39 



The moth is about If inches across the wings; the fore wings are dark ashen grey, 

 with a satiny lustre, and are crossed by four narrow- wavy whitish bands, edged on each 

 side with black, there is a transverse row of white dots, followed by a row of black, 

 arrow-headed spots between third and fourth bands, and three white dots on the outer 

 edge near the tip; the ordinary spots are edged with black and white, and there is a third 

 spot of oval shape and blackish colour, near the middle of the wing and touching the 

 second band. The hind wings are light brownish grey, with a blackish border. (Harris) 

 As is usual with moths of this genus, there is considerable variation in the intensity of 

 these markings. 



Agrotis tesselata. — Harris. 

 The Checkered Rustic Moth — Larva — The Striped Cut-worm. — Fitch. 



Common in Canada and the Northern States. This moth is evidently the same as 

 that so fully described by Dr. Fitch in his Ninth Report (New York), as Agrotis nigricans 

 Linn, variety maizi. The worm is notorious for its depredations in cornfields, as the name 

 — maizi — given to it by Dr. Fitch, indicates. It cuts off the plant about half an inch or an 

 inch above the surface of the ground, and thus many of the plants, though severed, may 

 survive the injury, and send up new leaves from the stump. 



The striped Cut-worm, as Fitch calls it, is from an inch to an inch and a half in length. 

 Its ground colour is dirty white or ash grey, sometimes tinged with yellowish, the shield 

 on top of first segment is shining black, with three whitish longitudinal stripes, a whit- 

 ish line along middle of back, between two black ones, and on each side of the body three 

 dark and two pale stripes, sometimes another whitish stripe below the lowest dark one, 

 and all the under part of the body pale white. Head black with a white stripe along the 

 middle. (Fitch). 



These worms attack the corn during the month of June, and after changing to chrysa- 

 lids in the ground, come forth in the moth state from the middle of July to the end of 

 August. 



The moth is about inch, in expanse, and is dark ash coloured, with but faint traces 

 of the ordinary bands. It may be easily identified by the two ordinary spots on the fore 

 wings being large and pale, and separated by a square black spot. There is also a trian- 

 gular black spot in advance of the smaller pale spot, and a small black spot near the base 

 of the wing. The hind wings are brownish grey, with a blackish border. It is a variable 

 insect. 



Hadena arctica. — Boisduval. 

 Hadena arnica. — Harris. Hadena amputatrix. — Fitch. 

 Larva — The Yellow-headed Cut-worm. — Fitch. 



Very common in Canada, East and West, also over the northern United States. It 

 is a larger moth than those previously described, and has greater pretentions to beauty. 



This is another of the Corn Cut-worm moths. Dr. Fitch has named the caterpillar 

 the Yellow-headed Cut-worm, and describes it and its habits at oreat length in his Ninth 

 Report. The worm is of a smoky or livid brown colour, with a yellow or chestnut coloured 

 head, and a horny shield of the same colour on the first and last segments of the body. It 

 grows to a larger size than other Cut-worms, and is peculiarly destructive because it severs 

 the plant about an inch below the surface of the ground, thus destroying it irremediably. 

 They also attack the corn till a later period than the preceding species. 



According to Harris, this worm has also the habit of climbing bushes and young trees, 

 to devour the buds, thus combining the habits of the ordinary Cut-worms with those of the 

 climbing species described by Mr. Riley. 



The moth appears during July and August, and is a large one, measuring nearly two 

 inches across the expanded wings. The fore-wings are of a deep Spanish brown, variegated 

 with grey. The small ordinary spot has a grey border. The kidney spot is large, grey, 



