112 THE PESTS OF THE FARM. 



inch, or more, and to the thickness of a goose-quill. It is smooth, 

 and apparently naked, yellowish, with the head, the top of the first 

 and of the last rings black, and with a band across each of the 

 other rings, consisting of small, smooth, slightly elevated, shining 

 black dots, arranged in a double row. The chrysalis, which is 

 lodged in the burrow formed by the spindle-worm, is slender, but 

 not quite so long in proportion to its thickness as are those of most 

 of the ISTonagrians. It is shining mahogany-brown, with the ante- 

 rior edges of four of the rings of the back roughened with little 

 points, and four short spines or hooks, turned upwards, on the 

 hinder extremity of the body. The fore-wings are rust-red ; they 

 are mottled with gray, almost in bands, uniting with the ordinary 

 spots, which are also gray and indistinct ; there is an irregular 

 tawny spot near the tip, and on the veins there are a few black 

 dots. The hind-wings are yellowish gray, with a central dusky 

 spot, behind which are two faint, dusky bands. The head and 

 thorax are rust-red, with an elevated tawny tuft on each. The ab- 

 domen is pale brown, with a row of tawny tufts on the back. The 

 wings expand nearly one inch and a half. 



In order to check the ravages of these insects they must be de- 

 stroyed while in the caterpillar state. As soon as our corn-fields 

 begin to show, by the withering of the leaves, the usual signs that 

 the enemy is at work in the stalks, the spindle-worms should be 

 sought for and killed ; for, if allowed to remain undisturbed until 

 they turn to moths, they will make their escape, and we shall not 

 be able to prevent them from laying their eggs for another brood 

 of these pestilent insects. 



CUT WORMS. Numerous complaints have been made of the 

 ravages of cut-worms among corn, wheat, grass, and other vegeta- 

 bles, in various parts of the country. These insects and their his- 

 tory are not yet known to some of the very persons who are said 

 to have suffered from their depredations. . Various cut-worms, or 

 more properly subterranean caterpillars, wire- worms and grub- 

 worms, or the young of May-beetles, are often confounded together 

 or mistaken for each other ; sometimes their names are inter- 

 changed, and sometimes the same name is given to each and all of 

 these different animals. Hence the remedies that are successful in 

 some instances are entirely useless in others. The name of cut- 

 worm seems originally to have been given to certain caterpillars 

 that live in the ground about the roots of plants, but come up in 

 the night, and cut off and devour the tender stems and lower leaves 



