INSECTS INJURIOUS TO CORN. 151 



be sprayed with an arseuite, then cut, and bunches of it 

 scattered over the fields, as a jDoisoned bait, instead of the 

 bran mash, being cheaper and more easily prepared and 

 applied in large quantities. 



INJURING THE EAR. 



The Corn Ear-worm (HeliothU armiger Hubn.). 



Practically the only insect seriously injuring the ears of 

 field-corn, and the worst insect pest of sugar-corn, is the 

 Ear-worm. In the extreme South the growing of sugar- 

 corn successfully is almost an impossibility on account of 

 the injury done by these worms, while further north it 

 often reduces the profits by far too large an amount. 



This insect also does considerable damage to tomatoes 

 by boring into the green and ripening fruit, being known 

 as the '^Tomato Fruit-worm"; it bores into the "bud," 

 or unfolding leaves, of tobacco, being known to planters 

 as the '^Tobacco Bud-worm" (see page 218); and is also 

 one of the most serious j)ests of cotton (see page 201), 

 being called the ''Cotton Boll-worm " from its habit of 

 boring into the b)ll. It also has many other food-plants 

 and is a cosmopolitan insect, being found in many parts 

 of the world. 



Life-hi story. — In this latitude the moths appear during 

 May and deposit their eggs on corn or other food-plants, 

 such as beans. The eggs (Fig. 2) are small, yellow, cir- 

 cular, flattened disks, prettily corrugated by ridges radiat- 

 ing from the centre. They hatch in three or four days. 

 When deposited upon corn they are usuall}^ laid in the silk 

 or tassels. Upon hatching, the young worms, after feeding 

 upon the silk for a day or two, find their way down into 



