62 



Deep ditches cut in the earth to stop them were immediately filled 

 up by the multitudes which fell in and perished, while eager mil- 

 lions still rushed over the trembling and half-living bridge, formed 

 by the bodies of their late companions, bent on their mission of 

 destruction and devastation. 



* * * * When pressed by necessity, however, as has 

 already been stated, they will feed upon cotton leaves. I raised 

 about thirty of them upon this food alone, merely as an ex- 

 periment, and they grew and perfected their transformations, al- 

 though appearing to prefer a grass diet if it could be obtained." 



In Missouri, in 1868, they destroyed much young wheat sowed on 

 oats ground, but did not trouble wheat sowed in the same fields on 

 wheat stubble. They were here found to feed with equal relish on 

 the young plants of both oats and wheat, and a variety of grasses. 



In Illinois, in 1870, they fed in July upon the young corn, de- 

 vouring the leaves, eating into the heart of the young plant, and, 

 later, boring large holes through the ears, burrowing them in all 

 directions. They were also reported to Mr. Eiley to feed upon the 

 leaves of the peach and apple, upon the under sides of which the 

 imagos laid their eggs. If these were deposited upon other trees, 

 like the sycamore, the larvae, when they hatched, instead of eating 

 the leaves, descended from the trees to feed upon more succulent 

 herbage below\ 



According to the observations in wheat fields reported for 186 S, 

 wheat which had been completely eaten up was not necessarily 

 ruined, some that had thus been cut off in the fall making a good 

 stand the next spring, in one instance, at least, being even better 

 than that which had not been touched. 



[On the other hand, Mr. F. E. Buckley, of Tremont, who was the 

 first to report the occurrence of these larvae to me this fall, writes 

 me this spring that the wheat eaten off was almost invariably destroyed 

 and did not rally again. "On my piece containing twenty acres," he 

 says, "one-third of the ground was bare. Wherever the worms 

 w^orked, the wheat is killed and did not come up again ; and in 

 other instances I know of in this vicinity, the result Avas the same. 

 One piece of about ten acres sown on very rich ground (oat stubble, 

 of course,) which was completely destroyed, does not show half an 

 acre of living grain."] 



In Missouri, the worms have also been reported to destroy turnips, 

 and buckwheat as it was just coming into bloom ; while meadows 

 were so ravaged that nineteen-twentieths of the grass was considered 

 entirely killed. Oats and timothy w^ere among the crops destroyed 

 by them, the former being devoured when it had reached a height 

 of six inches. Corn silks and soft corn were likewise eaten. Com 

 fodder, tomatoes, rye, potatoes, and cucumbers have been destroyed 

 by them in various parts of Missouri, and in some vineyards they 

 did great damage by gnawing around the stems and causing the 

 bunches to drop ofi'. 



In corn fields, they were said by a correspondent of Mr. Eiley's, 

 not only to devour greedily the leaves and stems, but to bore large 

 holes through the ears, burrowing them in all directions. In Geor- 

 gia, in 1872, besides devouring corn and grass, they destroyed the 



