- 

 standing the colors of the two moths are 

 nearly alike. Our Army-worm moth 

 was first described by the English En- 

 tomologist Haworth in the year 1810, in 

 his Lepidoptera Brittanica, page 174, as 



Subsequently the French Entomologist Guen6e 



