FIELD BOOK OF INSECTS. 



NOCTUID.E 



We have about 2000 species of this family in the United 

 States. "Quite two thousand too many, " most farmers 

 and gardeners would say, because Cut-worms are young 

 Noctuids; but not all young Noctuids are cut- worms. 

 Noctua is the Latin for "owl"; these moths fly by night, 

 and some have shiny eyes; we sometimes call them Owlet- 

 moths. They come abundantly to lights and some species 

 crowd "sugar bait, " sipping the sweets. Like the adults, 

 the larvas, as a rule, feed by night. Those which are 

 cut-worms are naked and hide by day just under the sur- 

 face of loose earth or beneath stones and other shelters. 

 They may be distinguished from "White-grubs," larvas of 

 beetles which have somewhat similar habits, by the fact 

 that they have fleshy prop-legs on their abdomen. Cut- 

 worms curl up, head to tail, when at rest or when disturbed. 

 When very abundant, they clamber over plants eating the 

 leaves, but their common name is derived from their 

 habit of gnawing through the stems of tender annuals. 

 Many cut-worms hibernate in snug underground cells and, 

 so, are ready vigorously to attack our seedlings in the 

 spring. Many other Noctuidas, especially those whose 

 larvas feed on trees, hibernate as pupas. Cut-worms may 

 be controlled by turning over the soil in the late fall and 

 early spring ; but, better, they may be poisoned by distrib- 

 uting throughout the garden, before setting the seedlings, 

 a mash made as follows : I part by weight of Paris green, 

 25 parts of bran, moistened with molasses diluted to half- 

 or quarter-strength with water. Chickens invading the 

 garden will be killed by this mash. Some of the destruc- 

 tive species of garden cut-worms which will not be further 

 mentioned here are (Plate LI) A gratis ypsilon, Euxoa 

 messoria, Peridroma saucia, Mamestra picta, Rhynchagrotis 

 anchoceloides, Noctua clandestina, and N. c.-nigrum, 

 Xylina antennata (Plate LII) feeds on apple and other 

 plants; the adult hibernates. 



This genus is called Apatela in some 

 Acronycta books, and, commonly, Dagger-moths. 



As more than forty species have been recorded from 



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