86 



THE PRACTICAL ENTOMOLOGIST. 



be distinct from any cutworms hitherto described, 

 though the od species closely resembles the larva 

 of the "Amputating Brocade Moth," differing chief- 

 ly in its smaller size, and in having " two black 

 shiny marks'' on the last joint of its body instead 

 of one chestnut-colored shiny mark. The moths 

 that belong to these Illinois cutworms are at present 

 unknown, but it is to bo hoped that the same hand 

 that has commenced the story of their life will suc- 

 ceed in completing it. Taking everything into ac- 

 count, I incline to believe that they will turn out 

 to belong to the genus Hadena. They were dis- 

 covered and forwarded to Mr. Riley by Mr. J. W. 

 Cochran, of Calumet, 111., and the following com- 

 munication from the latter gentleman, copied from 

 the article in the Prairie Farmer, gives us a very 

 good and vivid idea of their voracious propensi- 

 ties : — 



"They destroy low branched fruit-trees of all kinds 

 except the peach, feeding on the fruit-buds first, the wood 

 buds as a second choice, and preferring them to all other 

 things, tender grape buds and shoots (to which they are 

 also partial) not excepted — the miller always preferring 

 to lay bar eggs near the hill (r mound over the roots of 

 the trees in the orchard; and if, as is many times the 

 case, the trees have a spring dressing of lime or ashes, 

 with the view of preventing the May beetle's operations, 

 this will be selected with unerring instinct by the miller, 

 thus giving her larvse a fine warm bed to cover themselves 

 up in during the day from the observation of their ene- 

 mies. They will leave potatoes, peas, and all other 

 young green things for the buds of the apple and the 

 pear. The long, naked young trees of the oi'ohard are 

 almost exempt from their voracious attacks, but I have 

 found them about mid-night, of a dark and damp night 

 well up in the limbs of these. The habit of the dwarf 

 apple and pear tree, however, just suits their nature, and 

 much of the complaint of those people who cannot make 

 these trees thrive on a sandy soil has its source and foun- 

 dation here, though apparently utterly unknown to the 

 orchardist. There is no known remedy: salt has no 

 properties repulsive to them, they burrow in it equally 

 as quick as in lime or ashes. Tobacco, soap, and other 

 diluted washes do not even provoke them : but a tin tube 

 six inches in length, opened onone side and closedaround 

 the base of the tree, fitting close, and entering at the low- 

 er end an inch into the earth, is what the lawyers would 

 term an cfi'eetual esstopper to further proceedings. 



If the dwarf tree branches so low from the ground as 

 not to leave six inches clear of trunk between the limbs 

 and ground, the limbs must be sacrificed to save the tree, 

 as in two nights four or five of these pests will fully and 

 effectually strip a four or five year old dwarf of every 

 fruit and wood bud, and often when the tree is green ut- 

 terly denude it of its foliage. I look upon them as au en- 

 emy to the orchard more fatal than the canker worm 

 when left to themselves, but fortunately for mankind 

 more surely headed off." 



The tin tube recommended as an "esstopper," by 

 Mr. Cochran is of course intended to prevent these 

 cutworms climbing the trees, by means of its slip- 

 pery surface affording no foothold to them. Con- 

 sequently it i.s essential that it should be made of 

 bright new tin, and not of some old rusty tin-pail. 

 In California, on the same principles, they fence 

 certain grasshoppers, that have wings too short to 

 fly with, out of their fields by means of a strip of 

 tin attached to the outer side of two boards, nailed 

 together in the figure of an I . (^Smithsonian Re- 

 ports, 18(50, p. 423.) No doubt tarred bandages or 

 leaden troughs filled with oil would be as effective 

 against these Cutworms, as, when understandiugly 

 applied, they are against the common Cankerworm. 

 Mr. Riley adds the following observations, hav- 



ing evidently obtained his information from the 

 same source : — 



They work during the night, always descending just 

 under the surface of the earth again at early dawn, which 

 accounts for their never having been noticed in this their 

 work of destruction. They never descend the tree as they 

 ascend it, by crawling, but drop from the bud or leaf on 

 which they have been feeding; and it is quite interest- 

 ing to watch one at early morn when it has become full 

 fed, and the tender skin seems ready to burst from reple- 

 tion, and see it prepare by a certain twist of the body for 

 the fall. 



It seems that they have a Cutworm in Califor- 

 nia with similar habits to those of these Illinois 

 insects, as we may learn from the following, which 

 appeared in the California Farmer, of May 3, 

 1866 :— 



Cdt Worm. — A new pest has made its appearance 

 among some of the vineyards in this section. It consists 

 of a brown cut worm which .comes up from the ground 

 during the night time, and feeds upon the green leaves 

 of the vine. It cuts off the stem of the leaf, thus threat- 

 ening the destruction of the fruit. Where their havoc is 

 the worst, hundreds of these worms may be found in the 

 dry dirt around the roots of the vines. If any of our 

 vintners have had experience with this pest, and can 

 suggest a remedy, they will confer a great favor on the 

 public by making the same known through our columns. 

 — San Jo«e Mercury of April Wth. 



As a large proportion of the insects of California 

 belong to species distinct from those found on this 

 side of the Rocky Mountains, the probability is 

 that the above are not the same as any of the Illi- 

 nois insects. But that they belong to the same 

 genus, may be inferred with much plausibility. 

 The habits of all animals are dependent upon their 

 structure, and it is peculiarities of structure that 

 constitute the genus. Consequently, where the 

 habits are the same the genus will generally be the 

 same, and conversely where the genus is the same 

 the habits will, for the most part, with more or less 

 trifling deviations, be essentially the same. Show 

 me an insect that I never saw before in the world, 

 and I can tell you pretty nearly the history of its 

 life. Show a European naturalist a newly-dis- 

 covered quadruped from America, and he will say 

 at once what it feeds on, whether flesh or vegetable 

 substances or both, how it pi-ocures its food, whether 

 it is solitary in its habits or assembles in herds, 

 whether it works by day or by night, whether it 

 burrows underground, or lives on the surface of the 

 earth, or climbs trees, and a host of other such par- 

 ticulars. All this he knows at a glance from the 

 structure of the teeth, the eyes and the legs. And 

 there are details in the structure of every insect, 

 which to the eye of the practiced entomologist are 

 equally significant and equally infallible. 



JB@* It must not be supposed that, in order to 

 arrest the inroads of every kind of caterpillar, or 

 to prevent the injury caused by every beetle or fly, 

 the Practical Entomologist gives a particular 

 and approved remedy ; or that it contains a num- 

 ber of such recipes. The principal point to be at- 

 tained, is an exact knowledge of the enemy in 

 every ascertainable state and situation ; and to 

 spread this knowledge, is the principal aim of its 

 publishers, as means of destroying the insects, or 

 preventing their reappearance, must be founded 

 upon this knowledge. 



