﻿THE 
  ARMY 
  WORM: 
  REPORTS 
  FOR 
  1832. 
  137 
  

  

  The 
  Army 
  Worm 
  has 
  commenced 
  work. 
  Is 
  it 
  safe 
  to 
  use 
  London 
  

   purple?— 
  [Saint 
  Louis, 
  Mo., 
  May 
  24, 
  1882. 
  

  

  I 
  send 
  you 
  by 
  this 
  day's 
  mail, 
  specimens 
  of 
  a 
  caterpillar 
  which 
  is 
  do- 
  

   ing 
  great 
  damage 
  to 
  the 
  wheat 
  in 
  this 
  locality. 
  I 
  have 
  been 
  unable 
  to 
  

   find 
  out 
  how 
  far-spread 
  it 
  is, 
  but 
  hear 
  of 
  it 
  in 
  the 
  northern 
  parts 
  of 
  this 
  

   county 
  and 
  also 
  in 
  N^elson 
  County. 
  It 
  attacks 
  and 
  eats 
  the 
  blade 
  of 
  

   the 
  wheat 
  (so 
  far 
  I 
  do 
  not 
  see 
  that 
  they 
  have 
  hurt 
  the 
  heads), 
  and 
  I 
  

   find 
  many 
  stalks 
  broken 
  off. 
  — 
  [II. 
  A. 
  K. 
  Murray, 
  Warren, 
  Albemarle 
  

   County, 
  Virginia, 
  June 
  8, 
  1882. 
  

  

  Doing 
  considerable 
  damage 
  to 
  oats 
  near 
  Uniontown, 
  D. 
  C. 
  — 
  [L. 
  J. 
  

   Barber, 
  June 
  15, 
  1882. 
  

  

  The 
  Army 
  Worm 
  is 
  playing 
  great 
  havoc 
  in 
  this 
  section 
  of 
  the 
  State. 
  

   All 
  the 
  late 
  wheat 
  is 
  being 
  destroyed 
  by 
  them 
  wherever 
  'they 
  have 
  ap- 
  

   peared. 
  Many 
  fields 
  of 
  grass 
  that 
  were 
  most 
  luxuriant 
  a 
  week 
  ago, 
  

   look 
  now 
  as 
  if 
  a 
  tire 
  had 
  swept 
  over 
  them. 
  Cornfields, 
  wherever 
  they 
  

   have 
  touched, 
  have 
  been 
  entirely 
  destroj^ed 
  — 
  too 
  late 
  now 
  to 
  x)lant 
  over. 
  

   Clover 
  alone 
  seems 
  distasteful 
  to 
  them. 
  Oats, 
  corn, 
  orchard-grass, 
  timo- 
  

   thy 
  and 
  wheat 
  they 
  delight 
  in. 
  W^e 
  have 
  never 
  had 
  them 
  before, 
  and 
  

   don't 
  know 
  what 
  may 
  be 
  their 
  duration. 
  They 
  appeared 
  about 
  a 
  week 
  

   ago 
  and 
  are 
  increasing 
  in 
  numbers 
  most 
  rapidly. 
  — 
  [Kobert 
  Beverly, 
  The 
  

   Plains, 
  Fauquier 
  County, 
  Virginia, 
  June 
  19, 
  1882. 
  

  

  Inclosed 
  find 
  tube 
  containing 
  specimens 
  of 
  Army 
  Worm, 
  which 
  has 
  

   occasionally 
  infested 
  this 
  country 
  ever 
  since 
  its 
  first 
  settlement. 
  The 
  

   first 
  serious 
  injury 
  was 
  done 
  in 
  June, 
  1825, 
  when 
  it 
  appeared 
  in 
  some 
  

   wheat-fields 
  and 
  meadows, 
  and 
  after 
  eating 
  the 
  heads 
  and 
  blades 
  of 
  the 
  

   timothy, 
  and 
  partially 
  stripping 
  the 
  wheat 
  and 
  rye 
  of 
  their 
  blades 
  and 
  

   beards, 
  with 
  little 
  injury 
  to 
  the 
  grain, 
  it 
  moved 
  disastrously 
  upon 
  

   the 
  green 
  corn 
  and 
  oats, 
  eating 
  down 
  the 
  corn 
  and 
  completely 
  behead- 
  

   ing 
  the 
  oats. 
  * 
  * 
  * 
  This 
  year 
  they 
  appeared 
  in 
  the 
  barley 
  about 
  

   the 
  10th 
  of 
  June, 
  and 
  have 
  done 
  great 
  damage 
  by 
  eating 
  off 
  the 
  straw 
  

   just 
  below 
  the 
  head, 
  and 
  a 
  few 
  days 
  later 
  appeared 
  in 
  the 
  wheat 
  and 
  

   timothy 
  all 
  over 
  the 
  country 
  to 
  a 
  very 
  alarming 
  extent; 
  but 
  just 
  as 
  they 
  

   had 
  got 
  fairly 
  to 
  work, 
  on 
  the 
  night 
  of 
  the 
  14th, 
  the 
  whole 
  country 
  between 
  

   Somerville 
  and 
  Indianapolis 
  was 
  visited 
  by 
  very 
  disastrous 
  storms 
  and 
  

   floods, 
  which 
  seem 
  to 
  have 
  caused 
  them 
  to 
  suspend 
  operations, 
  though 
  

   not 
  to 
  entirely 
  disappear. 
  — 
  [M. 
  B. 
  Kerr, 
  Aurora, 
  Dearborn 
  County, 
  In- 
  

   diana, 
  June 
  19, 
  1882. 
  

  

  My 
  observation 
  of 
  the 
  locality 
  of 
  the 
  Army 
  Worms 
  laying 
  their 
  eggs 
  

   has 
  been 
  this 
  : 
  In 
  the 
  early 
  spring 
  the 
  moth 
  has 
  not 
  the 
  activity 
  it 
  has 
  

   later 
  in 
  the 
  season, 
  and 
  the 
  greater 
  part 
  of 
  the 
  eggs 
  are 
  laid 
  in 
  the 
  splits 
  

   of 
  broken 
  straw 
  and 
  in 
  the 
  foldings 
  of 
  the 
  leaf-sheaths, 
  mostly 
  covered 
  

   or 
  secreted 
  ; 
  but 
  in 
  the 
  layings 
  of 
  early 
  spring 
  I 
  have 
  found 
  the 
  eggs 
  

   most 
  abundant 
  in 
  the 
  angle 
  made 
  by 
  the 
  leaf-sheath 
  when 
  torn 
  from 
  

   the 
  straw 
  at 
  the 
  joints 
  of 
  same, 
  and 
  not 
  secreted. 
  I 
  do 
  not 
  think 
  the 
  

   hibernated 
  moth 
  would 
  show 
  its 
  specific 
  characteristics 
  as 
  much 
  as 
  

  

  