﻿OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 49 



the conclusions which I have drawn (Rep. 8, p. 45) that the species 

 may hibernate in the chrysalis as well as the moth state. 



All the observations I have made are in harmony with the prac- 

 tical conclusion arrived at a year ago, that the eggs of this insect do 

 not, as a rule, if at all, pass the Winter at the foot of grass stalks, as 

 was heretofore surmised. Nevertheless, the burning over of meadows 

 and grain stubble in Winter will act as a preventive of Army Worm 

 injuries, for the reasons that the moth lays very early in Spring, that 

 she prefers the full-grown sheath and stalk, even when dry, to the 

 young green spears, and that she cannot well lay her eggs, for want 

 of support, where the grass is yet sparse and thin, as it is when first 

 starting in a burned meadow. In my last Summer's experiments the 

 females, in secreting their eggs, invariably showed a preference for 

 old hay over fresh and growing grass. Finally, without entering into 

 further details, I give the following as a revised summary of the 

 history of the Army Worm : 



SUMMARY OF ITS NATURAL HISTORY. 



The insect is with us every year. In ordinary seasons, when it is 

 not excessively numerous, it is seldom noticed : 1st, because the moths 

 are low, swift flyers, and nocturnal in habit; 2nd, because the worms, 

 when young, have protective coloring, and, when mature, hide during 

 the day at the base of meadows. In years of great abundance the 

 worms are generally unnoticed during early life, and attract attention 

 only when, from crowding too much on each other, or from having 

 exhausted the food supply in the fields in which they hatched, they 

 are forced, from necessity, to migrate to fresh pastures in great bodies. 

 The earliest attain full growth and commence to travel in armies, to 

 devastate our fields, and to attract attention, about the time that winter 

 wheat is in the milk — this period being two months later in Maine 

 than in Southern Missouri ; and they soon afterwards descend into the 

 ground, and thus suddenly disappear, to issue again two or three 

 weeks later as moths. In the latitude of St. Louis the bulk of these 

 moths lay eggs, from which are produced a second generation of 

 worms, which become moths again late in July or early in August. 

 Exceptionally a third generation of worms may be produced from 

 these. Further north there is but one generation annually. The 

 moths hibernate, and oviposit soon after vegetation starts in Spring. 

 The chrysalides may also hibernate, and probably do so to a large 

 extent in the more northern States. The eggs are inserted between 

 the sheath and stalk, or secreted in the folds of a blade ; and mature 

 and perennial grasses are preferred for this i^urpose. The worms 

 E R — 4 



