STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
29 
subject, still remaining to be ascertained. It at present looks as 
though the female and their descendants were prolific permanently, 
without any intercourse of the sexes. 
Last summer, such multitudes of parasites, lady-bugs and other 
destroyers of this Aphis, had become gathered in the grain fields 
at harvest time, that it seemed as though it would be extermi¬ 
nated by them. But at the end of the season, this insect appeared 
as common on the young rye as I had noticed it at the opening of 
spring. The present indications, therefore, are, that this Aphis 
will be as numerous on the grain the coming summer as it was 
the past, if the season proves favorable to its increase. 
As to the Army Worm, it may be remarked that for almost a 
century it had been known that in this country was a kind of 
worm whose habit it was to suddenly appear in particular spots 
in such immense numbers as to wholly consume the herbage over 
an extent frequently of several miles, and then abruptly vanish, 
nothing being seen of it afterwards. Thus it was one of the 
most singular and also one of the most formidable and alarming 
creatures of this class that was known to be in our world. Yet, 
what kind of worm this was, and what insect produced it, 
remained wholly unknown down to the present day. Appearing 
here and there all over the country, the past season, this Army 
Worm became an object of the deepest interest; and from Illinois 
on the one hand, and Massachusetts on the other, specimens of 
the moths bred from these worms were sent to me, for informa¬ 
tion as to what the name of this insect really was. To these 
inquiries I was able to give an answer so full and explicit that 
there has been a general acquiescence in the correctness of my 
decision of this subject. 
With regard to the Wheat Midge, I would observe that, in a 
lecture before the Society a few years since, I stated that in this 
country injurious insects were much more numerous than in 
Europe, occasioning us far greater losses than are there experi¬ 
enced. I was assured of this fact from carefully comparing the 
statements of foreign authors respecting the depredations of 
particular insects, with what we know of the same insects here. 
But I did not suppose it would be possible to show by any more 
decisive proof that the facts were as I stated. A year ago, 
however, I received from France a vial filled with insects as 
they were promiscuously gathered by the net in the wheat fields 
of a district where the Midge was doing much injury. It then 
