CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION OF COMMON INSECTS 211 



ing mouth-parts (labial palpi) are common on grass lands and collect in 

 large numbers about lights. The caterpillars of these moths live in the 

 sod in silk-lined burrows among the roots of the grass, feeding upon 

 them. Corn is sometimes injured. 



Adults. — Several species; yellowish- white wings with silver stripes, 

 bands, gold lines and other markings. Two broods. June-July. 



Eggs. — ^Laid in grass land in June- July and again Sept.-Oct.; 

 oval, yellowish, ridged, 200 by each female; hatch in 6-10 days. 



LarvcB. — Color varying from yellowish- white to pink to reddish; 

 surface tubercled with tufts of bristly hairs; form loose silken webs 

 and feed on the roots; full grown in 5 to 7 weeks; 3^^ to ^ inch long. 

 Hibernate in webs partly grown. 



PupcB. — Cocoons formed often in the larval webs; 12 to 15 days. 



Control. — Plow land early in autumn to prevent egg deposition; 

 plow early in spring; use trap-lanterns to catch the moths. 



Cranberry Girdler {Cramhus hortuellus Hbn.). — (See Bull. 554, Bur. 

 Ent. U. S. Dep. Agr.) An injurious pest of cranberry vines, widely 

 distributed in United States and Canada. Its host plants are certain 

 grasses, Scirpus americanus, and cranberry. 



The moths appear in June, and eggs are laid on the trash covering 

 the ground. These hatch in about 10 days. The larva feeds through- 

 out the summer and fall; when full grown it is about half an inch long, 

 with dark brown or black head, light amber colored thoracic shield and 

 tip of abdomen, and sooty-white body bearing many long and short 

 hairs black at the base. It forms cocoons in October-November, but 

 pupates following spring. Duration of pupal stage about 3 weeks. 

 The cocoon is composed of scraps of ground debris — bits of dead leaves, 

 bark, twigs, fine roots, grasses and sand — held together by strands of 

 silk. Its interior is lined with silk. Variable in shape, but usually 

 enlarged at one end. 



Control. — Fall flooding after picking the crop; sanding; pruning. 



Larger Com Stalk Borer {Diatraa saccharalis Fab.). — A serious pest 

 of Southern corn fields, originally of sugar cane. The caterpillar feeds 

 early in the season on the "throat" of the young corn, destroying the 

 growing tip, and later feeds as a borer in the lower stalk, where it 

 hibernates. 



Adult. — A pale brownish-yellow moth, wing expanse of i}'i inches, 

 fore wings darker than hind wings and bear faint markings. Wings 



