82 



THE PRACTICAL ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Clover-Worms. 



J. D. WALSH, M. A. 



There is a small caterpillar, which attacks clover 

 in the stack or mow — sometimes in such enormous 

 numbers as to entirely spoil the hay for use — the 

 natural history of which is at present but imper- 

 fectly understood. I will first gather together what 

 Jias been recorded on the subject, adding my own 

 little mite of observations, and then point out the 

 items which require explanation. It is to be hoped 

 that any persons, who may hereafter meet with this 

 insect, will forward me plenty of specimens to ex- 

 periment on, and a full statement of the facts ob- 

 served respecting their habits. I say "plenty of 

 specimens," because I desire to breed both sexes of' 

 the perfect insect from these lurv*, and because, 

 out of say a dozen larvas of any particular insect, 

 probably six will be destroyed by parasitic insects, 

 {Ichneumoa Jiu's, if'c), and two or three will die of 

 disease or unnatural treatment; thus leaving only 

 three or four to arrive at maturity, all of which, as 

 often happens, will be of one sex. Hence I should 

 like at least a score specimens, packed in a small 

 box, with a suflBcient supply of clover hay to last 

 them on their journey. Such a box may be for- 

 warded by mail at the expen.se of a few cents. It 

 is not necessary to take any precautions for admit- 

 ting fresh air. Insects require but very little air in- 

 deed; and some of my most successful breeding 

 has been carried on in closely corked bottles and 

 vials.' 



Harris briefly refers to certain "clover-worms, 

 which have been found in clover, in various parts 

 of the country, and have often been seen spinning 

 down from lofts and mows where clover has been 

 stowed away, in such numbers as to be very trouble- 

 some and offensive.'' And on the authority of Mr. 

 Sibley, of New Hampshire, he adds, that "these 

 insects are of a brown color, and about half an inch 

 long." He does not appear to have been person- 

 ally acquainted with them, so as to determine to 

 what Order of insects they appertained, (/'y. In- 

 sects, p. 456.) 



On December 25th, 18G1, I received from the 

 editors of the Prairie Farmer, a few Glover-worms, 

 which had been sent them by Mr. Wray, of Mc- 

 Henry County, in North Illinois, with a statement 

 that they were found in millions in clover stacks, 

 not uniformly throughout the bulk of the stack, 

 but only in the lowermost two feet of it; and that 

 wherever they were found, the hay was rendered 

 totally unfit for use from the tangled mass of webs 

 spun by them. Subsequently, Mr. Wray met with 

 the same worms in "all the lower part" of a 

 mow of the same hay stowed in his barn; and found 

 that "in cold weather they keep very close in their 

 webs, but crawl out in pleasant weather." "He 

 has grown," it is added, "clover hay for fifteen 

 years on the same farm, and this is the first appear- 

 ance of the worm ; and he believes that the eggs 

 are laid on the green clover before it is cured, and 

 that the sweating of the stack hatches them out." 

 {Frairit Farmer, Feb. 15, 1862.) 



Unfortunately my clover-worms all died before 

 they attained maturity, but from the following de- 

 scription, which I copy from my journal, it is evi- 

 dent that they must be the larva of some small 

 Moth, belonging of course to the order Lepidoptera : 

 Length, h.ilf an inch ; diameter, 0.07 inch, tapering 

 slightly at each end. Color a dirty greenish brown; be- 

 neath, yellowish brown: the first and last segment above 

 shining, smooth and yellowish brown, with a few irregu- 

 lar whitish hairs; segments 2 — 11 each with a transverse 

 row of about six long, whitish hairs, each hair proceeding 

 from a lighter-colored tubercle with a dark central spot. 

 Head rufous. Legs and prolegs normal, viz; six legs, 

 eight abdominal prolegs, and two anal prolegs. — Wriggles 

 much and run.s baclcward like a Toririr, suspends itself 

 by a thread, and spins a whitish web while still in the 

 larva state, and before the time arrives for its passing 

 into the pupa state. 



The following passages bear on the same sub- 

 ject :— 



Clover Worms. ^We are sorry to see by a letter from 

 T. C. Randoli'H, Bucks Post Office, Columbiana County, 

 Ohio, that this new pest of farmers, reported last year 

 by an Indiana correspondent, is moving eastward. Mr. 

 Randolph found "about eight inches of the bottom of a 

 clover stack so full of these clover worms as to render 

 the hay unfit for use. They are half an inch long, of 

 a dark brown color, tapering each way, ridged, and 

 hatched from cocoons resembling those of the 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 wheu 

 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.— A^. Y. Seyn. Tribune, Feb. 16, 1866. 



Clover Worm ix the State of New York. — M. C. Rem- 

 ington, Auburn, N.'Y., writes, Feb. 28; — "I read your ac- 

 count of the clover worm at the West, and dreaded its 

 advent in the East. I little thought that, even then, this 

 pest with its myriad 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-eights of an inch long, tapering 

 both ways, ridged, with the extremities a little darker 

 than the centre. The hay in sjiots was white with their 

 cocoons, having the appearance of a white mould, which 

 I 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. r.Sem. Tribune, March. ..1866. 



It is pretty plain that these accounts all refer to 

 one and the same insect, which occurs^in particular 

 parcels of clover hay in particular years- — in New 

 England, New York, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, 

 and probably in most of the Northern States. Hence 

 it is not, as the N. Y. Tribune infers, "a pest 

 wholly unknown to Eastern farmers" up to 18G6; 

 for as long ago as 1841 Harris spoke of these worms 

 as generally well known in the New England States, 

 and Mr. Sibley is expressly quoted by him as find- 

 ing them in New Hamp.shiro. Of course Mr. 

 Randolph's idea that his clover-worms "hatched" 

 from the cocoons spun amongst the hay is a mis- 

 take. Like all such worms they must have hatch- 

 ed from very minute eggs, and, wheu they attained 

 their full hirval growth, they must have spun the 

 cocoons wherein to pass into the pupa state, from 

 which the moth would eventually make its appear- 

 ance, couple, lay a fresh lot of eggs, and so repeat 

 the old cycle of changes. 



The points which need explanation in the Na^ 



