244 



THE ILLINOIS FARMEK. 



Aua. 



of Noctua., It appears to have been through 

 inadvertency that Mr. Stephens changt-d this 

 name to impmcta, when he came to describe the 

 Bpe«ies in 1820, inhis BritishEntomnlogy, Hau»» 

 tellata, vol. id, p. 80. Later, in 1850, he refers 

 /to it under its original name, in the L'st of Lepi- 

 doptcra in the British Museum, p. 280, i' having 

 now been ascertained that it was a North Ameri- 

 can and not a British insect. 



Ouenee app.^ars to have overlooked this spe- 

 cies of the Le ndoptera (vol. v., p. 77 —Paris, 

 1852.) he regards it as a new species, naming it 

 Leucania extrmea. From him we learn that 

 there are specimens of it in several of the Paris 

 CoUeciioi'.s. whereby they know it to be a com- 

 mon insect in North America, Columbia and Bra- 

 zil. He also states that a variety of it which is 

 destitute of the white dot on the fore^wings, oc- 

 cu's in the East Indies, Java and Australia. I 

 cannot but think, however, that this East India 

 insecL should be ranked as a distinct species from 

 «ur?, as it differs in such a prominent character, 

 and is so widely separated from it geographic- 

 ally. 



From what has now been stated, it will be seen 

 that the or ginal and therefore legitimate scien- 

 tifi3 name of this insect is Leucania unipuncta. 

 And the Army Worm Moth will undoubtedly be 

 the common n ime by which it wiU be currently 

 designated in this country, instead of the White 

 Speck, the name given it in England. 



About a dozen New York species of this genus, 

 Leu lania, are known to me They are those 

 white and pale yellow moths or millers which are 

 60 common in our meadows and other grasslands 

 and which fiit aside in such numbers when the 

 Bcythe of the mower sweeps their coverts from 

 them. And the " black worm," which in this 

 section of cur Union sometimes shows the same 

 gregarious and migratory habits as the army 

 worm of the Western and Southern States, I now 

 infer to be the larva of some one of these moths. 



[ have scarcely sufficient space remaining to 

 give in his article such a full and particular de- 

 scription of this moth as ought to accompany 

 this announcement of its name, and will enable 

 every one to distinguish it with certainty from 

 other moths which resemble it. 



It is very plain and unadorned in its appear- 

 ance. Tho eye, on first glancing at it, only re- 

 cognizes it as an ordinary looking moth of a tar- 

 nistied yellowish drab color, inclining to russet, 

 with a small white dot near the centre of its fore 

 wings, and a dusky oblique streak at their tips. 

 On coming to look at it more particularly we find 

 it to be rather less than an inch long to the end 

 of its closed wings, or if these are extended it is 

 about an inch and three-quarters in width, dif- 

 ferent specimens varying somewhat in their size. 

 Its fore wings are sprinkled with blackish atoms, 

 and a short distance forward of their hind edge 

 they are crossed by a row of blact dots, one on 

 each of the veins. Outside of the middle of the 

 wing this row of dots suddenly curves forward, 

 and from this curve a dusky streak runs to the 

 tip of the wing, the ground color being more pale 

 and clearer yellow along the outer side of this 

 Btreak, Though the moths of some other genera 

 usually have a eimilar streak, this is the only spe- 



cies of this gen IS in which this mark occurs, and 

 hence M. Guenee names this species extranea, i.e. 

 extraneous, foreign, different, as though it did 

 not belong here. And Mr Stephens doubts 

 whether it correctly pertains to this genus But 

 a character that will appear to common persons 

 as more conspicuous and imp rtaut. is that from 

 which Mr. Haworth names this species. Nearly 

 in the centre of the wing is a milk-white dot, 

 placed upon the mid vein. This dot is surround- 

 ed more or less bv a dusky cloud, and this dusk- 

 iness is frequently extended forward upon the 

 mid-vein to its base, forming a faint darl^er streak 

 along the middVe of the wing. Coniiguous to this 

 dot on its outer side may be discei ned a roundish 

 spot of a slightly paler yellow color than the 

 ground, and a very short distance forward of this 

 is a similar spot, but smaller, both these spots 

 often showing a more tarnished center. On the 

 hind part of the wing the veins are marked by 

 slender whitish lines, and between their tips on 

 the hind edge of the wing is a row of minute 

 black dots. 



The hind wings are smoky brown, with a pur- 

 plish gloss, and are nearly transparent, with the 

 veins blackish. The frin^^e of both pairs of 

 wings is pale yellowish, with a dusky band on the 

 middle. 



On the under side the wings are much mora 

 glossy and paler, opalescent whitish inwardly, 

 and smoky gray towards their oute • and hind 

 sides, where they are also freckled wth blockish 

 atoms. The smoky color on the himi wings has, 

 on its anterior edge, a row of shoit, blackish 

 lines, one placed on each of the veini>, and in line 

 coming more distinct towards its outer end, or 

 sometimes only represented by a dusky dot on 

 the outer margin forward of the tip. The veins 

 are whitish, and also the hind edge, on which is 

 a row of black dots placed between the tips of 

 the veins. The hind wings have also a blackish 

 crescent-shaped spot a little forward of their 

 centre. 



The abdomen or hind body is smoky gray 

 above, and on its under tide ash gr?y, freckled 

 with black scales, aud usually showing a row of 

 black dot- along each side. 



Though these moths are subject to some varie- 

 ty, whoever has one of them in his hands will 

 find it to coincide so exactly with niost of the 

 particulars stated in the above description, that 

 he will be fully assured it is this insect. 



Salem, N. Y. July, 1861. Asa Fitch. 



P. S. — July 17. A fine specimen of this moth 

 reaches me to-day from Mr. Emery, editor of the 

 Frairie Farmer. It is a male, and iidicates this 

 sex to be smaller, measuring but little over an 

 inch and a half across its spread wings. It is 

 also of a darker or more smoky gray color, but 

 does not appear from the description above 

 given. A. F. 



— "I say, boy, is there anything to shoot 

 about here?" inquired a sportsman of a boy he 

 met. "Well." was the reply, "r.othing just 

 about here? but the schoolmaster is on the hill 

 yonder — you can pop htm over." 



