364 



THE AMERICAN 



multitudes in August and the forepart of Sep- 

 tember, in due time produced moths, and these 

 gave birth to a new generation of worms, which 

 began to make their presence manifest towards 

 the end of October. And it will be remembered 

 that, as stated in our last number, we bred the 

 moth as early as July, in 1868, from worms re- 

 ceived from Mr. Daggy. In this prolificacy our 

 insect differs remarkably from the true Army- 

 worm, as well as from most of its close allies, 

 which generally produce but one, and seldom 

 more than two, broods each year. 



[Fig. 223.] 



Colors— Light-red, dark-brown, while and dusky. 



The moths were so numerous during the latter 

 part of September and the forepai-t of October, 

 that we not only found them common at Deca- 

 tur, Vandalia and other parts of Central Illinois, 

 and wherever we traveled in Missouri, but we 

 captured a goodly number iu the very heart of 

 the city of St. Louis, and even caught some 

 while riding by rail. 



The eggs are deposited iu small clusters, often 

 in two or three layers one above the other, and 

 the whole cluster is covered sparsely with the 

 yellowish hairs from the ? abdomen. Each egg 

 is nearly spherical, of a pale falvous color, and 

 diflfers only from that of the Unarmed Rustic 

 {Agrotis mermis) , which we illustrated on page 

 188 of our first volume, in being less compressed 

 and less distinctly ribbed. The clusters were 

 found abundantly, not only on the underside of 

 peach and apple leaves, which the worms readily 

 devour, but on the leaves of such trees as syca- 

 more, which, so far as we at present know, they 

 do not feed upon. Un(ier these last circum- 

 stances the young worms, upon hatching, would 

 soon descend the, tree to feed iipon the more 

 succulent herbage below ; and the more we learn 

 of the habits of our different Owlet moths, the 

 more we become convinced that the long-accept- 

 ed theory of their eggs being deposited on the 

 ground is a false one, and that most of our cut- 

 worms, though fat, lazy and groveling in the 

 ground when we find them, have been born in 

 more elevated and exalted positions. 



In the fall of 1868 this worm proved very de- 

 strvfctive to the newly sown wheat in many 

 parts of FrankL'n and St. Louis counties, Mo., 



and seemed to be confined to such wheat as was 

 sown on oats stubble. We then accounted for 

 this singular state of things by supposing that 

 the scattering oats which were left after harvest 

 had sprouted before the wheat, and had thus 

 attracted the parent moths ;* and, acting upon 

 tliis supposition, we suggested that the attacks 

 of the worm might effectually be prevented by 

 ploughing the land early and keeping the ground 

 clear of all vegetation until the wheat was planted. 

 This inference proves to be well warranted by 

 the facts; and in future, when the Fall Army- 

 worm is heard of during the months of August 

 or September, as it was the present year, it will 

 be wise for those who live in the immediate 

 neighborhood, either to sow no fall gi-ain at all, 

 or to endeavor, in doing so, to carry out the 

 above suggestions. The last brood of worms, 

 wliioh at this writing (Nov. 7th) are not yet 

 quite full gi'own, must evidently pass the winter 

 in the ground, either in the larva or the pupa 

 state . In either case a great many of them would 

 be killed by late fall plowing, which should be 

 used, when practicable, as a remedial measure 

 in fields where tliis insect has been numerous. 

 When the worms are overrunning a field of fall 

 grain, most of them could be destroyed by means 

 of a heavy roller, without injury to the grain. 



The question has been repeatedly asked : "Will 

 this worm be as numerous next year as it has 

 been this ; or will it go on increasing in geometri- 

 cal ratio, and be still more numerous?" Now, 

 although we greatly dislike to weaken the confi- 

 dence that some people seem to place in the 

 oracular power of entomologists to peer into the 

 future, yet we must meekly confess our inability 

 to give any definite answer to such questions. 



Byron has truly said that, "the best of Prophets 

 of the future is the Past ;" and we may reason- 

 ably draw the inference that this worm will not 

 be so abundant next year, because in the past 

 it has only occasionally been so troublesome, 

 and never to our knowledge during two con- 

 secutive years. And we can with tolerable as- 

 surance say that it will not increase in geometrical 

 ratio, because it was extensively preyed upon 

 this fall by a Tachina parasite, and because such 

 continued increase of one species is inconsistent 

 with the harmony we find everywhere in Nature. 

 But we cannot venture beyond the inference, as 

 the happenings of the future are not for mortals 

 to know. Some persons may also be curious to 

 learn why this worm increases so much more in 

 late summer and fall than in spring, since there 

 are so many broods during the year ; or why it 



•Missouri Ent. Eep. I, p. 83, 



