THE BOLL WORM — FOOD-PLANTS. 
301 
Last fall (1881), in tbe vicinity of Cautou, 111., Professor Barnard ob- 
served that much damage was done to late corn, over two thirds of the 
ears harvested having contained one or more worms. Live worms were 
found in tbe ears up to the time of husking, in the latter part of Octo- 
ber, feeding upon the hard kernels. The ears thus damaged exhibited 
on husking many shallow grooves through the tops of the kernels, which 
seemed, indeed, the favorite mode of work of the worms; but occasion- 
ally a single kernel would be eaten down to the cob. There, as else- 
where, mildew had served to greatly increase the damage done by the 
worm. 
In the Southern States there are always three broods of the worm 
upon corn, the later broods preferring* the tender cotton bolls to the 
tough corn. The moths in early spring lay their eggs on the leaves of 
the corn, and the newly-hatched larva' begin feeding at once on the 
spot of their birth. By these young larvae many irregular holes are 
eaten through the tender leaves, giving them, as has been well said, the 
appearance of having been riddled by a charge of small shot. In this 
manner they feed for sometime, gradually working their way downward 
into the Bheatfa of the leaf, and finally reaching the closely rolled ter- 
minal bud, into which they bore and remain feeding until they attain 
their full growth, when they gnaw directly outwards, and, crawling into 
the ground, transform to pupa*. 
The eggs of the second brood are laid upon the leaves and upon the 
sheaths of the tassels about the 1st of June. The worms feed, as be- 
fore, upon the leaves at first, upon the tassels, and, later, as they ap- 
proach full growth, they are to be found feeding upon the kernels, silk, 
and cob Of the forming ears. 
The third brood, commencing shortly after the 1st <>f July, may be 
compared in its destructiveness to the second brood at the North. It is 
very numerous, and is the last brood which injures corn to any extent. 
The eggs are laid upon the end of the husk or amongst the silk, and 
the worms work in the manner previously described, occasionally pierc- 
ing the husk and migrating from one ear to another, although the ten- 
dency to do this is much less when the ears are tender than after the 
grains have begun to harden. The worms of this brood pupate in the 
usual way, and those of the next betake themselves almost exclusively 
to cotton. Occasionally a worm is found working in the ears of hardened 
corn in close proximity to a cotton-field, but it is a comparatively rare 
occunence. 
Much of the history of the Boll Worm upon cotton is inseparably con- 
nected with its life upon corn, so that we shall have occasion hereafter 
to again refer to its relations to the latter crop. 
Tomato. — Perhaps next in importance to the damage done to cotton 
and corn comes that done to the tomato crop. In 18G7 the Boll Worm 
played havoc with the tomatoes of Southern Illinois, eating into the 
green fruit and causing it to rot. (.See American Entomologist, 1, 212). 
