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and shrubs. As a group, they are of little economic importance. 
The forewings are usually grayish and mottled with lighter and 
darker spots. This makes them very inconspicuous when they are 
resting with their wings folded on the trunks of trees. The hind- 
wings, in contrast, are beautifully marked with bright red, yel- 
low, white, or brown. This has given rise to the common name 
“underwing moths.” More than 50 species have been recorded 
from New York State alone, mostly on oak and hickory. Barnes 
and McDunnough (33) discussed the life histories of many 
species. 
Many other species of noctuids’ are commonly known as cut- 
worms. The larvae are usually stout, naked, and dull grayish or 
brownish in color. They are seldom seen, however, because of 
their habit of feeding at night and hiding on the ground or under 
bark during the daytime. A number of species feed on the roots, 
or on portions of stems or foliage near the ground; many others 
climb the stems or trunks of their hosts and feed on buds, flowers, 
fruit, and other succulent parts. 
The more important species of cutworms in nurseries and 
forests in eastern America and some of their hosts are as follows: 
Feralia jocosa (Guen.)—hemlock, spruce, larch; Epizeuxis sem- 
ula (Hbn.)—spruce (particularly in ornamental plantings, the 
larvae commonly being found in webbed masses of dried needles 
and frass on the branches) ; Panthea furcilla (Pack.)—pines; P. 
acronyctoides (Wlk.)—spruce; Papaipema furcata (Sm.)—ash 
seedlings in nurseries in the Lake States; Colocasia propinqui- 
linea (Grote)—birch, beech, maple, walnut; C. flavicornis (Sm.) 
—hickory; Charadra deridens (Guen.)—oak, maple, elm, birch; 
Raphia frater Grote—poplar, willow; Euxoa scandens (Riley) — 
young white and overcup oaks (serious defoliation reported in 
Minnesota) ; the zebra caterpillar, Ceramica picta (Harr.)—usu- 
ally most abundant on herbacious vegetation, but occasionally 
damages pine seedlings in nurseries in the Northern Great 
Plains; Orthosia hibisci (Guen.)—the opening buds and fruit of 
many deciduous trees and shrubs and a few conifers; Lithophane 
latincerea Grt.—many species of deciduous trees (severe defolia- 
tion of red maples on islands in Penobscot River, Maine, since 
1935) ; the green fruitworm, L. (=Grapholitha) antennata (W1k.) 
—ash, boxelder (has occurred in large numbers locally in New 
York and Vermont); Anomogyna eliminata Gn—various conl- 
fers, especially balsam fir and jack pine (one of the most com- 
mon of the cutworm larvae on conifers in the Northeast) ; and 
Palthis angulalis Hbn.—a wide variety of conifers, especially 
balsam fir and white spruce,also occasionally on various deciduous 
trees. 
Clean cultivation is recommended for preventing the develop- 
ment of damaging populations of cutworms in forest nurseries. 
FAMILY NOTODONTIDAE 
NOTODONTID MOTHS 
More than 100 species of notodontid moths occur in the United 
States and Canada, and many of the larvae feed on the foliage 
of a wide variety of deciduous trees and shrubs. The family name 
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