32 CIRCULAR 84 9. U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



in Scottsbluff. Nebr. Larvae taken at Bayard, Nebr., on May 22, 

 1936, ceased feeding early in June and pupated within a few days. 

 The adults emerged late in June and throughout July. Gibson states 

 that the insect hibernates as a half-grown larva. Nothing is known 

 of its seasonal history between the emergence of adults and the appear- 

 ance of larvae, but the species probably estivates as an adult and 

 deposits eggs in the fall. 



Natural enemies. — A total of 164 field-collected larvae were reared 

 during 1936-37. They were taken in wastelands along roadsides and 

 irrigation ditches in Kansas and Nebraska. Of the larvae collected, 

 11 percent were parasitized by Hymenoptera and 4 percent by 

 Diptera and 8 percent were killed by disease. The parasites and 

 disease organisms reared were as follows: 



Hymenoptera — Berecyntus bakeri var. euxoae Gir. 



Diptera — Anthrax ivillistoni Coq. 



Disease organisms — Metar'rhizium aniso-pliae (Metsch), an unidentified wilt. 



Euxoa messoria (Harris) 



Dark-sided Cutworm 



Distribution. — Crumb (5) records this species throughout the 

 breadth of Canada and the United States and at least as far south as 

 northern Tennessee. Gibson (8) reports it to be in greatest abundance 

 in Ontario and Quebec. 



Economic status. — This species is of minor economic importance in 

 the central Great Plains, but is destructively abundant in the sand- 

 hill region of Nebraska. 



Food plants and larval habits. — The climbing habit has been well 

 developed in this cutworm, so that it feeds on a wide range of plants. 

 It is recorded as being particularly injurious to buds of trees and 

 shrubs. In Nebraska, its chief damage is to corn when the plants are 

 2 to 4 inches high, so that at times replanting is necessary. 



Seasonal history. — There is only a single generation of this species 

 each year. Larvae collected in May in Nebraska and reared at Man- 

 hattan, Kans., became full-grown early in June and pupated soon 

 thereafter. Adults emerged throughout July and the first part of 

 August. Crumb states that in Tennessee, eggs are deposited in the 

 fall and hatch the following spring. 



Natural enemies. — Of 312 larvae collected in Nebraska and Kansas 

 during 1935-39, 12 percent were parasitized by Hymenoptera and 2 

 percent by Diptera and 11 percent were killed by disease. The 

 parasites and disease organisms reared were as follows: 



Hymenoptera — Berecyntus bakeri var. euxoae Gir., Meteorus vulgaris Cress,. 



Exetastes sp. 

 Diptera — Bombvliidae, unidentifiable. 

 Disease organisms — Metarrhizium anisopliae (Metsch), Sorosporella uvella 



(Krass), an unidentified wilt. 



Euxoa tessellata (Harris) 



Striped Cutworm 



Distribution. — This species is widely distributed in northern United 

 States, the range extending southward to Kansas. Adults were cap- 

 tured abundantly at lights in Scottsbluff, Nebr. 



