Barry Williama, aged 10, of lit, Hope, West Virginia, for his question:

Where does the corn ear‑worm come from?

The coin earworm is a ferocious green caterpillar. He is less than an inch long. He will fight to the death to defend his ear of corn. This, he thinks, is his own private property. He fights any other corn earworm who happens to invade his home and pantry. So, you never find more than one of these pests 1n an ear of corn,

His mother was a smallish drab moth. She placed her 1,000 or so eggs, on young ears of corn, tomatoes or cotton bolls. The eggs hatched into greedy caterpillars and began to eat. Like most criminals, the greedy pests have a number of aliases. The corn earworm is also the tomato fruit worm and the cotton boll moth. His name depends upon where his mother placed her eggs. For there he will hatch into a worm and feed and destroy.

This pest insect can produce two or three generations in a summer season, It 'spends the winter in a pupa stage ‑ between a caterpillar and full grown moth.