82 
will climb the stems of the larger herbaceous plants to cut off the 
leaves, that they mav eat them more at their leisure. Others still, as 
said before, will climb shrubs and trees to feed upon the leaf and 
flower buds, each species generally adopting one of these modes of 
operation, though it is evident from observation that this is not 
wholly the case. Some Cut-worms e^t all they desire of a plant dur¬ 
ing the night time and lie motionless curing the day ; while others, 
after severing a plant or a leaf from its stalk, drag it to a place of con¬ 
cealment, usually the end of the stalk into the mouth of a hole, 
when they will lie and eat the next day, hid from birds and other foes. 
Such habits are common to those that pass through their changes in a 
shorter period than some other species, and whose rapid growth seems 
to require this extra food. 
These larvae or caterpillars are thick greasy looking worms, with a 
distinct Horny shield or plate on the top of the segment or ring back 
of the head, called the cervical shield. They are usually marked with 
shining piliferous or wart-like spots on each segment, from which 
arise short hairs. These piliferous spots are generally black, though 
sometimes brown, and at others the same color as the rest of the body. 
They have sixteen legs, six of which, the true legs, are near the head 
and have a hard or chitenous exterior. The eight legs under the 
middle part of the body, called the prop or prolegs, and the two at the 
posterior extremity of the body, called the anal legs, are fleshy ap¬ 
pendages covered with skin like the surface of the body. When full 
grown these caterpillars, as a rule, descend a few inches beneath the 
surface of the ground where they transform to chrysalids in an oval, 
earthen cocoon. The length of time they remain in this state varies 
from ten days to several weeks with those that come out as moths the 
same season, while it is probable that the second brood of some species 
pass the winter in the chrysalis state. 
The moths that are produced from these caterpillars generally fly 
at night and remain quiet during the day time. They are attracted 
by a light and hence frequently fly into dwellings at night and flit 
about the lighted lamps, often perishing in the flame. Their bodies 
are rather thick, less than an inch long, with tufts of hairs at the 
shoulders, and in some species on the back of the abdomen, while some 
have a fan-like tuft at the end of the abdomen of the males. The 
rather narrow front wings are generally dull, dingy gray or brown, 
and when at rest lay like a flat roof over the back, completely con¬ 
cealing the hind wings that are folded so as to be covered by them. 
Items of their History. 
For the purpose of comparing the habits of Cut-worms, so far as 
their work has been noticed in our state, and also of forming some idea 
of the amount of damage done by them, a few quotations from old 
files of the Prairie Farmer and from letters received during the past 
season are given below. By this comp rison we shall be better able 
to know what to do to prevent their ravages. It is true that where 
little is known in regard to the habits of insects the means employed 
for their destruction, because of a want of that knowledge, may be of 
