8 Farmers’ Bulletin 1258 
minutes’ pause to spread and dry her wings, she is ready to mate and 
lay eggs with which to start the cycle anew. All the growing and 
feeding is done in the larva or worm stage, and it is in this stage only 
that these insects are harmful. The moths feed only on dew and 
live but a few days, or long enough to lay the eggs with which they 
are already filled when they leave the cocoon. 
_ As there are several different species of these webworms, which 
vary somewhat in their habits, in their method of work, and in the 
means for their control, it will be best to discuss them separately. 
2i 6 2| Ss 
4! 
EET og eee lay itty mp nm ee tN ede) 
gl . \, 
Fig. 6.—Cocoons and pupe of the striped webworm. Slightly enlarged. (The rule 
shown is a centimeter rule; an inch is 23 centimeters.) 
CORNROOT WEBWORM:. 
The cornroot webworm, often known locally as the “ budworm” 
or “wireworm,” is by far the most injurious of the sod webworms 
attacking corn. Often some of the other species are associated with 
it, but in nearly every case where young corn is seriously injured by 
webworms the cornroot webworm may be charged with part of the 
trouble. It occurs from Pennsylvania to Iowa and southward to 
North Carolina and Tennessee and causes loss in some part of its 
range every year. In many sections where it occurs the farmers have 
grown to regard it as a necessary evil and anticipate having to re- 
plant at least part of the crop. 
The small worms pass the winter in the earth, often around the 
roots of some of the more common weeds, such as “stickweed” (Aster 
74 
1 Crambus caliginosellus Clem, 
