56 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



fiequcntly quite destructive in that section to corn. Occasionally it 

 becomes soniewhat abundant and injurious in New York State. 

 Dr ]iintner in his first report records this insect as being quite 

 abundant and destructive to corn in Ontario county and its prob- 

 able occurrence at the same time in the vicinity of Albany. Six 

 years ago this insect was somewhat abundant in the vicinity of 

 New York city, complaint of injuries having been received from 

 !vlt Vernon. 



The operations of this species in the North are confined mostly 

 to corn and tomatoes, the major portion of the damage being 

 inflicted in the late summer or fall. This latter was true of in- 

 juries reported from Shelter Island, the caterpillars being brought 

 to notice about the middle of October. The damage at Mt Vernon 

 in 1902 did not occur until the latter part of August. The cater- 

 pillar of this species is extremely variable in color, ranging from 

 a light green with reddish brown marks on the side to a darkish 

 ^reen, brown or even nearly black caterpillar with a variable 

 v/hitish lateral line. It closely resembles in general appearance 

 some of our common cutworms, being stout, and when full grown 

 is an inch or more in length. The caterpillars begin their opera- 

 tions near the tip of the ear, eating down between the husks and 

 making irregular frass-filled galleries over the face of the green 

 cob, destroying a considerable proportion of the corn and defiling 

 most of the remainder. Occasionally this species is quite de- 

 structive to tomatoes, on account of its eating rather large holes 

 into the ripening fruit. 



The pest can be controlled in the North only by recourse to hand 

 picking. This measure will be particularly valuable at the incip- 

 iency of the attack, since ears which have been injured somewhat 

 are more attractive to the insect than those protected by tightly 

 folded husks. Care should also be exercised when removing 

 caterpillars from recently infested ears to replace the husks so far 

 as possible and thus reduce the chances of reinfestation. 



White ants (Termes flavipes Koll.). It is not often 

 that these insects are recorded as injurious in New York State, 

 though they are undoubtedly present in many dwellings, particu- 

 larly in the southern part of the State and occasionally inflict serious 

 injury. Our attention was called last winter to the operations of 

 white ants in the storage vaults of a New York city printing 

 company. The vaults were filled with electrotypes and halftones 



