V l<](} F'ri'ABLE IXSECTS. 



271 



Fig. 25.— Cricket {Amphia- 

 cusia caribbea). Adult. 



and coming out at night to feed. It often occurs in great numbers 

 and at these times is very destructive. 



Control — Tt mMv be very effectively controlled by the use of a 



poison bait as described for use against 



grasshoj^pers. 



CUTWORMS. 



These inconspicuously colored cater- 

 pillars are the immature forms of a large 

 family of moths called the Noctuids. They 

 are usuallj^ somewhat brownish in color, 

 mottled with markings of gray, yellow, 

 or black. They are naked or only sparsely 

 clothed with hairs, and vary in length 

 from one to two inches when full grown. 

 They .feed chiefly during the night, 

 hiding during the day beneath clumps of earth or in cracks in the 

 soil, their inconspicuous colors bleding so well with the soil that it 

 is difficult to see them. 



They often cause great damage by 

 feeding on the foliage of young plants, 

 and cutting them off just as the young 

 plants are pushing through the ground. 

 Hence their name of "cutworms." 



Control. — These cutworms are gener- 

 ally kept pretty well under control by 

 their natural enemies. They are preyed 

 upon by lizards, birds, spiders, ground 

 beetles, Tachinid flies, and Hymenopter- 

 cus parasites. 



When they become very numerous, 

 however, they may be controlled by the 

 use of a poison bait, as recommended for 

 llio grasshoppers (Page 272). This bait 

 should ])c scattered over the soil around 

 llie plants in the early evening. 



T7y,r. Of /. f VI FLEA-BEETLES. 



i?lG. 2b. — Cutworiii. A huv.t 



boriiijr into a liean pod. n ^ ^.^ n i ^ ..i • 



Ihe flea-beetles, so called from their 

 habit of jumpiug suddently from one plant to another when disturbed, 

 are small leaf-eating beetles belonging to the family Chrijsomelidce. 



