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The Army Worm has appeared during the season in some portions of the West, 

 and inflicted much damage ; and there were good reasons for anticipating trouble from 

 this source in our own Province next year, unless the exceptional drought we have lately 

 experienced, and which has been generally looked upon as an unmitigated evil, should 

 check their natural increase. The Army Worm, in common with many other of our 

 night-flying moths, is double-brooded, but whether the later brood pass the winter in the 

 larval or chrysalis state has never been fully settled. It is probable that with us the 

 bulk of the brood pass the inclement season in the larval condition, the young larva 

 burrowing into the ground for protection during the extreme cold of ^dnter. It has 

 been observed by Entomologists that an unusually wet season, which induces a fiee 

 growth of vegetation, is very favourable for the sustenance of these pests, and if preceded 

 by a dry autumn, which appears to have the effect of disseminatino- the moths over a 

 wider area, the worms are often met with in great abundance. During this summer the 

 Army Worm moths ( Leucania unijmncta J, which are always present with us to a greater 

 or less extent, have been unusually abundant in the western portion of our Province. 

 To the sugar-bait, employed by Entomologists to attract night-flying moths, these insects 

 have flocked by hundreds, and this has been observed not only in Ontario, but also in 

 the Western States, showing that this moth has been unusually abundant over an ex- 

 tended district. Millions of their eggs must have been deposited on the leaves and stems 

 of grasses, but the intense drought we have had has probably deprived the newly -hatched 

 larvse of the food necessary to their existence, and we may hope that the evil we have 

 suff'ered from in the way of drought has saved us to a great extent from serious invasions 

 of Army Worms next year. 



Much attention has been paid of late by Entomologists to the natural conditions 

 which favour or prevent the increase of injurious insects ; and I think there is good, 

 ground for expecting, after a few more years of close observation, that it will not be 

 difficult to prognosticate, with a large measure of accuracy, several months in advance, 

 the probabilities as to the insect pests likely to prevail during any year in any given dis- 

 trict. When this can be satisfactorily accomplished, much practical good may be ex- 

 pected to result therefrom, since by avoiding the planting of such crops as are likely to 

 be especially injured by insect hosts, and growing others comparatively free for the time 

 from these troubles, a large saving may be effected. 



During the summer a small moth, well known to Entomologists as a common insect 

 throughout the Northern States and Canada, but never before recorded as destructive 

 anywhere, has invaded the pastures in some parts of Northern New York, and inflicted 

 great injury. It is a species of Crambus, Cr ambus vulgivagellus. The Crambidse are 

 known by the common name of grass moths, from the fact that as far as is known they 

 all feed in the larval state on grass, and hence the moths are found everywhere in 

 meadows, flying about in the daytime, with a short but rapid flight. The moths are 

 small, with narrow front wings, which are usually ornamented with metallic spots and 

 stripes. It was about the middle of May that a serious invasion of what Avas popularly 

 supposed to be the Army Worm occurred in St. LaAvrence County, New York. The 

 State Entomologist, Prof. J. A. Lintner, at once visited the scene of destruction, and 

 found the injury widespread and serious, extending over eight of the northern counties. 

 Hundreds of acres of grass presented a brown appearance, as if winter-killed. A pasture 

 lot of ten acres, which ten days before offered good pasture, was so thoroughly destroyed 

 that in many places not a blade of grass could be seen to the square yard. The upland 

 pastures were first attacked, and entire fields were laid waste in ten or twelve days. 

 Unlike the Army Worm, the caterpillars were seldom seen, and never observed actively 

 feeding, and it was believed by the farmers that they fed at night, or by drawing the 

 blades of grass into their subterranean retreats. In two instances the larvse were 

 observed in immense numbers collected on the trunks of trees, so that they could have 

 been scooped up by handfuls. The cause of their congregating at these points could only 

 be conjectured ; it was not for feeding on the foliage, for the grasses alone are their 

 natural food. The caterpillars v/ere slender, cylindrical worms, .about three-quarters of 

 an inch long, of an obscure greenish colour, with shining black heads. They were desti- 

 tute of lines or other ornamentation, excepting some small, warty spots on their upper 



