56... NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 
frequently quite destructive in that section to corn. Occasionally 1t 
becomes somewhat abundant and injurious in New York State. 
Dr Lintner in his first report records this insect as being quite 
abundant and destructive to corn in Ontario county and its prob- 
able occurrence at the same time in the vicinity of Albany. Six 
years ago this insect was somewhat abundant in the vicinity of 
New York city, complaint of injuries having been received from 
Mt Vernon. 
The operations of this species in the North are confined mostly 
to corn and tomatoes, the major portion of the damage being 
inflicted in the late summer or fall. This latter was true of in- 
juries reported from Shelter Island, the caterpillars being brought 
to notice about the middle of October. The damage at Mt Vernon 
in 1902 did not occur until the latter part of August. The cater- 
pillar of this species is extremely variable in color, ranging from 
a light green with reddish brown marks on the side to a darkish 
green, brown or even nearly black caterpillar with a variable 
whitish lateral line. It closely resembles in general appearance 
some of our common cutworms, being stout, and when full grown 
is an inch or more in length. The caterpillars begin their opera- 
tions near the tip of the ear, eating down between the husks and 
making irregular frass-filled galleries over the face of the green 
cob, destroying a considerable proportion of the corn and defiling 
most of the remainder. Occasionally this species is quite de- 
structive to tomatoes, on account of its eating rather large holes 
into the ripening fruit. 
The pest can be controlled in the North only by recourse to hand 
picking. This measure will be particularly valuable at the incip- 
iency of the attack, since ears which have been injured somewhat 
are more attractive to the insect than those protected by tightly 
folded husks. Care should also be exercised when removing 
caterpillars from recently infested ears to replace the husks so far 
as possible and thus reduce the chances of reinfestation. 
White ants (Termes flavipes Koll.). It is not often 
that these insects are recorded as injurious in New York State, 
though they are undoubtedly present in many dwellings, particu- 
larly in the southern part of the State and occasionally inflict serious 
injury. Our attention was called last winter to the operations of 
white ants in the storage vaults of a New York city printing 
company. The vaults were filled with electrotypes and halftones 
