80 FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF 



THE GREASY CUT-WORM.— PL 1, Figs. S, 9 and 10, 

 (Larva of the Lance Rustic, Agrotis telifera, Harris.) 



Iii the Prairie Farmer for June 22, lbOT, I described a large cut- 

 worm under the name of the "Black cut-worm." I have since ascer- 

 tained that it is quite variable in its coloration, some specimens being 

 lighter, and the markings much more distinct than in ethers, and have 

 therefore concluded to give it the above appellation. This worm is 

 usually of a deep leaden-brown inclining to black, though some speci- 

 mens are of a greasy glancous color, with a dark flesh-colored back. 

 It is always more or less distinctly marked as in Figure 9, of Plate 1, 

 while the head, when retracted within the first segment, presents the 

 appearance of Figure 10 on the same plate, this figure being enlarged 

 beyond the natural size. It is probably the most common cut-worm 

 in the country, for the moth is frequently caught in our rooms in all 

 parts of the United States. Though it has not, so far as I am aware 

 the climbing habit of the preceding species, it has a most emphatic 

 and pernicious cutting habit. 



Mr. Jordan, of the St. Louis nursery, had transplanted a great num- 

 ber of tomato plants last spring, but lost well-nigh every one of them 

 by this pernicious worm. It cut off large plants that were over six 

 inches in height, generally at about an inch above ground, and thus 

 effectually destroyed them. After severing one plant, the same worm 

 would travel to others, and thus in a single night, from three to four 

 plants would be ruined by a single individual. Along the Clayton 

 road, to the west of St. Louis, most of the corn had to be replanted on 

 account of its attacks. On the 22d of May I examined several fields, 

 and was surprised to find these worms present at almost eveiy hill, 

 most of them being two-thirds grown. The land is clayey, and was 

 at that time quite hard, and each worm had a smooth burrow in which 

 it lay hidden, and to the bottom of which it could generally be traced. 

 I subsequently learned that a large tobacco field belonging to Mr. F. 

 R. Allen, of Allenton, had been entirely ruined soon after it was 

 planted, by this same worm, and I found it in my own garden cutting 

 off cypress vines. Indeed, nothing seems to come amiss to its vora- 

 cious appetite, for in confinement it devoured with equal relish, apple 

 and grape leaves. 



This species comes to its growth in this latitude by the end of May, 



though the moth does not make its appearance till the month of July. 



The moth is known as the Lance Rustic (Agrotis telifera^ Harris), 



[Fig. 2sp an( j j s represented in the annexed Figure 28. 



,and still more correctly at Plate 1, Figure 



IS. The upper wings are light-brown shaded 



with dark-brown, and the under wings are 



pearly white, with a gray shade around the 



edges; but the characteristic feature, from 



which it takes its name, is a dark-brown 



lance-shaped mark running outwardly from 



the kidney-spot. 



