THE STRIPED GARDEN CATERPILLAR. 31 



scrijDt name, as I do not lind this InscH-t nicnlioncd under this cogno- 

 men in print. With present knowledge of the species it can not 

 properly be classified as a cutworm. 



Among the files of the Department of Agriculture there are a few 

 notes which are of interest as showing the cycle of j^eriods from egg 

 to about the last stage of the larva. These notes were made in 1882 

 by ^Ir. Albert Koebele, and the mounts which were made Avith them 

 are not sufficiently fresh for description. From these notes the fol- 

 lowing is taken : 



Moths collected at sirup, near the District of Columbia, Septem- 

 ber 1(), were placed in a rearing jar with grass, where two batches 

 of eggs were laid betw^een 11 and 12 o'clock at night, one of these 

 being deposited around the stem of grass. 



September 18 the eggs hatched, showing the egg period to be only 

 2 daj^s. On the 21st the larvae had completed the first molt, making 

 the first larval instar 3 days. September 23 the second molt was 

 observed, which gives 2 da3^s as the second larval instar. September 

 27 larva? changed their third skin, leaving 5 days as the period of 

 the third instar. 



October 1 the fourth molt occurred, making 4 daA^s for the fourth 

 instar. By October all the larva^ had changed the fifth skin, when 

 they developed cannibalistic tendencies and were removed to a larger 

 jar. The period of this instar was 8 days. The remaining larvte 

 refused to eat and finally died, so that the complete life cycle could 

 not be ascertained. 



NATURAL ENEMIES. 



Soon after 1)ringing larvie in from the field some were noticed to 

 be dying from fungous attack. In the asparagus fields EHtkjmene 

 {Leucarctia) acra'ci Dru. and Dissosteira Carolina L., the salt-marsh 

 caterpillar and Carolina locust, respectively, were also dying in con- 

 siderable numbers, and it was conjectured that the disease might have 

 originated with these and spread to the Mamestras. After the dis- 

 eased caterpillars had been frequently removed, however, the fungous 

 attack abated. Specimens of infected larva^ were referred to the 

 Bureau of Plant Industry, and the fungus Avas identified by Mrs. 

 Flora W. Patterson, assistant pathologist, as an undescribed species 

 of Verticillium. At another time larva^ which showed signs of dis- 

 ease after capture Avere examined by Mrs. Patterson, Avho recognized 

 the presence of the fungus Sporotrichinn minimum Speg. A larva, 

 Avhen placed Avith diseased insects, including some of its own species, 

 did not contract the fungous disease, from which it seems probable 

 that the disease is not readily conununicablc. and hence of no use as a 

 possible means of destroying this species. 



