ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OP ONTARIO. 



15 



The Insects of the Year. 



Fig. 1. 



Amputating brocade moth 



{Hadena Arctiea.) 



Wi 



In 1895 a cut worm moth (Hadena Aretica, Fig 1) 

 in prodigious numbers made housekeepers miserable in 

 the evenings, — in the following spring the larvae of the 

 same insect did great injury to grain crops sown on 

 ground which had been freshly broken out of sod. 

 One might expect when the time of ihe pupation of 

 these larvae had expired to witness a reappearance of 

 the moth in increased numbers. Such expectation was 

 happily entirely disappointed. Every suitable acre of 

 pasture ground or meadow was doubtless as thickly 

 stocked with the larvae as those acres of spring grain referred to, many of which had to 

 be re-sown. No parasite was reported on them. What became of them 1 



In 1896 the army-worm (Figs. 2 and 3) > 

 H devastated grain fields in many townships of 

 Ontario, as witness the dark patches of infested 

 country shown in the map of the Province 

 published on page 45 of our last report. To 

 illustrate how numerous they were in one 

 school section in my own division : a lady 

 told me that coming along at the time when 

 the army was migrating from a grain field on 

 the east side of the road in search of forage 

 farther west they were so thick on the road 

 that the faster travellers were crawling over 

 the others instead of seeking a way round, if, 

 indeed oae could be found, and that not 

 knowing but that the procession might be of 

 indefinite duration she was constrained to lift 

 her skirts arid pick her steps on tip toe, even then very unwillingly stopping 

 forever at every step the progress < f some o: the hungry marchers The Pro- 

 vince throughout its length and breadth was thus patched over with incalculable 

 numbers of the army worm. True, their predatory enemies, during the short 

 season their larvae were fair prey, waxed fat and multiplied On them. The 

 red-tailed Tachina, or possibly the yellow-tailed one, Fig. 4, adorned many a 

 neck with one or two pretty eggs, but notwithstanding the great losses from 

 these and other causes the one-spotted Leucania was the most common moth to 



be seen in the fall even in townships where not a 

 larva had been reported Why was not the whole 

 country overrun with th" insect this year 1 The 

 causes and conditions of the appearance and the still 

 more curious disappearance of such insects as the 

 amputating brocade (cutworm) moth and army 

 worm challenge and invite investigation. 



If the army worm had its " innings " last year, 

 this year the San Jose Scale has had the lion's 

 share of attention. It is to be earnestly hop* d 

 that we are more frightened than hurt, but I am 

 truly thankful we are well frightened. So far as I know, Dr. Fletcher and Prof. Panton, 

 the officers of the Ottawa and Guelph experiment stations, deserve the chief credit for 

 sounding the alarm One benefit from the scare is that it has led many people to dis- 

 cover what a scale-insect is and to learn that for years their fruit trees have been injured 

 by the native or naturalized species of this class of insect. If the alarm perpetuates, as 

 it appears to have started, a crusade against scale insects of all kinds much good will 

 result. I have been sent or shown several things and asked whether they were the dreaded 



1?ig. 2. Egg?, pupa and moth of the 

 Army Worm Leucania unipunctu.) 



Tachina fly (Nemorae^ 

 leucaniae.) 



Fig. 3. 



Army 

 Worm. 



