296 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



THE SPECKLED OUT- WORM. 

 (Larva of Mamestra subjuncta G. & R.) 

 [Plate II; Fig. 5.] 



This cut-worm was also one of the species described and figured by 

 us in the first report on the insects of Missouri for 18C8. We found it 

 on two occasions hiding under cabbage-plants in a truck garden in Saint 

 Louis, and in confinement it feeds ravenously on cabbage-leaves, so that 

 it may safely be put down as a cabbage insect. 



The species has been found in Missouri, Wisconsin, Canada, and 

 Massachusetts, and probably occupies all the intermediate ground, if it 

 does not extend beyond these limits. 



So far as is known there is but one annual generation, and the moths 

 fly in Massachusetts in June and July, in Canada in July and August. 

 A favorite hiding place for the worms in the spring is under bits of ma- 

 nure in clover -fields. This cut- worm is parasitized by the ichneumonid 

 Paniscus geminatus of Say, a large species which deposits a siugle egg on 

 each worm. The tough, black, silvery cocoon of the parasite is spun 

 within the pupa of the cut- worm and completely fills the cavity. 



Full descriptions of the different stages will be found in the report 

 just referred to. The larva (Figs, a, b, c) is at once distinguished by 

 several characteristics, but more especially by being speckled as with 

 pepper and salt, when viewed with a pocket lens, the ground color be- 

 ing flesh-gray, with a tinge of rust color in the middle of each joint. 

 Before changing to chrysalis it acquires a uniform, pale, dirty yellow 

 color with the markings almost obliterated. It bears an interrupted 

 dorsal and subdorsal white line, these Hues being quite distinct on the 

 posterior half, and indistinct on the anterior half, of each joint; and a 

 stigmata! line on each side, somewhat lighter than the rest of the body. 



The moth (Plate II, Fig. 5, d) expands 38 mm . The front wings are 

 blackish-brown above, shaded with flesh-color, and are characterized 

 by the ordinary spots being very large, flesh-colored, and distinctly 

 limited. The hind wings are smoky-blackish, paler toward the base, 

 and marked obscurely, if at all. The eggs of this species, which have 

 not hitherto been known, are laid (as we have ascertained in confine- 

 ment) in the fall in batches of from fifty to sixty, and generally in two 

 layers. In shape they closely resemble those of saucia, which we figure, 

 and in color they are at first of a pale bluish-green, becoming reddish- 

 brown before hatching. The young larvae are, also, semi-loopers, the 

 first and second pairs of prolegs being atrophied. 



THE GLASSY CUT-WORM. 



(Larva of Hadena devastatrix, Brace.) 



[Plate III ; Figs. 3, 4. J 



We have already referred to the five species of cut-worm moths bred 

 by Dr. Harris from a miscellaneous lot of worms, and described without 

 reference to their distinctive larvae. He states that he Avas assured by 

 one of his friends that his fifth species was the moth of "the Cabbage 

 Cut- worm." Dr. Harris identified this moth with the Phalaena Noct'ua 

 devastator, described by Mr. John P. Brace in Silliman's Journal, Vol. I 



