CLOVER CULTURE. 



131 



that this explains the rapid distribution of this insect. This 

 emphasizes the importance of farmers procuring their seed, 

 wherever it is possible, from the growers and from men of 

 well known reputation whose fields have not been infected by 

 the insect. 



Another clover pest, well known in the East, and which 

 has become somewhat common as far west as Iowa, is the 

 clover-seed caterpillar, (grapholipha inteistinctana, Clemens.) 

 These caterpillars now seem to be quite widely distributed, 

 having- first appeared in New York, Pennsylvania, Washing- 

 ton and Michigan prior to 1885. They were first noticed in 

 very great numbers at Ames, Iowa, the last of May, 1891. 

 The following description is ta- 

 ken mainly from Bulletin No. 14, 

 Iowa Experiment Station, Au- 

 gust, 1891. The moths increased 

 from the time they were first ob- 

 served until the 3d of June, and 

 on the 25th of June an examina- 

 tion of one hundred and seventy- 

 seven heads showed ninety-one 

 heads infested by the caterpil- 

 lars of the moth and eighty-six 

 not infested. At this time many 

 larvae were full gro,wn and some 

 were spinning their cocoons. 

 The hay was cut at this date and 

 an examination of forty-eight 

 clover heads taken from scattered bunches showed two-thirds 

 of them infested, while of forty-two heads from a different 

 field, cut two days earlier, only three were found infested. The 

 accompanying illustration, original with the Iowa Experi- 

 mental Station, will enable our readers to identify this pest; 

 a represents the larva, or caterpillar; #, the pupa, or larva 

 undergoing its transformation to a moth; c, the moth, all 

 these greatly magnified, while d represents the moth in its 

 natural state. > The larvae are dirty white and the pupae a light 

 brown, while the moths are small, brown and often nearly 

 black, with white lines and dots marking the wings. The 

 larvae are about one-fourth of an inch long, while the moths 

 are from one-third to two-fifths of an inch, with wings ex- 

 panded. The damage done by this insect is by eating into the 

 florets or small flowers, of which the clover head is composed, 

 and later into the seed vessels of the florets, causing the flow- 

 ers to dry up and the seeds to shell from their receptacles like 

 chaff. Inasmuch as the track of the larvce is uniformly from 



THE CLOVER-SEED CATEKPILLAB. 



