REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST IQI2 45 



An examination of available literature shows that this species 

 has been recorded as subsisting upon the following plants : alfalfa, 

 apple, asparagus, barley, buckwheat, beans (velvet), cabbage, chick- 

 pea ( C i c e r arietinum) , clover, cockle-bur, corn, cotton, 

 cow-pea, cucumber, grapes (gnawing stem and causing dropping of 

 fruit) grasses (blue, Bermuda, creeping-bent, crab), hollyhock, kale, 

 lamb's quarters, millet, oats, orange, peach, peas, pigweed, potatoes, 

 purslane, rice, rye, sorghum, spinach, sugar beet, strawberries, sweet 

 potatoes, Teosinte (Euchena mexicana) tobacco, tomato, 

 turnip and wheat. 



Life history. The life history of this insect has not been thor- 

 oughly worked out, though we know that several generations may 

 occur in one season, that larvae are more likely to be injurious in 

 the late fall, and that moths may be easily reared from such larvae. 

 Adults were obtained the latter part of September or early in 

 October from caterpillars transmitted to the office about the middle 

 of September. Doctor Chittenden is of the opinion that the insects 

 probably hibernate as pupae, with a smaller percentage possibly 

 wintering as moths. He considers that all egg masses deposited 

 late in the fall produce larvae, only a few of which may survive 

 the winter. Transformation to the pupa occurs in oval cells from 

 a quarter to not more than an inch and a quarter below the surface. 

 Doctor Forbes observed three successive generations in central 

 Illinois. This insect is a southern form, probably migrates north- 

 ward annually, and may be unable to survive the climatic extremes 

 of its more northern habitat. 



Distribution. This species has been recorded from Maine to 

 Kansas and Nebraska and even California, and is more abundant 

 in the semitropical portion of the United States. It is a native of 

 both North and South America, ranging from Brazil across Central 

 America to the West Indies and must be regarded as normally a 

 subtropical form. 



Natural enemies. The caterpillars are preyed upon by various 

 birds, there being records of sparrows and flickers feeding upon 

 the pests. 



The red-tailed Tachina fly, Winthemia quadripustu- 

 1 a t a Wied., is well known as a parasite of this species as well as 

 of the caterpillars of the true army worm. An allied form, 

 Frontina frenchii Will., has also been reared and there are 

 several records of Hymenopterous parasites of doubtful identity 

 living at the expense of this caterpillar. C h e 1 o n u s texanus 



