BUEEAU CF ENTOMOLOGY. 515 



HESSIAN FLY INVESTIGATIONS. 



Most of the investigation of the Hessian fly has been carried out 

 in western Wasliington and Oregon, and comprises not only studies 

 of parasites but efforts to spread the Polygnotus that has been so 

 successfully introduced from Kansas. Besides this, considerable at- 

 tention has been given to the effect of humidity on the hatching of 

 tlie eggs of the fly, for the purpose of finding out whether wheat 

 grown in arid regions by dry-land farming may not be safe from 

 Hessian fly attack, because of the impossibility of the fly existing 

 there. 



In the East considerable damage has been done in some localities 

 and an effort has been made to collect data relative to the time when 

 seriously ravaged fields were sown. In all cases the sowings were 

 found to have been made earlier than the experimental sowings car- 

 ried on during past years by the bureau, indicated as safe. 



THE NEW MEXICO RANGE CATEBPILLAB. 



Dry weather during the period of egg hatching last summer ap- 

 peared to destroy the vitality of many eggs of the New Mexico range 

 caterpillar. Beyond a surveillance of the country to determine the 

 spread of the pest, little progress has been made in the work on this 

 species. 



THE ALFALFA WEEVIL 



The situation regarding the alfalfa weevil is continually becoming 

 more serious and alarming. The last Congress made immediately 

 available $10,000 for this investigation. AVith this fund work was 

 begun April i, 1911. 



During the first half of the fiscal year an expert of the bureau, 

 working in cooperation with the Utah Agricultural Experiment Sta- 

 tion^ traced the spread of the insect from Salt Lake southward to 

 Sprmgville and north to near Ogden, west to beyond Tooele, and 

 east to near the borders of Wyoming and Colorado. Judging from 

 what has been observed between Salt Lake City and Ogden and be- 

 tween Ogden and Brigham, the uniform normal spread of the pest is 

 about 30 miles each year, though circumstances may greatly change 

 this. During the last half of the fiscal year, with the aid of the new 

 appropriation, a great number of experiments was carried out with 

 mechanical contrivances for destroying the pest in infested alfalfa 

 fields and thereby protecting the second and third crops. As else- 

 where stated, through the aid of an agent in Italy four and probably 

 five species of parasites have been transported from Italy to Utah and 

 colonized in the fields. The results of this work can only be learned 

 next spring, when the parasites should appear in the fields. Thus 

 the work has divided itself into three sections — marking the spread 

 of the pest, devising mechanical contrivances for its control in tiie 

 field, and the introduction of parasites. 



WHITE GKUB INVESTIGATIONS. 



Investigations of the several species of Lachnnsterna in different 

 parts of the country were taken up, and considerable work has been 

 done in New York, Pennsylvania, and Indiana. The present inten- 



