THE STRIPED GARDEN CATERPILLAR. 31 
script name, as I do not find this insect mentioned under this cogno- 
men in print. With present knowledge of the species it can not 
properly be classified as a cutworm. 
Among the files of the Department of Agriculture there are a few 
notes which are of interest as showing the cycle of period- from egg 
to about the last stage of the larva. These notes were made in 1882 
by Mr. Albert Koebele, and the mounts which were made with them 
are not sufficiently fresh for description. From these notes the fol- 
lowing is taken : 
Moths collected at sirup, near the District of Columbia. Septem- 
ber 16, were placed in a rearing jar with grass, where two batches 
of eggs were laid between 11 and 12 o'clock at night, one of these 
being deposited around the stem of grass. 
September 18 the eggs hatched, showing the egg period to be only 
2 days. On the 21st the larvae had completed the first molt, making 
the first larval instar 3 days. September 23 the second molt was 
observed, which gives 2 days as the second larval instar. September 
27 larvae changed their third skin, leaving 5 days as the period of 
the third instar. 
October 1 the fourth molt occurred, making 4 days for the fourth 
instar. By October 9 all the larvae had changed the fifth skin, when 
they developed cannibalistic tendencies and were removed to a larger 
jar. The period of this instar was 8 days. The remaining larva 1 
refused to eat and finally died, so that the complete life cycle could 
not be ascertained. 
NATURAL ENEMIES. 
Soon after bringing larvae in from the field some were noticed to 
be dying from fungous attack. In the asparagus Held- Estigrm m 
(Leucarctia) acrcea Dru, and Dissosteira Carolina L.. the salt-marsh 
caterpillar and Carolina locust, respectively, were also dying in con- 
siderable numbers, and it was conjectured that the disease might have 
originated with these and spread to the Mamestras. After the dis- 
eased caterpillars had been frequently removed, however, the fungous 
attack abated. Specimens of infected larva 4 were referred to the 
Bureau of Plant Industry, and the fungus was identified by Mrs. 
Flora W. Patterson, assistant pathologist, as an undescribed species 
of Verticillium. At another time larva 4 which showed sign- of dis- 
ease after capture were examined by Mrs. Patterson, who recognized 
the presence of the fungus Sporotrichwn minimum Speg. A Larva, 
when placed with diseased insects, including some of its own species, 
did not contract the fungous disease, from which it seems probable 
that the disease is not readily communicable, and hence of no use as a 
possible means of destroying this species. 
