No. 4.] THE ARMY WORM. 293 



tion which would normally appear this fall and feed till 

 time to hibernate is likely to have been reduced by the 

 parasites and other enemies during the summer generation 

 so as to be of no importance or even dijSBcult to find. 



What may happen in places where the army worm was not 

 abundant the present year is of much importance. Nothing 

 certain can be said upon this point. It should be noted that 

 1896 was an army worm year over a large part of the 

 country, and that is also true the present season, reports of 

 the abundance of this insect having been received from as 

 far west as Wisconsin. 



In 1894 army worms were very numerous in the Cape 

 Cod region and in parts of Franklin County near the Con- 

 necticut River in Massachusetts. No reports of its abun- 

 dance in the State in 1895 have been noted. May we expect 

 a general outbreak in other portions of the State next sum- 

 mer, or two years from now, thus paralleling the conditions 

 in 1894 and 1896? It is not possible to answer this ques- 

 tion now, but it would be well to watch the low meadows 

 and areas near swampy land next June and July for any 

 unusual abundance of caterpillars in the grass lands and 

 rank growth, and if the caterpillars are plenty, kill them 

 by spraying, as already directed, before they consume their 

 food there and start to march to other places. 



If 1915 and 1916 go by without any unusual abundance 

 of this insect, it is perhaps probable that any immediate 

 danger of an outbreak is over, and that a period of some 

 years at least is liable to elapse before its reappearance. 



Literature. 

 A few of the more important references to articles on the 

 army worm, particularly with relation to New England, are 

 given below : — 



Comstock, Report U. S. Dept. of Agriculture for 1879, 187, 1880. 

 Fitch, Sixth Report, Trans. N. Y. Agricultural Society, 885, 1860. 

 Flint, Second Report, Secretary Mass. Board of Agriculture, 34, 1855. 

 Kirkland, The Army Worm, Agriculture of Mass., 1896, 264, 1897. 

 Lounsbury, Bulletin 28. Hatch (Mass.) Ex. Sta., 10, 1895. 

 Powers, Hist. Sketches in the Coos County, N. H., 1st ed., 105, 1840. 



