4-H CLUB INSECT MANUAL 7) 
reason why scientists assign a technical name to an insect. For in- 
stance, Heliothis obsoleta refers to the corn earworm or the cotton 
bollworm, known to tomato growers as the tomato fruitworm. No 
doubt. many persons have seen this worm feeding 
on the end of a roasting ear or chewing holes in 
tomatoes; others have seen it feeding in cotton bolls, 
but probably few have realized that this worm is 
the young stage of a fawn-colored moth which has 
a wingspread of about 1144 inches. These moths 
have sucking mouth parts but cause no damage ex- 
cept in laying eggs that hatch into little larvae. 
The insects have complete changes in form during 
the life cycle, and there are several generations each 
year. They overwinter in the pupal stage in the fFicurn 65.—Boll- 
earth. This pest is possibly public enemy No. 1 eis 
among the insects attacking the food crops of man. It is distributed 
through temperate and tropical regions and attacks various kinds of 
lants. 
; Cutworms.—Practically everyone who has set out young plants has 
noticed that within a day or so after planting some are cut off just 
at the surface of the ground. Under such circumstances, a well- 
informed person usually scratches a little 
soil away from the remaining stump of the 
plant and there finds a gray worm or larva 
coiled and waiting for darkness so that it 
can attack another plant. These larvae are 
called cutworms. The parent is a night- 
flying moth. There are a great many dif- 
ferent kinds of cutworms. The markings 
on the adults and larvae differ greatly. 
The moths have four wings, the hind pair usually being paler in 
color than the forewings. The wing expanse is about 114 inches. 
Cutworms feed on many kinds of plants, and sometimes climb fruit 
trees and injure them. They have a complete life cycle and there is 
one generation a year. Eggs are usually laid in midsummer, and 
the insects overwinter as partially grown larvae. Cutworms are 
rather severe pests. The most common control measure is the appli- 
cation of poisoned bait; however, stomach poisons sprayed on the 
plants they are injuring will kill the climbing forms. The species 
shown here is the moth of the spotted cutworm (Agrotis c-nigrum). 
Eastern tent caterpillar.—Practically every spring, about the time 
the apple and cherry trees, especially wild cherries, begin to leaf, 
there appears in the crotches of the _ 
branches a small webb which harbors a | 
young army of caterpillars. These little © 
fellows appear as if by magic and start 
chewing the leaves off the trees. Some- 
times they become abundant enough to 
strip all the leaves off these trees. This 
insect is called the eastern tent caterpillar 
(Malacosoma americana). Its parent is a 
moth that flies around at night late in the — Ficur 67.—Hastern tent cater- 
summer and deposits eggs in the branches eee 
of certain fruit trees. The eggs do not hatch until the follow- 
ing spring. The moths are reddish brown with whitish lines on 
FIGURE 66.—Cutworm. 
