64 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



because of injury caused at Stone Ridge, Ulster county, and last 

 summer it Vv-as brought to notice on account of damage in a corn 

 field near Chenango Bridge, Broome county. In this latter instance, 

 more than one-half of the com appeared to be infested with the pest. 

 There is also a possibility, however, that in some fields the work of 

 grass web worms may have been confused with that of this insect. 



Comparatively little is known regarding the life history and habits 

 of the lined corn borer. The moths appear the latter half of July 

 or in early August. It is probable that the partly grown caterpillars 

 winter in the sod much as do those of a number of other noctuids, 

 as well as the frequently associated grass webworms. When the 

 presumably natural food, grass, is destroyed, these caterpillars, like 

 the grass webworms, turn to whatever may be at hand and may there- 

 fore seriously injure corn. There is a fuller account of this insect 

 in New York State Museum Bulletin 175. 



Measures of value against grass webworms should be equally 

 effective in checking this less known pest. 



Stalk borer (Papaipema nitela Guen.). The stalk borer 

 works in young com very much as the lined corn borer. It is easily 

 distinguished from all other corn-boring insects by the character- 

 istic caterpillar about an inch long and strongly marked with pur- 

 plish brown and five white stripes, one down the middle of the back 

 and two on each side, the latter wanting near the middle of the body, 

 due to a blotchlike extension of the purplish brown. This gives the 

 active moving caterpillar the appearance of having been injured. 



The moths emerge in late summer, leaving a pupal case in the 

 burrow, a condition not true from fall to spring of corn infested by 

 the European corn borer. The burrows of the stalk borer are larger 

 than those of the European com borer. 



This native pest not only injures corn but is frequently found in 

 a number of thick-stalked plants, specially potatoes, tomatoes and 

 dahlias. The borer is a local pest and its operations are mostly 

 confined to the outer rows in cultivated fields or to those weedy the 

 preceding season. Clean and thorough cultivation is a most effective 

 control measure. Cutting and crushing or burning wilting tips is 

 also of service. 



Com ear worm (Chloridea obsoleta Fabr.) . This pest 

 is the cotton boll worm and the tobacco bud worm of the south. 

 It is also known as the tomato fruit worm. It is a southern species 

 which ranges north and feeds upon a considerable variety of garden 

 crops and is best known in the north because of the caterpillars' 

 work in green corn. They enter the tips of the ears, specially those 



