22 



HALF HOUKS WITH li^SECTS. 



[Packard. 



ing slightly towards each end, with a horny crescent-shaped 

 plate on the segment preceding the head. They are usually 

 livid greenish, or ash gray, with darker stripes along the 

 body, which is either smooth or slightly warty. At rest they 

 may be found curled up under sticks or stones in the grass, 

 or under boards, etc., left carelessly in \he garden. They 

 transform within a rude earthen cocoon or chamber under 

 the ground, into a brown chrysalis which may often be found 

 at the roots of corn, grass, etc. The worm may be found 

 late in spring and early in summer. The parent moths fly 

 late in summer and in September, and while most of the 

 family (Noctuidaa) fly only by night, these Dart Moths, as 

 riQ, 9^ they are called, from 



their rapid, headlong 

 flight, may be seen 

 in the hottest days 

 about the flowers of 

 the golden rod. 



Our commonest 

 species is the Gothic 

 Dart Moth (Agrotis 

 subgothica Fig. 9). 

 The youBg of this 

 modest moth is said by IVir. liiley, who has reared it, to be 

 an inch and a quarter long, of a dirty white or ash gray, 

 with sometimes a yellowish tinge. Along the back is a 

 whitish line, edged on each side with a dark one. On the 

 side are three lateral dark broader stripes, the lower one the 

 widest. 



Another common, but still larger. Dart Moth is the Lance 

 Bearer, Agrotis suffusa of European authors, or A. telifera 

 of Harris (Fig. 10). Mr. Riley calls its caterpillar the 

 "Large Black Cut Worm." It is an inch and a half long? 

 dull brown above, with a distinct pale line on each side of 

 the middle of the back. Between these lines and the row 



22 



Gothic Dart Mot'.i. 



