190 The Sugar-Beet in America 
Sugar-beet webworm (Loxostege sp.). 
These insects were introduced into this country before 
1869, when they were observed in Utah, having probably 
come to the Pacific coast from the Orient. It is an in- 
habitant of Western and Central Europe and Northern 
Asia. Its wild food plant is pigweed (Amaranthus) and 
injury is greater to beets when this weed is allowed to 
grow abundantly. 
The worms spin webs over the leaves of the beet and 
eat out the portions between the veins. The larva is an 
inch long when full grown, brownish in color, with a 
narrow dark stripe edged with white down the middle of 
the back, and a light stripe along each side. Small dots 
cover the surface of its body. 
The worms burrow into the ground in the fall and spend 
the winter in white silken cocoons which they spin around 
themselves. In the spring the moth comes out and lays 
eggs on the leaves of pigweed and alfalfa. A second gen- 
eration comes in July in some regions and a third in August. 
The last brood is likely to do most injury to sugar-beets. 
Control measures consist of poisoning and late fall 
plowing, which breaks up their winter cells in the soil. 
Arsenate of lead is sprayed on the beet leaves. Since the 
worms destroy the plants rapidly, the poison must be put 
on as soon as the injury is observed. 
Cutworms (Noctuidae). 
Every gardener is familiar with the work of this group 
of insects. The several species going under the name 
of cutworms are the larvae of night-flying moths. The 
worms are smooth and of a mottled brown color, the 
