INSECTS ATTACKING WHEAT. 37 



ter not only kills the living Wheat-straw Worms which escaped 

 the attacks of the parasites, but it does not destroy the helpful 

 parasites. 



Kansas Notes. In 1885 Professor Snow reported this insect as 

 inflicting serious depredations upon wheat in McPherson, Morris, 

 Osborne, Ottawa and Saline counties. (Monthly Report Kan- 

 sas Board of Agriculture for June, 1885.) The pest is spoken of 

 in this report as a "new-comer to the State of Kansas." In a 

 brief reference to the insect in the report of the Kansas Board 

 of Agriculture for the quarter ending December 31, 1885, Pro- 

 fessor Snow credits Warren Knaus, of McPherson, an entomolo- 

 gist of repute, with saying, "that according to his observation 

 fully one-half of the larvae and pupae of this Wheat-worm have 

 been destroyed by this parasite, a species of the genus Ptero- 

 malus." 



In a bulletin of this Department, issued in February, 1892, 

 observations on the presence of this pest in Kansas in 1891 are 

 presented. The insect was quite prevalent in central and west- 

 ern Kansas, Barton, Russell, Osborne, Rice, Ellsworth, Rush and 

 Lincoln counties being especially infested. 



Doubtless much damage is annually done to the wheat crop of 

 Kansas by this insect ; a considerable part of which damage is 

 popularly accredited to the Hessian Fly. 



WHEAT-HEAD ARMY- WORM. 



(Leucania albilinea Guen; Order, Lepidoptera.) 



Diagnosis. The kernels of wheat are eaten out of the heads, 

 leaving a head of chaff. The ground at the foot of the plants is 

 frequently covered with chaff. A brown and pale-yellow cater- 

 pillar, about one inch long, feeding on the heads at night. 



Description and Life-history. The adult form of this ineect is 

 a yellowish and white moth, expanding about 1 inches; front 

 wings, pale straw ; hind wings, satiny-white. The larva or cater- 

 pillar, in which form the insect commits its depredations, is, when 

 full-grown, rather more than an inch in length ; colors, pale yel- 

 low and brown ; along the back there is a brown median line ; on 



