CUT-WORM. 



CUT-WORM. 



wheat dart-moth (Jlgrotis tritiri}, the eagle-moth 

 (dgr^tia aquilina'), and the turf rustic or antler- 

 moth (Charaas graminu). The first two attack 

 both the roots and leaves of winter wheat ; the 

 second also destroys buckwheat; and it is 

 stated that sixty bushels of mould, taken from 

 a field where they prevailed, contained twenty- 

 three bushels of the caterpillars ; those of the 

 eagle-moth occasionally prove very destructive 

 in vineyards ; and the caterpillars of the 

 antler-moth are notorious for their devastations 

 in meadows, and particularly in mountain 

 pastures. 



The habits of our cut-worms appear to be 

 exactly the same as those of the European 

 Agrotidians. It is chiefly during the months 

 of June and July tluit they are found to be most 

 destructive. Whole corn-fields are sometimes 

 laid waste by them. Cabbage-plants, till they 

 are grown to a considerable size, are very apt 

 to be cut off and destroyed by them. Potato- 

 vines, beans, beets, and various other culinary 

 plants suffer in the same way. The products 

 of our flower-gardens are not spared ; asters, 

 balsams, pinks, and many other kinds of 

 flowers are often shorn of their leaves and of 

 their central buds, by these concealed spoilers. 

 Several years ago I procured a considerable 

 number of cut-worms in the months of June 

 and July. Some of them were dug up among 

 cabbage-plants, some from potato-hills, and 

 others from the corn-fields and the flower-gar- 

 den . Though varying in length from one inch 

 and a quarter to two inches, they were fully 

 jrnnvn, and buried themselves immediately in 

 the earth with which they were supplied. 

 They were all thick, greasy-looking caterpil- 

 lars, of a dark ashen gray colour ; but I 

 neglected at first to examine them carefully in 

 order to see if they were marked exactly alike. 

 Some of the last found were observed to have 

 one or two blackish stripes on each side of the 

 body, and a pale stripe on the back, with four 

 little black dots on each ring. The head was 

 also blackish. They were soon changed to 

 chrysalids, of a shining mahogany-brown co- 

 lour ; and between the 20th of July and the 

 15th of August they came out of the ground in 

 the moth state. Much to my surprise, how- 

 ever, these cut-worms produced five different 

 species of moths; and, when it was too late, I 

 regretted that they had not been more carefully 

 examined, and compared together before their 

 transformation." 



The largest of these moths expanded its 

 wings more than two inches, and bore a close 

 resemblance to one called in Europe the dark 

 rustic (Jlgrotis tHJfusa). Dr. Harris 

 named the American moth the lance rustic, 

 (Jlgrotis teUfrra), and gives the following de- 

 scription of it. 



"The fore-wings are light brown, shaded with 

 dark brown along the outer thick edge, and in 

 th3 middle also in the female ; these wings are 

 divided into three nearly equal parts by two 

 transverse bands, each composed of two wavy 

 dark brown lines: in the middle space are 

 situated the two ordinary spots, together with a 

 third oval spot, which touches the anterior 

 band ; these spots are encircled with dark 

 crown, and the kidney-spot bears a dark brown 

 380 



lance-shaped mark on its hinder part; the 

 hindmost third of the wing is crossed by a 

 broad pale band, and is ornamented by a nar- 

 row wavy or festooned line, and several small 

 blackish spots near the margin.' The hind- 

 wings are pearly white, and semi-transparent, 

 shaded behind, and veined with dusky brown. 

 The thorax is brown or gray-brown, with the 

 edge of the collar blackish. The abdomen is 

 gray. The wings expand two inches or more.** 

 (Harris's Treatise on Insects.) 



Two other species resemble the one just de- 

 scribed, and are counterparts of European 

 species. The fourth is the smallest of the five, 

 expanding its wings an inch and a quarter. 

 The fore-wings are dark ash-coloured, exhibit- 

 ing very faint traces of the transverse wavy 

 lines or bands more or less distinctly visible 

 on the other species. The two ordinary spots 

 are large and pale, and alternate, with a trian- 

 gular and a square deep black spot The hind- 

 wings are brownish-gray in the middle, and 

 blackish behind. Dr. Harris calls this last the 

 checkered rustic (Jlgrotis tcssclata'). 



The fifth species answered very well to the 

 description of the American cabbage cut-worm, 

 described by Mr. J. P. Brace, in the first vo- 

 lume of Silliman's "American Journal of Sci- 

 ence," and somewhat resembles Dr. Boisduval's 

 figures of a European moth called Jlgrotis latent 

 The fore-wings are of a dark ashen colour, 

 with a lustre like satin; they are crossed by 

 four narrow, wavy whitish bands, edged on 

 each side with black. There is a transverse 

 row of white dots, followed by a row of black, 

 arrow-shaped spots, between the third and 

 fourth bands, and three white dots on the outer 

 edge near the tip ; the ordinary spots are 

 edged with black and white. The hind-wings 

 are light brownish-gray, almost of a dirty 

 white in the middle. The head and thorax are 

 chinchilli-gray, and the abdomen is coloured 

 like the hind-wings. The wings expand from 

 one inch and five-eighths to one inch and 

 three-quarters. This kind of moth is very 

 common between the 10th of July and the mid- 

 dle of August. Like all the foregoing species, 

 it flies only at night. According to Mr. Brace, 

 this moth lays its eggs in the beginning of 

 autumn, at the roots of trees, and near the 

 ground ; the eggs are hatched early in May ; 

 the cut-worms continue their depredations 

 about four weeks, then cast their skin and be- 

 come pupae or chrysalids in the earth, a few 

 inches below the surface of the ground ; the 

 pupa state lasts four weeks, and the moth 

 comes out about the middle of July ; it con- 

 ceals itself in the crevices of buildings and 

 beneath the bark of trees, and is never seen 

 during the day; about sunset it leaves its 

 hiding-place, is' constantly on the w ng, is very 

 troublesome about the candles in h tuses, flies 

 rapidly, and is not easily taken. From what 

 is known respecting the history of the other 

 kinds of Jlgrotis, and from the size that the 

 cabbage cut-worms are found to have attained 

 in May, I am led to infer that they must gene- 

 rally be hatched in the previous autumn, and 

 that, after feeding a while on such food as they 

 can find immediately under the surface of the 

 soil, they descend deeper into the ground and 



