7 



upper pole is an irregular patch of reddish color; there is also an irreg- 

 ular ring of the same color at about one-third the distance from 

 pole to base of egg; the rest of the egg is pale green; when first laid 

 it is entirely pale green. 



The full-grown larva is 26-32 mm. long and almost black. The 

 two preceding stages are more mottled and variegated with black, 

 brown, olivaceous, yellowish and whitish, darker colors, however, 

 predominating. There are two more or less conspicuous subdorsal 

 rows of black spots on segments 7-12 and a broad paler region on 

 dorsum between these, in the middle of which is a series of obscure 

 lozenge-shaped darker spots. The head is mostly black except the 

 periphery (i. e., the portion covered when retracted), which is pale 

 brown. There are two conspicuous whitish subdorsal spots on seg- 

 ment 6, and the posterior subdorsal parts of segment 12 and upper 

 parts of segment 13 are yellowish. The spiracles are black with a 

 yellowish streak below them. The 

 tubercles are not conspicuous but 

 about the same color as their sur- 

 roundings, and the hairs are short. 

 The twelfth segment is quite 

 swollen. The duration of the larval 

 stage is 30-40 days. 



The pupa is formed in the soil, an 

 inch or two below the surface. It 

 is 13-15 mm. long, uniform medium 

 brown; eyes black; wing, leg, and 

 antennal cases extending to apex of 

 fourth abdominal segment; the ar- 

 ticulations between segments 4-7 



movable. There is a row of about 20 pits on dorsal part of basal 

 margin of segments 5, 6, and 7, from the ends of which a band of punc- 

 tures extends around the ventral side. The apex of the abdomen 

 is blunt and rounded, with two approximate dark spines, the tips of 

 which converge and are slightly curved ventrally. The pupal period 

 is 12-14 days. 



The moth is described as follows: 1 



9 Pale chestnut brown. Fore wing with, very faint traces of the usual markings; 

 a prominent ochreous postmedial line slightly curved from the costa to vein 2, and 

 not waved. Hind wing paler. 



<$ With the collar and abdomen black; the second joint of palpi black. Fore 

 wing with the basal area clothed with ocherous hair; hind wing with the base yel- 

 lowish; some specimens have a black speck in cell of fore wing and series of specks 

 on the postmedial line and margin. 



On the few productive plantations here this cutworm is by long 

 odds the most destructive pest encountered. Six and seven replant- 



FlG. 2. 



■Frontina archippivora, parasitic on cut. 

 worms. (From Swezey.) 



Hampson. Fauna Brit. India; Moths, 2 (1894), p. 264. 



