268 MANUAL OF VEGETABLE-GARDEN INSECTS 



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Fig. 158. — The red-backed cutworm 

 moth (X U). 



and about f inch in length. The moths emerge during the 

 latter part of July and August and have an expanse of If 

 to If inches. The front wings vary from pale clay to dark 



reddish or blackish brown. 

 The wing is crossed on the 

 basal third by two wavy 

 light lines. On the outer 

 half are two prominent 

 light spots, the inner one 

 nearly round, the outer 

 kidney-shaped. The hind 

 wings are brownish gray, 

 lighter in the center (Fig. 

 158). 



Caterpillars hatching from eggs laid early in the season be- 

 come partly grown before cold w^eather and hibernate in this 

 C[)n(lition ; some of the eggs laid late in the season do not 

 hatch till the following spring. There is apparently but one 



generation a year. 



References 



Fletcher, Rept. Canada Ent. for 1904, pp. 223-225. 

 Dept. Agr. Canada Ent. Bull. 10, pp. 15-16. 1915. 



The Dark-Sided Cutworm 



Paragrotis messoria Harris 



This species is a native of North America, ranging from New 

 Jersey westward to Colorado and California and northward. 

 It is reported as very injurious in Ontario and Quebec. It is 

 especially destructive to garden crops and has the habit of 

 climbing young fruit-trees to feed on the opening buds. It is 

 recorded as feeding on the following plants : cabbage, spinach, 

 lettuce, potato, tomato, bean, pea, radish, turnip, beet, onion, to- 

 bacco, sweet potato, corn, clover, buckwheat and grasses. It also 

 attacks the opening buds of apple, currant, soft maple and grape. 



