LEPIDOPTERA 241 



The Cutworms 



This last group of the noctuids is a very large one containing more 

 than 500 species. The larger number of our common cutworms belong 

 to this group but there are other members of the group which have very 

 different habits. 



Few pests are more annoying than the rascally little cutworms that 

 nightly, in the spring, cut off our corn and other plants before they are 

 fairly started. There are many species of these cutworms, but they are 

 all the larvae of owlet-moths. In general their habits are as follows : the 

 moths lay their eggs during midsummer. The larvae soon hatch, and feed 

 upon the roots and tender shoots of herbaceous plants. At this time, as 

 the larvae are small and their food is abundant, they are rarely observed. 

 On the approach of cold weather they bury themselves in the ground and 

 here pass the winter. In the spring they renew their attacks on vegeta- 

 tion; but now, as they are larger and in cultivated fields the plants are 

 smaller, their ravages quickly attract attention. It would not be so bad 

 if they merely destroyed what they eat; but they have the unfortunate 

 habit of cutting off the young plants at the surface of the ground, and 

 thus destroy much more than they consume. They do their work at 

 night, remaining concealed in the ground during the daytime. When 

 full-grown they form oval chambers in the ground in which they pass the 

 pupa state. The moths appear from the month of June to September. 



There are some exceptions to these generalizations: some species of 

 cutworms ascend trees during the night and destroy the young buds; 

 many pass through two generations in the course of a year; and a few 

 pass the winter in the pupa state. 



The corn earworm or the cotton-boll worm, Heliothis obsoleta. — This 

 is a widely distributed pest, the larva of which infests many different 

 plants. It is often found feeding on the tips of ears of growing corn, 

 especially of sugar-corn. And it is also one of the more important of the 

 pests of cotton, ranking next to the boll-weevil and the cotton-worm; 

 the larva bores into the pods or bolls of the cotton, destroying them. It 

 frequently infests tomatoes, eating both the ripe and the green fruit. 

 Occasionally it is found within the pods of peas and of beans, eating the 

 immature seeds. It also bores into the buds, seed-pods, and flower-stalks 

 of tobacco. The full-grown larva measures from 1 J to if inches in length. 

 It varies greatly in color and markings. The pupa state is passed in the 

 ground. The number of generations annually varies according to lati- 

 tude; there is probably only one in Canada, but in the Gulf States there 

 are from four to six. Like the larva, the moth is extremely variable in 

 color and markings. 



Family Agaristid^e 

 The Foresters 



This family seems to be growing smaller for some of the familiar 

 genera formerly included in it have been removed to the Noctuidae. 

 There are only sixteen species left in the family and but one of these is 

 commonly known. 



The eight-spotted forester, Alypia octomaadata. — This species is of a 



