44 



The Bulletin. 



The Adults.— The adults of Cutworms (Figs. 31, 32, 33) are all 

 medium-size dingy moths with dark grayish or blackish fore wings 

 marked with spots, streaks, and dashes of lighter gray. The hind 

 wings are grayish-white with black veins and dusky outer margins. 



Fig. 32.'— Adult of the Variegated Cutworm, about natural 



size. 



(Photograph by the author.) 



Fig. 33. — Adult of the Greasy Cutworm, somewhat enlarged. 

 (Photograph by the author.) 



Life-history and Habits. — The number of generations of Cutworms 

 annually is very difficult to determine, as they overlap in a most con- 

 fusing manner. There are certainly several each year in North 

 Carolina. Part of the Cutworms evidently pass the winter in the 

 pupse condition, but most Cutworms pass the winter as partially grown 

 larva?. It is for this reason that they are so very destructive in the 

 early spring. Hibernating over winter as they do, and being de- 

 prived of their food by spring plowing, they are nearly starved when 

 the tobacco is transplanted. They nearly always make up for their 

 long starvation period by eating a large amount of food. Cutworms 

 do not seem to prefer their food in a green state, hence they cut 

 it off and let it wilt before they eat it. Frequently, however, they 

 cut off in this way a great deal more than they are ever able to eat. 

 The larvae pupate beneath the ground in little earthen cells. The 

 moths mate soon after they issue and the female moths lay their 

 eggs almost anywhere green vegetation is to be found. The eggs are 

 placed on the leaves or stems of plants, on sticks or stones, lying on 

 the ground — in fact, almost anywhere. The last generation of moths 



