306 



LEPIDOPTERA. 



( ; 



^: 



Fiff. 238. 



ated. The dot and reniform spot are very distinct, being sit- 

 uated on a black ground, and there is a basal, median, black 

 streak on the fore wing. The apex of the hind wings is much 



produced. The larvae, 

 called " cut worms," are 

 thick, with a distinct, 

 horny, p r o t h o r a c i c 

 j)late, like that in the 

 Tortrices, or leaf-rol- 

 lers ; the}^ are marked 

 with shining and wartj% 

 or smooth and concolor- 

 ous spots, and often lon- 

 gitudinal dark lines, and live by day hidden under sticks and 

 the roots of low plants ; feeding by night. The pupa is found 

 living under ground. Agrotis tessellata of Harris (Fig. 237) 

 is dark ash colored ; the two ordinary spots on the fore wings 

 are large and pale, and alternate with a triangular and a square, 

 deep, black spot. It expands an inch and a quarter. Agrotis 

 ___^-—-—^..^ devastator Harris is the moth of 



the cabbage cut-worm. Another 

 very abundant species, often seen 

 flying over the blossoms of the 

 j Golden-rod in autumn is the Agro- 

 tis subgothica (Fig. 238). Mr. 

 Riley states that this moth is the 

 "parent of a cut-worm which A-ery 

 closely resembles that of A. Coch- 

 rani, but which has the dark side 

 divided into two stripes. The 

 chrysalis remains somewhat longer 

 in the ground, and the moth makes its appearance from four 

 to six weeks later than A. Cochrani." 



A. sxiffusa Den. and Schief. (A. telifera of Harris, fig. 239) 

 is so named from the lance-like streaks on the fore wings. It 

 appears late in Jul}-, and probably attacks corn, as Mr. Uhler 

 has found the chrysalids at the roots of corn in Maryland. 

 Riley describes the larva under the name of the Large Black 

 Cut-worm. It is an inch and a half in length when crawling. 



Fig. 239. 



