THE COKX-^VO]{M : ITS OPERATIOXS IX CORN. 



123 



The caterpillars infesting tlie corn fields in Xew York during Octo- 

 ber and November are of a later brood than those noticed above, al- 

 though an earlier one may have escaped observation. The eggs which 

 produced them were probably laid upon the young ears of corn near their 

 tips, where the young caterpillar would be in position to reach the silk 



as soon as it developed. Upon 

 this they feed at first,and as their 

 desire for food becomes more 

 ardent, they penetrate to the 

 young kernels and devour them- 

 The appearance of an ear of corn 

 eaten by the cater])illar is rep- 

 resented in Fig. 28. When the 

 corn is in the milk, it seems to 

 be. most palatable to them. 

 They then burrow into and 

 through the ears, often con- 

 fining themselves to their api- 

 cal portion. When the por- 

 tion near the base is eaten, as 

 shown in the figure, the cater- 

 pillar has penetrated the husks 

 through a round hole of a size 

 barely large enough to admit 

 the body, as seen in some ex- 

 amples received by me from 

 Ontario county. Occasionally 

 the ear has been irregularly 

 burrowed throughout its entire 

 length.* Mould often follows 

 the attack, to the serious detri- 

 ment of the corn; and other in- 

 sects are attracted, and continue 

 the work that the corn-worm 

 had commenced, 



Xot only is the corn eaten 

 while in the milk, but thenearly 

 mature caterpillars are capable 

 of continuing their feeding 

 even after it has become quile 

 hard, as shown by caterpillars 

 ■P no n XV., , wliich T have fed in confine- 



FiG. 28.— Corn eaten by the corn-worm; also 

 tlie caterpillar at different"sta<res of {rrowtli, tlic nicut, and aS recorded by Prof. 

 pupa, the cocoon of earth and silk, and the inoth ^, 1/7 •/ \ 



at rest (Riley). Claypolc {lOC Clt.). 



* Forty-first Ann. Sept. N. Y. St. Agricul. Soc. for 1881 (1832), p. 153. 



