12 



Livingston counties, and in Henry comity in June. It is not alto- 

 gether certain, however, that the insect referred to by these corre- 

 spondents was in all cases the species here under consideration. 



I base a surmise of the occurrence of this pest in Eock Island 

 county upon a report received by my assistant, Mr. Hunt, from 

 two farmers near Milan. They had noticed a w^orm making a web 

 at the roots of the corn and eating the leaves while young, after- 

 wards working at the roots, often cutting the corn off just below 

 the surface of the ground. Several acres of sod corn were completely 

 destroyed by these msects, only here and there a hill being left. As 

 I know of no other corn larva which constructs a web in the earth 

 at the roots of the plant, it seems highly probable that our species 

 is here indicated — possibly confused also with some cutworm at- 

 tacking the corn at the same time. 



Our first specimens were taken May 19, at which time many of 

 them were only about half grown. In our breeding cages, the larvae 

 changed to pupae in the earth at some time during the latter half 

 of June, and the adult moths emerged from the Ist to the 22d of 

 July. The average size of the larvas in the Champaign field leads 

 me to doubt whether it is possible that they can have resulted from 

 eggs laid in the spring, especially as diligent collecting from the first 

 opening of the season did not yield us a single moth of the species 

 from which these worms descend. The brood observed by us must 

 have practically completed its development before the end of July. 

 Whether a second brood occurs or not, is wholly uncertain, and to 

 this point especial attention is asked of those at work in fields 

 of corn throughout the summer. 



The root web worm is of a pale reddish brown color, without 

 stripes, and marked only by rather large shining dark spots, each 

 bearing a long black hair. The head is dark chocolate brown, with 

 a few long yellowish hairs. Upon the front is a Y-shaped white 

 mark, which does not coincide with the sutures of this region, the 

 branches of the Y lying some distance outside the corresponding su- 

 tures, and the common stem being relatively short. The top of the 

 first segment behind the head is yellowish, with a white median line, 

 whitish anterior edge, and an oval black spot on the sides, near the 

 middle of the lateral margin. Surface with a few scattered long dark 

 hairs. The second and third segments bear two rows of piliferous 

 spots, the anterior consisting of four large square spaces, the pos- 

 terior of two, sometimes united with each other. From the fourth 

 to the tenth segment these spots are in two transverse rows of four 

 each, those of the front row being nearly square and at least as large 

 as the spaces between them, and those of the hind row transverse, 

 elongated, about twice as long as wide. Directly before and outside 

 of each proleg is a narrow, curved, shining tubercle bearing several 

 long hairs. The breathing pores are all dark brown, the anterior 

 one the larger, and the two posterior next in size. The under sur- 

 face of the worm is a little paler than the upper. Length of a full- 

 grown specimen, .6 inch; its greatest width, .1 inch. 



The chrysalis or pupa is smooth, shining pale brown, the abdomen 

 a little darker, without hairs or spines. The eyes are reddish brown, 

 head bilobed above. The abdomen has a blunt horny tip. Length, 

 .4 inch ; breadth, .1 inch. 



