REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST 1918 27 
fields. The total infested area at the close of that season was approxi- 
mately 400 square miles while data now at hand indicate some 1800 
square miles infested in the eastern part of Massachusetts, extending 
from the Cape north to New Hampshire and including three of the 
southeastern towns in that state. 
An infestation was discovered at Scotia, Schenectady county, 
January 29, 1919,! and subsequent investigations showed the borer 
to be somewhat generally established over an area of possibly 500 
square miles, including portions of Albany, Schenectady, Schoharie, 
Herkimer, Fulton, Saratoga and Rensselaer counties and extending 
from a little east of Troy westward to Fort Hunter, north nearly to 
Saratoga and south to Esperance. The presence of the insect on 
the Mohawk flats is a serious phase of the problem since these areas 
are annually flooded and as a consequence infested stalks may be 
swept down the river and deposited along the extensive shore line 
of this water way. 
An infestation in Erie county was located in September 1919, and 
subsequent examinations have shown this borer to occupy an area 
of possibly some 400 square miles in portions of Cattaraugus, Chau- 
tauqua and Erie counties, the insect having been found from a little 
east of Buffalo south and southwest to Gowanda and Fredonia. 
There was also an infestation reported in September of the same 
year in Erie county, Pennsylvania. This latter appears to be con- 
fined to a very small area. 
European history. This pest has an unsavory record in Europe, 
being reported as frequently causing a loss of 50 per cent to corn and 
hemp in central Europe. It is recorded as being widely distributed 
in central and southern Europe, west central and northern Asia, 
China and Japan. This latter leads us to expect that this pest 
can flourish throughout our extensive corn belt. 
Work in corn. The caterpillars of this pest feed upon corn leaves 
to a slight extent, injure the tassels, tunnel the stalks and cobs (plate 
1) and feed upon the corn itself (plate 2). Their work, followed 
by the invasion of moisture, bacteria and fungi may easily result in 
the nearly complete destruction of the entire crop. Field counts 
last season in Massachusetts by federal and state agents resulted 
in finding 100 per cent of the ears infested in a quarter of an acre of 
sweet corn and an examination of badly infested areas showed an 
average of 46 caterpillars toa plant, or approximately 1,050,000 to an 
tOwing to the delay in printing this report, it was considered advisable to 
bring this record of distribution down to the end of 1919, 
