ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND FACTS FOR THE PEOPLE. 359. 



the popular name of cut-worm. Thus, 

 the White-grub, or larva of the common 

 May beetle, and the different species of 

 wire-worms, the larvae of our Click bee- 

 tles (Elater family) are all called cut- 

 worms in some part or other of the 

 United States. But we shall confine the 

 term to those caterpillars, which, for the 

 most part, have the habit of hiding just 

 under the surface of the earth during the 

 day, and feeding either on the roots, 

 stems or leaves of plants during the 

 night. 



Most of these caterpillars have the 

 very destructive habit of cutting, or en- 

 tirely severing the plant on which they 

 feed just above or below the ground. On 

 this account they have received the name 

 of Cut-worms, and not because when cut 

 in two, each end will reproduce itself as 

 some people have supposed; for although 

 some polyps and other animals belonging 

 to the great class Radiata in the animal 

 kingdom, have this curious power of 

 multiplying by division, it is not possess- 

 ed by any insect, and after having muti- 

 lated one of these cut-worms, the farmer 

 need never fear that he has thereby in- 

 creased, instead of having decreased their 

 number. From this habit of cutting, 

 they prove a far greater nuisance than if 

 they were to satisfy their appetites in an 

 honest manner. In the latter case we 

 might feel like letting them go their own 

 way in peace, but as with the Baltimore 

 oriole, which abrades and ruins a hun- 

 dred grapes where it would require one 

 for food, we feel vexed at such wanton 

 destruction of our products, and would 

 gladly rid ourselves of such nuisances. 



These caterpillars are called surface ca- 

 terpillars in England, in which country, 

 as well as on the continent of Europe, 

 they have long been known to do great 

 damage to vegetables, and especially to 

 the cabbage, mangel-wurzel and turnip. 

 There are many different species, and 

 they vary in size and detail of markings ; 

 but all of them are smooth, naked and 

 greasy-looking worms of some shade of 

 green, gray, brown or black, with a pol- 

 ished, scaly head, and a shield of the 

 same color on the top of the first and last 

 segments ; while most of them have sev- 

 eral minute shiny spots on the other seg- 

 ments, each spot giving rise to a minute 

 stiff hair. They also have the habit of 



curling up in a ball when disturbed. 

 They produce moths of sombre colors' 

 which are known as Owlet or Rustic 

 moths, and the species that have so far' 

 been bred in this country, belong to one 

 or other of the four genera, Agrotis, Ha- 

 dena, Mamestra or Celaena. These 

 moths fly, for the most part, by night,, 

 though some lew of them may be seen 

 flying by day, especially in cloudy weath- 

 er. They frequently, even in large cities, 

 rush into a room, attracted by the light of 

 gas or candle, into which they heedlessly 

 plunge and singe themselves. They rest 

 with the wings closed more or less flatly 

 over the body, the upper ones entirely 

 covering the lower ones, and these upper 

 wings always have two more or less dis- 

 tinctly marked spots, the one round, the 

 other kidney-shaped. 



The natural history of most of these 

 cut-worms may be thus briefly given. 

 The parent moth attaches her eggs to* 

 some substance near the ground, or de- 

 posits them on plants, mostly during the ■ 

 latter part of summer, though occasion- 

 ally in the spring of the year. Those - 

 which are deposited during late summer, - 

 hatch early in the fall, and the young 

 worms, crawling into the ground, feed' 

 upon the tender roots and shoots of herb- 

 acious plants. At this time of the year,, 

 the worms being small and their foodplen- 

 tiful, the damage they do is seldom no- 

 ticed. On the approach of winter they 

 are usually about two-thirds grown, when 

 the descend deeper into the ground, and, 

 curling themselves up, remain in a torpid 

 state till the following spring. When 

 spring returns, they are quite ravenous, 

 and their cutting propensities having fully 

 developed, they ascend to the surface 

 and attack the first green succulent vege- 

 tation that comes in their way. When 

 once full grown they descend deeper into 

 the earth, and form for themselves oval 

 chambers in which they change to chry- 

 salids. In this state they remain from 

 two to four weeks, and finally come forth- 

 as moths, during the months of June r 

 July and August, the chrysalis skin being 

 in most cases so thin that it is impossible 

 to preserve it. These moths in time 

 lay eggs, and their progeny goes through 

 the same cycle of changes. Some spe- 

 cies, however, as we shall presently show, 

 are most likely two-brooded, while others 



