CORN INSECTS 229 



which is covered witli silk and tlie burrow is phi^ged below with 

 a mass of frass. The shiniiio- brown pnj)a is nearly an inch in 

 length. The moths of the second brood emerge in six to ten 

 days and lay eggs for another brood of larvjie. These borers 

 riddle the stalks near the base with numerous burrows and 

 when mature descend to near the surface of the ground, where 

 they usually remain in the larval condition till the following 

 spring. These hibernating larva? are nearly pure white, the 

 brown spots having disappeared. There are apparently only 

 two generations annually. 



Control. 



The most practical measure so far suggested for the control 

 of this insect is the adoption of a proper system of crop rotation. 

 In this system corn should not follow corn. When it is necessary 

 to plant corn after corn, the stalks and stubble should be raked 

 up and burned before the moths emerge in the spring. 



References 



Comstoek, U. S. Ent. Rept. for 1880, pp. 243-245. 1881. 



Howard, Inser^t Life, IV, pp. 95-103. 1891. 



U. S. Farm. Bull. 634. 1914. 



Holloway, Jour. Agr. Research, VI, pp. G21-G25. 1916. 



The Lesser Corn Stalk-Borer 



Elasmopalpus lignosellus Zeller 



In the southern states, corn, sugar-cane, cowpea, bean and 

 peanut are sometimes attacked by a small greenish, brown- 

 striped caterpillar that burrows in the stalk at or just below the 

 surface of the ground. It is most injurious on thin sandy or 

 gravelly land. The insect has also been recorded as infesting 

 crab-grass and Johnson-grass. It ranges from Maine along the 

 coast to Pennsylvania westward to Iowa, Texas and southern 

 California and southward to Patagonia. 



