﻿^6 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT 



suddenly disappeared. Where or how they terminated their career is 

 unknown, for not the carcass of a worm was seen. Had it not been 

 for pumpkins, which were exceedingly abundant, and potatoes, the 

 people would have greatly suffered for food. As it was, great priva- 

 tion was felt on account of the loss of grass and grain.' 



''The same writer adds that ' in IT&l, eleven years after, the same 

 kind of worm appeared again, and the fears of the people were greatly 

 excited, but this time they were few in number.' 



"In 1790 their ravages are again recorded in Connecticut, where 

 they were very destructive to the grass and corn, but their existence 

 was short, all dying in a few weeks (Webster on Pestilence, I, 272.) 



" Their next appearance in the Eastern States was in 1817, after an 

 interval of twenty-seven years, according to Fitch, who quotes the fol- 

 lowing paragraph from the Albany (N. Y.) Argus : 



^^ Worcester, Mass., May 22/if/, 1817.— ' We learn that the black 

 worm is making great ravages on some farms in this town, and in 

 many other places in this part of the country. Their march is a ' dis- 

 played column,' and their progress is as distinctly marked as the course 

 of a fire which has overrun the herbage in a dry pasture. Not a 

 blade of grass is left standing in their rear. From the appearance of 

 the worm it is supposed to be the same which usually infests gardens, 

 and is commonly called the d?^i!?oorm. * * * 



This same worm is also destroying the vegetation in the northern 

 towns of Rensselaer and eastern section of Saratoga, New York. 

 Many meadows and pastures have been rendered by their depreda- 

 tions as barren as a heath. It appears to be the same species of worm 

 that has created so much alarm in Worcester county, but we suspect 

 it is different from the cut-worm, whose ravages appeared to be con- 

 fined to corn. 



" It was not until after a lapse of forty-four years from the last 

 mentioned date, namely, in the summer of 1861, that this worm again 

 spread over the meadows and grain fields of the Eastern States. Du- 

 ring the interval, however, it had from time to time attracted atten- 

 tion in the Western States, where it often proved quite destructive. 

 Thus, in Illinois, it is recorded as having appeared in 1818, 1820, 1825,. 

 1826, 1884, 1841, 1842, 1845, and 1855, and according to Mr. B. F. Wiley^ 

 of Makanda, 111., it was quite numerous and destructive in the south- 

 ern part of the State in 1819, and appeared there also in 1857, though 

 it was confined that year to limited localities.* Mr. J. Kirkpatrick, of 

 Ohio, mentions its appearance in the northern part of that State in 



"Prairie Farmer, July ISth, ISGl. 



