REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 163 



In my annual repoft for 1888, I published a rather extensive article upon this sub- 

 ject, but as the edition is entirely exhausted, I reproduce here with a few slight 

 alterations part of that article which I think will be of use at the present time. 

 " Cut-worms are the caterpillars of dull coloured active moths belonging to the 

 Noctuidse or Owlet moths, of which there are upwai'ds of 400 on the North American 



lists. Fig. 1 shows the moth of the Devastating Cut-worm 

 (Hadena devastatrix, Brace). Of course, the diflCerent 

 'species vary somewhat in their habits, but taken as a 

 class they are very similar, and in the present state of 

 our knowledge,it will be more convenient to treat them 

 as a class, at any rate in a report like this, which is 

 prepared particularly with the hoj^e of helping farmers 

 to overcome their insect foes. As Cut-worms 

 Fig. 1.— The Devastating: Cut- worm, are the caterpillars of so many different species of 

 moths, the inaccuracy of speaking of them as the Cut-worm is apparent. Moreover 

 many other insects are sent in and reported upon as Cut-worms, which do not belong 

 to this class at all. Of these the "White Grubs, the larval state of the June Bugs 

 (^Lachnosterna), are most often referred to. There is some reason in this from their 

 occasional habit of biting off plants in the manner of the true Cut-worms, which are 

 the caterpillars of the moths referred to above; these latter may be described in a 

 general way as smooth, almost naked, greasy-looking, caterpillars of some dull shade 

 of colour similar to the ground in which they hide during the day. The head is 

 smooth and shining and sometimes of a different colour from the rest of the body. 

 On the top of the segment next to the head is a smooth chitiuous plate known as 

 the thoracic shield. There are generally three or four series of bristle-bearing tuber- 

 cles along each sideof the body, and when disturbed the caterpillars curl up into a ring. 



Their habits are almost always nocturnal ; they lie hid by day 

 just beneath the surface of the soil and come out at night 

 to feed. When, however, they develop in large numbers, they 



„__,,^.^,,__ frequently change their habits and feed by day, owing probably 



Fig. 2.— Cut-wormT to the reduced food supply consequent upon their ravages. The 

 habits of most Cut-worms are probably as follows. The egg is laid in the spring, 

 summer or autumn, and the insects may pass the winter, either in the perfect moth 

 state, as a chrysalis, as a young half-grown caterpillar, or as an egg. Those which 

 hibernate as moths lay the spring eggs and moths are produced again before winter 

 sets in. Mo.st of the eggs which are laid in the summer or autumn hatch soon after, 

 and the caterpillars either become full fed the same season and pass the winter 

 underground in the chrysalis state, or after feeding for a short time, become torpid 

 and pass the winter as half-grown caterpillars. In this condition they may be found 

 late in the autumn under stones, logs or heaps of dead vegetation, in the roots of 

 grasses or in cells beneath the surface of the ground. Of some, as in the case of 

 Carneades ochrogaster, Gn., the eggs are laid in the autumn, but do not hatch until 

 the following spring. The ravages of the young caterpillars which hatch in the 

 summer and aiitumn, are seldom noticed then, on account of the abundant vegetation 

 at those seasons. In the spring, however, not only are the catei-pillars much larger 

 and capable of more mischief, but the land is cleared of all weeds and vegetation 

 other than the crop which is to be grown, and when the Cut-worms, revived by 

 the warmth of the sun and the opening of spring, come from their winter retreats, 

 there is nothing for them to eat but the farmer's early crops. They are parti- 

 cularly troublesome in gardens cutting off young cabbages, tomatoes and other 

 plants, as soon as pricked out. When the caterpillars are full-fed, they burrow 



into the ground to a depth of some inches and turn to 



brown chrysalides inside a smooth cell or light cocoon. 



(Fig. 3.) From these, after a few weeks, the perfect moths 



emerge. They are very active at night, and when disturbed 



_ _ have the same habit as their caterpillars of dropping 



Tis^^^^^:^^^r^,^, to the ground and remaining perfectly still as if dead. 



in cell ■ Fi-om their dull colour they are then difncult to find. 



8c— llj 



