352 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 



There is a small caterpillar which has been found injurious 

 to the wheat-crop in England, by eating the grain before and 

 after it is ripe. It is described and figured by Mr. John Cur- 

 tis, in the fifth volume of the "Journal of the Royal Agricul- 

 tural Society of England," (pp. 477-481). Though unable to 

 rear any of these caterpillars, which always shrivelled up and 

 died, Mr. Curtis, for reasons stated by him, was impressed 

 with the conviction that they were produced by a moth, called 

 Nodua ( Caradriua) cuhicnlaris. Our agricultural newspapers 

 contain accounts of certain caterpillars, much like the fore- 

 going in appearance and in habits, which devour the grains of 

 wheat while growing and after being harvested. Their trans- 

 formations have not been ascertained; and, on account of the 

 diminutive size of these caterpillars, it remains uncertain 

 whether they are the offspring of any species of Noctiia. 

 Nevertheless, this seems to be the most suitable place to 

 record what has been said and seen of them. They have 

 been called wheat-worms, gray worms, and brown weevils ; 

 and, although these different names may possibly refer to two 

 or more distinct species, I am inclined to believe that all of 

 them are intended for only one kind of insect. The name of 

 grain-worms has likewise sometimes been applied to them ; 

 whereby it becomes somewhat difficult to separate the accounts 

 of their history and depredations from those of the wheat- 

 insect, called Cecidomyia Tritici. It may, however, very safely 

 be asserted that the wheat-worm of the western part of New 

 York and of the northern part of Pennsylvania is entirely 

 distinct from the maggots of our wheat-fly, and that it does 

 not belong to the same order of insects. Mr. Willis Gay lord 

 described this depredator as a kind of caterpillar, or span- 

 worm, from three to five eighths of an inch long, of a yellowish 

 brown or butternut color, provided with twelve legs, and 

 having the power of spinning and suspending itself by a 

 thread. He stated that it fed not only on the kernel in the 

 milky state, but also devoured the germinating end of the 

 ripened grain, without, however, burying itself within the hull; 

 and that it was found, in great numbers, in the chaff, when 



