THE CORX-WORir : ITS DISTRIBUTION" AND INJURIES. 121 



of lucerne {Medlcago sntivn). Another writer gives henbane {Hyoscya- 

 inus niger) as one of its European food-plants. 



Geographical Distribution of the Species. 



B'ew of our moths have so extensive a distribution as this, occurring 

 as it does, in the four quarters of the globe. It is found in Great 

 J^ritain,* France and elsewhere in Western Europe, bat not abundantly ; 

 in Turke}', more commonly. f 



It has been captured in the Capo de Verde Islands, and on the 

 Avest coast of Africa (N. Lat., 2'i°.) JGuenee cites it from " Europe me- 

 ridionalc, Amerique du Nord et du Sud, Indes orientales, et Nouvelle- 

 Hollande." It was found by Professor Berg in Patagonia, as before 

 noticed, and examples have also been brought from Japan. According 

 to Mr MofFafc {Joe. cit.), it was observed for the first time in the Prov- 

 ince of Ontario during the past year (1881). It is not stated that the 

 caterpillar was discovered, but the moth was "quite plenty" at Ham- 

 ilton during the early part of September. Its unusual occurrence in 

 the State of IS'ew York will be noticed hereafter. 



Its Operations as a " Corn- Worm." 



The caterpillar is known as the " corn-worm " throughout the South 

 when it occurs on corn, as it often docs in immense numbers, to the 

 serious injury of the crop. Other names sometimes applied to it, are the 

 *' ear-worm," the " tassel-worm," and the '*' terminal bud worm." As 

 the caterpillars of the species show a great range of variation in mark- 

 ings and color — some being green and faintly striped, and others 

 brown with dark stripes — the *' corn-worm " Avas for along time, and 

 is still by the uninformed, belieA^ed to be distinct from the "boll- 

 worm ;" but during late years, when they came to he studied, it Avas 

 discovered that the tAvo A\'ero the same species, and that it occurred on 

 a number of greatly differing food-plants as above noticed. 



Tiie injuries committed by this species have, in certain seasons — 

 usually such as are very Avarm and dry — been enormous. In Kentucky, 

 entire fields of corn have been ruined by it. In 18G0, in Kansas, dur- 

 i ig a protracted drought, the corn crop throughout the State Avas 

 nearly destroyed. In a single county, Avhich perhaps Avas not an ex- 

 ceptional one, the product Avas cut down from 436,000 busliels, the pre- 

 ceding year, to 5.000 bushels.§ In Southern Illinois, it has been very 



*Its occurrence in England is usually deemed worthy of record. Thus we find the fol- 

 lowing: " On September 2-1, 1881, I took JIdiothis armirier resting on a flower in the Rec- 

 tory garden at Guestling. — E. N. B." — {Entomol. Month. Ma(j , xviii, ISSl, p. 141.) "On 

 the 20th of June, I captured flying in a clover field in the bright sunshine, a ilnc Ueliothis 

 armifier, female. — A. H. J." — (/(/., xvi, 1879, p. 99.) Mentioned among rare Lepidoptera 

 captured near Dartmouth, Eng., during 1874-1877, by Mr. G. F. Mathew. — {Id., xiv, 1877, 

 p. 157.) 



\Ent. Month. Mag., xriii, 1881, pp. 12, 99. ;/6., pp. 81, 258. 



%Prairie Farmer, of Jan. 31, 1861. 



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