INSECTS INJURIOUS TO CELERY, PARSNIPS, ETC. 



[87 



be profitable to turn in hogs or chickens. Crop rotation and 

 other white-grub remedies should be practiced. 



The Parsnip Webworm (Depressaria heracliana DeG.).— The 

 parsnip webworm is injurious to the seed of parsnip, but for 

 some reason, at least in the experience of the writer, prefers 

 the wild carrot as a breeding plant. The moth is grayish buff, 

 or pale ochraceous. with the fore-wings marked with fuscous 

 (fig. 120, c). The larva is pale yellow, greenish or bluish gray, 

 marked with black, piliferous spots, and with bluish black head 



Fig. 120.— Parsnip webworm. a, MoTh; b. c, caierpillars: (^.chrysalis: e anal segment 

 of same: /. umbel of parsnip, webbed together by caterpillar, a e. Enlarged; /, some- 

 what reduced. (After Riley ) 



and thoracic plate, as figured (0, b). The species is of general 

 occurrence through the northern portions of Europe and our 

 Atlantic States and Canada westward to Michigan. Wild 

 carrot and parsnip, which are altogether too abundant in fields 

 throughout that section, yield it a sufficiency of food and in some 

 years it is difficult to find these weeds that are not affected 

 by the webworm. The larvae weave the flower heads (/) 

 together until these are contracted into masses, with abundant 

 excrement as a covering. Within the domicile thus formed the 

 larvae dwell. After they have consumed the flowers and unripe 



