CAPE COD CRANBERRY INSECTS 33 



noted there by the Bureau of Entomology of the United States Department 

 of Agriculture, M'hieh predicts their spread into the North. They are more 

 common after cold, backward springs. 



The armyworm feeds mostly in low meadows and among rank-growing 

 grasses. Its movement in armies is not normal, but follows an exhaustion of 

 food which compels it to S})read to other places. 



IXsf ribiiliou iiikI Food Plants. 



This originally was an Anicrican insect, but it now inliabits most of the 

 world. 



It prefers grasses, both wild and cultivated, and the grains, such as barley, 

 corn, millet, oats, rye and wheat. When pressed with hunger a little, it at- 

 tacks alfalfa, apple, bean, beet, cabbage, cauliflower, clover, cranberry, cucum- 

 ber, flax, lettuce, parsley, pea, pepper, stravvberry, sweet potato, watermelon, 

 and other plants. 



Character of Injiirj/. 



The worms nip otT the craniierry leaves more freely than lilossom worms 

 and spotted cutworms do, sometimes nearly defoliating th.e vines. They also 

 commonly cut new uprights nearly otf, so that they iireak over and hang by a 

 thread. They feed mostly at night and on cloudy days, but also travel and 

 feed a good deal in bright weather. 



Description and Seasonal Histori/. 



The life history of the armyworm has not l)een traced thoroughly, for it 

 varies widely in diflf'erent jiarts of the country. It seems to have six broods in 

 the South and two in New England. It appears to winter here as a partly 

 grown caterpillar, but probably survives only our mildest winters. The worms 

 mature in the .spring and go an inch or more into the soil to pupate. The 

 pupal stage lasts two weeks or longer, and the motiis emerge from the ground 

 and fly at night, laying eggs for the next brood. These hatch in a week to 

 ten days. The worms mature in about a month, go into the ground, jnipate 

 and Iiecome moths as described for the first brood. The moths ajipear in 

 .•\ugust and early Se]itember and lay their eggv, and the caterjiiJlars from 

 these hibernate. 



It will be seen that tiie worms feed in the fall and early spring in one brood 

 and in the sunnner in another. The latter only is destructive. 



The Efjij. 



The eggs are laid in rows or masses of ten to fifty, mostly in the leaf 

 sheaths of grasses and grains or on stubble or straw, usually in moist or 

 shaded spots. Each moth commonly lays five to six hundred. 



The Worm. 



The yovmg worms loop like spanworms and spin down on silken threads 

 but soon lose tJiese habits. The maturing caterpillar (Plate Two, figs. la and 



