5) 
descended to the lower part of the stalk, tunnel in the pith. (See 
fig. 3.) If the larve are at all numerous in the stalk, their burrows 
so weaken the plant that any unusual strain will lay it low and 
destroy all chance of its maturing. While frequently ten or more 
larve may live and mature in one plant, it must be remembered that 
Fic. 2.—Work of larger corn stalk-borer, showing mutilation of leaves of corn by larve. 
Greatly reduced. (Original.) 
any infestation, however light, will lessen in some degree the vitality 
of the plant and cause a corresponding loss in the quality and quan- 
tity of the harvest. 
HABITS OF THE LARVE. 
Immediately upon leaving the egg in spring, the young larva of 
the first generation, spinning a silken thread behind it, wanders 
down into the throat of the plant as far as the water or dew usually 
standing there will allow it to go, and begins to feed on the leaves, 
going back and forth through the yet unfolded clusters and soon 
riddling the more tender leaves with aimless burrows. If the bur- 
row reaches the tender terminal bud where the future joints are 
being formed, further growth at that point ceases and the plant be- 
comes stunted and misshapen, with no tassel. As the plant continues 
to mature, the larva “ grows out,” as the farmers say. It is more 
[Cir. 116] 
