Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1861-08-16

The Army Worm.
EDITOR CT THE JOURNAL II here
with send you The Country Gen.
Aeman, in which you will find, page &C,
an interesting history and description
of the army worm, by DR.. Asa Fitch.
The various insects destroy annual
vast amount of our most valuable grain
and fruits. The State Of New York,
in former years employed DR.. Fitch
by the year as scientific entomolo-
giot, to describe and give the habits Of
these troublesome insects. The wheat
nudge, a little yellow fly only fourth
the size Of a musquito, though it
seemed so powerless and inert, was
able in N. Y. State, in 1854, to de.
stroy wheat to the value of more than
$4,000, 900.
The army worm is so terrible on the
crops wherever it marches, that |
hope the DR.. will give us some instruc-
tons how to combat and destroy it.
Yours, truly, SUEL FOSTER.
A short sketch Of the history of this
species, as is appears in our works of
scieIce, will interest the reader: Long
ago, a preserved specimen Of this moth
found its way into the then celebrated
collection of Mr. Franclllon in London.
Upon the breaking up and sale of that
collection, this specimen passed into
the possession of Mr.. Havorth, who,
not doubling but that it had been CAP
tured in England, described it very
briefly, in the year 1910, in his Lepi-
deptera Brittanica, page ia, naming
it Vttctua unlpuncta or the White
Speck, by which names it has ever
since Eeen referred to by English au-
thors AID collectors, save tina: a new
generic name, Leuc0nio, replaces that
of Noctua. 1t appears to have been
through inadvertency that Mr. Stephens
changed this name to inapuncfa. when
he came to describe the species in 1929,
in bis British Entomology, Haustellata,
vol, iii, p. 50. Later, in 1850, ho re-
fers to it under its origina; name, in
the List Of ! epidoptera in the British
Museum, p. 2S9, it having now been
ascertained that it was a North Amer
ican and not the British insect
Guenee appears to have overlooked
this species of the English authors. In
his valuable work on the Lepidoptera
(vol. v, p, T-Paris, 1852, he 1e-
CARDS 1t as new species, naming it
LeucansG ertraned. From hira ",
learn that there are specimens Of it in
several of the Paris collections where.
by they know it to be common insect
in North america, Columbia and
Brazil. He also states that variety
of it, which is destitute Of the white dot
on the fore ires, oc yrs in the East
indies, Java and Australia. ] cannot
but think, however, hat this East In
dia insect should be ranked as dis.
tnct species from ours, as il differs in
such prominent cha acter, and is so
widely separated from its geographi-
cally.
From what has now been stated, it
Will be seen that the original and there
fore legitimate scientific name Of this
insect IS Aeucania unipuncta. And
the "Army-worm moth" will undoubt-
~ De the common pane by which it
will be the currently designated in this
country, insteal Of the White Speck.
the name given it in England |
About dozen New York species of
OF this genus, Leucansa are known
to me. They are those white and pale
yellow meth or vi lers which are so
common N cur meadows and other
grass lands, and which fit aside in
such numbers when the scythe of the
mower sweeps their covets from them
And the "black worm,'' which in this
section Of our Union sometimes shows
the same gregarious and migratory
habits as the Army worm of the West,
ern and Southern States, I new infer
to be the larva Of some one Of these
moths.
| have scarcely sufficient space re.
to give in his article such
full and particular description of this
moth as ought to company this an
nouncement Of its name, and will ena.
bic every one to distinguish it with GER
;ainty from other moths which resem-
Die it.
1t is very plain and unadorned in its
appearance. The eye, on first glanc-
ng at it only recognizes it as an ordi-
larry looking moth of a furnished yell
owlsh drab color, inclin,ng to russ t,
With 8 small white Cot near the centre
# its fore wings, and dusky oolique
freak at their tips. On coming to !,
ook at it more parti ularly, We find it |
o b, be rather less than an inch long ,
0 the end Of its closed wing, or if
hose are extended it is about an inch d
nd three-quarters in width, different IN
pecimens varying somewhat Ia their
re. Its fore wings are sprinkled with
lackish atoms, ana a s1ort distance er
onward Of their hind edge they are :
bx a rou, a r HAL IL. -. ~ r