GRUBS OR MAGGOTS INJURING STALK OR STEM 129 
the lower part of the burrow, about the level of the crown. The beetles 
hibernate in this position, in the uncut part of the stalk. Control 
of this species is secured by removal and destruction of the corn 
stubble, taking care to get the lower part of the plant with the remnant 
of stalk. 
Other species injure corn only as adults. Cavities are eaten in 
the stalk or through the crown, the punctures showing as the leaves 
unfold. One of these species passes its larval life as a grub in the bulb 
of timothy; another in wild sedges growing in wet ground. With 
these, to avoid injury it is necessary to refrain from planting corn on 
recently drained ground. If possible, such lands should be burned 
over. 
The Western Grass-stem Sawfly (Cephus occidentalis Riley and 
Marlatt) 
In the northwest, in recent years, wheat has been injured by the 
work of a grub that bores in the stem, causing the kernels to dwarf, 
and often causing the stem to break over close to the ground. The 
larva is three fourths of an inch long, yellowish white. The adult is a 
four-winged sawfly, its abdomen banded with yellow. 
Eggs are laid just below the head of the grain attacked. The grub 
bores down within the stem, girdles it from the inside not far above 
the ground, and remains below the girdle until the following spring, 
when the adults emerge. The native food plants are quack grass, 
wheat grass, brome grass, rye grass, and timothy. 
Remedial measures consist in keeping down the growth of native 
grasses around wheat, and in plowing the stubble in fall or early 
spring so as to kill the insects hiding within it or prevent emergence 
of the adults. 
The Joint-worm (Jsosoma tritict Fitch) 
The presence of joint-worm in wheat is nearly always accompanied 
by distortions or enlargements of the stem at the point where the 
grub is at work. Such parts become hardened, and are apt to come 
out with the grain at threshing. The heads of badly infested plants 
K 
