13 



The pupa is formed a little beneath the surface of the soil, 

 or under trash. It is about 22 mm, long by 6.5 mm. thick; 

 medium reddish brown, a little dai'ker on the back ; near basal 

 dorsal margin of abdominal segments 5, 6 and 7 is a transverse 

 row of about twenty pits situated in a black line ; apex of abdo- 

 men very blunt, cremaster slightly projecting near dorsal side, 

 with two slender, slightly diverging, pale spines, black at base, 

 curved vent rally and hooked at tip ; a curved, hooked bristle a 

 little dorsally, and another a little laterally from each of these 

 spines ; wing-cases, etc. extend to apex of fourth abdominal seg- 

 ment. 



THE GRASS ARMY WORM. 



Spodoptem maurHia Boisd. 



Plate II, figs. 7-11. 



"Dark grey-brown with a rusty tinge; abdomen fuscous. Fore- 

 wing with the sub-basal, antemedial, and postmedial double waved 

 lines indistinct; the orbicular small and ochreous; the reniform 

 blackish; the submarginal line whitish and irregularly waved; a 

 whitish patch is often present between the orbicular and reniform 

 and a dark patch on the central marginal area. Hind wing opales- 

 cent and semihyaline white, with a dark marginal line." [Hamp- 

 son, Fauna of British India, Moths, II, p. 248, 1894]. 



This moth occurs in Mauritius, West Africa, and throughout 

 the Oriental and Australian rea:ions. Its caterpillars were for- 

 merly a very serious pest in the grass lands an'd sugar cane 

 fields of the Hawaiian Islands; but their numbers were greatly 

 reduced by the introduction of the Mynah bird. T^ow they are no 

 longer a serious pest, though they are often numerous in grass, 

 where the Mynah birds mav be seen searching for them ; but 

 before the Mynah bird was introduced, it is reported that often 

 whole fields of young; sugar cane were eaten by them ; and that 

 the grass slopes in the valleys and mountains would be entirely 

 consumed bv them at times ; in fact, they were in millions and 

 behaved much like armv worms. Besides feeding upon grasses 

 and susrar cane, they also eat corn, peas, beans, and probably 

 other kinds of garden plants. 



