34 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 369 



work of the insect, some of it with few or no vines, showing that the infestation 

 had been there several years. 



The writer observed a similar, but less important, infestation of this insect 

 on a bog in South Carver about ten years ago. The grubs are much like those 

 of the Cranberry Rootworm (Rhabdopterus) and the beetles are somewhat smaller 

 than those of that pest and have yellow stripes on the wing covers. 



Hill Fireworm {Tlascala finitella (Walker)). i This common name is given 

 here to a worm which, this season, seriously infested an area replanted in the 

 spring of 1939 at Greene, Rhode Island. The worms destroyed all the foliage 

 on cranberry vines in the hills on about an acre and a half and did much harm on 

 two and a half acres more. They did not attack any area well vined over. They 

 did most of their work late in July and left a thick mass of their frass and dropped 

 leaves on the sand around the bases of the defoliated plants of each hill. From 

 one to three worms were found on the sand and close to the bases of the plants 

 of each hill. They spun silk very copiously around the lower parts of the plants 

 on which they worked and made extensive loose tubes of it in which they hid. 

 They incorporated sand freely in these tubes on and near the ground and also 

 their frass which they dropped in remarkable abundance. 



These worms were very active and jumpy when disturbed. Most of them were 

 full grown by August 2 and some had pupated. When mature, they enveloped 

 themselves in a cocoon of silk and sand on the surface of the sand and soon pupated 

 in it. Nearly all of them had pupated by August 16. The moths emerged from 

 August 20 to September 5. Some pupae remain at the time this is written (Nov- 

 ember 27), but they seem to be parasitized. 



The descriptions of the mature worm, pupa and moth follow: 



Worm: Length, about five eighths of an inch. Head mostly blackish. Cervical 

 shield blackish, with a broken yellow stripe along the front margin. Body dark 

 brown, striped lengthwise on the back and sides with about eight narrow and 

 broken pale yellow stripes. Venter without stripes. Back and sides with notice- 

 able scattered pale hairs. 



Pupa: Slender, about two fifths of an inch long. Head end and wing covers 

 dark olive green. Abdomen mostly chestnut brown. Caudal segment dark 

 brown, with a small hook on each side of the apex recurved ventrad. 



Moth: Length to wing tips, about three eighths of an inch. Wing expanse, 

 about three quarters of an inch. Forewings dark gray above, with cross tufts of 

 black or black-tipped erect scales near the base, about a third of the length from 

 the base and somewhat beyond the middle of each; uniformly smoky below. 

 Hindwings pale with smoky front and outer margins. Head (except eyes), 

 palpi, and basal parts of antennae dark gray. Thorax dark gray above, light 

 gray below. Legs dark gray. Dorsum of abdomen dark gray with fringes of 

 pale yellow along the hind margins of the middle segments; venter coloied sim- 

 ilarly but with pale marginal hind fringes on all the segments. 



Very little of the biology of this species has been known hitherto. It ranges 

 from Canada to Florida but is more common in the South. 



The writer obser\'ed a less important attack of this pest several years ago 

 on a bog newly planted that spring in East Middleboro. That infestation, though 

 untreated, failed to appear the next year. 



Atlantic Cutworm {Polia atlantica). An outbreak of this species was described 

 in the last annual report of the cranberry station.^ The pupae mentioned there 

 as remaining in late December lived through the winter, moths emerging on 

 May 21 and 23, 1939. The description of the moth follows: 



•Identified by Mr. Carl Heinrich of the U. S. National Museum. 

 SMa85. Agr. Expt. Sta. Bui. 355, p, 39, 1939. 



