LEPIDOPTERA. 327 



kind of moth has the form and general appearance of some species 

 of Pyrophila, but not the essential characters of the genus. It 

 differs also from Agrotis and Graphiphora in some respects, and 

 therefore I have thought it best to leave it, for the present, in the 

 old genus Noctua, under the specific name of clandestinely the 

 clandestine owlet-moth. 



Among the various remedies that have been proposed for pre- 

 venting the ravages of cut-worms in wheat and corn-fields, may 

 be mentioned the soaking of the grain, before planting, in copperas- 

 w T ater and other solutions supposed to be disagreeable to the in- 

 sects ; rolling the seed in lime or ashes ; and mixing salt with the 

 manure. These may prevent wire-worms (lull) and some in- 

 sects from destroying the seed ; but cut-worms prey only on the 

 sprouts and young stalks, and do not eat the seeds. Such stimu- 

 lating applications may be of some benefit, by promoting a more 

 rapid and vigorous growth of the grain, by which means the 

 sprouts will the sooner become so strong and rank as to resist or 

 escape the attacks of the young cut-worms. Fall-ploughing of 

 sward-lands, which are intended to be sown with wheat or planted 

 with corn the year following, will turn up and expose the insects 

 to the inclemency of winter, whereby many of them will be killed, 

 and will also bring them within reach of insect-eating birds. But 

 this seems to be a doubtful remedy, against which many objections 

 have been urged.* The only effectual remedy at present known, 

 has been humorously described by Mr. Asahel Foote in the 

 " Albany Cultivator", and reprinted in the seventeenth volume of 

 the " New England Farmer". After having lost more than a 

 tenth part of the corn in his field, he " ordered his men to pre- 

 pare for war, to sharpen their finger ends, and set at once about 

 exhuming the marauders. For several days it seemed as if a 

 whole procession came to each one's funeral, but at length victory 

 wreathed the brow of perseverance ; and, the precaution having 

 been taken to replace each foe dislodged with a suitable quantity 

 of good seed-corn, he soon had the pleasure to see his field 

 restored, in a good measure, to its original order and beauty, 

 there being seldom a vacancy in a piece of four acres." Mr. 



See Mr. Colman's " Third Report of the Agriculture of Massachusetts," p 62. 



