38 



INJURIOUS INSECTS OF KANSAS. 



each side of this line, a narrow, sulphur- 

 yellow stripe; still below, other brown 

 and yellow lines. Below, dull white. 

 Head large, pale yellow. 



The first moths appear during May, 

 in the latitude of St. Louis, according to 

 Doctor Riley, and the bulk of the larvae 

 are full-grown about the time wheat is in 

 the milk. The larvae feed on the wheat 

 heads until harvest, when they pupate, 

 and the adult moths issue in the latter 

 part of July. These lay eggs which 

 produce a second brood of worms in 

 August, the worms feeding on leaves. 

 These larvae pupate in September, and 

 pass the winter as pupse in the ground. 



The feeding time of the larvae when 

 eating the wheat heads in June seems to 

 be at night. A correspondent in Rush 

 county writes: 



The worms come up after dark, and feed 

 upon the heads. They are in sufficient num- 

 bers to destroy the crop in some fields and parts of fields. Fields 

 partly burned over have them only where fire did not run. Twelve 

 acres isolated wheat on burnt stubble is free from them. Damage like 

 the above is reported from all directions, but some wheat seems to be 

 escaping everywhere. The best wheat is on ground fallow last year, 

 and on which no wheat has been for several years. 



Remedies. — No convenient effective remedy for the pest has 

 yet been proposed. The remedies so far recognized are mostly 

 preventive. The pupse may be largely destroyed by late fall 

 plowing and harrowing; and many moths may be captured in 

 May by means of lights and sweetened and poisoned fluids 

 There are certain natural enemies ; two parasitic Ichneumon flies 

 and one Tachinid fly are noted by Doctor Riley. Kansas wheat- 

 growers should give this pest special attention, to the end that a 

 practical remedy for it may be found. 



Kansas Notes. — Doctor Riley records the appearance of this in- 

 sect in Dickinson, Douglas and Davis counties in 1876. (Ninth 

 Annual Report State Entomologist of Missouri, p. 51.) The 



^!W^ 



Fig. 18. Wheat-head Aemy- 

 WOBM ; a, larvsB on wheat 

 head; 6, eggs between sheath 

 and stalk; c, d, egg, top and 

 side view, enlarged. 



