INSECTS. 



113 



THE COT WORM. 



of young cabbages, beans, corn, and other herbaceous plants. These 

 subterranean caterpillars are finally transformed to moths belonging 

 to a group which may be called Agrotidians (AGROTIDID.E), from a 

 word signifying rustic, or pertaining to the fields. Some of these 

 rustic moths fly by day, and may be found in the fields, especially 

 in the autumn, sucking the honey of flowers ; others are on the 

 wing only at night, and during the day lie concealed in chinks of 

 walls and other dark places. Their wings are nearly horizontal 

 when closed, the upper pair completely covering the lower wings, 

 and often overlapping a little on their inner edges, thus favoring 

 these insects in their attempts to obtain shelter and concealment. 

 The thorax is slightly convex, but smooth or not crested. The an- 

 tennae of the males are generally beset with two rows of short points, 

 like fine teeth, on the under-side, nearly to the tips. The fore-legs 

 are often quite spiny. Most of these moths come forth in July and 

 August, and soon afterwards lay their eggs in the gfound, in 

 plowed fields, gardens, and meadows. In Europe it is found that 

 the eggs are hatched early in the autumn, at wluch time the little 

 subterranean caterpillars live chiefly on the roots and tender sprouts 

 of herbaceous plants. On the approach of winter they descend 

 deeper into the ground, and, curling themselves up, remain in a 

 torpid state till the following spring, when they ascend towards the 

 surface, and renew their devastations. The caterpillars of the 

 Agrotidians are smooth, shining, naked, and dark-colored, with lon- 

 gitudinal pale and blackish stripes, and a few black dots on each 



