86 



eggs upon this instead of the corn. As early as 1858 an article to 

 this effect appeared in the November number of the "American 

 Cotton Planter," in which the writer says: 



"Now, Mr. Editor, my opinion is that I can trace the worms 

 from the corn-fields to the cotton-fields, though I may be mistaken 

 in this; but the first place that I can find the worm, the same 

 species, is in the corn-fields, in the roasting-ears. I have looked 

 ' and examined in every hole and corner to find where they made 

 their first appearance, and I can find them nowhere but in the corn- 

 fields. There they may be found in the roasting-ears." 



It is said that the Corn-worm or Boll-worm was unknown in the 

 Southern States previous to 1811. It was not till 1854 that it was 

 known that the two were identical, and then writers stated, as a 

 reason for finding the same worm in both plants, that the corn 

 matures with the first brood of worms, and hence the second and 

 third broods are to be found feeding upon the cotton-plants. North 

 of the section mentioned there are only two broods, with perhaps 

 only one in the northern limit of the corn belt. Where there is only 

 one brood, very few of the worms might be expected to be found, 

 as is the case, for a large number of the chrysalids must be killed 

 by freezing, from the accidental disintegration of their cells, by in- 

 sects getting into their cells and feeding upon them, and other 

 causes. The same causes are to be found working where there are 

 two broods, causing the early brood to be less numerous than the 

 late. 



The amount of damage done to the corn by this insect varies 

 with different seasons, some years but little ; during others the corn 

 over a considerable area may be so injured as to be of very little 

 value. The oft-quoted report from Kansas is a case that well rep- 

 resents sections large or small, during years when the insect is 

 numerous ; and as it is so good an illustration I will quote it here : 



"In 1880 — the y^r of the great drought in Kansas — the corn crop 

 in that State was almost entirely ruined by the Corn- worm. Ac- 

 cording to the ' Prairie Farmer ' of January 31, 1861, one county 

 there, which raised 436,000 bushels of corn in 1859, only produced 

 5,000 bushels of poor, wormy stuff in 1860 ; and this, we are told, 

 was a fair sample of most of the counties in Kansas. The damage 

 done was not by any means confined to the grain actually eaten by 

 the worm, but, as we are informed in the same excellent article 

 just now referred to, the ends of the ears of corn, when partially 

 devoured and left by this worm, afforded a secure retreat for hun- 

 dreds of small insects, which, under cover of the husk, finished the 

 work of destruction commenced by the worm, eating holes in the 

 grain or loosening them from the cob. A species of greenish-brown 

 mould or fungus grew likewise in such situations, it appearing that 

 the dampness from the exuded sap favored such a growth. Thus 

 decay and destruction rapidly progressed, hidden by the husk from 

 the eye of the unsuspecting farmer." — [Am. Ent., Vol. 2, p. 44. 



During the summer of 1877 I found it quite numerous in some 

 fields, but in others there were scarcely any. In my paper on Corn 

 Insects, in the State Entomologist's report for that year, I referred 

 to it as follows : 



