264 BOARD OF AGKICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



The Art^iy Worm. 



{Leucania unipuncta, Haw.) 



BY A. H. KIRKLAND, M.S., ASSISTANT ENTOMOLOGIST TO THE COMMIT- 

 TEE ON THE GYPSY MOTH, INSECTS AND BIRDS. 



It would seem a matter of simple justice on the part of 

 nature to eliminate from time to time the old and long- 

 fought insect pests of the farmer as new and more dangerous 

 ones appear, but that no such good fortune is in store for 

 the agriculturist is shown by the reappearance this year of the 

 army worm, accompanied by wide-spread damage through- 

 out the State. The farmer and fruit grower may justly 

 contemplate with anxiety such comparatively recent insect 

 importations as the gypsy moth and San Jose scale, but 

 when, in addition, it becomes necessary to combat serious 

 devastations of the old-time insect pests, the romance and 

 profits of agricultural pursuits are materiall}^ lessened, and 

 particular emphasis attaches to the thought that eternal 

 vigilance is the price of good crops. While by the time this 

 paper reaches its readers the danger from the army worm 

 will probably have passed, the possibility of outbreaks next 

 year in those sections of the State where this pest has done 

 but little damage this season indicates the necessity of dis- 

 seminating information concerning the habits of the insect 

 and the means of checking its devastations. 



Life History. 

 The life history of the army w^orm is in brief as follows : 

 the eggs (Fig. 1), of a glistening white color, are laid by the 

 parent moth in rows of about twenty eggs each in the sheaths 

 of grasses and grains, and on stubble, stacks of straw, etc. 

 Often several rows of eggs are deposited on a single plant, 

 and each female moth lavs about five hundred eggs. 



