﻿OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 51 



They are thus originating at the present, and we may occasionally get 

 a glance at the process by the phenomena just referred to. 



In the Summer of 1874, reports were not unfrequent of injury to 

 wheat and timothy heads in Maryland and Pennsylvania by a worm 

 which, by rearing, proved to be Leuoania alhiiinea Guen. 



In June and July of 1875, complaints were again heard, particu- 

 larly in the two States mentioned, of a worm that injures the heads 

 of the small grains while in the milk. The Baltimore American {see 

 We'iMi/ JV. Y. Tribune^ July 13, 1875,) describes it as hollowing out 

 the soft grains, and leaving nothing but the shell and the chaff, and 

 says that "in some rye fields the heads are almost void of grains, and 

 the ground literally covered with chaff," and that " late sowed rye 

 would not be worth the harvesting were it not for the straw." A cor- 

 respondent from York, Penn., (July 15, 1875,) describes it as playing 

 sad havoc with the wheat-heads here. Wm. T. Smedley, of Lionville, 

 Chester county, and S. S. Rathvon, of Lancaster, Lancaster county, 

 Penn., sent me specimens in 1875, with accounts of their attacking 

 timothy seed and wheat while yet soft. The complaints were more 

 numerous in 1875 than in 1874, though still confined to the Eastern 

 States. 



In 1876 this worm suddenly made its appearance in Kansas, 

 especially in Dickinson, Douglas and Davies counties. Ihe first 

 specimens I received were accompanied by the following letter from 

 Mr. Jno. W. Robson, of Oheever, Dickinson county, and dated June 

 14, 1876 : 



I inclose a number of catterpillars which are devastatinof the wheat fields of this 

 county and causing considerable alarm. It was first noticed about ten days ao^o on 

 Holland Creek, south of the Smolvy Hill River, and along the east line of the county 

 north of the same river. Yesterday I discovered it in our wheat. I live close to the 

 north line of the county. This insect is quite new to me, but 1 judo^e it belongs to the 

 order Lepidoptera, and strange to say, though a pretty close observer of insect life, I 

 have not noticed any unusual quantity of moths or butterfl es hoveringover the wheat. 

 The catterpillars begin their depredations at the bjtse of the ear, and sometimes near 

 the center of the ear. In one field that 1 examined to-day, tlie catterpillars were 

 abundant. They were mostly at rest, reclining at full length upon the straw, while 

 only a few were feeding on the ears. Any iriformation will be thankfully received. 

 Farmers calculate that they will lose one-third of their crop. 



In addition to the specimens received from Mr. Robson, others 

 were sent to me about the same time from different parts of Dickin- 

 son, Douglas and Davies counties in that State. The Salina (Kansas) 

 Herald refers to the ravages of this same worm in that neighborhood, 

 and the Kansas farmer of June 28, publishes several items which 

 indicate that the pest created no little excitement. As grain began 

 to ripen in the East, the worm again attracted attention there, and 

 specimens were received from Mr. G. W. Shaw, with an account of 

 their ravages along the old Reading Railroad, in the immediate 



