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minute brown burrow of the insect may usually be detected, and 
the corn root worm itself may often be exposed. A minor at¬ 
tack frequently has the effect so to retard the ripening of the 
corn that it is not ready for the earliest frosts, and the ear con¬ 
sequently remains soft and unfit for use; or the loss of roots 
may have diminished the size of the stalk and ear, leaving a 
small nubbin where a full ear might have been expected. 
The injury continues frorn-about the first or the middle of June 
to the last of August. As some of the larvae mature and cease 
their work in the latter half of June, and others not for two 
months later, plants once infested may be freed of Hie attack, 
at least in part, by the pupation of the root worms, and others, 
spared at the beginning of the season, may become infested 
later. It has sometimes been observed that large, rank stalks 
which did not ear out had evidently been injured after the corn 
had begun to tassel; while others, which leaned over at the root 
and then grew erect, had been infested earlier in the season, but 
had thrown out new roots after the root worms had matured. 
It is a matter of common observation that injuries by this 
insect are most noticeable during dry years and upon the higher 
parts of the field. We have no evidence, however, that the corn 
root worms themselves are more numerous at such times or in 
such situations, and the greater injury may be due simply to 
the diminished ability of the plant to withstand attack. 1 have, 
in fact, seen vigorous and flourishing hills of corn badly infested 
during wet seasons with no visible effect upon their growth, 
even the larger, burrowed roots remaining fresh and efficient, 
notwithstanding the injury. 
In case no retardation of growth or damage to the crop has 
been observed, less conspicuous mischief may often be indicated 
by the great abundance in the field, late in July and in August, 
of a small grass-green beetle about a fifth of an inch in length, 
resembling in shape and general aspect the common small striped 
squash beetle, to which, indeed, it is closely allied. These beetles 
are most likely to be seen clustered at the tip of the ear and 
feeding upon the young silk, or lurking at the base of the leaf 
where it joins the stalk, feeding there upon the fallen pollen of 
the plant. They should also be looked for upon the blossoms 
of ragweed, smartweed, and other plants in bloom among the 
corn. This is the adult insect to which the corn root worm, so- 
called, has given origin, and its presence in extraordinary num¬ 
bers in any field of corn is presumptive evidence that the plant 
has suffered earlier considerable root injury of the character 
above described. 
It is very rarely that these phenomena are to be observed on 
ground not previously in corn, although sorghum and broom 
corn have been found somewhat favorable to the development 
of this insect. It is only where through neglect it has become 
enormously abundant in a field that we may anticipate its escape 
from the corn in very large numbers before it has laid its eggs, 
