122 FIKST ANNUAL REPOIIT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



destructive. Occasionally it has extended into the northern portions 

 of that State, but only in comparatively moderate numbers. 



At the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement 

 of Science, held in Cincinnati, in August, 1881, Professor Cook, of the 

 Michigan State Agricultural College, communicated the fact that it had 

 attacked corn in Michigan, in 1880, for the first time. {Canud. Ent., 

 xiii, p. 215.) 



Prof. D. S. Kellicott, of BufiFalo, N. Y., reports it as abundant dur- 

 ing the month of July, 1881, at Corunna, Michigan, where the early 

 corn was considerably damaged. In one field observed, more than half 

 the corn had been eaten into by it. 



In reporting upon its operations in Illinois, in 1877, Professor 

 French states : " It has not been so destructive during the past season 

 as it is sometimes, but in one field of late corn I found nearly overyear 

 eaten by them, there being, from one to half a dozen worms to each 

 ear." 



Method of Attacking Corn. 



It has not been ascertained when the first eggs are laid upon corn, 

 in New York. If the parent is a native of the State, from having 

 hibernated as a moth or a pupa, the eggs would be laid upon the leaves 

 of the young corn during the month of June, and the young larvae 

 would feed upon the leaves, eating irregular holes into them. When 

 about half grown, they would be in condition to attack the tender ter- 

 minal leaves, which they would seriously injure or wholly destroy. 

 But as this injury has not been noticed in this portion of the United 

 States, it seems more probable that our corn-worms are the progeny 

 of moths which have flown hither from the south — probably of the 

 third southern brood, and which had reached our State sometime in 

 July. To the south of New York, in Southern Pennsylvania and Ohio, 

 there may have been an earlier generation, proceeding from the second 

 southern brood. In this manner, through successive broods, the 

 northern progress may be presumed to have been made. 



The operations of the caterpillars in New Jersey, during the month 

 of July (?), have been observed by Mrs. Mary Treat. She states as fol- 

 lows : '' They ate into the staminate flowers of the corn before it tas- 

 seled out, commencing their depredations while the tassels were still 

 enfolded in the leaves. I have examined considerable corn, and in 

 some gardens this worm has done much damage." In a communi- 

 cation under date of Aug. 25, 18G9 (Anir.r. Entomol., ii, p. 43), Mrs. 

 Treat writes : " The other day I passed through a large field of corn, 

 where the depredations of this worm were visible on almost every stalk. 

 They had done the work weeks before, eating through the leaves while 

 they were folded around the staminate flowers, before the ears had be- 

 gun to make their appearance. It is difficult to find an ear free from 

 their depredations." 



