18 



wings long, rather narrow; light fuscous, darker-sprinkled, some- 

 times partially faintly rosy-tinged; subbasal and first lines obscurely 

 pale, dark-edged, first irregularly waved-dentate, very acutely on 

 vein lb; median thick, cloudy, dark fuscous, slightly curved; sec- 

 ond with dark inner edge acutely waved-dentate, outer faint or 

 obsolete, regular; orbicular oval, dark-centred, dark-outlined; reni- 

 form dark-suffused, including three obscure paler transverse marks, 

 resting on posterior edge of median line; claviform faintly indicat- 

 ed, narrow, elognate; subterminal line sometimes faintly paler, faint- 

 ly darker-edged anteriorly. Hindwings light fuscous. [Meyrick, 

 Fauna Hawaiiensis, I, Pt. Ill, p. 148, 1901]. 



This is another native cntworin. and is often a bad pest. It 

 sometimes o.ccnrs in sngar cane ; but more often attacks other 

 vegetation rather than grasses and cane. It is tond of garden 

 peas and beans and other garden pbmts. and I have found them 

 abundant in fields of cow peas. I have also found them feed- 

 ing abundantly on a native shrub (Sida), also on several kinds 

 of weeds as Portulaca and Datura ( "Kikania"). The cater- 

 pillars usually hide in the soil or below debris in the daytime; 

 but I have frequently observed them feeding on the plants in 

 the daytime, and have also found them hiding among the 

 leaves. 



LIFE HISTORY. 



The egg-laying habits are unknown. . From very small cater- 

 I)illars which I have found and reared, I estimate that it takes 

 the caterpillars about one month to six weeks from hatching till 

 they are full-grown. They are then 45 to 50 mm. in length 

 and are more plump than other cutworms ; in fact, this is the 

 largest of our common cutworms. 



The full-grown caterpillar (Plate II, fig. 13) is quite sim- 

 ilar to that of Feltia dislocata. but quite a bit larger; more 

 blackish above, and paler below; the tubercles are not so con- 

 spicuous, the row below spiracles pale instead of black. The 

 head lacks the black spot above eye cluster. 



The pupa is formed in an earthen cocoon 30 mm. by 1 5 mm. 

 It is 21 to 25 mm, long; light brown in color, darker on the 

 back. The pupal period is 21 to 25 days, thus the life-cycle 

 from egg to adult moth is probably a little more than two 

 months, occupying a little longer period than the other common 

 species on account of its larger size. 



