NOCTUA SEGETUM. 825 



The caterpillars may be poisoned by laying baits of cabbage 

 or lettuce-leaves sprinkled with arsenic along the beds. 

 The moths may be caught by " sugaring," and destroyed. 



3. Noctua (Agrotis) segetum, Schiff. (Turnip Dart-Moth}, 

 a. Description. 



Moth with a wing-expanse of 40 mm. ; fore-wings yellowish- 

 grey or yellowish-brown, with darker marks, stigmata of the 

 same ground-colour as the wings, the reniform and orbicular 

 margined with black ; hind-wings milky-white, with no lunate 

 spot. 



Caterpillar 50 mm. long, with 16 legs, coloured like that of 



a 



Fig. 165. Noctiia segetiim, Sehiff. (Natural size.} 



the former species, but with the triangular spots of the forehead 

 and vertex separated at their apices by a space, X- 

 Pupa light brown, with two long anal points. 



b. Life-history. 



The moth appears from the end of May till the middle of 

 June. The ? flies a few days later than the $ . The larval 

 life is passed in the ground, the caterpillars hatching out in 

 June and July, and pupating in April and May. 



Generation annual. Very common everywhere in Germany 

 and in the British Isles.* 



c. Relations to the Forest. 



The caterpillar chiefly attacks the roots of grasses, cereals 

 and root-crops, also seedling and one-year-old spruce plants. 

 In some Prussian forest districts it has also been observed 



* Vide Miss Ormerod, op. cit., p. 201. 



