The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1880-07-07
THE ARMY WORN.

The army worm which Is now devouring
the crops of portions of Long Island and New
Jersey is the grub Of a nocturnal moth known
to entomologists as the Leucania unipuncia.
The moth when fully extended is about an
inch long and three-quarters in width from
tipto tip, and is of yellowish drab color In
clining to russell. Its fore wings--for the
leucdnia like all other lepidopters, has two
sets Of wings-are each decorated with one
dot near the centre and dusky oblique
stripe at the tip 1t generally deposits its
eggs at the base of perennial grass stalks
about the end of June or early in July, and
they are Matched in the next Spring. For
about month after they arc Matched they
feed voraciously upon vegetation, and then
descend into the ground, where, in an oval
chamber the larva changes to shining, ma
hogany colored chrysalis which 10 two weeks
develops into the image or mature insect, by
killing which the birth of multitudes of Off
spring may be prevented. The larva or worm
when 1t has attained its full growth, is from
an inch to an inch and three-quarters long,
dark gray, and marked with three narrow,
yellowish stripes above, and broader one Of
the same color or slightly darker upon each
side. 1t is thinly clothed with short hairs
and has black line on the head shaped like
the letter v. The mouth Of the moth bad
been adapted simply to sucking dew and the
nectar of flowers, the maudibles, labium and
labrum being in rndimentary state, while
the maxil@ were enormously developed, form
ing proboscis with which it gathered food,
and which when at rest was coiled up like
watchspring in front of the hnad. The larva-
however, is fully furnished with apparatus
for mastication and sets out on its travels, do
ing nothing but creep and gnaw the vegeta-
tion that comes in its way. When the insect
appears In such incalculably vast armies as
those in which it has come this year, farmers
and gardeners are at loss for means to stay
its progress, but in ordinary times it may be
destroyed with London purple or Paris green,
and its march may be cut off by trenches dug
in the line Of its advance. Preventative
measures are the blowing of an infested field
in the autumn to destroy the eggs, or burning
the stubbe over the eggs. Natural enemies
of the worm are crows aud blackbirds, hogs
and ichneamon flies, which latter arc the
deadly foes of the lepidopters. They deposit
their eggs on the eggs Larvae and pupm of
these insects, and in paying attention to the
army worm they lay three or four white eggs
upon his skin just behind the head, and when
the ichneumon larvae are Matched, they pro-
coed at once to make meal of their iuvolun-
tary host. Nearly coinoident with the APP
pearance of the army worm on Long Island
was that of strange fly" which is now
commonly thought by the farmers to be the
parent of the worm, but it is much more
likely that the fly was the ichneumon instinct
lively seeking a home and suitable food for its
young, yet unborn. The ichneumon fly it
self is harmless to man, and for the sake of
tho good that 1t does should be left unframed
by him, as also should the despised crow,
which has been shown to be more serviceable
to the farmer by reason of the insects which
It destroys than it is troublesome to him In
the cornfeld. York World.