INSECT PESTS 217 



entomological literature. Hinds and Dew (72) reported peanuts as a food 

 of this pest, and Robinson (126) reported serious damage in Barbour 

 County, Alabama. The pest caused severe damage throughout southeast- 

 ern Alabama and southwestern Georgia in 1948 (6, 7). Control 

 experiments have shown that fall armyworm may reduce the yield of 

 cured peanuts as much as 500 pounds per acre (7, 160). 



In addition to feeding on peanuts, the fall armyworm attacks 

 numerous other plants including corn, sorghum, oats and other grasses ; 

 alfalfa, soybeans, velvetbeans, cowpeas and other legumes, as well as 

 many other types of plants. 



Description of Stages — Detailed descriptions of the life-history stages 

 were made by Luginbill (93). Briefer descriptions have been made by 

 H. G. Dyar and published by Chittenden (27). The descriptions given 

 below of the egg and larva are from Chittenden; those of the pupa and 

 adult are from Luginbill. 



Egg 



Eggs [deposited] in a close double layer, one above the other, more or less cov- 

 ered with fine gray down from the moth ; spherical, well-rounded, the base a little 

 flatter than the apex, uniform ; vertical ribs numerous, about 60, small, joined by 

 distinct crossbars nearly as large as the ribs themselves and forming rectangular or 

 slightly hexagonal areas ; above, the ribs do not diminish till near the vertex, where 

 they become converted into reticulations, smaller toward the micropyle ; color, pearly 

 pink; diameter, S mm. 



Larva 



First Instar. Head rounded, bilobed, about as high as wide, clypeus triangular, 

 half as high as the head, without perceptible paraclypeal pieces ; labrum quadrate and 

 with the mandibles projecting; shining jet black; antennae moderate, pale; setae 

 short, pointed ; width .25 mm. Cervical shield straight before, rounded behind, jet black, 

 bearing 4 setae on each side; two more (of which one is scarcely visible) detached 

 posteriorly, laterally, prespiracular and subventral tubercles single-haired ; anal plate 

 semicircular, dusky blackish. Body whitish, slightly translucent, tubercles large, 

 round, black with very distinct, short, black, pointed setae. Arrangement normal, no 

 subprimaries ; on joints 3 and 4, ia and iia small,- ib and iib large, all well separated 

 and equally spaced ; iv and vi single-haired ; on the abdomen i, ii, and iii large, equal, 

 i and ii on joint 12 approximately in a square, iv behind the spiracle and with v as 

 large as the dorsal ones. Leg shields small, quadrate, black ; ventral tubercles minute, 

 also black. Feet of joints 7 and 8 slightly smaller than those of joints 9 and 10. After 

 feeding the larva becomes green from the food. 



Second Instar. Head round, slightly bilobed, shining black ; width .4 mm. Body 

 as before, a little thicker, and joints 12 more distinctly enlarged; cervical shield 

 black ; anal plate not cornified, pale like the body, shaded with gray on the sides. 

 Color whitish, with faint traces of dorsal, subdorsal, lateral, and stigmatal lines. 

 Tubercles large, black, and distinct as before, the subprimary ones present. Hairs 

 short, stiff, black. Thoracic feet black, the others pale, with dark shields. 



