THE BLACK BILL-BUG OF CORN 39 



whitish, humpbacked grubs eating the pith he felt 

 that they had not only outwitted the corn but 

 himself also, and this hurt him very much. 



The little grubs were gluttons, eating all the pith 

 from that part of the stalk where they worked, leav- 

 ing only the outer woody wall of the stalk. This, 

 of course, cut off the flow of sap and killed the 

 plants. It was a dry season, and the attacks were 

 so deadly that much of the corn was killed even 

 after silking and tasseling. 



" This beats everything," 

 said Johnny ; "they played 

 it on me this time, but I am 



(After Kelly, Bur. Ent., U. S. Dept. Agr.) 



going to Watch them Closely FIG. 21. "They changed to 

 after this, and if they do the quiet or pupa stage." 



succeed in ' stealing another march on me/ it will 

 not be on account of my being asleep." 



Johnny did see their next move, but it was not 

 until they had become full-grown grubs. They 

 made little cells from chewed pith in the stalks and 

 in them they changed to the quiet or pupa stage. 

 Johnny had read about such things in his books, 

 but this was the first time he had ever seen it. 

 From these pupae the full-grown bill-bugs escaped. 

 Few of them came out of the stalks, and as winter 

 approached nine out of every ten beetles remained 

 in the stalks just as Johnny had found their parents 

 in the corn stubble last January. 



