221 



ENTOMOLOGICAL RECORD. - 



By Townend Glover, ENXOMOLOorsT. 



Cut-woe:ms. — Cut-worms or surface-grubs are tbe caterpillars which, 

 eventually produce dark-browu or gray moths, so plentiful in houses 

 during the evening, flying around lights, and during the day remaining 

 motionless on walls or hiding in corners. These insects have been 

 very abundant and injurious during the present season in many parts 

 of the United States, the caterpillars destroying all kinds of garden 

 and field produce, especially vegetables, as cabbage, &c., and in the 

 fields injuring maize or corn when young and tender. In the more 

 southern States it has been reported as particularly attacking young 

 cotton-plants this season, as will be Fig. i. 



shown by the following extract from a 

 letter received from a correspondent, 

 Mr. J. Pettigrew, of Charleston, Frank- 

 lin County, Arkansas, who has given a 

 very interesting account of the damage 

 done by this insect in his neighborhood, 

 and who, also, to a certain degree, has 

 described its habits. Mr. Pettigrew writes : 



I have sent yon some specimens of the cut-worms which have been exceeJingly destruc- 

 tive to many species of vegetation in this county. They appeared about the 1st of April, and 

 have destroyed hundreds of acres of cotton, which has had to be planted over. In the vege- 

 table-gardens, cabbages, onions, and tomatoes are the special objects of their attacks, and they 

 laave greatly damaged the potato-crop. During the night they feed, and with the appearance 

 of the sun they seek a retreat from its rays by getting under something, or by burrowing in the 

 ground. In the cotton-field they feed during the day. The crust of the ground, raised by 

 the spreading of the cotton-seed, affords them a shelter from the sun. The worm has been 

 more destructive here this spring than at any time in the history of the country, but they 

 are now disappearing. 



The moths of tbis insect are very inconspicuous in markings, and are 

 almost all of a gray or brown color, with ornamentation of a dark brown 

 or almost black in some si)ecies, but more faint and indistinct in others. 

 When settled on walls or in crevices daring the day the moths assume 

 a triangular or rather cone-shaped attitude, with the 

 upper wings closely folded over their backs. The cut- 

 worms themselves (Fig. 1) are fat, greasy-looking, 

 naked or hairless caterpillars, of a graj' or brown color, 

 marked and shaded with a darker brown or gray on 

 each segment of their bodies, and when nearly full- 

 grown they have a disproportionately small head. 

 When disturbed they often assume more or less of a 

 semicircular or circular form, and remain motionless as long as molested. 

 (Fig. 2.) When thus rolled up thej^ seem so fat and fall of juice that 

 their skins appear almost tight enough to burst open. 



The chrysalids (Fig. 1, lower figure) are formed more or less deep 

 in the ground, and the early brood of moths emerge from the earth in 

 a short time after the caterpillar has buried itself, while the late brood 

 remain as pupaj or chrysalids all winter, and are the small brown mo- 

 tionless bodies or cases so often plowed up and overlooked by the 

 horticulturist or farmer ; some species, however, remain as caterpillars 

 through the winter and only assume the chrysalis form late in spring or 

 early in summer. 



There are a great many species of cut-worms or Agrotis in the United 



Fig. 2. 



