54 



Mississippi Valley Horticultural Society. 



of black dots on each side, and aiiothor dorsal row. The wing-cases are very 

 prominent, and, from their strong contrast with the abdomen in color, make 

 the chrysalis a pretty object. They are fastened by the tail, and rest in a 

 slight net-work of silken threads, with which the caterpillar draws together 

 the edges of the leaf so as to form a kind of cradle. 



The moth appears in Jmie or July, and may be found at twilight until 

 September. It expands about an inch and a half ; the wings and body are 

 l)right yellow, the first spotted with jjale reddish brown, and crossed by a 

 broad, broken band of the same color a little beyond the middle. On the 

 forewings, midway between this band and the body, is another band more 

 broken than the outer one, and the spots of which it is composed are smaller. 

 It is one of the brightest colored of the geometrid moths. 



The insect is a very prolific one, a single female depositing over two hun- 

 dred eggs. These are laid soon after the appearance of the moth, in patches 

 or clusters. They are of an oval shape, about one thirty-third of an inch 

 long and one-tiftieth wide. When first laid they are yellow, but in a day or 

 two change to bright red, and afterwards to grayish-brown. They hatch in 

 one or two weeks. The young caterpillar is aboiit a tenth of an inch long, 

 with a large brown head and yelloAvish green body, with a dark brown stripe 

 along each side. Below this the body is pale, with a whitish blo(jni on its 

 surface, and a few short, brownish hairs, which are most numerous on the 

 last segment. 



If this insect should ever become sufficiently numerous in the strawberry 

 fields to require especial attention, it can probably be destroyed by the same 

 measures which have been found efficient for the leaf-roller. 



The Smeared Dagger. Acr(mi;cta uhlinita, Sm. & Abb. 

 Order Lepidoptera, Family Noctuidae. 



Fig. 1. Smf,.\red_Dagger {Acronycta obl'nila, Sm. d- Abb.) : a. Larvii ; b. Pupa ; c. Moth. 



