290 Journal of Agricultural Research voi. xxii, no. 6 



(doubtfully) by Dod {2, v. 57, p. 53) from Calgary, and in 1908 by 

 Hampson (9, p. 102) from Prairie, Alberta. 



The species was looked upon as a rare insect until 191 1, when Gibson 

 (5, 6) reported it under the name Porosagrotis delorata Smith as destroy- 

 ing large areas of wheat in southern Alberta, where one correspondent 

 claimed to have lost 320 acres before June 21. Hewitt {10, p. ijj) also 

 refers to this outbreak in his annual report for 19 12, and in his report 

 (jj, p. 506) for the following year the species is recorded along with 

 Euxoa ochragasier Gn. as having destroyed between 30,000 and 35,000 

 acres of crop in 19 12 in about the same territory where damage occurred 

 the previous year. 



An account of the insect's first appearance, its depredations during 

 191 1 and 19 1 2, and a brief review of the control experiments carried on 

 the following year was given by Gibson (7) in 19 14. In this article he 

 states that Porosagrotis delorata Smith and P. orthogonia Morr. are the 

 same and records an adult of the species as having been taken at Regina, 

 Saskatchewan, on August 10, 1904. Hewitt {12, p. 861-862) states 

 that in 19 13 this cutworm caused much less damage to crops in southern 

 Alberta than in the preceding year. 



The most complete published account of the species was written by 

 Gibson (<?, p. 30-31) in 19 15. A brief description of the larva and adult 

 is given, together with notes on its life history and habits. In this 

 article the common name "pale western cutworm" is used, apparently 

 for the first time. 



During the season of 19 14 Porosagrotis orthogonia was again present 

 in Alberta, and experiments in its control were conducted by Strickland 

 (17), who found that surface applications of the bran mash were wasted 

 but that gratifying results were secured when a molasses-and-shorts 

 mixture was harrowed into the soil. The next account is by the same 

 author {18), who gives a brief statement of the life history and makes 

 recommendations for the control of the species by cultivation methods 

 and the modified use of a poisoned-shorts mixture. 



According to Hewitt's 191 6 report {13), the pale western cutworm was 

 seldom seen in 19 15. Experiments, however, were conducted by Strick- 

 land which confirmed his earlier conclusions that shorts is preferable to 

 bran and that when the soil is moist harrowing in the poison is not so 

 advantageous as it is on dry soil. 



In his 19 19 annual report (j, p. 8) Cooley points out the habits of the 

 species which make it such an important pest and places its control as 

 one of the most important entomological problems in Montana. 



A review of the life history of the species, descriptions of the various 

 stages, and colored drawings of ^gg, larva, and adult, are given by Maxson 

 {14, p. 45-46) in his work on sugar-beet insects published in 1920. 



