24 HALF HOURS WITH INSECTS. [Packard. 
and grape vines, eating off the fruit buds; while another 
larva, not of a true Agrotis however, in New England cuts 
off the soft fresh shoots of the currant. 
Mr. Cochrane says that the western moth always prefers 
“to lay her eggs near the hill or mound over the roots 
of the trees in the orchard and if, as is many times the 
case, the trees Have a spring dressing of lime or ashes with 
the view of preventing the operations of the May Beetles, 
this will be selected with unerring instinct by the miller, 
thus giving her larvae a fine warm bed to cover themselves 
with during the day from the observation of their enemies.” 
It is probable that the females of all the Dart Moths deposit 
their eggs at the roots of grass, stubble, etc., in the sum¬ 
mer and early autumn, and sometimes in the spring. It is 
a weighty reason for burning all stubble or ploughing it 
under as deeply as possible, that the eggs of many insects 
and indeed various insects themselves are thus destroyed. 
Nearly all these moths frequent grass lands, and rise from 
the ground on being disturbed, fly off in their headlong 
course a few yards and drop down towards the roots of 
the grass. 
According to Riley the eggs hatch out, and the larvae 
acquire two-thirds their size when winter overtakes them; 
they then descend below the reach of the frost, there re¬ 
maining torpid until the warmth of spring calls them to the 
surface. In a few species the winter is passed in the chrys¬ 
alis state. 
Cut worms hide by day under stones, boards or sticks, or 
in gardens burrow into the dirt to avoid the light and heat. 
At dark they come up to the surface and usually, according 
to Mr. Coleman (“American Naturalist,” June, 1873), appear 
regularly, those that he watched coming up at nine o’clock. 
He observed that the worm fed upon the grape in the follow¬ 
ing manner. “The worm would come out of the ground at 
its usual time, ascend the vine till it came to a new shoot, 
24 
