1861. 



THE ILLIKOIS FAEMER. 



201 



farms where less than a thousai.d feet of fencing 

 went into kindling wood. 



ITS EXTENT IN CHAMPAIGN CO. 



As near as we can estimate from the data at 

 hand, the storm swept over about one hundred 

 and fifty square mi'es, or a strip about thirty-five 

 miles long and five miles wide on the average, 

 tjommencing with about a mile and spreading out 

 as it progressed. Of course, in its narrowest 

 part it was the most destiuctive to the crops, 

 but less go to buiMings, as we hear of more dam- 

 age to them to the south of us, and also more in- 

 jury to persons. We do not think the storm was 

 more than fifteen minutes in passing over this en 

 tire tract. It could be plainly seen six miles 

 distant, asd it was not over three minutes before 

 it was upon us. 



On the whole we may be thankful that so few 

 were injured, many of the escapes being almost 

 miraculous, and that it was at a season when, to 

 a great extent, -^e can recover from its bad 

 effects. 



The Army Worm, 



The army worm, which has attracted so 

 much attention in the center and south part 

 of the State, on account of its damage to the 

 meadow, pastures and other crops, has not, 

 so far as we can learn been fully described 

 by any of our entymologists. It belongs to 

 the order Lepidoptera, and to the family of 

 Owlet Moths, or Noctuidea. Mr. Thomas, 

 and Mr. Walsh, both have the subject in 

 hand, and so soon as they report in full we 

 intend to have drawings made in order to 

 give a full description, that in future this ar- 

 rant marauder on the meadows may be known 

 and attended to in season, so as to head him 

 off. Last week we passed south as far as 

 Cairo and asade careful investigation into his 

 habit, and have come to the conclusion that 

 the habit and history of his wormship has 

 not been well understood, otherwise we 

 would tave little cause of complaint of his 

 now destructive progress. We have no 

 doubt that we have an annual crop of these 

 worms, but that from some of those causes 

 that so envelop the whole insect tribe in 

 mystery, that only now and then he swarms 

 in such numbers as to attract attention. 



Several writers have erred in confounding 

 this worm with the cotton army worm (noc- 

 tua zylina), though doubtless allied to it, 

 yet it is so distinct in its habit that it should 

 never be confounded with it. In fact we 

 doubt if it has anything to do with the cot- 

 ton plant at all. In the garden of Ben. 

 Vaneil, of Union county, the cotton plant 

 was untouched, while the border of blue 

 grass alongside was completely cut down. — 

 This we observed June 18th. 



Harris, in his Treatise on Insects, has no- 

 thing to say of our army worm, nor do we 

 believe it is known outside of the Ohio and 

 Upper Mississippi Valleys. Its history and 

 habits must therefore be studied at this 

 point; without confounding it with its cous- 

 in, the noctua zylina of Say. 



Champaign county appears to be the 

 northern limit of this worm* We first saw 

 it here the 14th of June, 1858, and it dis- 

 appeared a few days thereafter as suddenly 

 and as mysteriously as it came. Its first ap- 

 pearance this season was about the 1st day 

 of June. On the 14th, in company with 

 H D. Emery, editor of the Prairie Farmer, 

 we visited the farm of J B. Phinney, some 

 two miles and a half distant ; there we 

 found the worms less abundant than at a 

 former visit ; they were nearly all full 

 grown and appeared less active. On exam- 

 ining the roots of the grass we found them 

 in large numbers. Their color had changed 

 to a darker hue and their length contracted, 

 some of them were in the earth half an inch, 

 others just covered with the debris of the 

 grass and their own exuvia ; they were evi- 

 dently undergoing a change to the chrysalis 

 or pupa state. This was in the meadow. — 

 In the rye field they had disappeared two 

 days previous, and upon examination the 

 base of the stools was found filled with 

 the chrysalis. We gathered a quantity of 

 the worm of all stages of growth, with the 

 chrysalis, which Mr. E. has forwarded to 

 Mr. Walsh, of Rock Island, who, as our 

 readers know is one of the most careful and 

 enthusiastic of entymologists, and from 



