84 INSECT PESTS OF FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD 



with five white stripes, one along the middle of the back, and two 

 on each side. These side stripes are absent on the first four 

 segments of the abdomen, giving the larva an appearance as if 

 it had been pinched or injured there. As the larva matures the 

 stripes become fainter. When ready to pupate the larva cuts a 

 hole through the side of the stalk, and then transforms to the 

 brown pupa in the lower part of the stalk. The pupal stage lasts 

 about two or three weeks, and the moths emerge in late August, 

 there being but one generation a year. 



Usually the injury to crops is only in the outer rows, to which 

 the larvae have migrated from weeds growing along the edges, 

 or in fields which have been weedy in early spring, or where the 

 weeds have been allowed to get a start before being culti- 

 vated out. 



Control. From the life history and habits it is obvious that 

 clean farming is the only method of effectual control. The 

 destruction of weeds and fall plowing should prevent any general 

 injury. Usually the injury is but local, and fortunately the 

 caterpillars are attacked by numerous parasites which aid in 

 their control, sometimes to the extent of killing 70 per cent of 

 them. In small gardens the prompt destruction of infested 

 plants will prevent the caterpillars from migrating to others. 

 Where weeds are infested in or near a crop they should be destroyed 

 as soon as cut, for if left on the ground the larvse will promptly 

 migrate to the nearest plants. Where fields are kept clean of 

 weeds there will be little trouble.* 



Cutworms t 



Under the general term cutworms we commonly designate 

 any of the larvse of several species of moths which are more 

 or less similar in general appearance and habits, and which have 

 the habit of feeding on low-growing vegetation, and cutting off 

 the stem just at the surface of the ground. They should be 

 carefully distinguished from white grubs, which are sometimes 

 wrongly called cutworms on account of their similar habits. Some 



* See Forbes, 23d Report State Entomologist of Illinois, p. 44; Washburn, 

 12th Report State Entomologist of Minnesota, p. 151; Journal Economic 

 Entomology, III, p. 165; Smith, Report N. J. Agr. Exp. Sta. for 1905, pp. 

 584-587. 



t Various species of the family Noctuidce. 



