288 
It has spread quite rapidly in Massachusetts since it was first dis- 
covered, and at present an area of about nineteen hundred square miles 
in the eastern part of the state is known to be infested, together with a 
few towns just over the line in New Hampshire. In New York there 
is an infestation of several hundred square miles in the vicinity of 
Schenectady, and a still larger area in the western part of the state in the 
counties bordering Lake Erie. 
INJURIES 
In Europe this insect periodically causes serious losses of corn, hops, 
millet, and hemp, and is known to feed on many other plants. There are 
records of destruction of 50 per cent. of these crops during years when 
the borers were abundant. 
In this country the insect is already known to feed on over a hun- 
dred different plants, including nearly all of our cultivated crops. Corn 
is apparently preferred to all other plants, and is the most seriously 
damaged. The larva feeds on all parts of the plant above ground, in- 
cluding the leaves, stalk, tassel, stem of the ear, and ear. As many as 
117 borers have been found in a single stalk of corn, and 15 in a single 
ear. 
From our present knowledge of this insect, it is one of the most 
destructive which has ever been brought into this country, and seems 
capable of greater injury to corn than any of our native species. 
Lire History 
The corn-borer passes the winter in the stems of its food plants as 
a nearly full-grown caterpillar. Nearly all the caterpillars remain in 
the stem above ground, but they are sometimes found below the surface 
where the larger parts of the stall extend into the ground. They remain 
in a dormant condition until the weather becomes warm in spring, when 
a small percentage of them feed a little on the dry plants in which they 
passed the winter. All shortly change to the pupal or resting stage, and 
in the vicinity of Boston emerge as moths about May 15. The moths/ 
have a wing expanse of a little over an inch, with yellow or yellowish 
red wings (Fig. 1) marked by irregular dark lines. They live from six 
to thirty-five days, and after mating the females deposit their eggs in 
small irregular masses, cemented together,-on the leaves of their food 
plants (Fig. 2). Each mass contains from five to fifty or more glisten- 
ing white eggs. Each moth lays from two hundred to eight hundred 
eggs, the number laid by moths of the first generation being somewhat 
smaller than that of the second. The eggs hatch in from five to ten days. , 
The small caterpillars feed externally for a short time and then enter 
the stems and the larger parts of the leaves (Fig: 3). They complete 
their growth in from thirty-five to sixty days, pupate in their food plants, 
and, in Massachusetts, emerge again as moths during July and August. 
These lay their eggs in the same manner as the first generation, and the 
