16 

 THE CORN WORM. 



Heliothis armiger (Hbn.). 



This pest has for several seasons past been common in Barnstable 

 County, and during the past year was injurious to a marked extent 

 in the towns about Boston. It is not exclusively a corn insect, 

 attacking as it does, a great variety of plants, but in this State it is 

 seldom injurious except to corn and tomatoes. 



Fig. 8.— The Corn Worm. 

 a, Egg, side view; b, egg, top view, both greatly enlarged; c, caterpillar; d, pupa 

 in the cocoon; c, uioth with the wings spread; /, motli with tlie wings closed, 

 natural size. (After Riley.) 



The eggs (Fig. 8, a and b) are laid singly on various parts of the 

 food plant, and require less than a week to hatch. They are yellowish- 

 white in color and nearly globular. The caterpillar when fully grown 

 (Fig. 8, c) in about an inch and a half in length and one-quarter of 

 an inch in diameter. There is little uniformity in color among 

 different individuals, varying as they do from dark brown to light 

 green. Usually the body is striped with darker shades of the general 

 color, and has several white lines on the sides. However inconstant 

 the markings, certain small, shining spots, each crowned by a hair, 

 are always present. These are generally black, and eight occur on 

 the back of most of the segments. 



