Eighth Report of the State Entomologist. 233 



and dark longitudinal lines, and sometimes with oblique dashes. 

 They have a large, shining, red or reddish-brown head. The first 

 ring, or collar, bears a darker-colored, shining, homy plate, as 

 does also the last one, known as the anal plate. The body is never 

 hairy, but the several rings have upon each six or eight small, 

 blackish dots or humps, from each of which a short hair is 

 given out. ^ 



Their habits. — It is the habit of the cut-worm to pass the day 

 in rest, hidden in a hole made in the ground beside its food-plant 

 or among its roots, or in concealment beneath stones, sticks, 

 rails, or other convenient shelter. The night is the season of 

 their activit}^, when they seek their food. Some of them feed 

 only beneath the surface of the ground upon the roots of plants; 

 others thrust their body in part from their burrow and cut off 

 the blade, which they take with them into the ground to feed 

 upon at their leisure; while others come abroad and make vigorous 

 attack upon the young annual plants of the garden or the field, 

 feeding upon their tender tips or severing the stalks. If eearcli 

 be made for them ajt night-time with a lantern, they may often 

 be found by hundreds busily engaged in their destructive work. 

 At the approach of day they again seek their hiding-places, often 

 in the hole made near the plant. When taken from the ground 

 or disturbed in their shelter, they usually curl themselves up 

 in a ring. 



A few of the moths may be seen by day, feeding upon the nectar 

 of flowers, as of the golden rod {So/idago) and some others; but 

 nearly all of them pass the day in sleep in various hiding-places, 

 such as under the bark of trees, in piles of wood or stone, in 

 crevices of walls, behind closed window-blinds, or in any con- 

 venient, dark, secluded retreat. They are generally of obscure 

 colors, in some shade of brown. When in repose, their wings 

 are folded almost parallel to the surface upon which they rest, 

 and in line with their body, giving them an elongated form. The 

 wings are thick, smooth, often shining, and marked with character- 

 istic lines and spots which are usually not very conspicuous. 



Natural history. — The eggs that produce the cut-worms are 

 usually deposited by the moth upon some low plant convenient to 

 30 



