INSECTS INJURIOUS TO CORN. 



261 



found about the corn fields, and also upon the pollen and petals of clover 

 and some other plants. 



The beetles appear during the latter part of July and all of August 

 and the fore part of September, and deposit their eggs an inch or two 

 below ground in the corn fields. The beetle either crawls under clods 

 of earth or buries itself in the ground for this purpose. So far as known, 

 these insects do not deposit their eggs in any other situation, and it seems 

 certain that this insect in 

 the larval condition will not 

 feed upon any other plant 

 than corn. These facts 

 should be borne in mind 

 when we come to consider 

 methods of fighting these 

 insects. The eggs are de- 

 posited in a few weeks after 



Fig. 20. — Corn Root broken off to show larva of 

 the l^eetle emerges and the Northern corn Root-Worm within; enlarged. 



great bulk of the beetles, at least, die before the winter is past. 



The insects apparently pass the winter only in the egg stage, the 

 eggs which are deposited in the corn field in the latter part of the 

 summer remaining there during the winter and hatching the next spring, 

 sometime after the corn begins to appear above ground. The larvae then 

 move through the soil in search of the roots of 

 corn upon which to feed. The eggs do not all 

 hatch at the same time, but appear to vary a month 

 or more, and hence we find young larvae extend- 

 ing through a period of four or five weeks. The 

 larvae will be found about the roots of corn during 

 June and July, and after becoming full grown, 

 leave the roots, and a short distance from them 



transform to pupae in the soil usually within a 



couple of inches of the surface. These pupae R^of-Wo 

 may be found by pulling up the corn plant and diameters' 

 shaking the dirt away from the roots during July and August. The adult 

 beetles begin to appear during the latter part of July and continue to come 

 out from the ground during August and the fore part of September, 

 usually crawling up the corn stalk and feeding upon the pollen and silk. 

 There is, therefore, but one brood of these insects each year. The adults 

 also have been known to eat the tender parts of the leaves of the corn 

 plant, but prefer the pollen and flowers. 



It is almost invariably the case that these insects do damage only 

 to fields that have been in corn for several years without rotation. 



Northern Corn 

 rm, Pupa ; en- 

 larged eight and one-half 



