THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 75 



a moth which may be known as the Cochran Kustic, and was first 

 described in the Prairie Farmer of June 22, 1867. Speaking of the 

 depredations of this worm, Mr Cochran says : 



" In the beginning of the evening its activity is wonderful ; moving 

 along from limb to limb swiftly, and selecting at first only the blossom 

 buds, to one of which having fastened, it does not let go its hold until 

 the entire head is eaten out, and from this point, so thorough is its 

 work, no latent or adventitious bud will ever again push. From a six- 

 year old fruit tree, I have, on a single night, taken seventy-five of 

 these worms, and, on the ensuing evening, found them well nigh as 

 plenty on the same tree. When all the blossom buds of a tree are 

 taken, it attacks with equal avidity the leaf buds. It is no unusual 

 thing to find small trees with every bud that had pushed, from first 

 intentions utterly destroyed, and frequently young orchards the first 

 season planted on sandy grounds, lose from 50 to 75 per cent, of their 

 trees ; sometimes those remaining will be so badly injured as to linger 

 along for a few years, fruiting prematurely each season, and then die, 

 utterly drained of their vital principle by this dreadful enemy. The 

 instinct of the perfect insect, like that of all insects injurious to vege- 

 tation, leads it unerringly to deposit its eggs where they will hatch 

 out from the warmth of the sun, and where the larvae is nearest to 

 that food which is necessary to its existence : hence I never yet have 

 found the eggs upon clay, or heavy cold grounds of any description, 

 and on my carefully placing them in such situations they failed to 

 hatch out. Can there be a stronger argument used for the appoint- 

 ment of a State Entomologist than the fact, that the habits of this 

 enemy of horticulture, that has ruined millions of dollars worth of 

 fruit trees in our country, has until recently been entirely unknown ? 

 I doubt whether one fruit grower in five hundred is even now aware 

 of the presence of this curse on his grounds. There is not an orchard 

 upon the sands of Michigan, or the light timber openings of Indiana, 

 or the sandy ridges of our own State, but that has suffered greatly, 

 many of them entirely ruined by its depredations. It is far more de- 

 structive to fruit trees than any other insect, infinitely more so than 

 the canker worm, but unlike the other depredators of our orchard 

 trees, it is easily kept in check, and at small expense permanently 

 eradicated." 



This species remains longer underground in the chrysalis state, 

 than the preceding, and there is but one brood each year, the moths 

 appearing through the months of July and August. The moth which 

 is represented at Figure 26, J, is of a light warm gray color, and shaded 

 with brown and umber. 



Agrotis Cochranii, Riley — Imago. — Fore wings of a light warm cinereous, shaded with van- 

 dyke brown and umber, the terminal space, except at apex, being darker and smoky. Basal, 

 middle and limbal areas of almost equal width, the middle exceeding somewhat the others. A 

 geminate dark basal half-line, usually quite distinct. Transverse anterior geminate, dark, some- 

 what irregularly undulate, and slightly obliquing outwards from costa to interior margin. Trans- 

 verse posterior geminate, the inner line being dark, distinct and regularly undulate between th© 



