Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/714

 704 CANKER WORM CANNELTON themselves down from the branches by threads; they burrow immediately into the earth, from two to six inches in depth, according to the nature of the soil ; they make little cavities in the earth by turning themselves round, and are changed into chrysalids within 24 hours, those of the females being the largest; the chrysalis state may continue till the following spring, or it may cease in mild weather in the autumn. They come out of the ground mostly in the night. Nature seems to desire to confine the canker worms to a limited space, as the females have no wings, and bury themselves within the spread of the trees from which they de- scend; but accidents have extended them to remote localities. The canker worm has ten legs, six anterior jointed ones, and four fleshy prop legs behind; they are called span worms and loopers from their singular mode of pro- gression ; from the absence of the three inter- mediate pairs of prop legs in the centre of the body, when creeping they arch up the back and bring forward the hind part of the body, and then, resting on their prop legs, they stretch out to their full length in a straight line, and so repeat the spanning process. The ravages of canker worms are not very apparent till June, when they are most voracious ; but then the leafless and apparently withered fruit trees and elms afford a melancholy spectacle. The best way of destroying the canker worm is to prevent the females from ascending trees to deposit their eggs; various methods have been resorted to for this purpose, consisting in the application of viscid substances to the trunk, immediately on the bark or on strips of cloth, paper, or board ; tar is generally used, and it should be applied from November, and renewed daily as long as the insects come forth ; tin troughs filled with cheap oil a few feet above the ground have been tried with success on a small scale; melted india rubber has been recommended in Englan'd. When the worms are on the leaves, they may be de- stroyed on small and choice trees by dusting air-slacked lime on them when wet with dew. Showering with a mixture of whale-oil soap in water, in the proportion of one pound to seven .gallons, will kill the worms without injuring the leaves or the fruit. By jarring the limbs many worms will descend with their silken threads and may be easily killed. After they have entered the ground, they may be killed by digging or ploughing under the trees, scat- tering a few grains of corn, and turning a few hogs into the orchard ; these animals will root up and devour the chrysalids, and will crush many with their feet. Canker worms arc eaten by many species of birds; ground beetles also devour them ; the potter wasp fills her clay cells with them as food for her young ; ichneumon flies deposit their eggs in them, and the little maggots thence arising feed upon their substance; even their eggs are pierced by a small four-winged fly, sometimes every one in a cluster being thus rendered abortive. No doubt beast, bird, and insect would be enough to keep the canker worms within their natural limits ; but since the felling of the for- ests in which they naturally dwell, and the persecution of insectivorous birds which devour them, the worms seem to have increased in spite of all man's destructive ingenuity. In our northern cities the best remedy for them yet found has been the introduction of English sparrows, which seem to have almost extermi- nated them. For fuller information on these pests, and the best means of destroying them, see Harris's " Insects injurious to Vegetation." CAMABIS IMI1CA. See HEMP. CAMUS, a town of ancient Apulia, in Italy, on the 8. bank of the river Anfidus (Ofanto), about 6 m. from its mouth in the Adriatic, and about 8 m. N. E. of the ancient Canusium. Near it, and probably on the N. bank of the river (though this is a point much disputed among historians), the Romans experienced on Aug. 2, 216 B. 0., the most disastrous of all their defeats at the hands of Hannibal. The Carthaginian leader had spent the preceding winter and spring at Geronium ; but the scar- city of provisions induced him to move further south to Cannes, where he surprised the guard, captured the Roman magazines of supplies, and established his headquarters for the harvest season. The Romans had employed the spring in raising a new and very large army, and the consuls for the year, L. .^Emilius Paulus and C. Terentius Varro, now advanced against the Car- thaginians with nearly 90,000 men, a force greatly superior to that of Hannibal. ^Emilius, pursuing the policy of Fabius Maximus, was unwilling, in spite of this advantage, to risk an open conflict ; but he and Varro commanded on alternate days, and the latter insisted on engaging the enemy. The armies accordingly joined battle in the plains near the town. The superiority of Hannibal's cavalry and the skill of his light-armed foot soldiers turned the ad- vantage at once against the Romans, and their troops, forced by Hannibal to take up a posi- tion with their faces toward the sun, and to- ward a fierce wind which blew the dust against them, were thrown into confusion, almost sur- rounded, and completely cut to pieces. Han- nibal's loss was insignificant. Varro in part atoned for his rashness by skilfully conducting the retreat of the remnant of the army to Cannsinm. ^Emilius fell in the battle. The ancient name is represented by the modern Canne, a small town on its site, where a few Roman remains still exist. CAMVEL COAL. See GOAL. CAMELTON, a town of Perry county, Ind., on the Ohio river, 145 m. below Cincinnati ; pop. in 1870, 2,481. It contains several churches and schools, a newspaper, and some fine residences. The Cannelton cotton mill employs several hundred operatives, and man- ufactures 40,000 yards of sheetings per week. The factory, which is .'500 ft. long and four sto- ries high, is built of variegated sandstone, and