CUTWORMS. 
BY S. ARTHUR JOHNSON. 
Each year farmers and gardeners suffer greater or less loss 
from the ravages of cutworms. This loss is commonly most 
severe in the spring or early summer when the crops are just 
appearing. Injuries occur in midsummer, as well, but they are 
commonly unnoticed because of the abundance of vegetation. By 
proper care these may be largely if not entirely prevented. Cut¬ 
worms are quite generally distributed and in favorable seasons be¬ 
come so numerous that farmers are dismayed at the prospects of 
losing a crop. 
RIFE HISTORY AND HABITS. 
Injuries .—The most common and injurious species in this 
state is peculiar to the Rocky Mountain region, and is figured in 
the accompanying drawing. In times of great abundance it will 
travel in immense numbers in search of food, in consequence of 
which it has been called the “Army Cutworm.” An outbreak of 
this kind occurred in Colorado in the spring of 1903 and is quite 
fully reported by Prof. Gillette in Bulletin 94 of this Station. 
During the previous season the moths were unusually abundant. 
They always fly at night and hide by day among the leaves of 
trees, in the grass, under boards, or other places of shelter. In 
the suburbs of Denver they fairly beseiged the houses when the 
lamps were lighted. In a very few minutes after dusk the win¬ 
dows and screen doors would be covered with moths. They crept 
in by every crack and crevice much to the annoyance of the peo¬ 
ple who were at times forced to put out the lights and retire to 
escape the enemy. The insects were noticeably more abundant at 
houses near alfalfa fields. 
Dates of Appearance .—The college records show that this 
and the closely allied species, Chorizagrotis agrestis and C. intro- 
jerens , appear in two broods, the dates of the spring captures at 
Fort Collins ranging from April 16th to July 27th, and those in 
the fall from September 3d to October 12th. These dates, how- 
