104 SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT 



bee-moth. Their excrement also resembles that of the moth, and is 

 mixed all through the hay. With the thermometer at freezing-point 

 they are lively, and were moving when the thermometer was at 6° 

 below zero." 



A sample of living specimens of the worms arrived in good order. 

 We think it is a pest wholly unknown to Eastern farmers. — ]V. Y. 

 Sem. Weel: Tribune, Feb. 16, 1866. 



Clover Worm in the State of New York. — M. C. Remington, 

 Auburn, N. Y., writes, Feb. 28: — "I read your account of the clover- 

 worm at the West, and dreaded its advent in the East. I little thought 

 that, even then, this pest with its myraid host was stealthily doing its 

 work of destruction on my own premises. Having occasion during 

 last week to remove a stack of clover hay, I found the bottom of it, 

 for two feet from the ground, full of brown worms about five-eighths 

 of an inch long, tapering both ways, ridged, with the extremities a 

 little darker than the center. The hay in spots was white with their 

 cocoons, having the appearance of a white mold, which 1 took it to 

 be, until on unloading the hay I found the wagon alive with these 

 active agents of destruction. Can anything be devised to prevent 

 their depredations? Would thoroughly salting be likely to prove 

 beneficial ? The subject, I think, is worthy of serious consideration."^ 

 N. Y. Sem. Week. Tribune, March — , 1866. 



What ARE They? — During the past summer I cleared out a bay 

 which had not been entirely emptied in some ten or twelve years, and 

 so much refuse had accumulated as to injure the hay. As soon as I 

 had cleared off a little of the top, a sight presented itself to me that 

 fairly made me shudder — there were thousands, if not millions, of 

 brownish or greenish-black worms, about three-quarters of an inch long, 

 squirming and crawling in every direction; the chaff was alive with 

 them — the most disgusting looking mess I ever saw; but after awhile 

 it was finished and drawn away into a pasture. The bay was half of a 

 26 by 36 barn, the other half being filled with hay. I have just fin- 

 ished drawing home this mow of hay, and find that these worms have 

 destroyed a load of clover at the bottom, and penetrated up through 

 three feet of timothy, apparently without injuring it, to a couple of 

 loads of clover, and spoiled it ; it was cut to chaff, and looked as if it 

 was mow burnt, and was filled with their droppings, which looked like 

 onion seed. * * * What are the}'", where did they come 

 from, and will they go away of themselves, or what shall I do to kill 

 them?— D. S. B., Fort Ann. N. Y., in Country Gentleman, Feb. 16^ 

 1871. 



In the Practical Entomologist ior ^nne, 1866, Mr. Walsh recorded 

 what had, up to that time, been published of these worms ; but nothing 

 was known of their natural history until the spring of the next year^ 

 when an account of the insect's transformations was given by myself.* 

 Around Alton, Ills., and in St. Louis county, many cases of injury by 

 this Clover-hay Worm have come to my knowledge within the past 

 four years, and in 1870 it attracted a good deal of attention around 

 Eureka. 



*Prai)ii' Former, A\n\ 20, 1807. 



