214 INSECTS AFFECTING THE INDIAN CORN. 



INJURING THE STALK AND LEAVES. 



The Stalk-borer. 



Gortyna nitela. 



The terminal leaves of growing corn plants are 

 sometimes observed suddenly to wilt and wither. If 

 pulled upward it will be seen that they have been 

 cut off inside the stalk, where there will generally be 

 found a strip- 

 ed, b r o w n 

 worm, of the 

 form repre- 

 sented at Fig. 

 1 i:J, ?. This 



is the Stalk- Fig. 113. Stalk-borer: 1, moth; 



borer, so called, because of its habit of burrowing 

 the stalks of various plants, such as the potato, 

 tomato, cocklebur, etc. It hatches from an egg laid 

 by a brown moth (1), and pupates beneath the soil 

 surface. The moths appear late in summer or early 

 in autumn, and the insect apparently hibernates in 

 its adult condition. 



Remedies. — The only general measure that can 

 be recommended against this insect is that of clean 

 farming. The species largely develops in wayside 

 weed-;, and consequently these should be destroyed. 

 Wherever the larvae are found at work they should, 

 of course, be killed. 



