No. 115.] 87 



A New Attack on Wheat by a Saw-fly Larva. 

 An insect, with habits hitherto unrecorded, made its appearance 

 in wheat fields in New Jersey and Pennsylvania in the early part 

 of June, which, from the character and extent of its injuries, caused 

 considerable anxiety. A gentleman from Salem, New York, sent 

 this note of inquiry : 



I enclose a green worm, with brown head, taken to-day from my 

 wheat field. These worms do not eat the blade or the head ; they 

 crawl up the stalk, strip off the head, and feed on the headless stalk. 

 The ground is strewn with the heads — I suppose a loss of ten per 

 cent of the crop. The worms do not travel, are found singly, and 

 always eating the headless stalk. Yon have to look pretty close to 

 see them, as they are usually the color of the wheat. Will you 

 say what its name is ? How long does it stay in one locality? 

 (We have had it two years.) Can any remedy be suggested ? 

 Several of my neighbors have them. 



From another correspondent from Slab, York county, Pennsyl- 

 vania, the following note, with examples of the larva, was received : 



I enclose a worm that has appeared in this vicinity this spring 

 for the first time. The full-grown worm is about an inch long, of 

 greenish color, with brownish head ; body tapering from head 

 back ; no tail ; ten pairs of feet. It is found on the wheat, cutting 

 it off about one iiich below the head, and then eating the soft green 

 straw. Some fields here are strewn with wheat heads cut off by 

 this worm. It may be an old enemy to wheat in some States or 

 other countries, but it is new to us. Can you give us any light as 

 to name, habits, and whether and where it has proved very destruc- 

 tive to wheat or any other crop ? 



A correspondent of the Philadelphia Weekly Press of June 30, 

 1886, wrote as follows : 



A worm which is a new enemy to the growing wheat has 

 appeared in many fields in portions of the county. It is armed 

 with a pair of strong nippers at its head, is reddish-gray in color 

 when first seen and about half an inch in length, but afterwards 

 becomes green ; when of full size, an inch in length, and of the 

 thickness of a wheat straw. It attacks the upper portion of the 

 stalk of wheat, just below the head, and by sucking the sap there- 

 from, around the stalk at the same level, gradually cuts it off' as if 

 done with a sharp blade. In this respect it resembles the "army 

 worm " by which the eastern counties of the State were visited 

 several years ago, but it does not congregate and move in bodies 

 as that insect was described as doing. In fact, but few can be seen 

 at the same time, one worm doing its damage over a considerable 

 area. Karly in the season occasionally a headless stalk could be 



