ll\t €anai(ini| mntomolo^bt. 



Vol. XXXVIII. LONDON, DECEMBER, 1906. No. 12 



THE LIFE-HISTORY OF THE SPINED RUSTIC, BARATHRA 



CURIALIS, SMITH. 



BY JAMES FLETCHER AND ARTHUR GIBSON, OTTAWA. 



In the Report of the Entomologist and Botanist to the Dominion 



Experimental Farms for 1905, at pages 179 and 180, considerable space 



is given to a discussion of an outbreak of a large noctuid caterpillar, which 



appeared in considerable numbers in Canada during 1905. Complaints 



of injury by this insect were received from a wide area, extending from 

 Nova Scotia as far west as Lake Superior. During July many kinds of 



plants in gardens were attacked by smooth cutworm-like caterpillars, which 



when small were greenish in colour, having the body divided into two 



equal areas above and below the spiracles by a wide black stigmatal band. 

 In later stages of growth the upper of these areas is much darker by 

 reason of some black velvety patches above the lateral stripes, on the 

 dorsal area, and the under side of the body becomes pale and of a yellowish 

 hue. These caterpillars were largely nocturnal and solitary in habit, and 

 presented a handsome appearance, with the same velvety patches so 

 conspicuous on Peridroma astricta and P. occulta, with three lines down 

 the back, and having each segment ornamented with two large velvety 

 black patches. Thei-e is great variation in the ground colour, some larv?e 

 appearing to be almost black, while others have a dark olive-green aspect, 

 but all specimens show a distinct stigmatal band, along the side just below 

 the spiracles, which is yellow in colour, marked centrally with red. 



In the above-mentioned report this insect was treated of under the 

 name oi Barathra occidentafa, Grote, but we have since learned from Sir 

 George Hampson, of the British Museum, that the species is really B. 

 curialis, Smith, and this identification has been confirmed by Dr. J. B. 

 Smith and Dr. H. G. Dyar. In the past this insect has been extremely 

 rare in Canada, the only abundant occurrence which has taken place during 

 the last thirty years being in 1905, and although the larvse were very 

 abundant that year, very {^w of the moths were taken during the past season. 

 No parasites were bred from material collected in the field in 1905. 



