Noctuidse 
by Prof. C. V. Riley in his “Second Annual Report” as State 
Entomologist of Missouri. It appears from the investigations of 
those who are familiar with the habits of the insect that they 
appear in greatest numbers in years which are characterized by 
being wet and cool, following 
years in which there has been 
drought. Such conditions seem 
to be favorable to the develop¬ 
ment of the insects in great 
swarms. Their appearance in the 
fields is often at first not observed; 
but when, having attained con- 
siderable size, the supply of grain (Aiter Riley > 
and grasses gives out, and they 
begin to migrate in vast bodies in search of provender, they at 
once attract attention. 
The best remedy for these pests is to burn over grass lands 
in the winter, to keep the fence-rows clear of grass and weeds, 
and to plough under the land in the spring or the fall. Untilled 
grass lands on which crops are not properly rotated become 
centres of infection. 
(2) Heliophila pseudargyria Guenee, Plate XXIV, Fig. 
47, $ . (The False Wainscot.) 
A common species in the Atlantic States, freely attracted to 
sugar. 
(3) Heliophila subpunctata Harvey, Plate XXIV, Fig. 
35, $ . (The Dark-winged Wainscot.) 
Syn. complicate1 Strecker. 
The range of this species is from New Mexico and Texas 
to Arizona. 
(4) Heliophila minorata Smith, Plate XXIV, Fig. 41, 
(The Lesser Wainscot.) 
This species is found in California and Oregon. 
(5) Heliophila albilinea Hubner, Plate XXIV, Fig. 34, $. 
(The White-lined Wainscot.) 
Syn. harveyi Grote. 
The insect is widely distributed, ranging from Nova 
Scotia to New Mexico and Texas, but apparently avoiding 
the Great Plains and the regions lying west of them. 
201 
