718 REPORT UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



Ilcmedics, — Among tlie more general preventive remedies, suggested 

 by Ilarris, are the" soaking of corn, before planting, in copperas-water, 

 and mixing salt \\\t\x the manure, though these are of less use than 

 plowing deep in the autumn so as to turn up the half grown worms, so 

 as to expose them to winter colds and insectivorous birds. When the 

 worms have begun their attacks, hand-picking, i. e., digging up the 

 worms which hide by day in the soil around the plant, is, of course, the 

 most efficacious remedy. An excellent jjlan is to make a deep hole, with 

 a stake, in the hills, down which trap the caterpillar is liable to ftill. 



WiKE-WoRMS. — Eating the roots of corn aud wheat, bard cyliudrical, rouud, reddish 

 Avornis, taperiug toward the head and tail, and changing into suapping-beetlcs. 



The roots of corn, wheat, and grasses are often injured to a lament- 

 able extent by wire-worms, the larvai of various species of snappiug-bee- 

 tles belonging to the family Ulatendoe. 



The Corn- Maggot, ^H^fiomi/ias'ca' Riley.— Gnawing seed-corn after it is planted ; a 

 maggot like the oniou-worni. 



This maggot has been found to injure seed-corn just after being 



jilanted, and to abound to 

 such an extent as to nearly 

 ruin whole coru-fiekls, as it 

 gnaws into the corn, finallj' 

 causing it to rot. When fully 

 fed they contract, forming 

 Fig. 9.— Corn- Maggot, a, larva, enlarged; 6, pupa- a barrel- shaped brown case 

 case ; c, corn injured by worms, natural size. (Fig. 8, 6), Within -whlch lies 



the ])upa, aud in a week after the flies appear. As a remedy, soak the 

 corn before planting in gas-tar or copperas- water. 



iMtva. — Closely resembling the maggot of the onion-fly ; yellowish-white ; blunt at 

 the posterior end aud pointed in front. It is about a quarter of an inch in length. 



Fly. — Head tawny iu front, with a brownish edge ; antenna; black ; face and orbits 

 brownish-white; thorax and abdomen pale yellow-brownish ash-colored; thorax with 

 an indistiuct middle stripe of brown ; legs black. Length one-fifth of au inch. — (Riley.\ 



The Corx-Weevil, Spheno2)l(orus :c(c. — Puncturing large holes in young corn near 

 the base of the stalk, before it has spindled, aud sometimes destroying whole fields of 

 younii corn. 



In the Practical Entomologist (vol. ii, p. 117, 18G7) the late Mr. Walsh 

 described this weevil, and gave an account of its ravages in the Middle 

 and Western States. Mr. Robert Howell, in Tioga County, New York, 

 was among the first to detect it, and under date of June 14, 18G9, he 

 ■writes me that " this is the fourth year they have infested the newly- 

 planted corn iu this vicinity. The inclosed specimens were taken on the 

 11th instant. I presume they have been in every hill of corn in my 

 field. They pierce the young corn in numerous places, so that each 

 blade has from one to six or eight holes the size of a pin or larger, aud 

 I found a number last Friday about an inch under ground, hanging to 

 young stalks with much tenacity. When very numerous, every stalk is 

 killed. Some fii Ids, two or three years ago, were wholly destroyed by 

 this insect." I have detected this insect at Hyannis, Mass., June 25. 



It is a rather large black weevil, with a long, narrow, subcylindrical 

 body, and with coarse gray punctures. The head is black, finely punc- 

 tured, with still more minute punctures on the beak. At the base of 

 the beak just between the eyes is a small oval pit. The beak is nearly 

 one-third as long as the bodj' ; it is curved downward, slightly com- 

 pressed, with the tip seen from above dilated slightly and triangular. 



