GARDEN INSECTS 



267 



The females lay their eggs on grass land or where a crop has 

 been allowed to grow up in grass and weeds in late summer. 

 The little larvae which hatch from these eggs in late summer 

 feed on the roots of whatever vegetation is available until 

 frost, when they go deeper in the soil and curl up snugly in 

 small earthen cells, where they hibernate until spring. They 

 then attack any vegetation with surprising voracity, often 

 subsisting on grass and weeds which have been turned under 

 until a planted crop is available. They become full grown 

 by late spring or early summer and are then from li to 2 

 inches long, of a 

 dull brown, gray 

 or blackish color, 

 often tinged with 

 greenish, and more 

 or less marked with 

 longitudinal strips, 

 dots and oblique 

 dashes, these mark- 

 ings harmonizing in 

 color with the soil. 

 They have three 

 pairs of true legs 



and five pairs of abdominal prolegs. The larvae pupate 

 in cells a few inches beneath the surface and the moths 

 emerge during midsummer in the Central and Northern 

 States and earlier farther south. There is usually only one 

 generation in the North, but there are commonly two and 

 sometimes three in the South. 



It is evident from their life history that one of the best 

 means of control is thorough plowing and harrowing in late 

 fall and early spring, so as to keep the land fallow and thus 

 starve out the larvae. This is particularly true for staple 



FIG. 190. Granulated cut-worm (Agrotis 

 annexa). (After Howard, U. S. Dept. Agr.) 



a, larva; /, pupa; h, adult natural size. 



