326 INSECTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



being relished by these indiscriminate devourers : but, if their 

 choice is not limited, they prefer maize plants when not more than 

 a few inches above the earth, early sown buckwheat, young 

 pumpkin-plants, young beans, cabbage-plants, and many other 

 field and garden vegetables." " When first disclosed from the 

 eggs they subsist on the various grasses. They descend in the 

 ground on the approach of severe frosts, and reappear in the 

 spring about half grown. They seek their food in the night or 

 in cloudy weather, and retire before sunrise into the ground, or 

 beneath stones or any substance which can shelter them from the 

 rays of the sun ; here they remain coiled up during the day, ex- 

 cept while devouring the food which they generally drag into their 

 places of concealment. Their transformation to pupae occurs at 

 different periods, sometimes earlier, sometimes later, according to 

 the forwardness of the season, but usually not much later than the 

 middle of July." " The moths, as well as the larvae, vary much 

 in the depth of their color, from a pale ash to a deep or obscure 

 brown. The ordinary spots of the upper wings of the moth are 

 always connected by a blackish line ; where the color is of the 

 deepest shade these spots are scarcely visible, but when the color 

 is lighter they are very obvious." This moth is very abundant in 

 the New England States, from the middle of June till the middle 

 or end of August. The fore-wings are generally of a dark ash- 

 color, with only a very faint trace of the double transverse wavy 

 bands that are found in most species of Agrotis ; the two ordi- 

 nary spots are small and narrow, the anterior spot being oblong 

 oval, and connected with the oblique kidney-shaped spot, by a 

 longitudinal black line. The hind-wings are dirty brownish white, 

 somewhat darker behind. The head, the collar, and the abdo- 

 men are chestnut-colored. It expands one inch and three quar- 

 ters. The wings, when shut, overlap on their inner edges, and 

 cover the top of the back so flatly and closely that these moths 

 can get into very narrow crevices. During the day they lie hid- 

 den under the bark of trees, in the chinks of fences, and even 

 under the loose clapboards of buildings. When the blinds of our 

 houses are opened in the morning, a little swarm of these insects, 

 which had crept behind them for concealment, is sometimes ex- 

 posed, and suddenly aroused from their daily slumber. This 



