4i6 



LEPIDOPTERA 



leaves of aspen and lives l)etween tliein, an unusual hal)it for 

 Noctuid larvae. When about to pupate it 1:)ores into bark or 

 soft wood to change to a pupa, Fig. 205 ; 

 the specimen represented closed the hole rfii^flf*' ^ 

 of entry by placing two separate doors 

 of silk across the burrow, as shown at d. 

 The anal armature of this pupa is ter- 

 minated by a curious transverse process. 

 The systematic position of this inter- 



J'Ki. •20\.~Breph>s mitha. Adult larva. 



Fig. 20f>. — Brephos nntha. A, 

 Pupa, ventral aspect ; B, 

 extremity of body, magni- 

 fied ; C, the pupa iu wood ; 

 d, diaphragms coustriicted 

 by the larva. 



esting Insect is very uncertain : Meyrick and others associate it 

 with the Geometridae. 



The larva of Lemanid uniimnctata is the notorious Army- 

 worm that commits great ravages on grass and corn in North 

 America. This species sometimes increases in numbers to a con- 

 siderable extent without being observed, owing to the retiring 

 hal)its of the larvae ; when, however, the increase of numbers 

 lias been so great that food becomes scarce, or for some other 

 cause — for the scarcity of food is supposed not to lie the only 

 reason — the larvae become gregarious, and migrate in enormous 

 swarms : whence its popular name. The Cotton-worm, Aletia 

 icylinae is even more notorious on account of its ravages. Eiley 

 states "^ that in bad years the mischief it commits on the cotton 

 crop causes a loss of £6,000,000, and that for a period 

 of fourteen successive years the annual loss averaged about 

 £3,000,000. This caterpillar strips the cotton plants of all but 

 their branches. It is assisted in its work Ijy another highly 

 destructive Noctuid caterpillar, the Boll -worm, or larva of 

 Heliotlvis armigera, which ])ores into the buds and pods. This 

 ^ Fourth Eep. U.S Ent. Coinviission, 1885, !>. 3. 



