NAKED WORMS EATING THE LEAVES 



173 



Adult of the Army Worm. 

 Original. 



The winter is passed as half-grown hirva? in the ground. In the 

 spring these larvae transform, moths emerge, and in a few weeks another 

 generation of worms is at work. 

 It is this generation that is ai)t 

 to reach such numbers as to 

 prove a serious pest. In the 

 North there are three broods in 

 a season; in the South five or 

 six. Normally the insect is held 

 down to moderate numbers by 

 its natural enemies. 



When the worms reach ex- 

 cessive abundance and begin to travel from one field to another, 

 invasion may be stopped by plowing three or four furrows, and main- 

 taining a thick dust in these if possible. As worms collect in the 

 furrows they may be killed with a drag, or by sprinkling them 

 with kerosene or kerosene emulsion. Another measure sometimes 

 advisable is to apply a heavy dose of Paris green to a strip 

 a few yards wide on the side of the field that is threat- 

 ened. Or poison bran mash 

 may be used. It is advis- 

 able to plow in the fall fields 

 in which the worms have 

 been numerous in late sum- 

 mer, in order to destroy as 

 many of the hibernating 

 larvae as possible. 



Fig. 



198. —The Fall Army Worm 

 enlarged. Original. 



Slightly 



The Fall Army Worm {Laphijgrna frugiperda S. and A.) 

 This species is related to the " army worm," but whereas the latter 

 reaches its periods of occasional destructive abundance in the early 

 summer months, the fall army worm becomes a pest in the latter part 

 of the summer, usually in August. The full-grown worm is dark in 

 color, about 1^ inches long, and has a yellowish stripe down the 

 middle of its back. Within this stripe, on each segment, are four 



