THE ARMY WORM. 



267 



get the seed of this plant, and as there has been some inquiry for it, 

 we might suggest that any variety of the cultivated species of Datura, 

 especially those having white flowers, might be sown among the crop 

 and used as a trap for these moths. In the large tobacco fields of 

 California flocks of turkeys are driven into the fields to devour these 

 worms, for which these birds have a specially vigorous appetite. 



THE ARMY WORM. 



At times, the Army Worm commits enormous ravages upon wheat 

 and grass. It appears suddenly in overwhelming numbers, and 

 marching straight on, devours all before it, and leaves a barren waste 

 behind it. Combined efforts alone, of the farmers, can avail to stop 

 it, and these must be swift and thorough. Land rollers; loaded brush 



MOTH OF ARMY WORM. 



LARVA AND PUPA. 



harrows; furrows plowed across the track of the worms ahead of them, 

 and kept clear of the worms by drawing a log up and down so as to 

 crush them as they gather in the ditch all these have been used with 

 success, when every farmer in the threatened locality has helped in 

 the work. One man alone is powerless to stop the march of the count- 

 less horde. This worm is the larva of a small brown moth, but whence it 

 comes in such numbers, or where it goes after having deposited its eggs 

 to produce the myriads of worms which are its progeny, no observer has 

 yet been able to discover. The general color of the full grown worm 

 is dingy black, with a broad dusky stripe on the back, then a narrow 

 black line; then a narrow white line; then a yellowish stripe; 

 than a narrow indistinct white line; then a dusky stripe; then 

 a narrow white line ; then a yellowish stripe ; then an indistinct white 



