702 REPORT UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



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and ivTew England the past summer there were thought to be two spe- 

 cies of army-worms. But the moths from difl'erent sections of the East 

 and West have been compared and found to be the same. Dr. Fitch, 

 also, has shown that " worms in armies,'^ and " black worms," referred 

 to by writers as occurring in New York and New England in 1743, 

 1770, 1790, and 1817, with habits like those of the army- worm of 1861, 

 must be the same species. Mr. Sanborn assures me that he took the 

 moth in 1855 near Boston ; and has found the larva under stones in 

 grass-plots. On Mr. Clark's farm at Oarritunk, near the Forks of the 

 Kennebec, the army-worm did a great deal of damage to the barley, in 

 all destroying forty acres of grain. This was about the middle of Au- 

 gust, and soon after the caterpillars entered the ground to transform. 

 Their ravages were especially noticed, according to the Maine Farmer, 

 in North Berwick, Union, Bangor, Ellsworth, and one or two other 

 towns. Mr. Goodale informs usthat on Mr. Joseph Clark's farm, in Wal- 

 doborough, the worm was found both in wheat and barley fields, though 

 less on the wheat, which was riper. The leaves were consum'ed, while 

 the heads were not much eaten. Many of the heads were cut off and 

 had fallen upon the ground, while others were cut just enough to hang 

 over. Mr. Goodale collected numbers of the worm on the llth of Au- 

 gust, and fed them till on the 20th all but one had gone into the earth. 

 September 7, these millers appeared, and so several each day until the 

 16th. I have never taken this species in Maine until I met the worm in 

 Bangor, August 2, in a yard a few rods from the Bangor House, and 

 nearly full-fed; August 13, in afield of barley in Mattamiscontis, on the 

 Penobscot, above Bangor. It was not seen on farms above this point 

 on that river, or on the Allegash or Saint John, so far as I could ascer- 

 tain, while the wheat Aplm was abundant on every farm I visited on 

 those rivers. Whether the army-worm made its appearance for the 

 first time in Maine in 1861 can be only probable. In Massachusetts it 

 was first noticed the first of July ; in Maine a month later, where it be- 

 came generally prevalent. 



The year 1875 was another army-worm year, and it abounded all over 

 the country, especially in Missouri, Illinois, Delaware, Ohio, Kentucky, 

 and Iowa, New York, and throughout New England, and in Western 

 New Brunswick. — (Riley.) 



While the caterpillar is single-brooded in the Northern States, in 

 Saint Louis, Mo.. Mr. Biley finds it to be double brooded, and he thinks 

 that three broods may sometimes appear in one season. 



The following newspaper iteais will show the time of appearance and 

 degree of damage done by the army-worm in New Y^ork, the New Eng- 

 land States, and New Brunswick, in 1875: 



Auothcr iusect-pest has made its appearance in formidable numbers on Long Island. 

 The army-worm has been doing more damage in Suffolk and Queens Counties, especially 

 the former, thau even the dreaded jjotato-beetle. Corn aud oats prove more attrac- 

 tive than potatoes to the army-worm, and in some instances the entire crop of oat» 

 has been destroyed. It is to bo hoped that the recent heavy rains have put a stop to 

 the ox)erations of tbese caterpillars; at worst, their want of the power of flight will 

 probably confine the damage to the island. — (New York Tribune, August 6, 1875.) 



The army-worms have disappeared from Little Compton and Portsmouth as sud- 

 denly as they came. They did considerable injury. — (Boston Journal, August 13.) 



A special from Rockland says that an immense army of black worms, similiar to 

 caterpillars, were crossing Pleasant street in that city all day Sunday, heading south- 

 ward. Large crowds gathered to witness their advance. — (Boston Journal, August 2.) 



The Times says that the army-worm has appeared in Bath. This worm has appeared 

 in Rockland, and as far east as Machias, aud is reported as doing great damage. — 

 (Brunswick Telegraph, August 10.) 



Saint John, N. B., August 12. — The army-worms appeared on the marsh-road, a mile 



