THE INSECT WORLD. 



condition. Early in spring, if the ground remains undisturbed, 

 the moths, which are of a dull clay-yellow, with indistinct mark- 

 ings on the fore-wings, and expand from one and one-half to two 

 inches, make their appearance and lay eggs upon such plants as 

 they cai^nd. Early tomatoes are favorites, and, following them, 

 peas are infested. The caterpillars bore at first into the stems 

 of the tomatoes, but always attack the fruit as soon as it has set. 

 The earHest tomatoes are thus frequently ruined, and as these 

 usually have the greatest market value, the actual money injury 

 is out of all proportion to the quantity of fruit destroyed. Sweet 

 corn is next attacked, and the earlier it is the more abundant will 

 the insects be found in it. Last of all field corn is taken, and 

 this remains infested until it becomes hard and glazed, the cater- 

 pillars being able to make their way through and feed upon the 

 perfectly ripe kernel. Fortunately, they are great cannibals, and 

 where several infest a single ear of corn they fight until one alone 

 remains. On tomatoes the insects cannot be satisfactorily treated, 

 except by picking and destroying the infested fruit as soon as it 

 is noticed, and the only practical means of keeping them in 

 check is fall ploughing all corn-fields. It has been found by ex- 

 periment and by practical experience that ploughing in the fall 

 and breaking up the earthen cells in which the pupae rest will in 

 almost every instance result in their death, and this process alone 

 offers a fair opportunity for controlling the pest. 



There follow in the natural series a great number of small spe- 

 cies, some of them very bright and pretty, many with interesting 

 life histories, but none of practical importance from the economic 

 stand-point. They are in turn followed by a series of larger 

 species with broad wings and dull colors, the secondaries fre- 

 quently crossed with lines much as in the primaries. The cater- 

 pillars are half-loopers in most cases, and bear a very strong 

 resemblance to the "span-worms." The most common of the 

 species belonging here are the clover moths, Drasteria erechtea 

 and D. crassiuscula, which are so nearly alike that they have 

 been confused in collections, and we need not trouble to separate 

 them. Both are broad-winged, dirty gray or brown in color, 

 with two more or less marked blackish or brown bands on the 

 fore-wings, and a series of little black dots before the apex. The 

 female is much more modest in color than the male, and the 



20 



