CUTWORM SEPTICEMIA 1 
By G. F. White 
Specialist in Insect Diseases, Bureau of Entomology, United States Department of 
Agriculture 
INTRODUCTION 
Farmers are well aware that cutworms exact annually a considerable 
toll from their crops. These pests are the larvae of numerous species of 
moths belonging to the family Noctuidae. The mature “worms” 3 are 
naked, plump, and of medium size. Their color and markings vary 
greatly. Those attacking the young plants of gardens and fields are 
frequently grayish or brownish with spots or linear stripes; and those 
which prefer to feed on nursery stock and young orchards are of a light 
yellowish gray. 
Entomologists have observed that sometimes cutworms die from 
disease, their remains becoming soft and assuming a dark color. In 1S99 
Cavara * in Italy recorded the presence of a disease of Agrotis aquilina 
Hb. in which the larvae dead of the disorder turn a chestnut brown and 
become mfUmmified and fragile. He found in the dead remains a bac¬ 
terium in huge numbers which grew rapidly on gelatin at room tempera- 
ture and quickly liquefied the medium. The bacterium is described as a 
rod with rounded ends measuring from 1 to 1.5 microns and resembling 
at times a diplococcus but occurring also in long chains. No name was 
suggested for the species. He observed also that when the larva of 
Hylotoma pagana Panz. was inoculated with a culture of the bacterium 
by puncture, death resulted in a very short time, but when the feeding 
method of inoculation was employed the larva did not die. He suggested 
the use of the disease as a possible artificial means for the control of 
Agrotis aquilina in parts of Italy where this cutworm was particularly 
numerous and destructive. ■ The observations by Cavara are interesting 
but his description is not sufficient to make it possible to state whether 
the disorder observed by him is the one discussed in the present paper. 
In 1917 S. E. Crumb, working in the laboratory of Southern Field Crop 
Insect Investigations of the Bureau of Entomology at Clarksville, Tenn., 
encountered a disease among cutworms in which the remains of the dead 
worms became soft and turned dark in color. He demonstrated that the 
disease could be transmitted to healthy worms by puncture, using the 
tissues of larvae dead of the disease in making the inoculations. 
In September, 1917, the writer began a study of the disorder encoun¬ 
tered by Mr. Crumb, using material furnished by him. It was found that 
a marked septicemia is present in larvae showing symptoms of the disease. 
This observation suggested the name “cutworm septicemia” which is 
here used for the disorder. The disease is similar in many ways to horn- 
worm septicemia described in the preceding paper. 4 
1 Accepted for publication October 2, 1933. 
* The term “ worms'* used in this paper is an abbreviation of cutworms.. 
* Cavara, F. di dub microrganismi uxni per i/agricoltura. In Bui. Soc. Bot. Ital., ann. 1899, P« 
141-243. 1899. Review in Centbl. Bakt. [etc.}, Abt. 2, Bd. 6, p. 9 V 1900. . 
4 See hobnworm septicemia, p. 477 this number, which will be found helpful in following the present 
paper. 
Journal of Agricultural Research, 
Washington, D. C. 
aid 
(487) 
Vol. XXVI, No. 10 
Dec. 8 , 1923 
Key No. K-xx 9 
