Cut- Worms. 25 



different species of caterpillars, is so destructive to cut-worms, 

 attacking them with so much energy, even if the worm be twice 

 its size, that it has been designated by Dr. Shimer as the " Cut- 

 worm Lion." Figure 25 represents the insect at a. For an inter- 

 esting account of the operations of this powerful and ferocious 

 larva, in searching for the cut-worms that constitute so large a 

 portion of its food, its manner of seizing the worm, and its subse- 

 quent combat with it, see Dr. Fitch in Sixth-Ninth Reports on the 

 Insects of New York, pp. 249-250. 



Harpalus caliginosus (Fabr.). — The larva of this species is also 

 a persistent and efficient yf-\. e ,iL 



enemy. Its strange, irreg- \ii \^^C^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 



habits have given it, in \13\q ^§ *-*. .r^n -lT™"ft 

 some localities, the name l_______J 2i\3j l L— — ' J^-^-* 



of the "Cut-WOrm's Fig. 26.— A, Harpalus larva, devouring a cureulio 

 A " " ~WY> j larva. B, head seen from beneath, showing at c, the 



dragon. Wnen nOt upper j aw ( manc iiMe); at g, the lower jaw {maxilla); 



glutted with food, it is with its four-jointed feelers {palpi); at/, the lower lip 

 , ., {labium), with its two-jointed feelers {palpi); and ate, 



running about incessantly ^q an i £nna; 7,, ij t marks on the abdominal segments 

 in search of these worms, beneath. (After. Walsh.) 



and slays them without mercy, with its powerful jaws seizing them 

 commonly by the throat, and regardless of their violent writhings 

 and contortions, sucking out the contents of their skins " (Fitch). 

 [Figure 26 represents the larva of a Harpalus — possibly of this 

 species — in the act of devouring a curculio grub.] Others of the 

 Carabidce feed largely upon them. Professor Forbes has found 

 the remains of Agrotis annexa Treits. in the stomachs of Pteros- 

 tichus permundus (Say), P. Sayi Brulle, and P. lucublandus (Say), 

 and remains of undetermined species in Ghlmnius erythropus Germ., 

 in the proportion of one-third of the entire contents {Tivelfth 

 Report on the Insects of Illinois, 1883, pp. 110, 111). 



An undetermined species of insect — "somewhat resembling the 

 black wasp, but longer, shaped somewhat more like the hornet, 

 but of a shining black," has been observed eagerly searching for 

 the worms, even digging for them in the soil with its front legs, and 

 drawing them forth, and stinging them fatally. Leaving them to 

 die, it would subsequently return and excavate a hole in the ground 

 in which to bury them, and heaping a mound over them [Albany 

 Cultivator, vol. v, p. 18). 

 4 



