€70 Agricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y. 



June 27tli. As all of our observations were made under the 

 unnatural conditions existing in greenhouses, thej will notraid in 

 determining the normal life-periods. 



Thus, breeding experiments indicate that a brood of moths 

 emerge in June, but most of the recorded captures at lights, etc., 

 are later than July 7th and extend into November ; Mr. Gillette 

 found them most abundant in Iowa in October. It seems probable 

 that the moths taken in September and October are members of a 

 second brood, and the relatively rapid and early development of 

 the insect in the spring would also indicate this. Yet there are 

 no records of the finding of the early stages of the insect later than 

 July in this country. Dr. Riley believed there were at least two 

 and possibly three broods in the latitude of St, Louis. 



How is the winter spent? The occurrence of the egg so early 

 in the spring, and the fact that Mr. Gillette found that females 

 taken as late as November 6th contained no fully developed eggs 

 would indicate that the insect winters as a pupa or a moth, the 

 eggs being laid in the spring. Yet the winter is sometimes passed 

 as a cutworm, for. Prof. Forbes found a mature specimen in Janu- 

 ary in Illinois. Mr. French captured a fresh specimen of the moth 

 as early as April 6th, indicating that the pupa hibernated. 



On the whole, our knowledge of the life of this insect after July 

 1st is very indefinite 



III. HOW TO COMBAT CUTWORMS. 



Their unfortunate habit of cutting off much more food than 

 they eat or need, their frequent occurrence in great numbers, and 

 their nocturnal feeding habit render cutworms especially destructive 

 insects and make them especially difficult to combat. They are 

 destructive only during the cutworm stage, and usually noticeably 

 so only after they have attained about two thirds of their growth. 

 Furthermore, our most common species are destructive for only 

 about a month, often less in corn fields, during the year; they are 

 usually the most injurious in May and June. This short period of 

 destructivenese is a very important consideration in connection with 

 the problem of combating these pests, for whatever is done must be 

 done quickly and its success or failure often rest-s within a very 

 narrow margin. There is no doubt that many of the so-called 

 " successful remedies" for cutworms were a "success" because they 



