446 
LEPIDOPTEEA. 
10th of July and the middle of August. Like all the fore¬ 
going species, it flies only at night. According to Mr. Brace, 
this moth lays its eggs in the beginning of autumn, at the 
roots of trees, and near the ground; the eggs are hatched 
early in May; the cut-worms continue their depredations 
about four weeks, then cast their skin and become pupa3 or 
chrysalids in the earth, a few inches below the surface of the 
ground; the pupa state lasts four weeks, and the moth comes 
out about the middle of July; it conceals itself in the crev¬ 
ices of buildings and beneath the bark of trees, and is never 
seen during the day; about sunset it leaves its hiding- 
place, is constantly on the wing, is very troublesome about 
the candles in houses, flies rapidly, and is not easily taken.* 
From what is known respecting the history of the other 
kinds of Agrotis^ and from the size that the cabbage cut- / 
worms are found to have attained in May, I am led to infer 
that they must generally be hatched in the previous autumn, 
and that, after feeding awhile on such food as they can find 
immediately under the surface of the soil, they descend 
deeper into the ground and remain curled up, in little 
cavities which each one makes for itself in the earth, till 
the following spring. 
Dr. F. E. Melsheimer, of Dover, Pennsylvania, has 
favored me with the wing of a moth, which he states is 
produced from the corn cut-worm. The following remarks 
on this inseet are extracted from his letters. “ There are 
several species of Agrotis^ the larvaB of which are injuri¬ 
ous to culinary plants ; but the chief culprit with us is the 
same as that which is destructive to young maize.” “ The 
corn cut-worms make their appearance in great numbers at 
irregular periods, and confine themselves in their devasta¬ 
tions to no particular vegetables, all that are succulent being 
relished by these indiscriminate devourers; but, if their 
choice is not limited, they prefer maize plants when not 
more than a few inches above the earth, early sown buck- 
* American Journal of Science, Vol. 1. p. 154. 
