WHEAT-WORMS. 
455 
1840; and he confirms the statements of others, that these 
worms devour the grain when in the milk, and also after 
it has become hard. In the autumn of 1838, the Rev. 
Henry Col man observed the same insect in the town of 
Egremont, in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. It was sep¬ 
arated from the wheat, in great quantities, by threshing and 
winnowing the grain.* 
On the 26th of September, 1846, my brother brought 
to me a sample of wheat-ears, from Dixmcnt, Maine, con¬ 
taining five of these insects, of different sizes. The largest 
measured five eighths of an inch in length, when fully ex¬ 
tended. It was a very slender caterpillar, having sixteen 
legs, and was not a true span-worm either in structure or 
motions. It was of a pale reddish-brown color, with three 
longitudinal paler or colorless lines on the back, and a 
broader pale stripe on each side of the body. The head 
and the tops of the first and last segments were shining 
brown. A few minute black points (each furnishing a short 
inconspicuous hair) were regularly disposed on each seg¬ 
ment. The body beneath and all the legs were pale brown¬ 
ish-red. Many of the kernels of wheat had been gnawed 
by these caterpillars ; but they refused to eat any more, and 
died without change. In the summer of 1850, Dr. Ovid 
Plumb had the kindness to send to me some younger speci¬ 
mens of these caterpillars, from Salisbury, Connecticut, where 
they had long prevailed in the wheat-fields; and I saw 
them in the wheat at the same place, on the 25th of July, 
1851. They had grown only to the length of three six¬ 
teenths or one fourth of an inch at most; but they resembled 
the larger specimens from Maine in all essential particulars. 
They were too young and delicate to survive the effects 
of a journey without fresh food, which could not be pro¬ 
cured for them after my return. When disturbed, they 
readily suspended themselves by a slender thread, were very 
uneasy on being taken from the ears, and were quick in 
* Second Report on the Agriculture of Massachusetts, p. 99. 
