2OO 



ELEMENTARY ENTOMOLOGY 



FIG. 313. Drasteria erechtea, female 



except by an expert, though many 

 of their caterpillars are the worst 

 pests of the farm and garden and 

 are well known as such to the 

 farmer. The moths are mostly 

 somber gray or brown, with a 

 wing expanse of from one to 

 three inches (averaging about one 

 and one half inches), and with 

 stout bodies. The fore-wings are 

 rather narrow, short, and stout, crossed by darker or lighter wavy 

 lines, and with one or two darker or lighter spots toward the 

 center. The hind-wings are usually plain, and when at rest are 

 concealed by the fore-wings, which 

 cover them, either flat on the back 

 or slightly roof-shaped. Some of 

 the caterpillars are hairy like the 

 " woolly bears," but most of them 

 are smooth, dull-colored " worms," 

 obscurely striped, as are the com- 

 mon cutworms. Almost all of the 

 larvae feed on low-growing vegeta- 

 tion and pupate in the ground. 

 Among the moths most often observed are those of the northern 

 grass worm (Drasteria erechtea}. They are the common moths 

 with drab-gray fore-wings, crossed with two dark bands, which fly 

 up as one crosses a meadow or pasture. The larvae are green, 



narrowly striped, and 

 are semiloopers, some- 

 what resembling the 

 measuring worms in 

 their gait. They feed on 

 clover, but rarely become 

 injurious. The common 

 cutworms which attack 

 garden and field crops 

 throughout the country 

 are the larvae of numerous 



FIG. 314 a. Moth of the army-worm 

 (Leucania unipuncta). (Natural size) 



(After Riley) 



FIG. 314 . Army-worms. (Natural size) 

 (After Weed) 



