230 MANUAL OF VEGETABLE-GARDEN INSECTS 



Hibernation takes place in three stages : larva, pupa and 

 adult. In South Carolina the insect usually enters the winter 

 in the larval state but may transform to a pupa before spring. 

 The egg is greenish white to reddish, ovate, about ^ inch in 

 length. The time and method of depositing the eggs in the 

 field have not been recorded. The eggs hatch in about three 

 days in the summer and in five days to a week in the fall. 

 The caterpillars burrow into the young corn plant near the 

 surface of the ground and kill the central tuft of leaves, often 

 causing the plant to die or leaving it in a dwarfed, deformed 

 condition, incapable of bearing a crop. The larva becomes 

 mature in two or three weeks, depending on the season. In the 

 late fall it may require nearly six weeks to reach maturity. In 

 the course of its growth, the larva molts from four to six times. 

 When full-grown, it is about f inch in length, greenish in color, 

 whitish above and the body is marked with nine narrow longi- 

 tudinal brownish stripes and crossed by a broad brown band 

 on the posterior margin of each segment. The head and cervical 

 shield are shining dark brown, with a pale line running over the 

 top of the head and crossing the shield. The larvae do not 

 remain in their burrows in the plant except when feeding but are 

 usually found in a thin silken tube, in which bits of excrement 

 and grains of sand are incorporated, attached to the side of the 

 plant just below the surface of the ground. In feeding on the 

 older corn plants, they not only burrow into the stalk but also 

 girdle the plant, causing it to break over easily. Several larvae 

 may infest a single plant. When mature they construct oval 

 silken cocoons covered with particles of sand and dirt in which 

 they transform to brownish pupae about | inch in length. The 

 moths emerge in one to three weeks, depending on the tempera- 

 ture. The moth has an expanse of f to 1 inch. In the male 

 the front wings are light brownish yellow, usually dark gray 

 on the margins with two or three small dark spots on the disk. 

 The hind wings are whitish, edged with light brown. In the 



