December, '21] hollo way: corn borer vs cane borer 481 



The study was interesting and enlightening, and led to an increased 

 appreciation of the unseen good which natural factors accomplish, 

 especially in wild areas like the one under study, where artificial control 

 seems hopeless. The area also proved to be a good one for insect collect- 

 ing, especially in the family Cerambycidae. 



THE EUROPEAN CORN BORER AND THE SUGAR CANE 

 MOTH BORER: A COMPARISON' 



By T. E. HoLLOWAY, Entomologist, Southern Field Crop Insect Investigations, 

 U. S. Bureau of Entomology 



Two prominent State Entomologists have recently requested data 

 of the writer concerning the sugar cane moth borer and the similarity 

 in its life history and damage to the European com borer. After reading 

 the papers and the discussions on the new pest in the Journal of Economic 

 Entomolog}', the writer decided that possibh'- he should place the in- 

 formation on the two species in such form as to be readily available for 

 comparison. While the climate of Louisiana is very different from the 

 portions of New England and New York which have been infested by the 

 European com borer, yet information on the sugar cane moth borer 

 may indicate in some degree what may be expected of the European 

 insect. 



Systematic Positions 



Both insects are of course Lepidopterons of the family Pyralidae. 

 The European com borer, Pyrausta nuhilalis, is in the subfamily 

 Pyraustinae. while the sugar cane m.oth borer, Diatraea saccharalis 

 cramhidoides, is in the subfamily Crambinae. 



Damage to Corn and Sugar Cane 



The corn crop as planted in Louisiana is largely out of the way before 

 the maximum development of the sugar cane moth borer is reached. 

 Com is usually planted about March, and is mature by mid-siunmer. 

 While holes and tunnels may be found in the stalks, and while any 

 injury to the stalk must have an effect on the ear, still the damage is 

 usually so slight as never to have been estimated. Doubtless the weight 

 of a number of ears from infested plants would be found to be somewhat 

 less than an equal number from uninfested plants. As for the ears 

 themselves, they are rarely damaged by the sugar cane moth borer. 

 A larva is sometimes found to have entered an ear from the stalk, but 

 this damage is negligible. 



'Published by permission of the Chief of the Bureau of Entomology. Read at a 

 meeting of the I^uisiana Entomological Society, June 3, 1921. 



