74 REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST I92I 



frequent and serious injury to garden and field crops. The larvae of 

 this comparatively unknown form were received May 28, 1919, 

 from William Russell of Ballston who stated that they appeared to 

 be feeding on the grasses or weeds in the corn hills though they 

 were not found in corn. Another lot was forwarded June i8th 

 from Harry C. Morse, county agricultural agent, Gloversville, 

 accompanied by the statement that they were eating the corn off 

 at the surface of the ground and that a considerable number of the 

 pests were found under sod which had not rotted. There were in 

 this sending a few specimens of a more common cut worm though 

 most of them were d u b i t a n s larvae. 



These larvae or cutworms differed so much from the better 

 known pests that at first they were supposed to be a species of 

 Gortyna, possibly the hop vine borer. The rearing of moths July 

 14th established the true identity of these peculiar larvae which are 

 described below: 



Larva. Length when at rest 3 cm. Head and thoracic shield 

 light brown to black, body a shining fuscous yellow or dull purplish, 

 stout with rather coarse setae having a length one-third the width 

 of the body. The submedian tubercles on the thoracic segments, 

 both the anterior and posterior pair, are more or less coalescent. 

 The anterior fold bears two transverse, slender, nearly approximate 

 tubercles while on the posterior fold there are submedian groups 

 of two large ovate tubercles one just laterad of the other. An 

 annulation between the two segments bears rudimentary tubercles 

 much like those of the anterior fold. Sublaterally on the major fold 

 there is a large circular tubercle, just below that a smaller tubercle 

 and just below the spiracular line there are two large, subcircular 

 tubercles, one almost behind the other, and just below the anterior 

 and larger of the two there is a smaller circular tubercle. The sub- 

 median tubercles on the anterior fold of the abdominal segments are 

 separated by a distance decidedlv greater than the diameter of the 

 tubercle, those on the posterior fold with the inner margin laterad 

 or nearly so of the lateral margin of the tubercle on the anterior 

 fold. A large, unisetose tubercle occurs just above the spiracle, a 

 minor one a little anterior and slightly above the spiracle, a medium- 

 sized one posterior of the spiracle and directly ventrad of the 

 spiracle is a large, unisetose tubercle. The submedian tubercles on 

 the posterior fold of the eleventh bodv segment are separated from 

 each other by a distance less than their transverse diameter. Sur- 

 anal plate large, the anterior margin slightly excavated, the lateral 

 margins rounded to a somewhat pronounced lateral angle. Ven- 

 trally, there is also a moderately large, unisetose tubercle at or near 

 the base of each leg. 



Spindle worm (Achatodes zeae Harr.) . A great interest 

 in corn insects the past season has led to a closer scrutiny of corn 



