Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


 The nighthawk is an important enemy of the beetles which
fly at dusk, the time when these birds are on the wing. Night-
hawks should be protected by the farmer.
 MONOCREPIDIUS LIVIDUS.-Associated with the last-named
species in about the same class of soil is Monocrepidius lividus.
This is perhaps the second most common wireworm in Florida.
Control measures are the same as for the above named species.
 CORN AND COTTON WIREWORM.-Unlike most wireworms,
this one (Horistonotus uhleri, Horn) works mostly in sandy,
light, dry soils. It differs also from the other species in its
appearance. It is long and white and has a soft skin instead
of the hard, chitinous covering like the others. Control meas-
ures are about the same as those used against the larva of the
spotted click-beetle.
 CORN WIREWORMS (Melanotus sp.).-These are not as com-
mon as the other species. Like most species of wireworms they
are found mostly in low, poorly-drained land, especially if it
was in grass the previous year. Draining and liming the land,
with deep and thoro cultivation, are important.
 The larvae are about 11/4 inches long, brown in color and
 have three small projections on the posterior end. Some species
 require several years for growth. The adults are brown and
 from a half to 3/4 of an inch in length.
 OTHER WIREWORMS sometimes injurious to corn in Florida
 are Lacon curtus and Lacon rectangularis. The control meas-
 ures are similar to those for the last-named.
 FALL ARMY WORM, OR SOUTHERN GRASS WORM
 (Laphygma frugiperda)
 This well-known pest of grass attacks corn as a second
 choice when all of the grass within easy range has been eaten.
 Army worms are so named from their habit of assembling in
 vast numbers and marching in mass formation to new pastures.
 These marches come as a result of excessive numbers, exhaust-
 ing the food supply in the place where they hatched. The word
 fall" was prefixed by entomologists in the Northern States
 and is a misnomer in Florida. The destructive armies usually
 form in July and August, but sometimes as early as April. At
 other seasons, and during the years when no armies are formed,
 a few of these caterpillars are found,feeding apart like cutworms.
 Control.-These isolated caterpillars may get into the tips
 of growing corn and become bud-worms" where they may be