54 



"Worms ; three of these were changed to moths arid one to a chrys- 

 alis, leavmg sixty-two as the number which fell victims to the 

 attacks of the Tachina-flies. Of the latter there issued sixty-one 

 flies and forty-one pupae, a total of one hundred and four parasites 

 from sixty-two Army Worms. All of these Tachina-flies belong to 

 the Red-tailed species spoken of above ; of the pupa that remained 

 in the parasitized apartment, some were much smaller than the 

 others, but they all probably belonged to the above species. These 

 were the only parasites that I obtained from either lot of the Army 

 Worms. 



We here see the uncertainty of life among the Army Worms. Of 

 the ninety-four that I collected at random in the Hungarian field, 

 only about one-fourth lived to produce moths. Fully two-thirds of 

 them died from the attacks of the Tachina-flies, and the remaining 

 one-twelfth died either before or after pupating. 



I mentioned above, the fact of obtaining three Army Worm Moths 

 and one chrysalis from the apartment which contained only those 

 Army Worms to whose bodies one or more of the Tachina-flies were 

 attached. I can find no mention of this fact in any of the accounts of 

 this insect which I have on hand. In fact, writers upon this subject 

 appear to be of the opinion that the presence of these eggs is a sure 

 indication that the larva is parasitized. Prof. Riley, in his Eighth 

 Report,* page 59, says, "No worm carries these eggs into the ground 

 with it, but falls a victim to the maggots hatching therefrom;" and 

 on page 50 of his Second Report! he makes a statement to the 

 same effect. 



I have, on several occasions, bred the perfect insects from cater- 

 pillars which had a number of these eggs attached to each of them. 

 In these instances the parasitic eggs were either unimpregnated or, 

 what is more likely, were infested by some minute parasite. That 

 these eggs are sometimes parasitized, I have had pretty good evi- 

 dence, having found some which had a small orifice in one of their 

 sides out of which the parasitic fly had evidently escaped. I have 

 also frequently had unimpregnated insects to deposit eggs. Thus I 

 have obtained eggs from unimpregnated female Polyphemus Moths 

 {Attacus polyphemus, Linn.) and also from female Yellow Canker- 

 worm Moths {Hibernia tiliaria, Harris). Even birds sometimes 

 deposit eggs without having been previously impregnated. 



Several years ago a female Purple Martin {Progue purpurea) 

 which had not been fortunate enough to secure a male consort— a 

 veritable old maid— constructed a nest near my father's house, and 

 laid a full complement of eggs ; but these, of course, did not hatch. 



The first Army Worm Moth which I captured the present season 

 was taken at about three o'clock in the afternoon of the first day 

 of August ; at the time of its capture the sun was shining brightly. 

 When first seen this moth was flying toward me ; it soon alighted 

 upon the grass, but made no attempt at concealing itself, and I 

 had no difficulty in capturing it. The next day I found one of these 

 moths on the grass beneath a door which rested against the fence. 

 Both of these moths were very fresh appearing and had evidently 



* Eighth Annual Report on the Noxious, Beneficial and Other Insects of the State of 

 Missouri. 



+ Second Annual Report, etc. 



