STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
859 
ARMY WORM. ITS APPEARANCE II* 1801. 
as follows: In April last, as wo were informed by the newspapers, 
this worm began to appear in alarming numbers in Tennessee 
and Kentucky, and towards the close of that month in the south¬ 
ern parts of Illinois. And from that time onward till autumn, it 
was occurring at one place and another in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, 
Pennsylvania, and on the sea-coast and its vicinity, the whole 
length of New England. Specimens of this worm and the moths 
bred from it, have been sent me from Mr. S. L. Goodale, Secretary 
of the State'Board of Agriculture of Maine, which were taken away 
'! down east,” between the St. Croix and Penobscot rivers. A letter 
from President Dawson, of McGill College, Montreal, also informs 
me of its occurrence in the vicinity of that city. In the south¬ 
eastern part of Massachusetts, the damage it has done, is report¬ 
ed to exceed a half million of dollars. Here in our own State, 
this worm has appeared in the vicinity of Buffalo, and at 
several other points towards the western and southern line of the 
State ; and also on numerous places on Long Island. The State 
Agricultural Society has received through Col. E. C. Frost of 
the Highland Nurseries, specimens of the worms from the town 
of Dix near tho head of Seneca Lake, where they were discovered 
August 12th, and of corn stalks and grass as ate by them. 
The colonies or armies of these worms are usually discovered 
when the worms are a third grown and about half an inch long. 
A particular spot in a field of grass or grain is found to be 
thronged by them, almost every stalk having one or more of 
them on it, and those which aro notjeeding, are crawling rapidly 
about, with- an impatient aspect, as though they were “in a great 
hurry to get somewhere.” 
They resemble the caterpillars which we see on our apple trees, 
except that they are destitute of hairs. When particularly noticed 
it is seen that they differ very much from each other in their 
colors and stripes; but those which are recognized as being most 
perfect are of a black color with a pale yellow stripo along each 
side. Others are greenish or olive, with more numerous stripes 
and lines. And the worms occur of all sizes, mixed together, as 
they have hatched from the eggs eanlier or later, those which 
are full grown being an inch and a half in length. 
They avoid the rays of tho sun; hence during the day they 
crawl under stones and sticks, as closely as they can crowd them¬ 
selves together, and under swaths of grass or grain, or even into 
