g06 



LEPIDOPTERA. 



ated. The dot and reniform spot are very distinct, being sit- 

 uated on a black ground, and tliere is a basal, median, black 

 streak on the fore wing. The apex of the hind wings is much 



produced. The larva?, 

 called " cut worms," are 

 thick, with a distinct, 

 horny, p r o t h o r a c i c 

 plate, like that in the 

 Tortrices, or leaf-rol- 

 lers ; they are marked 

 with shining and warty, 

 or smooth and concolor- 

 ^'^- ^^^- ous spots, and often lon- 



gitudinal dark lines, and live by day hidden under sticks and 

 the roots of low plants ; feeding by night. The pupa is found 

 living under ground. Agrotis tessellata of Harris (Fig. 237) 

 is dark ash colored ; the two ordinary spots on the fore wings 

 are large and pale, and alternate with a triangular and a square, 

 deep, black spot. It expands an inch and a quarter. Agrotis 



devastator Harris is the moth of 



the cabbage cut-worm. Another 



very abundant species, often seen 



flying over the blossoms of the 



I Golden-rod in autumn is the ^^ro- 



tis suhgothica (Fig. 238). Mr. 



Riley states that this moth is the 



"parent of a cut-worm which very 



closely resembles that of A. Coch- 



rani, but which has the dark side 



divided into two stripes. The 



^'«- 2S9- cnrysalis remains somewhat longer 



in the ground, and the moth makes its appearance from four 



to six weeks later than A. Cochrani." 



A. suffusa Den. and Schief. (A. telifera of Harris, fig. 239) 

 is so named from the lance-like streaks on the fore wings. It 

 appears late in July, and probably attacks corn, as Mr. Uhler 

 has found the chrysalids at the roots of corn in Maryland. 

 Riley describes the larva under the name of the Large Black 

 Cut-worm. It is an inch and a half in length when crawling. 



1 



