MISCELLANEOUS GARDEN INSECTS 



417 



The Parsnip Webworm * 



The Parsnip Webworm is quite a common pest of the forming 

 seed of the parsnip, but fortunately it seems to prefer wild carrot 

 as a breeding plant. It is an imported species, occurring in north- 

 ern Europe, which was first observed in this country in 1873 and 

 since then has become generally distributed over the Northern 

 States and Canada westward to the Mississippi. 



The moth is a grayish-buff or pale ochreous color, marked with 

 fuscous, the wings expanding about three-quarters of an inch. 

 The larva is a pale yellowish, greenish or bluish-gray, with con- 



FIG. 301. The parsnip webworm (Depressaria heracliana De G.): a, moth; 

 b, c, larvae; d, pupa; e, anal extremity of pupa; /, umbel of parsnip 

 webbed together by the larva; natural size. (After Riley.) 



spicuous black tubercles, the head and prothoracic shield black, 

 and is about half an inch long when grown. The larvae web the 

 flower-heads together until they are contracted into masses of 

 web and excrement as shown in the illustration. " After the 

 larvae have consumed the flowers and unripe seeds and become 

 nearly full grown, they enter the hollow stems of the plant by bur- 

 rowing their way inside, generally at the axils of the leaves, and 

 then feed upon the soft, white lining of the interior. Here, inside 

 the hollow stem, they change to the pupa state. The larvae are 



* Depressaria heracliana DeG. 

 " Insect Life," Vol. I, p. 94. 



Family (Ecophoridae. See C. V. Riley, 



