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of stalk borer under consideration which will serve as a fair sample of this group. 
The moth (fig. 2, a) is medium brown in color, and marked as shown. The young 
larva is quite peculiar in having the first three or four abdominal segments suffused 
in such a manner as to give the insect the appearance of being diseased (see b). The 
larva when mature has more or less the appearance shown at c, which, however, will 
answer almost equally well for other species of the genus. Careful comparative study 
is necessary in order to establish the differences between these species in their larval 
stages. An abdominal segment of Hydrecia nitela in the larval stage is shown at d 
(fig. 2), while at e is shown the female pupa or chrysalis. This insect was reported 
during 1901, by Mr. F. M. Webster, as having done much injury to wheat and carnations 
in portions of Ohio. It is to be regretted that several other species are undoubtedly — 
confused with this insect because of their great similarity in the larval stages. The 
writer, as well as Mr. Pergande, of this office, has reared the moth from the stalks of 
common pigweed (Ambrosia trifida), and there is no doubt of Harris’s record of injury 
by this species to corn. It is credited with having done injury to the stalks of tomato, 
spinach, cauliflower, eggplant, pepper, dahlia, aster, lily, spireea, salvia, thistle, 
milkweed, pigweed, ragweed, smartweed, cocklebur, and castor bean; and to the 
twigs of blackberry, currant, apple, and peach, as well as to wheat and corn. 
RECENT INJURY. 
During 1897 Messrs. Kirkpatrick & Son, Connor, Wyandotte 
County, Kans., sent specimens of the larve of this weevil in potato 
stems, writing July 2 that about one-fourth of the vines at that place 
were affected, and other fields looked to be over half destroyed. 
Larvx were found in vines that looked to be perfectly healthy. To 
find the insects it was necessary to pull the vine and split it open. 
September 8 of the same year specimens of this species were received 
from Mr. George W. Pickering, Wayne, Du Page County, Ill., with 
the statement that they had been found inside the stalks of potato. 
In 1898 Mr. Pickering again sent specimens, July 5 and 30, of larvee 
in the stalks. Some presented foliage partly dead, while others which 
were also inhabited by this insect showed no evidence of infestation. 
Some hills of potato yielded but few tubers, while others contained 
anormal yield. It was noted that the infested stalks generally pull 
easily and break off just below the surface. They appeared rather 
rusty as a rule, and some had what appeared to be a’ fungus-like 
excrescence at the bottom of the stalk. 
During 1900 Mr. Samuel Carter, Philadelphia, Pa., sent larvee 
within the stalks of potato, with accompanying information, under date 
of August 15, that this species infested the whole potato crop of that 
vicinity. He expressed the opinion that the crop was an entire failure, 
the yield being just about one-eighth of what it should have been. 
During 1901 a single report of injury by this potato stalk weevil 
reached this oftice. This was made in December by Mr. James Egan, 
Albany, Nebr., who stated that the potato crop in Sheridan County 
had been nearly ruined by this insect. Mr. G. W. Pickering, who 
reported injuries in Illinois in 1897 and 1898, stated that since that 
