4 Farmers’ Bulletin 1258. 
The injury caused by these worms is of two.kinds: First, that 
done to cultivated crops, principally corn and tobacco, following 
sod or weed land; and, second, that occurring in meadows, pastures, 
lawns, and grasslands of all kinds. 
' The injury done by webworms to corn makes its appearance soon 
after the plants are up. With a little experience, the affected plants 
can be recognized at a glance. The leaves stand out from the stem 
more nearly horizontal than in healthy plants and usually are more 
or less eaten, ragged, and distorted. Sometimes the whole plant 
is curled and twisted 
into a shapeless 
tangle. Often the 
middle leaf or “ grow- 
ing point ” is cut off at 
its base and dies. Oc- 
casionally the leaves 
above ground are 
eaten but usually 
the feeding occurs 
within or upon the 
stem below the sur- 
face (fig. 2), thus 
causing the deformed 
condition mentioned 
above. If an infested 
plant be pulled, it will 
be found that, from 
the ground level down 
to where the roots 
branch, the stem is 
- scarred and eaten 
along one side, often with at least one hole reaching to its center, 
thus cutting off the middle leaf and killing the “bud.” Where such 
plants are allowed to grow they send out suckers profusely and finally 
develop into deformed clumps of leaves and stems, seldom reaching 
a height of more than a foot or two and never producing marketable 
grain. 
If a small plant which is thus affected be carefully dug there 
will be found, close beside the stem, a more or less complete tube or 
shield of grayish silk mingled with particles of earth (fig. 3). This 
tube may be from one to several inches long and may or may not 
open to the surface of the soil. At its lower end it usually angles 
away from the plant and the worm which did the damage will prob- 
ably be found hiding in the enlarged end or terminal pocket. 
Wig. 2.—Corn plant showing injuries inflicted by a webworm. 
