REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 



191 



Fig. 14. — Cutworm 

 Lion beetle. 



and predaceous insects which hunt them out and devour them. One 

 of those most often inquired about is the Fiery Ground beetle 

 (Fig. 14) and its voracious black grub, the Cutworm lion (Fig. 15). 

 Specimens of these are sometimes sent in by observant corres- 

 pondents. The beetle is a large showy and bold species, which is 

 seen in pastures running about quickly and hunting for its prey. 

 Too often, we fear, through ignorance as to its good offices it is 

 destroyed by the many thoughtless people who seem to think that 

 every insect seen should be stepped upon and killed. The appear- 

 ance and habits of this good friend of the husbandman should be 

 known to every one. The beetle is truthfully portrayed life size 

 at fig. 14. It is a brownish-black beetle, having the wing cases 

 spotted with coppery red in nearly all of the eastern specimens, 

 although occasionally a green spotted specimen is seen. In British 

 Columbian specimens the spots are almost invariably green, the red spotted form 

 being exceedingly rare. Both as a perfect beetle and as a grub (Fig. 15) this insect 

 destroys enormous numbers of cutworms. The following letter is similar 

 to many others which have been received concerning this useful insect : 

 " Mattawa, June 25. — I applied to you last June for instructions 

 how to fight the cutworm which had made a complete havoc of my 

 garden, and I received your valuable treatise on insects that are destruc- 

 tive which gave me valuable instructions. I followed your advice and 

 kept down weeds during the later summer and in the fall. After I 

 got the crops off I cut all weeds in field comers, raked them up together 

 with all potato tops and other refuse and burnt all ; the result is that 

 this year, while the cutworm has destroyed everything in my neigh- 

 Fig. 15. -^-Cuttronn hours' gardens, they have troubled me very little; in fact, nothing to 

 Lion. complain of, for of 2,000 plants transplanted, I have not had two per 



cent loss caused by the cutworms, and in plants grown from seed what little harm they 

 may have done was not perceptible. I inclose you a specimen of a little insect that 

 seems to be a mortal foe to the cutworms. One day recently I noticed a cutworm 

 making very fast movements and contortions, so I picked it up and found one of these 

 insects fastened to it just at the bock of the head. I put both into a tin can and 

 watched for the result of the combat. Several times I caused the insect to loosen its 

 hold and placed each as far as possible apart ; when the insect was let go it would 

 immediately attack the cutworm again, always trying to fasten about the back of the 

 neck. The result was that the cutworm was dead in twenty minutes. On Thursday 

 last I found the inclosed specimen and then secured a cutworm and put both into a 

 can, when the combat of the few days previous was renewed, with the same result. I 

 put two more cutworms, one each time, into the can, and the Hack grub killed both." — 

 [C. G. Hurdman.] 



The Pea Moth (Semasia nigricana, Steph.). — In previous reports I have referred 

 to the common injury to green peas, particularly the large late garden varieties, by 

 the caterpillars of a small moth. During the past summer this insect was found in 

 many districts, where it had doubtless always occurred, but from which no reports had 

 been received. One of the localities where the insects has done most harm is Constance, 

 in Huron Co., Ont. Mr. John McMillan, M. P., puts the loss in 1897 at no less than 

 one-third of the crop. Up to the present no specimens of the moth have been caught 

 in the field, but some specimens were reared in the insectary during 1897, which 

 emerged between the 12th and 15th of July, and last summer three more specimens 

 emerged at the same dates, namely, from 13th to 15th July. This would indicate that 

 the natural time for egg laying is not till after the middle of July. Therefore, if peas 

 are planted in good time and of early varieties — of which there are now several of high 

 quality — good crops of green peas for the table can be secured before they are liable to 

 be attacked by the caterpillar of the Pea Moth. At Ottawa several varieties of the 

 small early peas can be picked by the first week in July, and the first crop of all the 



