THE FLORIDA FERN CATERPILLAR. 



(E nop lis floridcnfiis Guen. ) 



RECENT- INJURIES. 



During recent years a species of caterpillar, EHopus -fioridensis 

 Guen., native to Florida and tropical America has made its appear- 

 ance in injurious numbers in northern greenhouses, notably in the 

 District of Columbia, in Illinois, and in Ohio. It is apparently re- 

 stricted to ferns, on which it feeds naturally in its occurrence in the 

 open in the warm South, and it has undoubtedly been introduced 

 into northern gi'eenhouses in ferns from Florida. It is a compara- 

 tively large and conspicuous species of caterpillar and, though not 

 closely related to the true cutworms, has the same habit as cutworms 

 of cutting or severing portions of the fern plants, apparently de- 

 stroying more than it requires for food. The fern growers of the 

 District of Columbia have experienced much trouble in the treatment 

 of this species. Some have had good results, but others were not 

 able to cope with it with the remedies tried, and even found it diffi- 

 cult to control by the laborious method of hand picking. Finally, 

 however, the insect has yielded to this method, and at the time this 

 was written (February. 1913) it was not to be found except in one 

 greenhouse out of upward of a dozen inspected. 



DESCRIPTIVE. 



THE MOTH. 



The moth (fig. 1) belongs to a group of noctuids in which the 

 forewings bear at the sides, above the middle, a projecting area or 

 tooth, forming an outline as shown in the figure. The hind-wings 

 are rather broad and well rounded at the sides. The thorax and 

 abdomen are wide, the latter especially so in the female. The color 

 of the forewings is pale brown, marked with white scales, forming 

 the peculiar and attractive pattern shown in the illustration. The 

 hind-legs are dull buff, edged with dusl^ brown; the lower surface 

 is paler. 



The wing expanse is about 1^ inch and the length of the body 

 about half an inch. 



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