166 Notes on Insects. 



destruction ; I found one specimen of a small green lepidopterous 

 larva at the roots of a plant of corn. 



Lejndojyterous Larva of the Indian Corn, No. 3. — Length 7 

 lines, pale green with longitudinal stripes of white and a darker 

 shade of green. I am not aware to what genus this belongs. 

 The Chipping Sparrow {Enibriza socialis) was numerous in the 

 field, amongst the corn and oats, and I saw one with what I 

 thought a Cutworm in its bill. I have little doubt these birds, as well 

 as crows, &c., are very useful in thinning the numbers of this de- 

 structive insect. The oats had grown a good deal, some guano 

 and salt had been thrown over the second sowing of them ; the 

 worms were not numerous, but I found several large sized speci- 

 mens at the roots of the rank plants growing where the dung 

 heap had been. 



The Mangold Wurzel had been thinned out, I am told some 

 larvse were found in it, but as I did not see them, I do not know 

 of what species they were. 



Having now given in detail the hasty observations which I was 

 able to make in two short visits to the infested fields, I will add 

 some illustrations of the Natural History of the ftimily of Moths 

 which produce the Cutworms ; want of time prevents my again 

 noticing the Coleopterous and Dipterous larva previously men- 

 tioned. 



The "Cutworms," as they are termed in America from their 

 peculiar mode of destroying plants by gnawing through them with 

 their powerful jaws, and some of which I now exhibit, are the 

 larvae of Lepidopterous insects of the family Noctuidse, and prin- 

 cipally of the genus Agrotis, a widely distributed group of Moths. 

 All the numerous species of this genus are, in the larva state, 

 nocturnal and underground feeders, eating the roots and leaves of 

 various low plants, and are all more or less destructive to the 

 Graminacese, being great enemies to the farmer from their par- 

 tiality to the various cereals. All the species in their perfect form 

 fly by night, concealing themselves during the day in dark places? 

 such as crevices of walls, behind bark of trees, in long grass, &c., 

 but some may be found asleep in the day time, on the flowers of 

 the golden rod, and similar plants, in the autumn. Exclusive of 

 doubtful natives, not less than 23 species inhabit Great Britain. 

 In America the number of species is also large ; some of the 

 species are cosmopolitan, and several found in this country also 

 occur in England, and other parts of Europe. The eggs, larvte 



