400 



INJURIOUS AND BENEFICIAL INSECTS OF CALIFORNIA. 



last of. June and becoming most abundant in August. There are prob- 

 ably three generations a year, the first and last doing the least amount 

 of damage. 



Nature of Work. -The 

 c aterpi liars work above 

 ground and devour the foliage 

 and stems of many kinds of 

 succulent plants. 



Distribution. — This insect is 

 generally distributed through- 

 out the State, but is more 

 abundant in the middle and 

 southern parts. 



Food Plant s.— The beet 

 armyworm has often been a 

 serious pest of sugar beets, but 

 also feeds upon apple, Atri- 

 plex, garden beet, corn, grasses, 

 lambsquarters, malva, onion, 

 peas, p i g w e e d, plantain, 

 potato, sunflower and wild 

 tobacco. 



Fig. 4u0. — The beet armyworm, Laphygma 

 flavimaculata (Harvey). «, moth; b, side 

 view of larva ; c, dorsal view of larva ; <), front 

 view of the larva; e, top view of egg; f, side 

 view of egg. a. b, <■, about natural size; </. e, f. 

 greatly enlarged. (After Chittenden, U. S. 

 Dept. Agric.) 



THE VARIEGATED CUTWORM 



Lycophoiia margaritosa (Haworth ) 



{Noctua margaritosa Haworth) 



[Peridroma saucia (Hiibner)] 



( Noctua saucia Hiibner) 



(Figs. 401-403) 



Description. — The moths — or millers, as they 

 are sometimes called — are grayish-brown with 

 light markings and measuring about 1 inch in 

 length. The cutworms are rather dull brown, 

 mottled with gray or dark above and with a row 

 of from four to six yellow spots on the middle of 

 the back. They are about If inches long when 

 fully developed. The eggs are exceedingly 

 small, hemispherical, white and distinctly ribbed. 

 The pupa? are reddish-brown and from ^ to $ 

 inch long. 



Life History. — The eggs are laid in large, 

 irregular masses, usually upon the stems of small 

 plants or limbs of trees. The young worms begin 

 to feed as soon as hatched and attack practically 

 all kinds of vegetation, even burrowing into the 

 ground and eating the roots and tubers, or gnaw- 

 ing the bark of trees. The pupal stage is passed 

 in the soil, the ehrysalis being rich brown in 

 color and nearlv 1 inch Ions-. The winter is 



Fig. 4 01. — Eggs of 

 the variegate d cut- 

 worm, Lycophotia mar- 

 garitosa < Haw. V on ap- 

 ple twig. Enlarged 

 twice. ( Original ) 



