STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
867 
ARMY WORM. THE MOTH DESCRIBED. 
It is very plain and unadorned in its appearance. The eye, on first glancing at it, only 
recognizes it as an ordinary 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 are extended, it is about an inch and three- 
quarters in width, different specimens varying somewhat in their size. Its fore wings are 
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 dots suddenly ourves forward, and from this curve a dusky streak*runs to the tip of the 
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 ocours, and hence M. Guen£e names this species extranea> i. 
o., extraneous, foreign, different, as though it did not belong here. And Mr. Stephens 
doubts whether it correctly pertains to this genus. But a character that will appear to com¬ 
mon persons as more conspicuous and 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 extend¬ 
ed forward upon the mid-vein to its base, forming a faint darker streak along the middle of 
the wiDg. Contiguous to this dot on its outer side, may be discerned 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 th© 
hind part of the wing the veins are marked by slender whitish lines, and betVeen 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 tho under side the wings are much more glossy and paler, opalescent whitish inwardly, 
and smoky gray towards their outer and hind sides, where they are also freckled with blackish 
atoms. The smoky color on tho hind wings has, on its anterior edge, a row of short, blackish 
lines, one placed on each of the veins, and in line with them on the fore wings is a faint dusky 
band, becoming more distinct towards its outer end, or somotimes only represented by a dusky 
dot on the outer margin forward of the tip. The veins aro whitish, and also the hind edge, 
on which is a row of black dots placed between the tips of tho 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, whoever 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. 
In concluding the present account of this insect I have only to 
add further, that one of the parasite destroyers of the army 
worm was obtained from chrysalids received from Sanford How¬ 
ard, Esq., of the Boston Cultivator , in which periodical a notice 
of it was given, August 31st, (vol. xxiii, p. 2*16.) This parasite 
resembles a small wasp, nearly half an inch long, of a bright 
rust-red color, its wings smoky, its breast black, and also the 
middle of its back, where is a small bright sulphur-yellow spot, 
which is the scutel. The antennas or horns have a milk-white 
band on their middle, below which band they are rust-red and 
