214 



THE AMEEIOAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



iiig in color from i^ale green to dark brown. 

 When full grown there is more uniformity in 

 this respect, though the difference is often suffi- 

 ciently great to cause them to look like distinct 

 insects. Yet the same pattern is obsei'vable, no 

 matter what may be the general color ; the body 

 being marked as in the above figures with lon- 

 gitudinal light and dark lines, and covered with 

 black spots which give rise to soft hairs. In 

 moving, the worm creeps with a steady gradual 

 motion, very unlike the looping of the Cotton- 

 worm. Our Figure 160 may be taken as a speci- 

 men of the light variety, and Figure 151 c, as illus- 

 trating the dark variety. When full grown, the 

 worm descends into the ground, and there forms 

 an oval cocoon of earth interwoven with silk, 

 wherein it changes to a bright chestnut brown 

 chrysalis (Fig. 151, d), with four thorns at the 

 extremity of its body, the two middle ones be- 

 ing stouter than the others. After remaining in 

 the chrysalis state from three to four weeks, the 

 moth makes its escape. In this last and perfect 

 stage, this insect is also quite variable in depth 

 of shading, but the more common color of tlie 

 fore wings is pale clay-yellow, with a faint 

 greenish tint, and they are marked and varie- 

 gated with pale olive and rufous, as in Figure 151, 

 (e showing the wings expanded, and/ represent- 

 ing them closed), a dark spot near the middle of 

 each wing being very conspicuous. The hind 

 wings are paler than the fore wings, and invaria- 

 bly have along the outer margin a dark brown 

 band, interrupted about the middle by a large 

 pale spot. Though there are but two broods of 

 worms in the Middle States each year, there are, 

 according to Mr. Glover, at least three broods 

 in Georgia, the last brood issuing as moths as 

 late as November, though some specimens re- 

 main under ground in the chrysalis state, and 

 do not issue till the following spring. Those 

 which we have bred have always issued as moths, 

 in the fall, and would necessarily winter over 

 in this last state. 



Remedies. 



Not being able to speak from experience, we 

 have little to saj^ under this head. Indeed, our 

 principal object in touching on these Cotton 

 insects, and in giving a clear and simple account 

 of their habits and transformations, is to pre- 

 vent our Southern readers from being confound- 

 ed by the absurd accounts which are ever and 

 anon appearing in their different journals. It 

 is obvious from the nature of its work, that pre- 

 vention is even more imperative with the Boll- 

 worm than with the Cotton-worm. For this 



purpose, fires are again recommended. We give 

 the following experiment with vinegar and 

 molasses, made by B. A. Sorsby, of Columbus, 

 Ga., as quoted by Glover. 



"We procured eighteen common-sized dinner plates, 

 into each of which we put half a gill of vinegar and 

 molasses, previously prepared in the proportion of four 

 parts of the former to one of the latter. These plates 

 were set on small stakes or poles driven into the ground 

 in the cotton field, one to about each three acres , and 

 reacliing a little above the cotton plant, with a six-inch 

 square board taclced on the top to receive the plate. 

 These arrangements were made in the evening, soon 

 after the tlies had made their appearance; the next 

 morning we found eighteen to thirty-five motlis to each 

 plate . Tlie experiment was continued for five or six 

 days, distributing the plates over the entire field; each 

 day's success increasing, until the numbers were re- 

 duced to two or three moths to each plate , when it was 

 abandoned as being no longer worthy of the trouble. 

 The crop that year was but very little injured by the 

 boll-worm. The flies were caught in their eagerness to 

 feed upon the mixture by alighting into it and being 

 unable to escape . Tliey were probably attracted by the 

 odor of the preparation , the vinegar probably being an 

 important agent in the matter. As the flies feed only at 

 nigtit, the plates should be visited late every evenuig, 

 the insects taken out, and the vessels replenished as cir- 

 cumstances may require. I have tried the experiment 

 with results equally satisfactory, and sliall continue- it 

 until a better one is adopted. ' ' 



Mr. J. M. Heard, of Monroe County, Miss., 

 patented in 18G0, a device for trapping the moth, 

 which consists of a tin plate placed on an in- 

 verted cone, and connected by a tube with a bait- 

 pan made of the same material, which is to be 

 partially filled with molasses mixed with a little 

 anise, fennel or other essential oil. On account 

 of the late war, tliis trap has not been properly 

 tested, and is not now being manufactured. Mr. 

 Heard has sent us one, and we shall certainly 

 give it a trial ; but it seems to us, that should it 

 be even as good a trap as is claimed, it will be 

 altogether too expensive an ari'angement, when 

 the great number required to properly protect 

 a large cotton field is taken into consideration. 



To destroy this insect in the corn-field or 

 tomato patch, there is certainly no more effectual 

 method than hand-picking. ' j 



*-»-* r^ . : , "»! ^^ 



', / THE TRUE ARMY-WORM ■ ^ 



V (Leucania unipunctata, Ha worth) . 



Motors American Entomologist: 



I inclose a match-box with grass and two worms, 

 which we thinlc are Army-worms. They are here in 

 myriads destroying the grass. Destroyed a hundred 

 acres of blue grass meadow in five days, and are now 

 advancing on me. What are they and their habits? 



CarboUc acid (one part acid 20 parts water) kills them 

 if they get a good drench with it, but is too expensive at 

 that rate. They will cross a trail of it without injury, 

 though they evidently dislike the smell. Have sent to 

 town for coal tar to see if they will cross it when llie 

 ground is soaked with it. The advancing column is a 

 half mile wide. 



The hogs are very fond of them; will not notice corn . 

 when they can get Army- worms, but we have more of 

 the latter than they can dispose of. A. E. TRABUE. 



Hannibal, Mo. , June 8, 1809. 



Since the above communication was received 

 from Mr. Trabue, we visited Hannibal and 



