REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST A^iD BOTANIST. 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



THE VARIEGATED CUTWORM. 



{Peridroma saucia, Hbn.) 



21S 



Fig. 9. Fig. 10. 



Fig. 9, The Variegated Cutworm ; Fig. 10, moth 

 ♦ (All natural size.) 



One of the most remarkable outbieaks of an injurious insect which has ever been, 

 recorded in Canada, occurred last summer on the Pacific Coast, extending- from 

 Oregon through Washington, and in every part of British Columbia from which 

 reports have been received. The loss in all garden crops was enormous, and was due 

 to the attacks of the caterpillar of one of the noctuid or ' owlet moths (Peridroma 

 saucia, Hbn.), which has been named somewhat inappropriately the Variegated Cut- 

 worm. The parent moth is known in England under the name of the ' Pearly Under- 

 wing.' Not only did this insect occur in disnstrous numbers in British Columbia, but 

 it was rather more than usually abundant in Manitoba and Ontario. The first 

 intimation of the outbreak was received from Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley,. 

 British Columbia, in a letter dated July 9 ; but every day after this for more than a 

 month letters were received, accompanied by specimens, all of which proved to be of 

 the same species. The following extracts from correspondence have been selected to 

 show the extent of the injury, and are given at some length on account of the impor- 

 tance of the outbreak : — 



' Kelowna, B.C., July 9. — I send you under separate cover in a tin box a half 

 dozen specimens of a wo^rm that is eating our tobacco crop quite seriously. Please tell 

 me what they are and what I must do to dsstroy them.' — H. G. Watson. 



Mr. Watson was written at once that the caterpillars were the so-called Variegated 

 Cutworm, and the remedies of most use for this class of injurious insects were recom- 

 mended. Immediately after this beg-an an extensive correspondence with Mr. J. R. 

 Anderson, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture for the Province of British Columbia^ 

 who was most untiring in his efforts to distribute information as to the habits of this- 

 insect and the best means of meeting its attacks. As soon as any new feature was 

 discovered, which it was thought would be of use to the farmers and gardeners of 

 British Columbia, circulars and emergency bulletins were issued and distributed! 

 broadcast. I have no hesitation in saying that the prompt and energetic measures 

 which were carried out by Mr. Anderson in.this phenomenal outbreak of such a large 

 and injurious caterpillar, with the habits of which farmers and gardeners were wholly 

 unacquainted, was the means of saving thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of 

 dollars worth of crops. That the outbreak was of an unusual nature was shown by 

 the receipt on July 20 of the following telegram from Mr. Anderson : — 



Victoria, B.C. — Wire advice on receipt my letter seventeenth. Case very urgent.' 



The following is the letter referrd to : — 



'Victoria, B.C., July 17. — ^By the present opportunity I am sending you speci- 

 mens of cutworm, an invasion of which has suddenly set in. They are devastating 

 everything they came across. The first report I received from Lulu Island, where Mr. 

 Tom Wilson found them feeding at night. This was quickly followed by reports frona 



