INSECT PESTS OF CIGAR-TYPE TOBACCOS By) 
LIFE HISTORY AND HABITS 
Although several species of cutworms attack tobacco in this 
region, they are very much alike in general appearance and _ habits. 
The common forms are the brownish-colored, granulate cutworm 
(Feltia subterranea (F.) (= annexa (Treit.))), the black cutworm 
(Agrotis ypsilon (Rott.)), and the pale-sided cutworm (Agrotis 
malefida Guen.). Other species which assume the climbing habit 
and occasionally injure the leaves of tall tobacco will receive mention 
in another portion of this circular (p. 48). 
The granulate cutworms constitute about three-fourths of the total 
number of the cutworms that injure young tobacco in this region. 
The life of these insects is divided 
into four distinct stages, the egg, the 
faberpillar, or larva, the, pupa, or 
resting stage, and the adult, which is 
a small, inconspicuous, brownish-gray 
month. Farther north these cutworms 
hibernate during the cold winter 
months. In this region, however, the 
moths and larvae are active through- 
out the entire year except in the 
coldest winter weather. 
Several hundred eggs may be depos- 
ited by each female moth. ‘They are 
laid on the foliage of green vegetation 
(fig. 36) in cultivated fields. The 
length of time required for the eggs 
to hatch may range from 2 to 6 days 
during the summer months, but dur- 
ing cold weather the hatching period 
may be considerably longer. 
The young larvae begin to feed im- 
mediately after hatching and grow 
rapidly if conditions are favorable. 
They are general feeders and attack 
practically all vegetable crops as well 
as tobacco. Feeding takes place main- — pygore Be Wess be the erang. 
ly at night, while during the day the late cutworm deposited on a 
larvae are usually found in the soil grass blade. 
near the plant on which they fed dur- 
ing the previous night. This species can live on dry vegetation when 
no green food is available. While the cutting off of newly set plants 
is the most serious form of injury, the larvae frequently injure young 
tobacco by feeding on the leaves that lie near the ground. The length 
of the larval stage appears to be governed by the prevailing tem- 
peratures. Late in the spring and during the summer months it 
has been found to require about 30 days in this locality. 
When the cutworm is fully grown it is as large around as a lead 
pencil and from 1 to 11% inches long (fig. 37). An earthen cell is 
then formed about 2 inches below the surface of the soil, and in this 
the larva transforms to the pupa (fig. 38), or resting stage. This 
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