65 
them, this is not surprising. The writer noticed much the same 
condition of affairs in portions of Maryland, Virginia, and the Dis- 
trict of Columbia which he visited that same year, entire fields being 
practically failures, the growers not taking the pains to gather any of 
the plants on account of the ravages of this pest. In most cases, how- 
ever, the writer had noticed other insects at work earlier in the year, 
and the loopers took what was left. The following year, as the writer 
has already recorded, the species was very rare, on account of the 
extreme cold and the sudden changes of the winter of 1898-99. 
LITERATURE OF THE SPECIES. 
Comparatively little has been published in regard to the cabbage 
looper when we take into consideration its excessive injuriousness. In 
addition to the accounts that have been quoted, Lintner published an 
article on this species in his Second Report on the Insects of New 
York (1885, pp. 89-93), in which, however, little is added to our 
knowledge of it, but the report in question gives a very full bibli- 
ography to date; and in Bulletin No. 23 of the Geneva Station, pub- 
lished in 1894, an account, by F. A. Sirrine, is given, on pages 667-671, 
with photographic illustrations. In 1893 Mr. G. C. Davis (Bul. 102, 
Mich. Agr. Expt. Sta., p. 27) made the statement that this insect was 
taken on celery in Michigan, the moth appearing July 14. 
In the American Florist for March 3, 1900 (Vol. XV, pp. 912, 913), 
Mr. Sirrine gave a short account of this looper in connection with 
injury to carnations, stating that it and the variegated cutworm were 
the worst of the transient enemies of this plant. Like the cutworm, 
he writes, it feeds usually at night on the buds. It can be carried in 
the house on plants, but more commonly the female moth finds her 
way indoors through open ventilators. 
FOOD PLANTS. 
This species feeds normally on Crucifere, favoring cultivated forms, 
and, when such are to be had in abundance, it is not often that the 
loopers feed to any extent on other plants in the same neighborhood. 
It appears to greatly prefer cabbage and cauliflower, but during its 
seasons of abundance attacks also turnip, rutabaga, radish, both culti- 
vated and wild, kale, mustard, and the like. Peas are frequently the 
object of attack, while cowpeas and beets are also eaten. Sometimes 
the insect is quite destructive to celery and lettuce, and will feed also 
upon tomato and, less frequently, on asparagus beds, clover, and 
possibly tobacco. 
It is sometimes a pest in greenhouses, when it does damage to 
carnations, mignonette, and German ivy (Senecio scandens). Other 
food plants include dock, dandelion, lamb’s-quarters, Japan quince 
(Cydonia japonica), plantain, mullein, and pigweed, 
23987—No. 33—02 a) 
