88 INSECT PESTS OF FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD 



spring. The next spring they are exceedingly hungry after their 

 long fast, and attack any vegetation at hand with surprising vorac- 

 ity. If the land is in grass or weeds they have plenty of food, 

 and if it is then plowed and planted in some crop, this will 

 certainly be injured. 



The cutworms usually become full grown during late spring 

 or early summer, and are then about 1J to 2 inches long, of 

 a dull brown, gray or blackish color, often tinged with green- 

 ish, and more or less marked with longitudinal stripes, oblique 

 dots and dashes, the markings usually being of a subdued 

 tone, so that the cutworm harmonizes in color with the 

 soil. They are cylindrical, with the head and prothoracic plate 

 horny and reddish brown, and bear three pairs of jointed legs 



FIG. 67. Moth of the glassy 

 cutworm (Hadena devas- 

 tatrix Brace). (After 

 Forbes.) 



FIG. 68. Granulated cut-worm (Agrotis 

 annexo): a, larva; /, pupa; h, adult 

 natural size. (After Howard, U. S. 



_Dept. Agr.) 



on the thorax and five pairs of prolegs on the abdomen. The 

 mature caterpillars pupate in cells a few inches below the sur- 

 face and in three or four weeks the adult moths emerge, usually 

 in July and early August in the Central and Northern States 

 and earlier farther south. 



Thus there is usually but one generation a year in the North 

 while in the South there are commonly two generations and in 

 some cases three. Though other stages than the larvae of 

 various species are known to hibernate sometimes, nevertheless 

 the worst injury is usually done in the spring, when young plants 

 have just been set or are just appearing. 



