12 BULLETIN 703, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



ENEMIES. 



A tachina fly, Linnaemyia comta Fall'., identified by TV. R. Walton, 

 and an ichneumon fly. Enicospilus purgatus Say. identified by 

 A. B. Gahan, have been reared from larvae collected at Baton Rouge. 

 A sarcophagid fly, determined by J. M. Aldrich as Sarcophaga heli- 

 cis Townsend, issued from a rearing jar containing larvae of Felt la 

 annexa and may have been parasitic on them. Dead larvae, invested 

 with fungus, have been found also in rearing cages. The fungus has- 

 been identified by Dr. A. T. Speare as EntomopMhova virescens 

 Thaxter. 



METHODS OF CONTROL. 



Experiments indicate that, of the four methods of control follow- 

 ing, only the use of poisoned baits and the treatment of attacked 

 plants with arsenicals will prove satisfactory. The latter method is 

 especially applicable when large plants are being injured and in 

 certain instances, especially where severe injury to foliage is being 

 done, both methods might be used simultaneously to advantage. 



HAND PICKING. 



One control measure is suggested by the fact that larvae are found 

 during the day in soil about plants on which they have fed during- 

 the previous night. This method is sometimes followed in Louisiana. 

 Vegetable fields, usually fields where transplanting has been recently 

 done, are examined and when cutworm injury is noted, search for 

 the larva is made in the soil about the base of the damaged plant. 

 If the larva is discovered it is killed. This work can be done best 

 in the early morning. Later in the day wilting of the severed part 

 of the plant makes it more difficult to locate the injury, and the larva 

 ma} 7 move from the injured plant or bury itself deeper in the soil as 

 the day advances. 



This method of control, even if practiced for several days and care- 

 fully done, is expensive and by no means satisfactory. It is impossi- 

 ble to discover all the larvae in a field by following such a method and 

 the plan furthermore rests on the unsatisfactory basis that some in- 

 jury must be done before the larva is killed. If larvae are abun- 

 dant, a large number of young plants are often cut off during the 

 first night after they have been set out. 



BARRIERS AROUND PLANTS. 



Experiments made in cages and in the field indicate that in setting 

 out plants injury may be reduced, to a certain degree, by wrapping 

 the stems with newspaper or oiled paper, or placing cylinders of 

 wrapping paper or metal about them. Such practices do not entirely 



