REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST 1914 6? 



mation, more than sufficient to cover the cost of the treatment 

 and for the present, at least, we would advocate a continuance of 

 the spraying without regard to parasites. These insects, if they 

 are destined to have an important effect upon their hosts, will 

 gradually become more abundant in the smaller, unsprayed orchards, 

 and here we may expect them to render the most effective service, 

 since it is relatively more costly and difficult for the owner of a few 

 trees to spray. 



GRASS AND GARDEN INSECTS 



Grass webworms (Crambus luteolellus Clem.). Last 

 June several complaints of severe injury accompanied by specimens 

 were received from F. H. Lacy, agent of the Dutchess county farm 

 bureau. The larvae were identified as the above-named species, 

 and upon examination it was found that they had practically de- 

 stroyed 2 5 per cent of the crop in a two-acre field, the damage being 

 most evident on the lighter knolls. There was also serious injury 

 reported from Pine Plains. 



Grass webworms live by preference upon grasses and ordinarily 

 their depredations in cultivated fields are limited to portions adjacent 

 to mowings or pastures. The parent moths fly but a short dis- 

 tance as a rule, generally alighting within a rod or two. The eggs 

 are dropped indiscriminately on the ground, the young caterpillars 

 feed for a time, winter about the roots of grasses in a half -grown 

 condition and then complete their development the following June. 

 Occasionally as many as thirty caterpillars may be found in one 

 hill of corn, mostly at the base of the stalks, and under such con- 

 ditions a crop is out of the question. The full-grown larvae are 

 dull whitish or purplish with a darker head and attain a length of 

 about three-fourths of an inch. 



This species may be distinguished from associated forms by the 

 darker markings of its yellowish head, the approximate submedian 

 tubercles of the abdominal segments with their inner margins trun- 

 cate and the peculiar projection of the suprastigmatal tubercle 

 obliquely below and behind the spiracle. A detailed description 

 is given below. 



Larva. Length 1.5 cm. Head a yellowish amber, mottled wim 

 brown, the thoracic shield fuscous yellowish and the body a light 

 grayish yellow with slightly darker tubercles. 



The mottling of the head is irregular and varies from light to 

 dark brown, there being a tendency toward the formation of irregular, 

 rectangular spots. Laterally the head is ornamented with rather 

 3 



