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in -. REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 157 
“the night to dispose of eggs which I did not count, I could not determine the full 
number possible from a single individual, but from those counted and those par- 
tially formed in the ovary it seems perfectly safe to say that each female can deposit 
at least two hundred eggs. The eggs are yellowish-white, oval in shape, with usu- 
ally fifteen longitudinal ridges. Ina few instances [noticed more. When extruded 
they are held momentarily at the tip of the abdomen, giving them time to dry, so 
they do not adhere to any object upon which they drop, but before the extrusion 
of another egg are snapped sharply away by a contraction of the lips of the vulva, 
which appears to be armed with a row of minute bristles. Eggs in this way were 
thrown quite a distance, and when being deposited in grass would be sent well 
down among the dead leaves at the surface of the sod. Ina few cases I noticed 
one egg remain till the next was extruded, and the two would adhere slightly, but 
doubtless the natural extrusion is not so rapid as that induced by pressure. 
On June 11 the moths still shut up in my room had deposited eggs in greater num- 
-lers than the night before, and some of them confined in a glass jar had also depos- 
-ited many. 
- The eggs collected on June 10 hatched on June 18, and I infer that fertilization of 
the females had taken place previous to their flying to light. A point which I did 
not carefully determine is the proportion of males to females in those gathering to 
lizhts, but my impression is that the females were largely in excess. 
Some of these newly-hatched larve were placed ina jar with earth and fresh grass, 
others in a jar without earth, while still others were scattered over a small area 
of grass out of doors in a place convenient for observation. These last could not 
afterward be found at all and the grass showed no signs of their presence.- Being in 
avery dry location and the grass becoming badly dried up I suspect they did not ob- 
tain sufficient moist food to enable them to start their growth. The young larvee 
when supplied with fresh grass collected at the broken ends and fed with avidity. 
Their bodies, at first pale, became after feeding yellowish-green, the head and upper 
part of the first segment being black. On the 20th I noticed that one of the larvee had 
formed a tube by drawing together the edges of a blade of grass, while still 
others had gone under the earth at bottom of jar. Unfortunately, duties that could 
not be postponed prevented attention to these larve and a few days later they were 
all dead. One, however, had formed a basket-work attached to blades of grass. 
This had probably been formed as early as June 25. By the middle of July the 
larvee were becoming conspicuous by their ravages in corn, and subsequent obser- 
vations were made either directly in the field or upon larvee collected and confined. 
Notes for July 13 and i6 record larve numerous in part of one field of sod-corn 
confined to a portion of the field last plowed. As the time of plowing appeared to 
- be an important item I obtained, through the kindness of Mr. F. 5. Schoenleber, the 
exact dates of plowing of the fields planted to sod-corn. One field plowed 9th to 
11th of May contained no turf web-worms and no signs of their work. Another 
field had been plowed in part May 12, 13, 15, and 18. The remaining central por- 
tion was plowed on the 7th and 8th of June. The portion first plowed was entirely 
free from injury by worms, while the part last plowed was badly infested. The line 
of separation between that first plowed and that last plowed was in some places dis- 
tinctly indicated by the missing hills or damaged stalks, indicating the presence of 
worms. Itseems reasonably certain, therefore, that Crambus eggs were deposited 
on the central part in the grass before the sod was turned June 7 and 8, and the 
larvee hatching by the 15th to 18th of the month had no other resource than to attack 
the corn which came on shortly after. As already stated, Crambus adults were 
abundant June 7, and had doubtless been present in fewer numbers for several 
days, so there was opportunity for the eggs to be deposited on the grass land prior 
to the plowing June 7 and 8; while from the absence of worms in the other sod- 
corn it was evident that no eggs were laid on the ground plowed previous to the 
first of June. None have, with possibly one or tworeported exceptions, ever been 
found in corn-fields except when planted on sod. The exceptions, if referring to 
this species, may probably be accounted for in other ways than by assuming eggs 
to be laid on plowed land. 
In corn the young worms construct a web from half an inch to an inch below 
_ the surface of the ground, usually winding it irregularly among the roots and 
stalks of corn. Frequently a number of these worms occur in a single hill, but as 
a general rule only one or two are found well developed. Hills infested by these 
worms have the stalks when small cut partially or entirely off, sometimes, I judge, 
the upper portion being entirely devoured. Larger stalks have cavities gouged out 
of the sides at the surface of the ground and a little above. The leaves also are 
~ eaten at base and numerous holes scattered over the biade. Sometimes these holes 
are arranged with a peculiar regularity. occurring in transverse rows three to-five 
holes in each row, and the rows about the length of the worm apart. The stalks at 
