110 INSECT PESTS OF FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD 



and grasses form their favorite food, the heads usually being 

 cut off, but various garden crops are often seriously injured if 

 they happen in their path. Though usually untouched, even 

 clover is not exempt. In from three to four weeks the 

 worms have become full grown and are then about 1^ to 2 

 inches long, of a dark gray or dingy black color, with three 

 narrow, yellowish stripes above, and a slightly broader and 

 darker one on each side, quite resembling cutworms, to 

 which they are nearly related. They now enter the earth and 

 transform to pupae, from which the adult moths emerge in about 



two weeks. These lay eggs 

 for another brood of worms 

 which appear in September, 

 but are very rarely injuri- 

 ous. The moths which de- 

 velop from this last brood 

 either hibernate overwinter, 

 or deposit eggs, the Iarva3 

 from which become partially 

 grown before cold weather 

 and then hibernate. In 

 either case the young larva) 

 feed in the spring, not usu- 

 ally doing much damage, 

 pupate in May, and the 

 moths of the first genera- 

 tion appear in June as 

 Thus in the North there are three broods 

 a year, the young larva? usually hibernating, while in the 

 South there may be as many as six generations, and the 

 moths usually hibernate over winter and lay their eggs in the 

 spring. 



The moths very often fly into lights and are among the com- 

 monest of our pla'n " millers." The front wings are a clay or 

 fawn color, specked with black scales, marked with a darker 

 shade or stripe at the tips, and with a distinct spot at the centre, 



FIG. 85. An army 

 w o r m a bout 

 one -third en- 

 larged. (After 

 Chittenden, U. S. 

 Dept. Agr.) 



already described. 



FIG. 86. a, head 

 of fall army 

 worm; b, head of 

 army worm 

 enlarged. (After 

 Chittenden, U. S. 

 Dept. Agr.) 



