302 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 14 



had previously been. When disturbed they flew a short distance with 

 the wind and nervously sought shelter in some clump of alfalfa or grass. 

 Many had one or more of their wings crumpled, caused probably from 

 emerging through the hard soil. Moths from reared larvae w^ere mat- 

 ed in laboratory cages, and on October 9th several egg masses were 

 obtained from moths which emerged October 3rd. From this time 

 on, egg masses were obtained nightly imtil October 22nd. A careful 

 search was made almost daily for egg masses in the field, but only one 

 was found. It was found October 18th on the under side of a leaf of 

 a young oak tree in a small patch of alfalfa. The eggs were fertile and 

 hatched on October 20th. One larva was taken by sweeping during 

 the month of October. It was surprising that so few eggs and larvae 

 were found after such a large emergence of moths. Both collected and 

 newly emerged moths from rearings failed to deposit eggs in out door field 

 cages. The batches deposited in confinement all hatched, the fertilty 

 as shown by two large batches apparently typical being 84 per cent. 

 The interval between oviposition and hatching in indoor laboratory 

 rearings was from three to four days. 



Some of the larvae hatching in the laboratory were placed on alfal- 

 fa in out door cages to see if another generation could be reared. They 

 fed to some extent but the heavy frosts the latter part of October prob- 

 ably killed them. At least on November 20th, it was concluded that 

 all larvae in the four cages were dead, thereby apparently eliminating 

 the possibility that they might over-winter as partly grown larvae. 



On several occasions, small plats in areas where larvae had been most 

 abundant were dug up in search of live pupae overwintering. None 

 were found, but many empty pupal cases were seen. They were lo- 

 cated from about three inches below to just beneath the surface. The 

 very hard soil apparently prevented many from going to the greater 

 depth. Dipterous larvae, probably parasitic, were foimd dur- 

 ing the digging, overwintering as larvae. An effort is being made to 

 carry living pupae through the winter, but the general concensus of 

 opinion, however, appears to be that they do not ordinarily winter 

 successfully as pupae in this latitude, but that the moths migrate north- 

 ward from the south in the spring. 



Sowing poisoned bran mash as in the control of the true army worm 

 has been recommended for the control of this insect. During the short 

 period this outbreak was in progress, it was decided to test the effici- 

 ency of the well known Kansas bran mash as a control measure and 

 to compare with it certain modifications of the regular formula. Re- 

 cent work with the substitution of sawdust for bran with other insects 



