﻿42 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT 



Spring. But upon reflection we shall find that the first class of evi- 

 dence does not preclude their being laid also in Spring; for if, as I 

 believe, the moth oviposits by choice in mature grass, hay and stub- 

 ble, the burning and plowing of fields would equally deprive her of 

 the favorite nidus. The greater scarcity of the moths in Spring may, 

 also, only be apparent, and due to the fact that they are more busy 

 ovipositing. From the examination of over 50 females caught in the 

 Fall — only 3 of which had well developed eggs — as well as from the 

 many other considerations brought forward in this article, I am now 

 more inclined to believe that the bulk of the eggs, even in this lati- 

 tude, are laid in Spring, or early in the growing season, and that the 

 smaller proportion are laid in the Fall, That such is the case further 

 north, is pretty certain. The further north we go, the fewer eggs will 

 be laid in the Fall. 



Exceptional and abnormal occurrences often help us very mate- 

 rially in such questions as these. The remarkable appearance of the 

 worm, as already described {ante^ p. 28) in and around Peshtigo, Wis- 

 consin, in the year following the memorable fires that swept over that 

 country in October, 1871, was very interesting in this connection. 

 The conflagration was very general, and occurred so late in the sea- 

 son as to preclude the idea that the eggs were subsequently laid that 

 same Fall. It is barely possible that many of the eggs may have 

 escaped, for though in some places the heat was sufficient to cook 

 potatoes two or three inches under ground, in others grass and grain 

 in low places, though scorched, were not materially injured, and these 

 are just the places were the Army Worm eggs are most likely to be 

 laid. But after taking much pains to get at all the facts, I believe 

 that the Peshtigo experience proves conclusively that in that higher 

 latitude the bulk of the eggs are laid in the Spring. The following 

 letter from Mr. A. J. Langworthy, of Milwaukee, is interesting as giv- 

 ing particulars and dates: 



The worm appeared about the 1st of July, and orio^inated on the low, swampy 

 lands, soils evenly burned, which abound in small patches all over the burned district. 

 The territory burned over was before the tire at least three-fourths woodlatid, and a com- 

 paratively wild country, with no prairie at all. No part of the country invaded by the 

 worm escaped the disastrous contlao'ration, which did its work on the 9th of October, 

 1871, at night, at the same time Vtrith the Chicago fire, and was followed by moderate 

 rains very soon after, which extinguished most of the burning embers. Bythe20ih 

 November following winter had set in with snow which did not disappear in the woods 

 until the following April. I should say that the ravages of the worm about Peshtigo 

 were confined to an area not exceeding 4 by G to 8 miles — and that tiny originated on 

 the low grounds tliat had been formerly covered with a dense growth of white cedar, 

 which is the ease in all these swampy indentations. * * "- Not one-half inch 

 ■of rain had fallen in the doomed territory, from the 1st of May until after the lire in the 

 Fall, so that the extraordinary drouth may have been favorable to the propagation of 

 these insects. The worms in their line of march, through the "sugar bushes," a little 

 west of where the village of Peshtigo stood, devoured everything in their course, even 

 to the corn and onions, filling the wells, houses and barns of the few inhabitants, and 

 •driving them in dismay from beyond their presence. 



