DIV. IVGHOTS. 
ne eT ie came 
SS 
Contribution from the Bureau of Entomology, L. O. Howard, Chief. K 
December 7, 1914. 
THE LARGER CORN STALK-BORER.' 
By GrorGE G. AINSLIE, 
Entomological Assistant, Cereal and Forage Insect Investigations. 
INTRODUCTION. 
In many Southern cornfields a heavy wind late in the season, be- 
fore the corn is matured, does great damage by breaking the plant 
off at the surface of 
the ground, thus 
ruining them. An 
examination of these 
broken stems will, 
in most cases, show 
that they have been 
greatly weakened by 
the burrows of alarva 
or caterpillar. This 
larva (fig. 1) is known 
as “the larger corn 
stalk-borer.”’ Its 
workis largely within 
Fe Sresblonats attra ee reo Somme an a are 
and 1s so concealed e, eighth abdominal segment from above; /, abdominal segment from 
z ¥ above; g, same from side. a, b, c, Enlarged; d, e, /, still more en- 
that in most cases, larged. (Redrawn from Howard.) 
eg INES he 
Joy 
unless weather con- 
ditions make it conspicuous, the presence of the insect passes unnoticed. 
This insect seems to have been originally an enemy of sugar cane 
and to have first transferred its attention to corn, in the southern 
part of this country, where corn and cane are grown over the same 
territory. It occurs in many countries where sugar cane is the staple 
crop, and has caused great damage in the West Indies, British Guiana, 
Australia, and Java. The bulk of the evidence goes to show that it 
was first brought into this country with the importation of sugar- 
cane cuttings from the West Indies and Central and South America, 
where, since early times, it has interfered with the production of this 
staple. 
1 Diatrxa saccharalis Fab. 
66344°—Bull. 634—14 
