3*2 
If the black worms, mentioned by Dr. Fitcli as appearing at Wor¬ 
cester, Mass., and Rensselaer, N. Y., in May, 1817, were Army- 
worms—and of this there can be but little doubt—they must have 
been at the time mentioned, May 22, at least half-grown, as they 
*were marching. If the eggs from which they were hatched were de¬ 
posited the same season, it must have been at least as early as 
April 22. But so far as I can learn, no moths have been captured 
at this early date by any of the numerous collectors of those States. 
‘We may suppose they were present but not observed,—but this is 
abandoning our data in order to sustain a theory, unless it can be 
shown that the spring of 1817 opened unusually early, and that the 
winter was a very mild one. But unfortunately, the records we have 
at hand, which, except in two or three seasons, give only the an¬ 
nual temperature, show that at Cambridge, New Bedford, Salem 
and Williamstown, Mass., and at New Haven, Conn., the tempera¬ 
ture of both 1816 and 1817 -was below the average. The opening 
months of the year, at Cambridge, Mass., show the following vari¬ 
ations from the average: 
January—1°.25. February—6°.28. March—2°.1. April—0°.40. May—0°.l. 
New Bedford.January—2°.4. February—6 3 .28. March—2°.8. April—0°.l. May—0 3 .8. 
m 
It is well known, as stated by Dr. Fitch, and also in Thompson’s 
History of Vermont, and Blodget's Climatology, that 1816 was an 
unusually cold and dry year, especially the summer and autumn. 
The winter, at Salem, New Bedford and Williamstown, according to 
Dr. Holyoke’s observations, was slightly above the average; at Cam¬ 
bridge slightly below it. Blodget states that “the most remarkable 
depression of temperature in the summer months known to all his- 
torv of thermometric measurements occurred in the period from 
1811 to 1817.” 
It is therefore a question whether the element of unusual heat or 
seasonal warmth is a necessary factor in the devolopment of this 
insect. 
We are forced, therefore, to abadon the idea that in this case the 
ancestors of this brood wintered in the pupa state, as this would 
suppose them to have transformed into moths between the 5th and 
10th of April. We must, therefore, adopt one of three theories—1st, 
that the moths hibernated; 2d, that the eggs wintered over; or 3d, 
that they had passed the winter in the larva state. 
The last agrees with the facts so far as the date at which they 
were seen is concerned, more closely than either of the other sup¬ 
positions. But it is remarkably strange that such a host of half- 
grown larvae as indicated by the following extract from the original 
account, should not have been noticed and the fact recorded at least 
in the same connection: 
“1817—Worcester, May 22. We learn that the black worm is 
making great ravages on some farms in this town, and in many 
other places in tills part of the country. Their march is a ‘de¬ 
ployed column,’ and their progress is as distinctly marked as the 
course of a fire which has overrun the herbage in a dry pasture. 
Not a blade of grass is left standing in their rear. From the ap¬ 
pearance of the worm, it is supposed to be the same which usually 
infests gardens, and is commonly called the Cut-worm. We are 
