THE ARMY WORM. 339 



changed to copal yellow and the body to u yellowish green ; 

 the lines of the mature larvse begin to appear in a faint rose- 

 brown color. In the third stage the lines become more dis- 

 tinct and the looping habit is lost. From this stage to the 

 mature larvoe the lines become more distinct and answers 

 the general description given by Harris and others, and is 

 about one and one-half inches long, of a dingy black color, 

 with broad, dusky stripes along the back divided along the 

 middle by a more or less distinct and irregular pale line bor- 

 dered beneath by a narrow black line ; then a narrow white 

 line; then a yellowish stripe, etc. This description of the 

 larvae will be sufficiently minute for the casual observer, and 

 is made up of those given by several writers. The larvae 

 state lasts about four weeks, when they descend into the 

 ground a few inches below the surface, where they are trans- 

 formed into a pupa or chrysalis state. The chrysalis is of a 

 mahogany color, about three-quarters of an inch in length. 

 In searching for the eggs or the worms in the early stages of 

 their growth, it will be well to look among the tufts of coarse 

 grass in the lowlands or grass of a rank growth aroiuid the 

 droppings of cattle early in the spring. The second import- 

 ant consideration, is the fact that the season before the 

 appearance of the army worm with migratory habits has 

 universally been very dry, and the early spring following 

 wet enough to give vegetation a good start. 



How far this consideration will go in determininsr the time 

 to look for the depreciations of our fields of grain and grass 

 by this pest under marching orders, I am not quite clear, for 

 wet springs have frequently followed a dry summer the pre- 

 ceding year and no great injury has been done by the army 

 worm. The mystery is but partially solved, and I would 

 suggest (with the risk of being considered visionary) that 

 as various kinds of insects seem to have given them premo- 

 nitions of storms and wisdom to prepare for them, so may 

 not the approach of a second dry summer cause the army 

 worm to forage for the time of need. The summer of 1881 

 was very dry, where the worms first apjicared in this sec- 

 tion of the United States, and was followed in 1882 by 

 similar climatic influences, and as near as I can remember 

 the same conditions existed in 18G0 and 1861, the spring of 



