HORTICULTURAL BULLETINS. 319 



In a bnlletiu issued last November by the Coniell experiment station, on "Climb- 

 ing Cutworms of Western New York," Mr. Slingerland has prepared a comprehen- 

 sive table of the species l^nown to be climbing cutworms, with date and references 

 of first account of the climbing habit of each species, and its common and scien- 

 tific name. The table, which I take the liberty to quote, is as follows: 



1852. Harris, Injurious Insects, p. 349. 

 The yellow-headed cutworm (Xijlophnsia arctica Bdv.). 



1866. Riley, Prairie Farmer, June 2. 



1869. Riley, First Missouri Report, p. 69-79. 

 The variegated cutworm (Peridronia saucia Hbn.i 

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

 The white cutworm {Carneades scandens Riley). 

 The well-marked cutworm (Noctiia claridestina Harr.) 



1883. Cook, Report Mich. Bd. of Agr., p. 422. 

 The black-lined cutworm {Nocttia fcnnica Tausch.) 



1887. Murtfeldt, Bull. 13 U. S. Fnt. Dive, p. 60. 

 The mottled grey cutworm {Rlujncha(iroUs aUcrnata Grt.) 

 The white-spotted cutworm {Eoviohadcna hadistriga Grt.) 



1894. Davis, An. Rep't Michigan Expr. Station, p. 89. 

 The speckled cutworm (Mamestra sitbjiinctu Gr. & Rob.). 



1895. Davis, paper before Assoc. Ec. Ent., Aug. 28. 

 The red cutworm {Rliynchaqrotis placida Grt.). 



1895. Slingerland, Bull. 104, Cornell Expr. Sta., p. 570 & 574. 

 The dingy cutworm {Feltia sulxjothica Haw.). 

 The spotted-legged cutworm (Porosagrotis vetusta Walk.). 



All or nearly all of these species are common over the eastern United States and 

 Canada. The species found at Muskegon were the speckled, red, white, and dark- 

 sided cutworms. Of these fully nine out of every ten were the speclcled cutworm, 

 Mamestra suhjvncta. The red and white cutworms were usually present, but not 

 abundant. 



When the caterpillars become full grown, they are about an inch and a half 

 long. They are now through feeding, and they bury themselves deeper in the soil 

 than when they are hiding through the day. Here each one constructs an oblong cell 

 in the earth, by the use of saliva and pressure of the body, and in this cell it trans- 

 forms to what is known as the pupa or chrysalis. From the pupa stage they issue 

 as moths between the last of June and early August. These moths are the 

 parents for the next year's brood of cutworms. They lay their eggs, according 

 to Dr. Rilej", in the fall, in batches of from fifty to sixty, and generally in two 

 layers. The eggs probably hatch in the fall, and the young cutworms partly mature 

 on grass or some similar green food, before winter, as do many other species whose 

 habits are Ijetter known. They never molest the fruit trees at this time of year. 

 In this partly grown condition they remain until spring, when they awake from 

 tlieir long fast to feed on the early vegetation. Tlieir growth is very rapid at this 

 time, and in two or three weeks they are full-grown and ready to follow in the 

 line of their ancestors. 



This in general is also the life history of our other destructive species so far as 

 we Ivuow it at present. Some species remain in the pupa stage a much shorter 

 time, which is the case with the red cutworm that is later in reaching its growth 

 but appeared in the breeding jar June 15, or in about two weeks after attaining its 

 growth. Other species are slower in their transformation, and winter in the egg 

 stage, and some are even known to hibernate in the pupa stage and appear as a 

 moth the following spring. Undoubtedly these latter do no harm as climbing cut- 

 worms, as they would be too late to injure the buds or tender leaves. 



Means of Control. — There perhaps is no one item more important for the orchard- 

 ist to observe than this. All of my observations, and those of many others, give good 

 evidence that the climbing cutworms do not breed to any extent in carefully tilled 

 soil. In Mr. Rood's case the orchard had been in clover the past two years. Through 

 the dry summer season, much of the clover was killed out, leaving enough still for 

 the young cutworms to subsist on during the autumn. Mr. Rood felt very certain 

 that the clover and its death had been the cause of the attack on his trees, and con- 

 sequently, as soon as the attack in the spring was over, his orchards were plowed 

 and, so far as could be, were kept under thorough cultivation the remainder of the 



