114 THIRD ANNUAL REPORT OF 



bo distinguished from its close ally, namely, by the tip of the wing 

 bekig more prolonged and acuminate, and by the three-forked nerve in 

 the middle of the wing being much more conspicuous. Its larva never 

 congregates in multitudes as does the Fall Army-worm, and differs so 

 materially from that worm, and is withal so characteristically marked, 

 that it may be recognized at once by the above illustration (Fig.4S,#). 

 Contrary to what its name would indicate, it is a very general feed- 

 er, as I have found it on all sorts of succulent plants, both wild and 

 cultivated, This insect is more or less numerous every year, but has 

 never been known to multiply so prodigiously as the Fall Army-worm, 

 which Ave have under consideration. It passes the winter either in 

 the larva, pupa or perfect state, but more generally in the former. 



Now that I have sufficiently dwelt on the characteristics of the 

 Fall Army-worm to enable any one to distinguish it, even from its 

 nearest relative, let us consider for a moment what can be done to 

 prevent its great injuries to grains and to vegetables. I have proved 

 that there are at least two, and probably as many as three or even 

 four broods during the course of the year; for those worms which 

 appeared in such multitudes in August and the forepart of Septem- 

 ber, in due time produced moths, and these gave birth to a new gen- 

 eration of worms, which began to make their presence manifest 

 towards the end of October. In 1868, also, I bred the moth as early 

 as July, from worms received from Air. Daggy. In this prolificacy the 

 Fall Army-worm differs remarkably from the true Army-worm, as 

 well as from most of its close allies, which generally produce but one, 

 and seldom more than two, broods each year. 



The moths were so numerous during the latter part of September 

 and the forepart of October, that I not only found them common at 

 Decatur, Vandalia and other parts of Central Illinois, and wherever I 

 traveled in our own State, but I captured a goodly number in the 

 very heart of St. Louis, and even caught some while riding by rail. 



The eggs are deposited in small clusters, often in two or three lay- 

 ers one above the other, and the whole cluster is covered sparsely 

 with the yellowish hairs from the ? abdomen. Each egg is nearly 

 spherical, of a pale fulvous color, and differs only from that of the 

 Unarmed Rustic {Agrotis inermis, Fig. 49, a, showing one magni- 

 fied, and J, a batch of natural size,) in being less compressed 

 and less distinctly ribbed. The clusters were found abundantly, not 

 only on the under side of peach and apple leaves, which the worms 

 readily devour, but on the leaves of such trees as sycamore, which, 

 so far as we at present know, they do not feed upon. Under these 

 last circumstances the young worms, upon hatching, would soon 

 descend the tree to feed upon the more succulent herbage below; 

 and the more I learn of the habits of our different Owlet moths, 



