38 ' 
informed that about forty years ago the same kind of worm made 
great destruction in ploughed land, among spring grain, but particu¬ 
larly in fields of flax. (Albany Argus adds to the above as follows:) 
The black worm is also destroying the vegetation in the northern 
towns of Rensselaer and eastern section of Saratoga. Many meadows 
and pastures have been rendered by their depredations as barren as 
heath. It appears to be the same species of worm that has created 
so much alarm in Worcester county, but we suspect it is different 
from the Cut-worm, whose ravages appear to be confined to corn.” 
Leaving this for the present, we will turn to the later data upon 
which we can rely with a greater degree of confidence. 
We learn from Prof. Comstock’s report that the moths began to 
appear the present season as early as June 21. The eggs must 
therefore have been deposited about the 20th or 25th of April, if 
laid by the moths the past spring. This date agrees almost exactly 
with that assumed for the early brood of 1817. The moths from 
the eggs deposited by these would begin to appear soon after-the 
first of September, and continue to come forth until about the 20th 
of the month. 
Turning now to Dr. Lintner’s list, we find that the last moths of, 
as we suppose, a preceding brood were captured July 7 and 21; 
that those of the succeeding brood commenced coming out August 
7, and were seen continuously from that time until October 6, when 
they entirely disappeared. 
The eggs which produced the moth caught August 7 must have 
been deposited between the 1st and 10th of June. If we assume that 
those observed August 7 were the first of the brood to appear, which 
seems reasonable, and allow a variation of eighteen or twenty days 
between the ages of individuals of the same brood, then the last 
eggs of this brood were deposited about the last of June, and the 
last moths issued from the chrysalides about the 1st of September. 
If we suppose the moths live as much as two or three weeks after 
depositing their eggs, or that there is greater variation in the ages 
of the individuals, the dates in Dr. Lintner’s list agree very well 
with the calculations as to term of individual life, and with all other 
data we have except that of 1817 and 1880. 
Until more data is obtained in reference to the species in these 
more northern sections, the mode of hibernation there must remain 
a subject of doubt and uncertainty. 
4 
PROPER HOME OF THE SPECIES AND CHARACTER OF THE SEASONS FAVOR¬ 
ABLE TO ITS DEVELOPMENT. 
In Prof. Riley’s article of 1880, above referred to (Am. Ent. Sept.), 
we find the following statement. After mentioning certain facts, he 
remarks: 
“These facts clearly disprove Fitch’s theory, and we must believe 
that the Army-worm is most likely to appear after dry seasons, re¬ 
gardless of the wetness or dryness of the season in which it occurs.” 
He then proceeds to criticise somewhat severely Dr. Fitch’s theory, 
and concludes that he was “hard pressed for argument” to support 
it. 
—3 
