. Bulletin - New York State Museum. Science. as the larvae of very few of tile mature forms (the moths) contained in the genera of Agrotis, Mamestra, and Hadena, to which they mainly pertain, have as yet been ascertained. About 350 United States species have been described in these three genera — Agrotis, embracing the larger number, and pre- eminently the Cut-worm genus. Of some of ]egF™d 8^™sand- these, their habits are not such as entitle them tion at rest, and young to be numbered among the Cut-worms proper. We would prefer limiting this designation to forms having the appearan
. Bulletin - New York State Museum. Science. as the larvae of very few of tile mature forms (the moths) contained in the genera of Agrotis, Mamestra, and Hadena, to which they mainly pertain, have as yet been ascertained. About 350 United States species have been described in these three genera — Agrotis, embracing the larger number, and pre- eminently the Cut-worm genus. Of some of ]egF™d 8^™sand- these, their habits are not such as entitle them tion at rest, and young to be numbered among the Cut-worms proper. We would prefer limiting this designation to forms having the appearance and habits of those known to English writers and agriculturists as surface caterpillars, and not extending it to those which seek their food mainly in trees or tall plants. Under such a limitation the class can be somewhat definitely circumscribed. Their Appearance. The following are the principal features of the typical Cut- worms, by the aid of which it will not be difficult to recognize them : When full grown, they measure from an inch and a quarter to nearly two inches in length. They are sixteen-footed (three pairs of true legs and five pairs of pro-legs or prop-legs), thick, tapering moderately at the extrem- ities, naked and greasy-looking. In color. they are dingy brown, gray or greenish, with indistinct, light and dark, longitu- dinal markings, and occasionally someHADENA devastated (Brace). oblique lines. The head is large, shining and usually red or brown. On the top of the first segment, or ring, is a horny plate, called "the collar" or cervical shield, and on the last, another smaller one, known as the anal plate, both of a shining and darker color than the rest of the body. On each of the segments are six or eight small, blackish humps or dots, each bearing a short hair, as shown in an enlargement of a segment in Fig. 9. When the caterpillar is taken from the ground, or otherwise disturbed, it curls itself into a ring, as represented in Fig. 4,
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectscience, bookyear1887
