18 MANUAL OF VEGETABLE-GARDEN INSECTS 



before they are able to si)in their protective webs. After the 

 webs are spun, it is practically impossible to reach them with a 

 poison spray. Paris green, 1 pound in 50 gallons of water, or 

 arsenate of lead (paste), 4 pounds in 50 gallons of water, will be 

 found effective. In cases of severe infestation it would pay to 

 collect and destroy the stumps and other refuse in the field 

 after the crop is harvested and thus greatly reduce the number 

 of hibernating pupa?. 



References 



U. S. Div. Ent. Bull. 19. pp. 51-57. 1899. 

 Ga. State Bd. Ent. Bull. 1, pp. 17-25. 1899. 

 U. S. Div. Ent. Bull. 23, pp. 53-61. 1900. 

 U. S. Bur. Ent. Bull. 109, pp. 23-45. 1912. 



The Garden Webworm 



Loxostege similalis Guenee 



Many kinds of vegetables are injured by a small dark yellow 

 caterpillar feeding under the protection of a silken web. The 

 insect is widely distributed throughout North and South 

 America and the West Indies but is most injurious in the south- 

 ern states and in the Mississippi Valley. The favorite food 

 plants of the caterpillar are pigweed and careless weed 

 {Amarantus hjhridus) ; it also attacks a w^ide range of cultivated 

 plants, including cabbage, cucumber, melon, squash, pumpkin, 

 sweet potato, potato, tomato, eggplant, beet, bean, pea, 

 lettuce, onion, corn, tobacco, flax, sugar-cane, clover, alfalfa 

 and many grasses. 



How the insect passes the winter is not known, though 

 judging from the habits of a closely allied species, Loxostege 

 sticticalis, it probably hibernates as larva? in silken tubes in the 

 ground. In Texas the first brood of moths is on the wing in 

 early IVIay ; in Illinois in late May and June. The moth has an 



