•21 



The Yellow-iieaded Cutworm. -^ 



Ifadcna arcHca Boisd. 



It is very similar in a])pcarance to the glassy cutworm just described, 

 but may be distinguished by the fact that its body is pale smoky gray 

 while the head and neck-shield are both tawny yellow. It is without 

 stripes, spots, or otlier body colors. It is so similar to the preceding spe- 

 cies that it has often Ijeen confused with it, and it is consequently impos- 

 sible to separate published statements concerning injuries due to the 

 two. It lives usually about two inches under ground, cutting off the 

 roots of grasses, grains, and corn, and the stems below the surface. 



It is frequent, but not very common, in Illinois, and is widely dis- 

 tri})uted northward in Canada, Labrador, Vancouver, and in subarctic 

 America and Europe generally. It occurs as far south as New Mexico 

 and is generally wide-spread east of the Rocky Mountains. In 1895 the 

 moths were so abundant in western Ontario as to be a general nuisance, 

 filling lamps and windows and soiling curtains and clothes. In the 

 following season these cutworms did* great damage to fields of oats, 

 wheat, and corn, many of the fields being plowed up and replanted. 

 Cook has also found it injurious to corn in Michigan. In New York, 

 Fitch observed that these cutworms would finish first any living grass 

 remaining in the corn field, but would then attack the crop itself. 



Besides grasses and cereal crops, they feed on various herbaceous 

 plants, such as cabbage, spinach, and lettuce, and on succulent shoots, 

 like those of roses and currants. 



This cutworm lives longer in the stage of destructive activity than 

 many of the other species, often continuing its injiu'ies beyond the 

 middle of June, and even into July. It pupates in June or July, and the 

 moths begin to appear late in June, becoming commonest in July and 

 early August and lasting until September. Eggs have been deposited as 

 early as June 13. 



The Greasy Cutworm. 

 Agrotis ypsilon Rott. 



This is a common, wide-spread, and destructive cutworm, injurious to 

 garden vegetables and to fruits as well as to corn. When full grown 

 (Fig. 3) it is about an inch and a half in length, of an almost uniform 

 dark, greasy gray, with a faint dorsal stripe of dull, dirty yellow. Be- 

 neath, it is an obscure greenish yellow. 



This is a typical cutworm in its feeding habits, and is one of the 

 commonest of its kind in corn. It feeds also on grass, asparagus, cot- 

 ton, tobacco, tomato, cabbage, potato, spinach, squash, beans, beets. 



