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ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO. 



Arctiid/e. 



The Arctian larvce that have been found injurious to the meadows are chiefly those 

 of Pyrrharctia Isabella, Smith and Abbott, and Leucarctia acrcea, Drury ; both are well 



known. The former is that brush like cater- 

 pillar, Fig. 87 a, black at the ends and chestnut 

 red in the middle, that so often is found under 

 boards and in out-buildings late in the fall and 

 in the early spring. When disturbed, it rolls 

 itself up hedgehog fashion. It forms its 

 cocoon, Fig. 87 o, in May, and the perfect 

 insect, Fig. 87 c, appears in June. This last is 

 two inches and a quarter in expanse of wings. 

 Its colour is yellow, with indistinct wavy lines 

 on the primaries and with dark brown spots on 

 all the wingp, and also on the abdomen. The 

 secondaries are sometimes tinged with red. 



The larva of L. acrcea is the " salt-marsh 

 caterpillar," the ravages of which have been so 

 well described by Harris in his Insects. Injurious 

 to Vegetation, pp. 351-355. It is about an inch 

 and three-quarters in length and is clothed with 

 long hairs, which are dark brown on the back 

 and lighter brown on the sides Its spiracles are white. This caterpillar appears in 

 June and attains its growth in the end of August, when it spins its cocoon. Of late 

 years the numbers of the " Woolly Bears," as they are commonly called, have been greatly 

 reduced by a fungus which spreads among them and destroys their vitality. 



NoCTUID-£. 



The Noctuids are the night-flying or owlet moths. Their name is derived from the 

 Latin Noctua, an owl. These moths, on warm, moist evenings, often beat at the 

 windows of our country houses, attracted by the light. In dress they are a sober 

 " people " — browns and drabs prevail amongst them. But innocent as they are in 

 appearance, they, through their larvse, work incalculable harm. Amongst these larvje 

 are the various species commonly classed as " cut- worms." Amongst them, too, is the 

 dreaded " army worm." 



Of the cut-worms, one that has been particularly marked as injurious to the hay 

 crop is Peridroma saucia, Hiibner. Of this there are two broods in the year (Lintner's 

 5th Report, p. 64). The eggs of the first hatch in the beginning of May, and the larva? 

 attain their grown in the beginning of June. The full grown caterpillar is about an inch 

 and a half long. It is of a dirty greyish brown, with spots and markings of yellow and 

 dark brown. The moth leaves the chrysalis in about twenty days, i.e., in the end of 

 June. It is an insect of considerable size, the wings expanding about an inch and three- 

 quarters. Its colour is brownish or ochreous grey, clouded and spotted with brown 

 and with stigmata outlined with brown. The second brood appears in the fall. 



Nothing in the vegetable line seems to come amiss to the caterpillars of this species. 

 In the meadows they strip the clover and cut off the heads of the timothy ; and even the 

 roots of the grasses are devoured by them. 



The larva of Noctua fennica, Tausch, is another of the grass eating cut-worms. 

 When full-grown it is about an inch and a quarter long In colour it is velvety black, 

 with two irregular and broken yellowish stripes on each side. Its head is brown, with a 

 black stripe down the front, and it has a black, horny shield on the second segment. In 

 May, 1884, Mr. Fletcher found it exceedingly destructive in meadows around Ottawa ; 

 and in the same year it abounded in the meadows of Michigan to such an extent that, to 

 use the words of Professor Cook, of the Agricultural College of that State : " There were 

 meadows through which one could not walk without crushing from a dozen to a hundred 

 at each step." 



