19° ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 



these a broken yellow stripe; head pale yellow or green with white 

 mottlings; under side greenish grey with spots and streaks. Damages 

 peas, clover, root crops, lettuce, etc. August (Fig. 125). 



(b) Army "Worms 



The Army Worm [Cirphis unipuncta Haw.). — (Consult Farmers' 

 Bull. 731, U. S. Dep. Agr.; Bull. 9, Ent. Br., Dep. Agric, Can.) 

 Army worms appear to be more abundant in a wet spring or summer 

 following a dry season. Injurious in 1895-1896 and in 1914. Prob- 

 ably a native of North America (Fig. 129). 



Adult. — A dingy yellowish-brown moth with a white spot on the 

 centre of each front wing; wing expanse i3-^ inches, a row of small 

 black spots near outer margins of wings with dark streaks. 



^S,gs- — Minute white eggs laid in bead-like strings on grass leaves 

 in the folded blades or under the leaf-sheaths. Hatch in 8-10 days. 



Larva. — A dark-colored cutworm, i^^ inches long; body striped with 

 black and yellow lines; a narrow white stripe or line along middle of 

 greenish-black back; lower stripe dark greenish-yellow; next, just above 

 the spiracles, black; the lowest, just below the spiracles, light greenish- 

 yellow, edged with white. Head greenish-brown with coarse black 

 mottlings and with two curved blackish-brown bars; under surface 

 greenish mottled with brown; looping gait until after second moult; 

 duration 20-30 days. Parasitized by Winthemia 4-pustulata, Apan- 

 teles militaris, Ichneumon canadensis, I. lactus, I. jucundus and others; 

 by a bacterial disease; and preyed upon by Calosoma. 



Pupa. — A brown chrysalis in the ground; duration 12-15 days. 



Life-history. — There are two broods of the Army Worm moth each 

 season. The insects usually pass the winter as half grown caterpillars. 

 In the spring these mature and change to pups, the moths appearing 

 early in June. The May brood of caterpillars seldom does much harm. 

 The female moths lay their eggs (about 700) on grass leaves from 

 which caterpillars hatch in about 10 days. The caterpillars of this 

 brood do most injury. The worms usually feed at night, consequently 

 whole fields may be ruined before they are discovered. This July 

 brood of caterpillars reaches maturity in about 25 days, and changes 

 to pupag in the ground, the moths appearing again in about 2 weeks. 

 These lay eggs for a brood of worms which appear in September, but 

 are seldom injurious. 



