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THE COUNTRY GENTLEMAN. 



[For the Couiury Gentleman and Cultivator.] 



No. 29— THE ARMY WORM MOTH. 



MKSSR3. TuCKKR — I liuve nn illiistrntion of "thepiir- 

 Buit of knowledge under difficultiei " to present. Dr. 

 John Bartlett of Pesotum, Champaign Co., III., sends us 

 in spirits, in a tin tube, ii specimen of the renowned Army 

 worm, and of the moth which i.s bred from it. Now sphita 

 is the very best vehicle in which to preserve and transmit 

 all kinds of worms, spiders and beetles ; but insects with 

 delicate wings, such as butterflies, moths and flics arc 

 usually ruined by being wet, their wings becoming mat- 

 ted together in a wad, like a wet di.sh-cloth, and if pretti- 

 ly colored, their colors arc liable to be altered or destroyed 

 by spirits. An inexperienced collector, therefore, will do 

 best to place such insects between layers of cotton in a 

 small box, to transmit them without injury by mail or 

 express. 



On emptying the tube from Dr. Bartlett it was with 

 deep regret that I saw this moth of the Army worm lying 

 before me, soaked to a soft, shapeless, black mass, which 

 might on drying wholly (ail of sliowiiig me the same 

 colors and spots which naturally belong to it. On care- 

 fully disentangling and spreading its wings, and dryin" 

 it, my first step was to compare it with the broken and 

 effaced specimens received last year from Dr. Jenkins of 

 Maryland, mentioned in my letter to Hon. B. P. Johnson, 

 lately published in the Co. Gknt. I hereupon saw that 

 the Army worm in Marylatid last year, and that now in Il- 

 linois were undoubtedly one and the same Insect. And 

 now, by a searching look from one to the other of these 

 soiled and imperfect specimens, I was able to gather from 

 them certain marks by which I thought I could recognize 

 this insect if I chanced to have any other specimens of it 

 in my collection. Upon looking over the moths of the 

 cut worms I find nothing like this among them. Turning 

 then to another group, lo, here I have it I— two perfect 

 specimens, received a few years .since iu a fine collection 

 from Prof D. S. Sheldon of Iowa College. Laua Dei I The 

 riddle is now read I What for nearly a score of years I have 

 been so anxious to obtain I now have ! I know what the 

 moth of this Army worm now is 1 And in the fulness of 

 my joy hereupon, I thank you. Prof Sheldon, and you Dr. 

 Bartlett, and Dr. Jenkins, eucli and all, that you have col- 

 ieciiveiy furnished me with such clues as have enabled me 

 to make this discovery. 



A short sketch of the history of this species, as it ap- 

 pears iu our works of science, will interest the reader. 

 Long ago, a preserved specimen of this moth found its 

 way into the then celebrated collection of Mr. Francillon 

 in London. Upon the breaking up and sale of that col- 

 lection, this specimen passed into the possession of Mr. 

 Haworth, who, not doubting but that it had been captured 

 in England, described it very briefly, in the year 1810, in 

 his Lepidoptera Brittanica, page 174, naming it Noctua 

 vnipuncta or the White Speck, by which names it has 

 ever since been referred to by English authora and collec- 

 tors, save that a new generic name, Leucania, replaces 

 that of Noctua. It appears to have been through liuul- 

 Tcrtency that Mr. Stephens changed this name to im- 

 pHticla, when he came to describe the species in 1829, in 

 his British Entomology, Haustellata, vol. ill, p. 80. Later, 

 in 1850, he refers to it under its original name, in the 

 List of Lepidoptera in the British Museum, p. 289, it hav- 

 ing now been ascertained that it was a North American 

 aud not a British insect. 



Guen6e appeai-s to have overlooked this species of the 

 English authors. In his valuable work on the Lepidop- 

 tera (vol. v., p. 77— Paris, 1852,) he regards it as a new 

 species, naming it Leucania exlranea. From him we 

 learn that there are specimens of it in several of the Paris 

 collections, whereby they know it to be a common insect 

 in North America, Columbia and Brazil. He also states 

 that a variety of it which is destitute of the white dot on 

 the fore-wings, occurs in the East Indies, Java and Aus- 

 tralia. I cannot but think, however, that this East India 

 insect should be ranked as a distjnct species from ours, as 

 it differs in such a prominent character, and is so widely 

 separated from it geographically. 



From what has now been stated, it will be seen that the 

 original and therefore legitimate scientific name of this 

 insect is Leucania nuipuncta. And the "Army-worm 

 moth " will undoubtedly be the common name by which 

 it will 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- 

 cania, are known to me. They are those white and pale 

 yellow moths or millers which are so common in om- 

 meadows and other grass lands, and which flit aside in 

 such numbers when the scythe of the mower sweeps their 

 coverts from them. And the " black worm," which in 

 this section of our Union sometimes shows the same grcga- 

 ri<)us 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. 



I have scarcely sufficient space remaining to give in 

 his article such a full and particular description 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 re.'cmble it. 



It is very plain and unadorned in its appearance. The 

 eye, on first glancing at it, only recognizes it as an ordi- 

 nary looking moth of a tarnished 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 arc extended it is about an inch and 

 three quarters in width, difl'erent specimens varying some- 

 what in their size. Its fore wings arc sprinkled with 

 blackish atoms, and a short distance forward of their hind 

 edge they are crossed by a row of black dots, one on each 

 of the veins. Outside of the middle of the wing this 

 row of dola suddenly curves forward, and from this curve 

 a dusky streak runs to the tip of llie wing, the ground 

 color being more pale and clearer yellow along the outer 

 side of this streak. Though the moths of some other 

 genera usually have a similar streak, this is the only 

 species of this genus in which this mark occurs, and hence 

 M. Guende names this species exlranea, i. c. extraneous, 

 foreign, different, as though it did not belong hero. And 

 Mr. Stephens doubts whether it correctly pertains to this 

 genus. But a character that will appear to common per- 

 sons as more conspicuous aiul important, 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 surrounded more or less by a dusky 

 cloud, and this duskiness is frequently extended forward 

 upon the mid-vein to its base, forming a faint darker streak 

 along the middle of the wing. Contiguous to this dot 

 on its outer side may be diacerned 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 centre. 

 On the liind 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 purplish gloss, 

 and are nearly transparent, with the veins blackish. The 

 fringe of both pairs of wings is pale yellowish, with a 

 dusky band on the middle. 



On the under side the wings are much more glossy and 

 paler, opalescent whitish inwardly, and smoky gray to- 

 wards 'their outer and hind sides, where they are also 

 fref'-lod Willi blackish ..v'suis. Tho fcuioUy color on the 

 hind wings has, on its anterior edge, a row of short, black- 

 ish lines, one placed on each of the veins, and in line 

 with them on the fore wings is a faint dusky band, be- 

 coming more distinct towards its outer end, or sometimes 

 only represented by a dusky dot on the outer margin for- 

 ward 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 side ash grey, freckled with black scales, and 

 usually showing a row of black dots along each side. 



Though these moths are subject to some variety, who- 

 ever has one of them in his hands will find it to coincide 

 so exactly with most of the particulars stated in the above 

 description, that he will be fully assured it is this insect. 

 Snlera. N. Y.. July. 1861. ASA FITCH. 



P. S., July 11 tk. — A fine specimen of this moth reaches 

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

 It is a male, and hidicates this sex to be smaller, measur- 

 ing but little over an inch and a half acro.ss its spread 

 wings. It is also of a darker or more smoky gray color, 

 but does not appear to differ otherwise from the descrip- 

 tion above given. i. j. 



JTJ^y 25, 



" I WISH I WAS IN dixie; 



A writer in the New Orleans Delta has undertaken to give 

 the geographical location of " Dixie's Land," and to show 

 that the song now so popular at tho South originated at the 

 North. Tho writer says : — 



" When Slavery existed in New York, one ' Dixy' owned 

 a large tract of land on the Manhattan Island and a large 

 number of slaves. Tho increa."o of the slaves, and tho in- 

 crease of tho abolition sentiment, caused an ewigration of 

 the slaves to more thorough and secure slave sections, and 

 tho negroes who were thus sent off (many being born Ihoro ) 

 naturally looked back to thoir old homos, whore they had 

 lived in clover, with feelings of regret, as thoy could not 

 imagine any place like Di.xy's. Hence it became synony- 

 mous with an ideal locality, combining ease and comfort, aud 

 niatflrial happiness of every description. In those days negro 

 singing and minstrelsy were in their infancy, and any subject 

 that coijld bo wrought into a ballad was eagerly picked up. 

 This was tho case with ' Dixie.' It originated in Now York, 

 and assumed tho proportions of a song there. In its travels 

 it has been enlarged and has ' gathered mosi.' It hat picked 

 up a ' note ' hero and there. A ' chorus ' has been added to 

 it, and from tho indistinct ' chant ' of two or three notes, it 

 has become an elaborato molody. But the fact that it is 

 a Northern song ' cannot bo rubbed out.' The falhujy is so 

 popular to tho contrary, that I have thus been at pains to 

 stale the origm of it.'' 



(For the Country Qentleman and Cultlvator.J 

 No. r — Choicelof Farming as a Profession. 



Hill Tor, Jau. 6, !»-. 

 My Dear Ned — You ask my advice about an employ- 

 ment for which you seem to think you have a peculiar 

 aptitude. In the first place, I must tell you that you over- 

 estimate my ability to advise ; but as deference to the 

 judgment of ciders is not a common fault with young 

 America, and as it is one which we, who are approaching 

 the superannuated list, can most easily forgive, I freely 

 pronounce absolution, and will advise you as best I can. 



But, Ned, you are the greenest boy I have seen. Let 

 me tell you that you may be still more in error in suppos- 

 ing that you were born for the farm, or that you could by 

 any possibility become a successful and happy farmer. 

 You have not yet one particle of proof that you would be 

 satisfied with farm-life if fairly installed into it. "Dis- 

 tance lends enchantment." Your views of farm-life are 

 yet distant. The charm might fade as you approach, and 

 die out when you come into actual contact with the stern 

 realities. " Not all is gold that shines," and not all soils 

 yield golden crops for the bidding. Farmers have their 

 troubles. Mr. Sparrowgrass found a peck of them. Frosts 

 would sometimes kill the growing crops ; at other times 

 the cattle would sicken and die ; the neighbors even, were 

 not as simply and as honestly rustic, as his imagination 

 had conceived, but would now and then get a heavey horse 

 upon him at a larger price than they would have been wil- 

 ling to pay for the same animal, or gain some other ad- 

 vantage about as slyly as he had been accustomed to see 

 in city life. Set it down, then, that you do not yet know 

 yourself in this matter, whether the farm is a fit place for 

 you, or you a fit man for it. Uncle Zeb's coat being two 

 or three times too large for you, would certainly fit badly 

 if you should put it on ; but any farm your father might 

 purchase for you might prove a worse fit, so far as you 

 have yet the means of knowing. 



Another consideration — the good Watts says, " Heaven 

 one mold for every two designed ;" and rumor says that 

 you have found the other being east in the same mold with 

 yourself. I rather like the idea, that while you will to be 

 a farmer, you arc looking for a farmer's wife. But if your 

 intended has no more decidedly marked tastes and quali- 

 fications for rural life than fall to amiyority of city Misses, 

 the doubt about the advisableness of your becoming a 

 fanner, is doubled — for there will be two to be pleased in- 

 stead of one. Not one in ten of all the city-bred girls, 

 can be contented, happy and useful on a farm ; to take a 

 bright and beautiful being, witty and intelligent, (I speak 

 of her as 1 am sure she appears to you,) from the circle of 

 city friendships to the farmstead, unless you see in her 

 that substratum of sober, deep, all-pervading good sense 

 which alone can congcnialize itself to the change, would 

 be absolutely cruel. So, Ned, look out what you do ! 



Possibly you and yours arc dreaming about gentleman 

 farming. Gentleman farming ! Why, every upright, in- 

 dustrious, intelligent farmer is a gentleman in the best 

 possible sense of the term. In the sense of wearing silk 

 stockings and kid gloves, on small, delicate feet and hands, 

 seven days in a week ; in the sense of being a man, who 

 commands every thing and does nothing ; in any mere 

 technical sense, no fanner can be a gentleman. Gentle- 

 man farming, any farther than as you consider that useful- 

 ness, integrity, inward worth, not the mere exterior, make 

 the gentleman, is a humbug, alike useless to the man who 

 attempts it and to the world. If one wished to live bv 

 sharp wit, he might better look for other fields than those 

 of the farm. If he would be a fop he might better look 

 elsewhere. If lie would be a gentleman, as the term is 

 too often flippantly used — exteriorly so — the farm is no 

 place for him ; and if his wife is more appreciative of the 

 showy and ornamental, than of the plainly good and com- 

 fortable, there is an extra objection to his being a farmer. 

 Do not deceive youreelf with the belief that you can be a 

 farmer, and yet retain all the primness and lightness of 

 step, with which your friends in the city have been accus- 

 tomed to meet you ; and do not deceive the girl that is to 

 share life with you, into the fancy that all the elegancies 

 of city life will be translcrrcd and become perennial on 

 the farm. The matter of fact is, that farming is a plain, 

 homely business ; and it is wonderfully apt to make plain, 

 unostentatious people of those who pursue it. The farm- 

 house may be very comfortable; it may be in elegant 

 taste, and ought to be so ; trees, shrubs and flowers may 

 adorn every approach to it ; the farmer may live in a con- 

 dition of rural elegance, and he ought to be contented 

 with nothing short of this; but after all, farming is a plain 

 business, and makes plain people ; and I would not advise 

 persons to enter it with the expectation of being gentle- 

 men or ladies, otherwise than as usefulness, integrity, in- 



young nephew in town-a would-be fai...^. .„. .,..„... „„. ..^ 

 mer in very deed, with tleevea rolled up and hard at work. 



r for years, but tiiuee a far- 



