_Moth_: Length ⅗ of an inch; span of wings about 1⅓ inches. Antennæ of
the male comb-like. Fore wings short, of a brownish-red, olive brown, or
dirty olive-green ground colour, with three whitish patches, and darker
markings. Hind wings yellowish grey, brighter at the roots.
_Caterpillar_: With sixteen legs; 1⅘ inches long; bronze grey, back more
of a bronze brown, with three narrow bright longitudinal streaks. Head
ochre yellow. The moth lays her some two hundred eggs during July, in
little heaps at the bases of the grass haulms and leaves. The
caterpillars hide during the day, and feed at night. They are very
injurious even in the autumn, but become insatiable the following
spring, always devouring the lowest parts of the haulms and leaves, so
that the upper parts die off. They wander in large companies from one
field to another. In June they become pupæ of a shining reddish brown
below the surface of the soil or under sods. _Enemies_: swine, moles,
shrews, rooks, wagtails, ducks, fowls. _Remedy_: Driving in swine, where
this is practicable.
[Illustration:
FIG. 101.—The Grass Moth (_Charæas graminis_) and its caterpillar.
]
The =Darnel Moth= (_Neuronia popularis_).
_Moth_: Length rather less than ⅘ of an inch; span of wings nearly 1⅗
inches. Much variegated, beautiful. Fore legs reddish brown, with
peach-coloured glow; all the nerves and several markings yellowish
white, and dark markings as well. Hind wings yellowish, and abdomen
white. Head and thorax brown, mixed with yellowish white. _Caterpillar_:
Over two inches long, and about one-third of an inch thick; 16-legged;
tapers at both ends. Has an oily lustre. Dorsal side of a bronze brown,
sharply marked off by a yellowish line from the bright brownish grey
ventral side, and traversed by three longitudinal bright brown lines,
which in young specimens are almost white. Habits pretty much like those
of the preceding species.
The =Silver Y Moth= (_Plusia gamma_).
[Illustration:
FIG. 102.—The Silver Y Moth (_Plusia gamma_), with caterpillar and
pupa.
]
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