WHEAT-WORMS. 453 



Mr. John Curtis, in the fifth volume of the " Journal of the 

 Royal Agricultural Society of England" (pp. 477-481). 

 Though unable to rear any of these caterpillars, which al- 

 ways shrivelled up and died, Mr. Curtis, for reasons stated 

 by him, was impressed with the conviction that they were 

 produced by a moth called Noctua ( Oaradrina) cubicularis. 

 Our agricultural newspapers contain accounts of certain cat- 

 erpillars, much like the foregoing in appearance and in 

 habits, which devour the grains of wheat while growing 

 and after being harvested. Their transformations have not 

 been ascertained ; and, on account of the diminutive size 

 of these caterpillars, it remains uncertain whether they are 

 the offspring of any species of Noctua. Nevertheless, this 

 seems to be the most suitable place to record what has 

 been said and seen of them. They have been called wheat- 

 worms, gray worms, and brown weevils ; and, although these 

 different names may possibly refer to two or more distinct 

 species, I am inclined to believe that all of them are in- 

 tended for only one kind of insect. The name of grain- 

 worms has likewise sometimes been applied to them ; where- 

 by it becomes somewhat difficult to separate the accounts 

 of then- history and depredations from those of the wheat- 

 insect, called Cecidomyia Tritici. It may, however, very 

 safely be asserted, that the wheat-worm of the western part 

 of New York and of the northern part of Pennsylvania is 

 entirely distinct from the maggots of our wheat-fly, and that 

 it does not belong to the same order of insects. 



Mr. Willis Gaylord described this depredator as a kind 

 of caterpillar, or span-worm, from three to five eighths of 

 an inch long, of a yellowish-brown or butternut color, pro- 

 vided with twelve legs, and having the power of spinning 

 and suspending itself by a thread. He stated that it not 

 only fed on the kernel in the milky state, but also devoured 

 the germinating end of the ripened grain, without, however, 

 burying itself within the hull; and that it was found, in 

 great numbers, in the chaff, when the grain was threshed. 

 57* 



