REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST IQI2 45 
An examination of available literature shows that this species 
has been recorded as subsisting upon the following plants: alfalfa, 
apple, asparagus, barley, buckwheat, beans (velvet), cabbage, chick- 
Peamuetcer arietinum) , clover; cockle-bur, -corn, cotton, 
cow-pea, cucumber, grapes (gnawing stem and causing dropping of 
fruit) grasses (blue, Bermuda, creeping-bent, crab), hollyhock, kale, 
lamb’s quarters, millet, oats, orange, peach, peas, pigweed. potatoes, 
purslane, rice, rye, sorghum, spinach, sugar beet, strawberries, sweet 
potatoes, Teosinte (Euchena mexicana) tobacco, tomato, 
turnip and wheat. 
Life history. The life history of this insect has not been thor- 
oughly worked out, though we know that several generations may 
occur in one season, that larvae are more likely to be injurious in 
the late fall, and that moths may be easily reared from such larvae. 
Adults were obtained the latter part of September or early in 
October from caterpillars transmitted to the office about the middle 
of September. Doctor Chittenden is of the opinion that the insects 
probably hibernate as pupae, with a smaller percentage possibly 
wintering as moths. He considers that all egg masses deposited 
late in the fall produce larvae, only a few of which may survive 
the winter. Transformation to the pupa occurs in oval cells from 
a quarter to not more than an inch and a quarter below the surface. 
Doctor Forbes observed three successive generations in central 
Illinois. This insect is a southern form, probably migrates north- 
ward annually, and may be unable to survive the climatic extremes 
of its more northern habitat. 
Distribution. This species has been recorded from Maine to 
Kansas and Nebraska and even California, and is more abundant 
in the semitropical portion of the United States. It is a native of 
both North and South America, ranging from Brazil across Central 
America to the West Indies and must be regarded as normally a 
subtropical form. 
Natural enemies. The caterpillars are preyed upon by various 
birds, there being records of sparrows and flickers feeding upon 
the pests. 
The -red-tailed Tachina fly, Winthemia quadripustu- 
lata Wied., is well known as a parasite of this species as well as 
of the caterpillars of the true army worm. An allied form, 
Frontina frenchii Will., has also been reared and there are 
several records of Hymenopterous parasites of doubtful identity 
living at the expense of this caterpillar. Chelonus texanus 
