16 



The Bulletin. 



In 1901, specimens were sent from Moore County with the report that 

 they were a scourge that year, and that the correspondent could not get 

 a stand of melons until after the worms matured; he had found as many 

 as ten or twelve around one dewberry vine. He also reported them as 

 destroying beans, cabbage, leaves on young peach trees, etc.* 



During 1905, reports of serious Cut-worm damage were frequent, in- 

 dicating damage to many crops, including corn, cabbage, and tomatoes. 

 Cut-worms are also recognized as a regular and serious pest to tobacco. 



Pig. 3." — The Granulated Cut-worm (Feltia an- 

 nexa), showing larva (a), pupa (/), adult 

 moth (7i), and details of structure. 



(After Riley and Howard, Dlv. of Ent., U. S. 

 Dept. Agr.) 



Life-history and Habits. — As with the wire-worms, so with Cut- 

 worms: there are a number of different species concerned. They are 

 all the caterpillar stage, or larvae, of moths, and the family Noctuidw 

 to which they belong contains upward of two thousand species. The 

 larvae of all of these would not be considered as true Cut-worms, how- 

 ever, and of those which could be truly classed under that name there 

 are probably not more than thirty or forty species that are ever serious 

 pests in the eastern United States. From our scattered observations we 

 believe that 95 per cent of all the Cut-worm injury in this State is caused 

 by not more than six or eight species. 



Much work yet remains to be done in rearing our southern Cut-worms 

 to the adult state before it will be possible to give in detail the life-history 

 of all of our common species. Some species mature and emerge as 

 moths in early summer, while others emerge as moths in the fall. Thus 

 far we have observed no species which is seen in the adult state both in 

 summer and fall ; so that it seems that they are all single-brooded, some 

 of the species emerging as moths in early summer and other species 

 emerging in the fall. 



Mr. C. S. Brimley of Ealeigh, who has long taken an interest in col- 

 lecting, rearing, and studying insects, reared to maturity a number of 



*From letter from R. W. Cavlness (deceased). Mr. Caviness was an excellent observer. 



