18 bulletin 98. 
ever, represent only stragglers at either ends of the broods. The 
greatest abundance of the moths in the spring comes between the 
middle of May and the first of July and in the fall in the later 
half of September. 
Eggs .—The eggs laid by the fall brood cause the trouble¬ 
some worms in the spring. The eggs are laid almost exclu¬ 
sively upon vegetation, and, although the worms are very 
general feeders, they appear to show some preference for particu¬ 
lar crops. They are always more or less abundant in fields of 
alfalfa. Where virgin soil is broken they may usually be found. 
A significant instance came to our notice two years ago. In a 
number of cases cutworms were quite destructive to sugar beets 
where these were planted in ground which bore a crop of barley 
the previous year. 
When the egg is laid it is white in color, hemispherical in 
shape and attached to the leaves or grass by the flat side. Under 
the magnifying glass it shows beautiful striations which radiate 
from the center toward the edge of the disc. Before hatching, 
which occurs in a very few days, the eggs become brown in color. 
Young Worms .—The young worms are very small and 
travel about for a short time with the looping motion of the 
measuring worms. They feed during the night and hide by day 
under some protecting object or in holes which they make in the 
ground. 
Hibernation .—By the time cold weather begins the young are 
about half grown and range from a half inch to an inch in length. 
In color they are brownish or greyish with in many cases a dis¬ 
tinct greenish tinge. At this time they are provided with three 
pairs of sharp pointed feet under the forepart of the body and 
four pairs of blunt proplegs under the posterior part. I11 this con¬ 
dition the worms spend the winter buried in the ground. 
Spring Injuries .—With the warm spring days the worms 
come to the surface at the time the first blades of grass and leaves 
appear. Their appetite is now ravenous. Their growth during 
the fall has been rather slow, but now the size increases by leaps 
and bounds. At this time of year vegetation is scarce. Most of 
the green has been killed by the winter’s cold, and the young, 
tender shoots, which give promise of harvest, furnish a most 
pleasing feast for the hungry worms. Then the seriousness of 
the pest becomes evident, especially if the field has been recently 
plowed and seeded or set with plants, in this way reducing the 
amount of food. In beet fields the worms cut off and devour the 
seedlings as soon as they appear above the ground, often follow¬ 
ing along the drill mark and taking everything in the row for 
several feet. 
