Climbing Cutworms. 651 



The dark-sided cutworm {Carneades messoria Harr.). 



The white cutworm {Carneades scandens Riley). 



The well-marked cutworm {Nootua clandestina Harr.). 



1884. Cook, Rept. Mich. Bd. Agr., 422. 

 The black-lined cutworm {Noctua fenniea Tausch.). 



1887. Murtfeldt, Bull. 13, U. S. Eut. Div., p. 60. 

 The mottled-grey cutworm {Rhynchagrotis alternata Grt.). 

 Tiie white- sjDOtted cutworm {HomoTiadena hadistriga Grt.). 



1894. Davis, An. Rept. Michigan Expt. Station, p. 89. 

 The speckled cutworm {Mamestra suhjuncta Grt. & Rob.). 



1895. Davis, Paper before Ass. Ec. Ent., Aug. 28. 

 The red cutworm {RhyncJiagrotis placida Grt.). 



Our observations in western New York, as detailed in this bulle- 

 tin, add two more species to this list : 



The dingy cutworm {Feltia suhgothica Haw.). 



The spotted-legged cutworm {Porosagrotis vetusta Wlk.). 



All of the species are widely distributed in Canada and the 

 northern half of the United States ; and doubtless all occur in our 

 State. The species that have usually been the most numerous 

 during outbreaks of climbing cutworms are the variegated cut- 

 worm, the dark-sided cutworm, the white cutworm, and the speckled 

 cutworm. The two latter have done the most damage in the peach 

 orchards of Michigan and New York during the past two years ; in 

 Michigan, while G. scandens is present, nine-tenths of the cutworms 

 are M. subjuncta^ while in New York, 90 per cent, are C. scandens 

 and M. suhjuncta seems not to occur. 



G-ENERAL Notes on their Depredations in Western New York. 



During the past few years, thousands of peach trees have been 

 set in the strips of warm sandy soils that abound along the shore of 

 Lake Ontario. In 1893, complaints reached us from two localities 

 (Rose, Wayne county, and Forest Lawn, Monroe county) that hun- 

 dreds of these young trees, and grape-vines also, were being killed 

 by something that ate into and destroyed the growing buds in the 

 spring. Specimens of the culprits were soon obtained and they 

 proved to be cutworms. Their appearance in this role was of 

 unusual interest, for they were doing much damage, and there were 

 no records of our New York cutworms having heretofore troubled 

 the fruit growers by assuming the climbing habit. 



