INSECTS INJURIOUS TO CABBAGE AND OTHER CROPS I43 



case of the cabbage looper and harlequin cabbage bug. The 

 species under consideration, the imported cabbage webworm, 

 should it increase in destructiveness and enlarge its area, bids 

 fair to become a troublesome species, as it is difficult to treat. 

 The moth (fig. 95, 0) is gray, with the fore-wings mottled 

 with black, white and brown. The expanse of wing is about 



'^^' 3 "^^"-^^ 



Fig. 95.— Cabbage webworm. a, Mature moth; b larva, lateral view; c, larva, dorsal 

 view; d. pupa All three times natural size. (Author's illustration, U- S. Dept. Agr-) 



five-eighths of an inch. The mature larva (fig. 95, b, c) is a 

 little more than half an inch long, in color dull yellowish-gray, 

 striped with broad, brownish-purple longitudinal bands. The 

 "loth is described as laying her eggs in the "bud" of cabbage, 

 or turnip, and the larva soon after hatching spins a web over 

 itself, leaving a hole for egress. From the protection atTorded 

 by this domicile the larva feeds, retiring into the web when its 

 hunger is appeased. When larv?e are particularly numerous 

 three or four days suffice for the destruction of a turnip or cab- 

 bage patch, the plants rotting, or in the case of turnip failing 

 to develop roots, and this with their excrement which adheres 



