THE LESSER CORN STALK-BORER. 7 
as shown in Plate I, figure 2, no trace of plants could be found when 
the photograph was taken, the larvae having killed them outright when 
young. Those that did survive were much dwarfed and rendered 
practically worthless, and in most instances were devoid of central 
stems. 
In the latter part of April, 1913, fields of small corn near Lakeland, 
Fla., were being attacked and ruined by these larvae, about 10 per 
cent of the plants exhibiting evidences of injury at this time. The 
plants continued to die for about 10 days, at the end of which time 
in some portions of the fields fully 90 per cent were dead and the 
stand everywhere was poor. The parts of the fields most lacking in 
humus suffered the greatest injury. During the same year con- 
siderable damage was done to cowpeas in fields near Columbia, S. C, 
the soil in the infested fields being very gravelly and in some places 
composed of almost pure sand. The injured plants, at the time of 
the discovery, were wilting, which made it appear as though they 
were suffering from want of moisture. At one place this species, 
together with Diatraea zeacolella Dyar, destroyed the greater part 
of a 7-acre field of corn. 
In 1914 about 2 acres of corn (PI. I, fig. 1), in a field on the State 
farm near Columbia, S. C, was damaged very severely by the larvae. 
In many instances the plants were apparently killed outright when 
young, as in the case of the sorghum previously mentioned. Those 
that recovered were very much dwarfed, became one-sided, and 
gave rise to a number of suckers. The soil in this infested area is 
composed almost entirely of sand, while the rest of the field is a sandy 
loam. 
Under date of October 7, 1914, Mr. Edmund H. Gibson, of the Bureau 
of Entomology, recorded larvae of this species as injuring seriously 
corn in laboratory plats at Tempe, Ariz. Pulling up 15 stunted 
and withered corn plants, he found the larva in every stalk. Later 
in the month the larvae were more abundant on corn and were also 
taken from sorghum sprouts and milo maize. On November 3 of the 
same year larvae were collected from Johnson grass growing in a 
barley field, and about 70 per cent of the grass was injured, although 
the barley showed no evidence of injury. 
During July and August, 1916, about 2 acres of sorghum in a field on 
the State farm near Columbia, S. C, was again practically laid waste 
by the ravages of these larvae. The soil in this area also was of a 
sandy nature. Some of the badly infested plants were from 1 to 2 
feet tall and without a central stem, as late as September, whereas 
plants uninfested were from 5 to 8 feet tall and in head. 
Under date of August 19, 1916, Mr. H. L. Dozier, of the Florida Agri- 
cultural Experiment Station, informed the senior author that larvae 
of this species were damaging cowpeas in plats on the station grounds. 
