THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



i8S 



was active and injurious to oats and other 

 grain. 



There is no doubt that the prevailing 

 tlieory of its single-broodedness was a re- 

 sult merely of the fact that it is observed 

 in e-\cessive numbers only once during the 

 year, and usually when wheat is just about 

 ripening. But, as we showed in our Mis- 

 souri Reports (8th and 9th), the worm 

 is always to be found both earlier and later 

 in the season, but attracts no attention be- 

 cause living in its normal Cut-worm condi- 

 tion. 



HOW THE INSECT HIBERNATES. 



In our prior discussion of this subject 

 we have been led to conclude that the in- 

 sect might hibernate in any one of the four 

 stages of egg, larva, chrysalis or moth ; 

 the evidence then at hand pointing to the 

 chrysalis state as the more normal mode of 

 hibernation in the northern regions, and 

 the moth or imago state in the southern 

 regions. With present light, and especially 

 with the experience of this year, we are led 

 to revise our opinions materially and to 

 believe that, as in the case of so many of 

 our ordinary Cut-worms, the by far more 

 common mode of hibernating is in the lar- 

 val state. That the insect does hibernate 

 in the larval state is now an established 

 fact, based not only upon the experience 

 just cited from Prof. Comstock, but upon 

 the finding of a partly-grown larva in the 

 stomach of a Blue-bird as early as March 

 9th, at Normal, 111., or before vegetation 

 could have fairly started (see Answers to 

 Correspondents in this number). The be- 

 lief is further confirmed by the lateness of 

 the season in which we have found the 

 worms, and by the finding of the chrysalis 

 and breeding of the moth by Mr. Meske 

 at Albany, N. Y., about the middle of May.* 

 We have absolute evidence, therefore, of 

 the hibernation as larva and as moth ; but 

 none of hibernation either in the egg or 

 chrysalis state, though presumptive evi- 

 dence of the latter. 



We are slow in getting at the simple 

 truths in respect to many of our most com- 

 mon insects, because the original observers 



* Cited in 8th Missouri Report, p. 44. 



are so few compared to those who write 

 fluently and copiously at second hand and 

 can of course never add to our knowledge 

 of the facts. The fact of larval hiberna- 

 tion established, gives us at once a better 

 explanation than we have hitherto had of 

 many experiences with the insect. We 

 can, for instance, at once see why the worm 

 will be less disastrous in fields or meadows 

 that have been burned over, and also at 

 once account for the frequent freshness of 

 the moths that are captured in early Spring 

 — a fact attested by many and especially 

 insisted on by Prof. Thomas from his expe- 

 rience the present Spring, as narrated to 

 us. 



THE DESTRUCTIVE GENERATION PROBABLY 

 NOT THE FIRST OF THE SEASON. 



The hibernation of the larva being ad- 

 mitted, it follows in our minds that the 

 injurious brood will be that succeeding the 

 hibernating one, /. e. the resultant from the 

 moths which the hibernating larvae produce. 

 Passing the winter, in different sizes, under 

 the shelter of matted leaves in unpastured 

 meadows and in grain fields sown in the 

 autumn, these worms will go through their 

 transformations and produce moths soon 

 after vegetation starts. The moths will 

 show little tendency to leave the fields 

 where they were bred, but will lay their 

 eggs in such fields and, under favorable 

 conditions, their issue may, as during the 

 present year, become so abundant as to be 

 obliged to travel therefrom when approach- 

 ing full growth. 



( To be continued,) 



SPRINKLERS AND ATOMIZERS. 



Inquiries are now repeatedly coming to 

 >is respecting the best and cheapest ma- 

 chines and contrivances for sprinkling the 

 various arsenical poisons used in liquid 

 form, and this is the season of the year 

 when the cotton planter more particularly 

 may have to call in requisition such means 

 as may be at his command for protecting 

 his crop from the ravages of the Worm. 

 To meet the inquiries that are so generally 

 being made we have concluded to give 



