62 
Deep ditches cut in the earth to stop them were immediately fill e ,{ 
up by the multitudes which fell in and perished, while eager mil- 
lions still rushed over the trembling and half-living bridge, formed 
by the bodies of their late companions, bent on their mission of 
destruction and devastation. 
* * * * When pressed by necessity, however, as has 
already been stated, they will feed upon cotton leaves. I raised 
about thirty of them upon this food alone, merely as an ex¬ 
periment, and they grew and perfected their transformations, al¬ 
though appearing to prefer a grass diet if it could be obtained.” 
In Missouri, in 1868, they destroyed much young wheat sowed on 1 
oats ground, but did not trouble wheat sowed in the same fields on 
wheat stubble. They were here found to feed \yith equal relish on 
the young plants of both oats and wheat, and a variety of grasses. 
In Illinois, in 1870, they fed in July upon the young corn, de¬ 
vouring the leaves, eating into the heart of the young plant, and, 
later, boring large holes through the ears, burrowing them in all 
directions. They were also reported to Mr. Riley to feed upon the 
leaves of the peach and apple, upon the under sides of which the 
imagos laid their eggs. If these were deposited upon other trees, 
like the sycamore, the larvae, when they hatched, instead of eating 
the leaves, descended from the trees to feed upon more succulent 
herbage below r . 
According to the observations in wheat fields reported for 1863, 
wheat which had been completely eaten up was not necessarily 
ruined, some that had thus been cut off in the fall making a good 
stand the next spring, in one instance, at least, being even better 
than that which had not been touched. 
[On the other hand, Mr. F. E. Buckley, of Tremont,.who was the 
first to report the occurrence of these larvae to me this fall, writes 
me this spring that the wheat eaten off was almost invariably destroyed 
and did not rally again. “On my piece containing twenty acres,” he 
says, “one-third of the ground was bare. Wherever the worms 
worked, the wheat is killed and did not come up again; and in 
other instances I know of in this vicinity, the result was the same. 
One piece of about ten acres sown on very rich ground (oat stubble, 
of course,) which was completely destroyed, does not show half an 
acre of living grain.”] 
In Missouri, the worms have also been reported to destroy turnips, 
and buckwheat as it was just coming into bloom; while meadows 
were so ravaged that nineteen-twentieths of the grass was considered 
entirely killed. Oats and timothy were among the crops destroyed 
by them, the former being devoured when it had reached a height 
of six inches. Corn silks and soft corn xvere likewise eaten. Corn 
fodder, tomatoes, rye, potatoes, and cucumbers have been destroyed 
by them in various parts of Missouri, and in some vineyards they 
did great damage by gnawing around the stems and causing the 
bunches to drop off. 
In corn fields, they were said by a correspondent of Mr. Riley s, 
not only to devour greedily the leaves and stems, but to bore large 
holes through the ears, burrowing them in all directions. In Ceor- 
gia, in 1872, besides devouring corn and grass, they destroyed the 
