14 
injury extending from portions of New York and New Jersey south- 
ward through Florida to Cuba and westward to Texas, and extending 
from there to Kansas, Nebraska, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Infesta- 
tion was rather general, perhaps more so than reported, along the 
Atlantic coast. It was also quite severe in some regions in the West. 
DESCRIPTION OF THE MOTH. 
The moth which produces the fall army worm is a member of the 
Noctuidae, the same family as that of the true arm}' worm, Leucania 
unipuncta, which includes the parents of the cutworms. These two 
moths, however, are quite unlike each other. Laphygma frugiperda 
being more nearly related to the genus Prodenia than to Leucania. 
The moth is quite variable, there usually being in most lots two 
distinct forms. What appears to be the commonest form, at least 
the present year about the District 
of Columbia, is shown in the accom- 
panying illustration (iig. 1 a). The 
fore-wings are rather dull grayish- 
brown above, and show in this color 
variety a pattern more or less simi- 
lar to the one figured. The hind- 
wings are glistening white, with 
rosy reflections; the posterior por- 
tion of the border is more or less 
infuscated near the fringe, which 
has an inner dark line at this point; 
and the veins of this portion of the 
hind-wings are dark and distinct. 
In the more ornamental form of the 
moth the fore-wings have the ap- 
pearance shown at 1). In this form 
the insect looks very much like an 
owlet moth of the genus Prodenia, bearing particular resemblance to 
P. ornithogallL The fore-wings are mottled or variegated with black 
and white, reddish-brown, and sometimes with pale bluish, yellowish, 
and other tints. The expanse of the fore-wings is from an inch to an 
inch and three-eighths. The great variability in the colors of adults 
appears to be unexplained, as extreme varieties of both forms figured 
may be found issuing from the same lot of larvae and, indeed, proba- 
bly from the same batch of eggs. 1 
BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE EARLIER STAGES. 
Since detailed technical descriptions of the egg and the different 
stages of the larvae are presented, shorter popular descriptions, with 
1 It was noticed in a fairly large series of this moth reared by the writer during 
1899 that the dull gray-colored individuals were mostly females, while the orna- 
Fig. 1.— Laphygma frugiperda: a, moth, plain 
gray form; b, ■ fore-wing of Prddenia-like 
form; c, larva extended; d, abdominal seg- 
ment of larva, lateral view; e, pupa, lateral 
view— d, twice natural size; others enlarged 
one-fourth (author's illustration). 
