352 



INJURIOUS AND BENEFICIAL INSECTS OF CALIFORNIA. 



Distribution. — Th is insect is a native of California and was first 

 reported from the Santa Cruz Mountains, Santa Cruz and Santa (Mara 

 counties, in 1890, by Albert Koebele. 267 



Food Plants.— Brome grass (Bromus sp.), quack grass, rye, wild 



rye (Elymus), tim- 

 othy, wheat and wheat 

 grass (Agropyron) 

 are attacked. 



Control. — As the 

 larvae hibernate in the 

 standing grass or 

 stubble, it is well to 

 resort to burning or 

 plowing under the 

 stubble in the fall or 

 winter and to remove 

 all host plants in un- 

 cultivated areas. 

 Mowing in the spring, 

 as soon as eggs are 

 hatched (June and 

 July), will kill the 

 young and reduce infestation for the following year. If wild grasses 

 in the neighborhood are infested the crop rotation plan is claimed to be 

 the most feasible. In all probability the work of this insect will never 

 become serious enough to warrant any such expensive control measures. 



Fig. 348. — The Western grass-stem sawfly, Cephus 

 occidcntalis Riley and Marlatt. </, larva; It. female; c, 

 grass stem showing work of the larva. (After Marlatt, 

 IT. s. Dept. Agric.) 



"'Insect Life, IV, p. 178, 1891. 



