﻿34 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT 



differs from the Southern Cotton Army-Worm, notwithstanding the 

 colors of the two moths are nearly alike. Our Army moth wa& 

 first described by the English Entomologist Haworth in the 

 year 1810, in his Lepidoptera Brittanioa, page 174, as Noctua 

 unipuncta. Subsequently the French Entomologist Guenee (iVbc- 

 tulietes I, p. 77) overlooking the former's description, and regarding it 

 as a new species, named it Leucania extranea. Of course Ilaworth's 

 name takes the precedence. It is considered a common species even 

 in European collections, and Guenee mentions it as occurring in Bra- 

 zil. A variety without the white spot occurs in Java and India, and 

 still another, lacking the white spot, and having a dark border on the 

 hind wings, occurs in Australia ; while an occasional specimen has 

 been captured in England. A figure is given in Stainton's Entomolo- 

 gist's Annual for 1860, of one captured there in 1859, but if the figure 

 is a correct one, the specimen is much lighter than ours, and the char- 

 acteristic white spot is not nearly so conspicuous."* 



Whenever this moth is noticed to be unusually abundant in Fall 

 or Spring, the worm may be looked for in the early summer following^ 

 and the preventive measures that will be subsequently indicated 

 should be more particularly adopted on such occasions. As of over a 

 hundred correspondents of whom I have asked whether or not they 

 are acquainted with this buff-colored moth, all but six have answered 

 in the negative, and some few have even supposed the Tachina-flies 

 that accompany the worms to be the parents of the latter; I have 

 made a new figure (Fig. 22, a) which with the above description will 

 enable the reader to recognize it. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE EGG. 



An examination of the egg as disclosed in those moths which 

 have the ovaries fully developed, shows it to be spherical, smooth or 

 but very faintly shagreened, with no ribs or sculpture whatsoever. The 

 shell is quite delicate and semi-transparent, apparently of a dirty 

 white or yellowish color. It measures 0.5 mm. in diameter, or 

 about three-hundredths of an inch. In the abdomen these eggs 

 are so closely pressed together in rows (Fig. 19,^. h.) that they often 

 present two flat sides from the pressure. I have counted upward of 

 two hundred in a single female, so that the ppecies is quite prolific. 



WHERE ARE THE EGGS LAID ? 



Omne mvum ah ovo — Every creature springs from an egg ! Not 

 only from analogy, but from the universality of the law expressed in 

 the foregoing phrase, we could safely conclude with absolute certainty 

 that our Army Worm comes from an egg^ even if I had not just dem- 



•Mr. Hei-man Strecker, of Reading, Pa., informs me that he has specimens from New Zealancl 

 and Australia, undistinguishable from ours. 



