Cut-Worms. 



as the larvae of very few of tile mature forms (the moths) contained 

 in the genera of Agrotis, Mamestra, and Hadena, 

 to which they mainly pertain, have as yet been 

 ascertained. About 350 United States species 

 have been described in these three genera — 

 Agrotis, embracing the larger number, and pre- 

 eminently the Cut-worm genus. Of some of ]eg F ™ d 8 ^™sand- 

 these, their habits are not such as entitle them tion at rest, and young 

 to be numbered among the Cut- worms proper. We would prefer 

 limiting this designation to forms having the appearance and 

 habits of those known to English writers and agriculturists as 

 surface caterpillars, and not extending it to those which seek their 

 food mainly in trees or tall plants. Under such a limitation the 

 class can be somewhat definitely circumscribed. 



Their Appearance. 



The following are the principal features of the typical Cut- 

 worms, by the aid of which it will not be difficult to recognize 

 them : 



When full grown, they measure from an inch and a quarter to 

 nearly two inches in length. They are 

 sixteen-footed (three pairs of true legs 

 and five pairs of pro-legs or prop-legs), 

 thick, tapering moderately at the extrem- 

 ities, naked and greasy-looking. In color. 

 they are dingy brown, gray or greenish, 

 with indistinct, light and dark, longitu- 

 dinal markings, and occasionally some HADENA devastated (Brace). 

 oblique lines. The head is large, shining and usually red or 

 brown. On the top of the first segment, or ring, is a horny plate, 

 called "the collar" or cervical shield, and on the last, another 

 smaller one, known as the anal plate, both of a shining and darker 

 color than the rest of the body. On each of the segments are six 

 or eight small, blackish humps or dots, each bearing a short hair, 

 as shown in an enlargement of a segment in Fig. 9. When the 

 caterpillar is taken from the ground, or otherwise disturbed, it 

 curls itself into a ring, as represented in Fig. 4, or even more 

 closely than this, with its head resting on its anterior prolegs, and 

 the anal pair upon the crown of the first segment. 



Fig, 9.— The Glassy Cut-worm, 



