49 
head is reddish-yellow in life, becoming pale-brown in preserved 
specimens, and is reticulated with red and black. A broad, incurved 
band of black runs from top to bottom each side of the inverted V 
spaces, forming a somewhat imperfect letter H. The antepenultimate 
segment is marked above with black velvet spots, and the anal segment 
is marked with a light, often reddish, nearly semicircular spot. 
In the paler forms the markings are much fainter, with the excep- 
tion of the red of the last segment. 
The pupa. — The pupa does not present any characteristics particu- 
larly different from those of other cutworms. It is of the usual shin- 
ing yellowish color when first formed, changing to dark mahogany 
brown toward maturity. The tip ends in a pair of minute spines. 1 
DISTRIBUTION. 
Peridroma saucia is cosmopolitan; it perhaps originated in Asia 
Minor or southern Europe and is doubtless a direct and early importa- 
tion from our parent country, since it has been recognized here for 
many years, as early at least as 1841, when it received mention by 
Harris. The recorded distribution abroad includes Great Britain and 
Ireland, western-central and southern Europe, Asia Minor, North 
Africa, Madeira, and Teneriffe. On this side of the Atlantic it is 
known from Canada, and New England westward to California and 
British Columbia in the north, and southward through the Gulf 
region to Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Panama in Central 
America, and Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Pat- 
agonia in South America. 
It is injurious practically throughout the arable region of the United 
States. 
REPORTS OF INJURY. 
REPORTS OF CORRESPONDENTS IN 1900. 
As this cutworm showed itself to be one of the most troublesome 
insects of the year 1900, and as no authentic list of food plants has ever 
been made out in shape for convenient reference, it has been deemed 
advisable to cite such occurrences as have come under observation dur- 
ing the past season somewhat in detail. The reports which will be cited 
were accompanied (in all except, perhaps, one instance), up to the 
middle of August, by specimens of larvae, mostly approaching maturity. 
May 12, 1900, Mr. G. A. Schattenberg, Boerne, Tex., wrote that 
this cutworm was doing damage in sweet pea, pansy, and asparagus 
beds in that vicinity. On the 23d of May Mr. H. J. Gerling, St. 
Charles, Mo., sent larvae attacking rhubarb and radish, the two plants 
1 Dr. Lintner (1. c, p. 204) in describing the pupa, states that the anal tip is armed 
with a single short, black, curved spine. 
5525— No. 29—01 4 
