322 INSECTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



and tender sprouts of herbaceous plants. On the approach of 

 winter they descend deeper into the ground, and, curling them- 

 selves up, remain in a torpid state till the following spring, when 

 they ascend towards the surface, and renew their devastations. 

 The caterpillars of the Agrotidians are smooth, shining, naked, 

 and dark-colored, with longitudinal pale and blackish stripes, and 

 a few black dots on each ring ; some of them also have a shining, 

 horny, black spot on the top of the first ring. They are of a 

 cylindrical form, tapering a little at each end, rather thick in pro- 

 portion to their length, and are provided with sixteen legs. They 

 are changed to chrysalids in the ground, without previously mak- 

 ing silken cocoons. The most destructive kinds in Europe are 

 the caterpillars of the corn rustic or winter dart-moth (rfgrotis 

 segetum), the wheat dart-moth [Jlgrotis tritici), the eagle-moth 

 {Jlgrotis aquilina) , and the turf rustic or antler-moth (Charcms gra- 

 minis)*. The first two attack both the roots and leaves of winter 

 wheat ; the second also destroys buck-wheat ; and it is stated that 

 sixty bushels of mould, taken from a field where they prevailed, 

 contained twenty-three bushels of the caterpillars ; those of the 

 eagle-moth occasionally prove very destructive in vineyards ; and 

 the caterpillars of the antler-moth are notorious for their devasta- 

 tions in meadows, and particularly in mountain pastures. 



The habits of our cut-worms appear to be exactly the same as 

 those of the European Agrotidians. It is chiefly during the 

 months of June and July that they are found to be most destruc- 

 tive. Whole corn-fields are sometimes laid waste by them. 

 Cabbage-plants, till they are grown to a considerable size, are 

 very apt to be cut off and destroyed by them. Potato-vines, 

 beans, beets, and various other culinary plants suffer in the same 

 way. The products of our flower-gardens are not spared ; asters, 

 balsams, pinks, and many other kinds of flowers are often shorn 

 of their leaves and of their central buds, by these concealed 

 spoilers. Several years ago I procured a considerable number of 

 cut- worms in the months of June and July. Some of them were 

 dug up among cabbage-plants, some from potato-hills, and others 

 from the corn-field and the flower-garden. Though varying in 



* See " Kollar's Treatise," p. 94, 102, 106, and 136. 



