402 EXPERIMENT STATION TiErORD. 



"lUirinj: the sjiriiiir of 1!i<i<». it wms very iilmiidiiiif in tlio violnity of Cnoro, 

 Tex., and did a jircat deal of injury !(• ]i(Man orchards fn tbat locality. In 1 

 orchard from which llfo cr<)it of nuts netted nearly $2,000 in 1908 tho owner 

 thought his crop in ]J»0!» would hardly pay to gather owing to the injuries by 

 lliis insect. . . . The insect seems to he quite widely distributed and has 

 more llinn one food plant. ;illliongh the hickories seem to be preferred. . . . 

 The larv;e injure the leaf bnds principally as the leaves begin to appear in 

 the spring. The overwintering young larvae congregate at the ends of the 

 young branches and begin eating the young leaves as fast as they come forth. 

 In c)ther cases where tiie young leaves get a start the larvae tie them together 

 with silk and form their cases iuside of this blackened, ragged mass made up 

 of cases, silk, excrement, and wilted and dried leaves. Often a tree will 

 struggle along for some time trying to put forth its leaves." The injury is not 

 wholly couHued to the youngest leaves, for the older well-developed leaves are 

 often eaten full of in-egular holes and the flower buds are often attacked and 

 seriously injured. 



The young larva* live upon the trees all summer but do not attain a very 

 great size nor commit conspicuous injury owing to the large amount of well- 

 develoiied foliage. The fact that they ai)pear in such numbers and with such 

 suddenness in the spring just as the buds begin to put forth shows that they 

 must winter over in great abundance. In the vicinity of Cuero, the larvse 

 become active in March and by the middle of this month their depredations 

 are noticeable and serious. During the course of rearings of larvae by the 

 author no parasites were bred and with the possible exception of a species of 

 spider no natural enemies were observed in the field, though a tachinid, 2 or 3 

 ichneumon flies, and a very minute hymenopteran were reported by Gossard 

 (E. S. R., 17, p. 479) to have emerged from cages in which he was lireeding the 

 larvae and pupae. 



Trees at Cuero, spraye<l on April 5, with 3 lbs. of disparene to 50 gal. of 

 water, were examined April 27 and but few larvae found, the owners considering 

 the experiment a complete success. It is recommended that an application of 

 arsenate of lead be made as soon as the buds burst through the bud scales. 

 From an experiment conducted in a large young pecan orchard at Jacksonville, 

 Tex., it appears that the bud moth (Proteoptcryx deludana) can be held in 

 check by winter spraying with the lime-sulphur mixture. The author is of the 

 opinion that the case bearer might also be controlled in the same way. 



A dang-erous alfalfa insect, E. G. Titus {Agr. CoJ. Utah Ext. Drpt. Bui. 1, 

 pp. Jf). — It is stated that of about 30,000 acres of alfalfa in Salt Lake County, 

 Utah, approximately nine-tenths was injured in 1909 by the alfalfa leaf weevil 

 (Phytonomvs murinus), the occurrence of which in this country has been 

 previously noted (E. S. R., 21, p. 348). The earliest report of damage in Utah 

 was in the spring of 1904 near Salt Lake City. 



The life history and injuries are briefly described. " The eggs are laid by 

 the full grown weevils early in the spring, principally in April and May. The 

 eggs are placed in various parts of the plants, but principally in the sheath, 

 from which the younger leaves and buds are growing. They hatch in from 

 6 to 9 days, the young worm being pale yellowish in color. They at first feed 

 concealed in the developing leaves, buds, and even flowers ; as they grow older 

 they work their way to the larger leaves and completely defoliate the plants. 

 . . . Early in the fall the weevils begin leaving the fields and spreading to 

 new territory, flying or crawling in apparently all directions. Before frost 

 comes, they seek shelter, either in the crowais of the alfalfa plants, close to 

 the surface of the ground, under leaves, in weeds and rubbish along ditch 

 banks, in hay or straw stacks, or any well-sheltere<l sjjot, , . , Where infestation 



