112 FARM FRIENDS AND FARM FOES 



hatch into small caterpillars that commonly hunt until they 

 find the end of a young ear of corn, where they feed upon 

 the green tassels and gradually burrow beneath the husks, 

 eating both tassels and young kernels as they proceed. 

 When once beneath the protection of the outer husks, they 

 remain until they become full grown. They are then a 

 little over an inch long. Each makes a round hole through 

 the husk and enters the soil below the plant, where within 

 an oval cell it changes to a pupa. Some time later it 

 again changes to an adult moth. 



The life history of the insect when it feeds upon cotton 

 is very similar, except that the young cotton bolls are at- 

 tacked instead of the ears of corn. An interesting fact in 

 regard to the species is that in the more northern regions 

 this insect does not seem to be able to survive the winter 

 in any stage. Consequently, it is believed that most of 

 the injury there done each season is caused by moths that 

 fly northward from the south. 



The Larger Cornstalk-borer, which is also known as the 

 Sugarcane-borer, is one of the most generally destructive 

 insects in the Southern states. Early in spring, about the 

 time the young corn plants are four or five inches high, a 

 rather small moth appears in the fields and lays eggs upon 

 the leaves of the young corn plants. These eggs soon hatch 

 into small caterpillars that burrow into the stalk until they 

 reach the pith. Then they begin feeding upon this pith, 

 usually burrowing upward. They continue to feed and 

 grow for several weeks, often coming out of the original 

 plant and burrowing into a neighboring one. About mid- 

 summer, they become full grown in the larval state. Then 

 they change to pupae inside the tunnels within the corn- 

 stalks, to emerge a fortnight later as adult moths. 



These moths lay eggs for a second generation of cater- 



