20t; SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 



to the fact that the silk grows irregularly, or continues longer green, and the 

 worms often eat off the silk before the kernel is fructified. 



Another insect infesting Indian corn at the South is called Si/lvanus 

 quadricoUis — a diminutive beetle, which hides between the grains, and 

 loosens them from the cob, devouring the germ first, and then the Avhite 

 starchy part of the kernel. These insects sometimes exist in vast numbers, 

 and are then very destructive. Sometimes they destroy the germ in such a 

 way that its absence is imperceptible, and that causes disappointment when 

 it is planted as seed. Kiln-drying is recommended when the corn is to be 

 used for food, but not for seed. Quick-lime is recommended, strewed among 

 the ears of corn in the crib. If put up with husks on, salt has proved 

 beneficial. 



There is another insect that troubles corn in the Southern States — the 

 corn-borer. Tliis is called a bill-bug, or corn-borer. It bores into the stalk 

 just at the surface of the earth, and deposits its eggs. The grub eats the sub- 

 stance of the stalk, aiul the transformation takes place in the cavity eaten 

 out, where the puj^a remains till spring, and then comes forth a beetle, in its 

 turn to deposit eggs in the young corn. 



These insects have been very destructive in Alabama and several other 

 Southern States, and, like many other pests, may gradually become acclimated 

 farther and farther north, till all the corn-growing region is infested. Farmers 

 should be on the look-out for these " borers," and also bear in mind that the 

 best remedy yet found is to pull up all corn-stalks, after harvest, and pile 

 and burn them. These insects are usually most troublesome in swamp lands. 



The larva of the angoumas moth is very destructive to corn, as well ns 

 wheat and other cereals, when s(ored ; and in the South, in the open field. 

 The grub is one fourth inch long in corn, and less in wheat. It spins a 

 cocoon in the cavity eaten out when it goes into the pupa state. From a 

 small round hole previously made, it emerges a moth, with long, narrow 

 wings, of a yellowish gray color, of satin-like luster, -fringed with long hairs. 

 The insects grown in maize are larger, though identical with the wheat in- 

 sects. This insect is not confined to warm latitudes, but is more troublesome 

 there than farther north. We have seen the moths swarming in myriads 

 about corn-houses and around wheat-stacks. The female lays from sixty to 

 ninety eggs, which hatch into minute white worms in four to six days, each 

 one of which makes a lodgment in a grain of corn, where it eats, and ma- 

 tures in three weeks ; so that two sets mature in one season, the pupa of the 

 second growth remaining in the grain till spring. 



It is said that this insect was first observed in North Carolina, about forty 

 years ago. Tliey M-ill fly into a candle sometimes, in a granary, in such 

 numbers as to extinguish the light, and doubtless could be destroyed by fire 

 to a great extent. Smear a cask with one head, on the inside, with tar or 

 molasses, and place a light in it, and you will catch quantities of the moths. 



Where they abound, it is advisable to store corn unhusked ; and salt is 

 also useful, sprinkled in as the corn is put in the crib, just as hay is salted. 



