22 
HALF HOUBS WITH INSECTS. 
[Packard. 
mg slightly towards each end, with a horny crescent-shaped 
plate on the segment preceding the head. They are usually 
livid greenish, or ash gray, with darker stripes along the 
body, which is either smooth or slightly warty. At rest they 
may be found curled up under sticks or stones in the grass, 
or under boards, etc., left carelessly in the garden. They 
transform within a rude earthen cocoon or chamber under 
the ground, into a brown chrysalis which may often be found 
at the roots of corn, grass, etc. The worm may be found 
late in spring and early in summer. The parent moths fly 
late in summer and in September, and while most of the 
family (Noctuidae) fly only by night, these Dart Moths, as 
they are called, from 
their rapid, headlong 
flight, may be seen 
in the hottest days 
about the flowers of 
the golden rod. 
Fig. 9. 
Our commonest 
species is the Gothic 
Dart Moth (Agrotis 
subgothica Fig. 9). 
The young of this 
Gothic Dart Moth. 
modest moth is said by Mr. Riley, who has reared it, to be 
an inch and a quarter long, of a dirty white or ash gray, 
with sometimes a yellowish tinge. Along the back is a 
whitish line, edged on each side with a dark one. On the 
side are three lateral dark broader stripes, the lower one the 
widest. 
Another common, but still larger, Dart Moth is the Lance 
Bearer, Agrotis suffusa of European authors, or A. telifera 
^Harris (Fig. 10)., Mr. Riley calls its caterpillar the 
/l^arge Black Cut Worm.” It is an inch and a half long, 
dull brown above, with a distinct pale line on each side of 
the middle of the back. Between these lines and the 
22- 
row 
