340 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



1861 being as in 1882. And may it not be laid down as a 

 rule that when one dry summer follows another with a wet 

 spring preceding the second, the arm}'' worms will become 

 migratory and so far forsake their normal habits. One point 

 in the consideration of this subject seems to be well estab- 

 lished by the most distingaished entomologists — that climatic 

 influences have much to do with the migratory habits of this 

 pest ; but no definite conditions have been laid down for its 

 certain appearance. 



In its normal condition the army worm is found in the 

 low, moist lands and on the borders of swamps, where the 

 grass is rank and coarse. I took special pains in my in- 

 vestigations last summer to look for these conditions, and 

 in no case failed to find them ; that is, bordering every 

 field upon which the worms appeared in great numbers last 

 summer, was low or swampy land, and I universally re- 

 ceived from those who suffered by the worms, an affirmative 

 answer to the question, "Was there near or bordering on 

 your fields upon which the army worm appeared, low or 

 swampy lands?" It seems, too, that, by some means of 

 knowledge that to us is unknown, no matter where upon the 

 uplands the worm reaches the end of its larvre state and 

 enters the earth to form its chrys.dis, the moth that comes 

 from the chrysalis at once seeks the low land from which the 

 worm or larvae came, and makes that its favorite home in 

 which to raise up other generations of its kind. 



To this habit may be attributed the fact that the army 

 worms appeared first in 1882 upon the same farms in this 

 State upon which they were first observed in 1861 ; and, 

 wherever the conditions as to cultivation were similar, they 

 appeared first upon the same fields, and their line of march 

 was in the same direction. It has been stated by entomolo- 

 gists, that the worms, in their first stages of growth, have 

 been found on all parts of fields of grain at the same time ; 

 hence the eggs must have been deposited by the moths upon 

 the leaves of the growing grain. This may be true when 

 such fields bordered upon the low lands, which, as we have 

 stated, were the natural homes of the army worms ; but I 

 think not otherwise And may not this lead us, with good 

 reason, to conclude that the moths were endowed with some 



