THE STRAWBERRY CROWN MINER. 
I 
(.Anarsia lineatella, Zeller.) 
(Order LEPIDOPTERA. Family Tineuxe.) 
[A slender reddish caterpillar, about two-fifths of an inch long, with the head and the 
top of the first segment smooth and brownish-yellow, found excavating the crowns of 
strawberries and boring the twigs and fruit of peaches.] 
It is not all of the function of the physician to cure disease, how¬ 
ever deadly. If he does his whole duty to those whose health is 
under his charge, he will watch for the approaches of disorder, and 
give early warning and advice. So the economic entomologist will 
find it profitable to scan the entomological field for such insects as 
are likely to become injurious if conditions specially favor their 
development. A timely word of caution might, for example, have 
saved us the ravages of the crown-borer, as this insect is doubtless 
a native of Illinois, finding its natural home in the wild strawberry 
plants. 
I have now to report the occurrence, in this State, of an insect 
capable of injuries as serious as those of the species just described, 
and like that infesting the crowns of the strawberry, but as yet not 
known to have done any serious harm here in cultivated fields. 
We shall see, however, that it has elsewhere demonstrated both its 
disposition and its ability to work great mischief, and that it is well 
worth the serious attention of the strawberry grower. If it fairly 
gets a lodgment in our fields, it will apparently be very difficult to 
control, for the adult insect has the power of flight, and cannot be 
as easily headed off as the crown-borer; and on the other hand, it 
has a suctorial mouth, and could not be poisoned like the beetle of 
the root-worm. This insect, which I propose to call the crown 
miner, is said by Prof. Riley to be the larva of a moth of the 
family Tineidse, long known to science under the name of Anarsia 
lineatella, (Zeller). This species occurs in Europe, as well as in 
this country from Canada to Washington and west to Illinois. 
The method of its mischief is very similar to that of the crown- 
borer, as it bores in from the side and works downward, frequently 
to the tip of the crown. Unlike the borer, it is an acfive insect,. 
