58 



LIFE HISTORY AND HABITS. 



The European food plants which have been recorded for this species 

 inckide Rumcx (dock or sorrel), Stellarla inedia (chickweed), Primula 

 (primrose), Thalictruni (meadow rue), EpUohium palustre., Myosotis, 

 Verbascum, and Lamium. 



Chickweed, in the writer's experience, is the favorite food of this 

 as well as some other cutworms. Violets are quite subject to attack, 

 as are also ca))bage and tomato, ferns, goldenrod, rhubarl). Lobelia, 

 Helianthus, chicorv {C/chorinm intyl)u,s)^ currant, celery, corn, grasses, 

 and clover. The fruit of tomato is sometimes injured. Young- larvae 

 devour their own eggshells, and a larva has l>een seen to feed upon the 

 Qgg pods of locusts. 



The species frequentl}^ assumes the climbing, and, less often, what 

 is known as the army -worm habit. 



It seems prol>al)le, from what the writer has been al)le to learn from 

 experience and inquii'v, that the larvie are rather partial to the foliage 

 of some fruit trees, since the}' are so frequently found in orchards, 

 but the climbing habit has been noticed only in a few localities. 



The life history of this species has never been fully traced, hut, 

 from the observations of Messrs. Coquillett, French, and Forbes in 

 Illinois, it is evidentl}' two-brooded, at least in the northern portion 

 of that state. The imagos of the first generation appear in May and 

 early June, and those of the second late in July and in August. It is 

 proved beyond peradventure that hibernation takes place in the larval 

 condition; prol)al)ly onl}' in this stage and not as pupa or moth. As 

 an example of development in midsummer, Professor Forbes states 

 (Sixteenth Report State Entom. 111., 1890, p. 86) that ten larva?, taken 

 from cabbage July 16, entered the earth for pupation July 25 and 

 emerged as adults August 15 to 19, these individuals having remained 

 in the earth from twenty-one to twenty -five days. Forbes has observed 

 that this species rarely appears at electric lights, an observation that 

 is borne out by the writer's experience also. 



Injury b}' this cutworm appears to be done chiefly by the hibernated 

 or spring generation, the larvje doing little if any apprecial;)le damage 

 in the autumn. In Illinois larva? are said not to be particularl}' 

 troublesome after the first part of May. Larvfe have been observed 

 in the fields in and near the District of Columbia late in November 

 and have been kept feeding in rearing cages out of doors exposed 

 to the weather as late as Januaiy, in which respect this cutworm 

 resembles Pei'idroma saucia^ also a European importation. 



NATURAL ENEMIES. 



This cutworm being one of several species which sometimes rest 

 during the day under stones, it is at such times sought out h\ parasitic 

 insects for the deposition of their eggs. 



