﻿46 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT 



turbance, and curl up in a spiral so as to simulate very closely a small 

 shell of the Helix form. The worm loves cool, moist places, and is 

 more often found around the margins of creeks and ponds than else- 

 where. Last year when the rains were so copious as to fill creeks and 

 bottom lands and float numbers of the worms away, I saw many an 

 one cling tenaciously to grass blades and continue feeding as though 

 little concerned, even when partly immersed. 



As already intimated, it is only when hunger impels them that 

 they march forth from the fields where they were born, though after 

 they have once begun the wandering habit they often pass through fields 

 without eating everything to the ground. Invariably when the older 

 individuals are attracting attention by congregating and traveling in 

 armies, others may be found of all sizes in the more normal and quiet 

 condition in grass that is yet sufiiciently rank: they may indeed be 

 found some time after the first worms have changed into moths ; and 

 the mower with his scythe often startles the moths in numbers during 

 the latter part of June, while yet the worms are clinging to the grass 

 that he is cutting, or hiding in the stubble that he leaves. 



When traveling the worm " will scarcely turn aside for anything 

 but water, and even shallow water-courses will not always check its 

 progress; for the advance columns will often continue to rush head- 

 long into the water until they have sufficiently choked it up with their 

 dead and dying bodies, to enable the rear guard to cross safely over. 

 I have noticed that after crossing a bare field or bare road where they 

 were subjected to the sun's rays, they would congregate in immense 

 numbers under the first shade they reached. In one instance I recol- 

 lect their collecting and covering the ground five or six deep all along 

 the shady side of a fence for about a mile, while scarcely one was seen 

 to cross on the sunny side of the same fence." 



While most of the worms burrow into the ground and form a sim- 

 ple cavity a few inches below the surface, in which to undergo their 

 transformations, many of them transform beneath loose stones, slabs 

 of wood, matted grass, or any other shelter afforded. 



TIME OF APPEARANCE OF THE WOKM. 



As this varies according to the character of the season and accord- 

 ing to latitude, the only safe general statement that can be made is 

 that the bulk of the worms are lull grown and do the greatest damage 

 about the time that " wheat is in the milk." This is also the time when 

 they first attract attention as, though they hatch three or four weeks 

 earlier, they are previous to this time not easily noticed for reasons 

 just stated. In ordinary seasons they are reported along the 32nd par- 



