WHEAT-WORMS. 
458 
Mr. John Curtis, in the fifth volume of the “ Journal of the 
Royal Agricultural Society of England” (pp. 477-481). 
Though unable to rear any of these caterpillars, which al- 
ways shrivelled up and died, Mr. Curtis, for reasons stated 
by him, was impressed with the conviction that they were 
produced by a moth called Noctua ( Caradrina ) cubicularis. 
Our agricultural newspapers contain accounts of certain cat- 
erpillars, much like the foregoing in appearance and in 
habits, which devour the grains of wheat while growing 
and after being harvested. Their transformations have not 
been ascertained ; and, on account of the diminutive size 
of these caterpillars, it remains uncertain whether they are 
the offspring of any species of Noctua. Nevertheless, this 
seems to be the most suitable place to record what has 
been said and seen of them. They have been called wheat- 
worms, gray worms, and brown weevils ; and, although these 
different names may possibly refer to two or more distinct 
species, I am inclined to believe that all of them are in- 
tended for only one kind of insect. The name of grain- 
worms has likewise sometimes been applied to them ; where- 
by it becomes somewhat difficult to separate the accounts 
of their history and depredations from those of the wheat- 
insect, called Cecidomyia Tritici. It may, however, very 
safely be asserted, that the wheat-worm of the western part 
of New York and of the northern part of Pennsylvania is 
entirely distinct from the maggots of our wheat-Hy, and that 
it does not belong to the same order of insects. 
Mr. AYillis Gaylord described this depredator as a kind 
of caterpillar, or span-worm, from three to five eighths of 
an inch long, of a yellowish-brown or butternut color, pro- 
vided with twelve legs, and having the power of spinning 
and suspending itself by a thread. He stated that it not 
only fed on the kernel in the milky state, but also devoured 
the germinating end of the ripened grain, without, however, 
burying itself within the hull ; and that it was found, in 
great numbers, in the chaff, when the grain was threshed. 
