340 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 



agrians somewhat in form, its fore wings being shorter and 

 more rounded at the tip. It may be called Gortyna* Zee?, the 

 corn Gortyna ; Zea being the botanical name of Indian corn. 

 The fore wings are rust-red ; they are mottled with gray, al- 

 most in bands, uniting with the ordinary spots, which are also 

 gray and indistinct ; there is an irregular tawny spot near the 

 tip, and on the veins there are a few black dots. The hind 

 wings are yellowish gray, with a central dusky spot, behind 

 which are two faint, dusky bands. The head and thorax are 

 rust-red, with an elevated tawny tuft on each. The abdomen 

 is pale brown, with a row of tawny tufts on the back. The 

 wings expand nearly one inch and a half. 



In order to check the ravages of these insects they must be 

 destroyed while in the caterpillar state. As soon as our corn- 

 fields begin to show, by the withering of the leaves, the usual 

 signs that the enemy is at work in the stalks, the spindle- 

 worms should be sought for and killed ; for, if allowed to 

 remain undisturbed until they turn to moths, they will make 

 their escape, and we shall not be able to prevent them from 

 laying their eggs for another brood of these pestilent insects. 



A worm, or caterpillar, something like the spindle-worm, has 

 often been found by farmers in potato-stalks ; and the potato- 

 rot has sometimes been ascribed to its depredations. On the 

 ninth of July, 1848, one of these caterpillars was brought to 

 me in a potato-stalk from Watertown ; and, on the fifth of 

 July, 1851, I found another within the stem of the pig-weed, 

 or Chenopodium. These caterpillars were of a livid hue, faintly 

 striped with three whitish lines along the back. Their trans- 

 formations have not yet been observed. 



The roots of the Columbine are attacked by another cater- 

 pillar belonging to this family. It burrows into the bottom of 

 the stalk and devours the inside of the roots, which it injures 

 so much that the plant soon dies. One of these caterpillars, 

 which was found in July, in the roots of a fine double Colum- 

 bine in my garden, was of a whitish color, with a few black 



* Gortyna, in ancient geography, was the name of a city in Crete, so called 

 from its founder. 



