LEPIDOPTERA (MOTHS). 



183 



the two moths called the Dart Moth (Agrotis segetum) and 

 the Heart-and-Dart Moth {A. exalamationis), whUe not a few are 

 th^ caterpillars of the Yellow Underwing (TriphoBna pronuha). 

 All these are nocturnal feeders, living just under the soil during 

 the day and coming out of a night to feed. They sometimes, 

 like worms, pull a number of leaves into the soil to devour 

 diiring the day. Almost all plants are attacked hy them, and 

 the damage they cause is often considerable. Both stem and 

 leafage is eaten, especially of young plants, alike in garden 



Fig. 83. — Heart-and-Dart Moth (Agrotis exclamationis). 

 1, Imago; 2, surface larva ; 3 and 4, chrysalis in eartlien case. (Curtis.) 



and field. The damage is often attributed to other animals, as 

 they are not seen during the day. Celery in some places this 

 past year has been attacked by them ; but the culprits were 

 thought to be rabbits until the larvae were taken at night. 

 The two commonest moths named above have thick hairy bodies, 

 and measure over an inch and a half across the wings — the upper 

 ones in A. exclamationis being brown with dark-brown marks on 

 them, the lower pale-brown. A. segetum is paler in colour. 



Remedies. — Wheat-fields are often ravaged by these pests, and 

 all we can then do is to apply soot or nitrate of soda, which the 

 larvBB do not relish. Hand-picking in the day-time by turning 

 over the soil around plants that look to be flagging is worth the 

 trouble, even in large cabbage-fields, where they often are very 



