INSECTS INJURING OAK-LEAVES. 173 



Var. roaeicosta Gueu., with the winga of a clear yellow ocher, with the red lines 

 more widely -edged with yellow. The reniform is divided into two dots, and the 

 orbicular is divided into two spots. Both pairs of wings bear a subterminal line of 

 yellow spots. The female differs in having the costa tinted with clear rose, and there 

 are no subterminal dots. (Guen^e.) 



236. Cosmia orina Guen. 



Order Lepidopteua ; family Nootuid^. 



Mr. W. Saunders, of London, Canada, has bred this moth from the 

 oak. One specimen, which entered the chrysalis state on the 24th of 

 June, produced the imago on the 18th of July. (Saunders.) 



Larva. — A smooth yellowish green larva nine tenths of an inch long, body cylin- 

 drical, above pale yellowish-green, with a dorsal line of yellow, less distinct on the 

 anterior segments, and covered with fine dots and short streaks of yellow, less nu- 

 merous on the second and terminal segments. Head rather smooth, flattened in front, 

 slightly bilobed, pale whitish-green. 



Moth. — Fore wings somewhat oblong, and rather rectangular than triangular ; of a 

 fleshy gray mixed with blackish scales, and powdered on the veins with black scales ; 

 with two fine median white lines disposed in a trapezium more open at the base 

 than in trapezina ; median spots encircled with white ; the orbicular spot punctured 

 with blackish ; the reniform spot straight, constricted in the middle ; punctured with 

 black at each end. Hind wings whitish, grayish on their outer half, with a discal 

 dot, plainer beneath. Male abdomen very slender and ended by a very large tuft of 

 hairs. (Guen^e.) 



237. Climbing cut-worms. 



Agrotis saucia, etc. 



Order Lepidoptera ; family Noctuid^. 



Climbing cut-worms were a prominent feature of the entomological 

 developments of the spring of 1886. These attacked the oaks, elms, and 

 other shade trees, as well as apple, pear, and cherry trees and a variety 

 of vines and shrubs. Among the species detected in their work of de- 

 struction were Agrotis saucia, A. soandens, A. alternaia, and Homohadena 

 badistriga. The grass under shade and fruit trees would often in the 

 morning be thickly strewn with leaves and buds that had been severed 

 during the night. This was especially noticeable under the various 

 oaks and sweet cherries. On a large, isolated specimen of the latter, 

 up which a trumpet vine had climbed, I took early in May a great num- 

 ber of the larvce of Agrotis alternaia. These mottled gray worms 

 were found during the day extended longitudinally on the trunk, closely 

 appressed to the stems of the trumpet vine, where, protected by their 

 imitative coloring, it would be impossible for an unpracticed eye to de- 

 tect them and where even birds failed to find them. When ready to 

 transform they descended to the earth and inclosed themselves in an 

 ample, tough, dingy-white cocoon, under any slight protection that 

 might be convenient. I also took this species from crevices of oak- 

 bark and occasionally found one feeding in a rose. (Miss Murtfeldt, 

 Bull. Div. But., xiii, p. 60.) 



