30 



whole plant inseacl of merely gnawing through the stem. It is not a 

 garden species, although it sometimes climbs fruit-trees when its normal 



food is scarce, feeding on the buds and leaves 

 like other so-called climbing cutworms. 



It is generally common and abundant 

 throughout the United States and Canada- 

 In Iowa it is regarded by Gillette as the most 

 abundant species, next to the glassy cutworm, 

 in fields of grass and corn. It did much injury 

 to grass in New York in 1881, and worked 

 unprecedented destruction in 1886 near Co- 

 lumbus, Ohio, where, late in May, scarcely an 

 acre of meadow or pasture had a vestige of 

 grass on it for a distance of several miles, 

 many fields being dry enough to burn. About 

 three thousand acres were thus destroyed, 

 the larvae migrating en masse when their 

 food was exhausted. 



Hibernating in our latitude in the larval 

 stage, they are found active in grass-lands in 

 April and throughout May. They begin to 

 disappear about the 1st of June, and all are 

 gone by about the middle of that month. They remain under ground 

 for a considerable period without pupating, changing in late July and 

 August. The moths (Fig. 13) first appear in early August, becime most 

 abundant during the first half of September, and continue into October. 

 The hibernating caterpillars have the singular habit of sometimes coming 

 forth in winter and crawling about on the snow and ice. In the South, 

 adults are frequently taken during 



the winter months. 



This cutworm is present in very 

 unequal numbers year after year, 

 what seems to be a bacterial disease 

 checking its increase when it becomes 

 unusually abundant. On this ac- 

 count, and also because much sub- 

 ject to insect parasitism, it is not likely to be excessively abundant in the 

 same locality for two successive years. 



The facts concerning it suggest no special preventive or emedial 

 measures other than those frequently referred to in this article. Where 

 it is so abundant in grass-lands as to threaten a migrator}' movement, 

 this may be arrested by measures usually applied against the army- 

 worm. In case it scatters into corn from adjacent fields of grass, it ma}^ 

 doubtless be killed by the use of poisoned food, particularly the mixture 



Fig. 12. The Bronze Cut- 

 worm {Nephelodes minians), 

 back and side views. En- 

 larged. 



Fig. 13. The Bronze Cutworm {Nephelodes 

 minians), adult. Natural size. 



