6 FARMERS’ BULLETIN 649, 
found that the hay crop had been cut the previous day and was lying 
on the ground. There appeared to be a good yield on some parts of 
the field, but there were many places where the alfalfa plants were 
very thin and evidently decidedly unhealthy. Upon examining the 
roots of the alfalfa on these injured areas the main taproots, and often 
the larger lateral roots, were badly injured. In some cases the 
injury consisted of a groove, generally of considerable length, up and 
down the root, but often of a round or oval patch. The injuries 
appeared to extend to a depth of 4 or 5 inches below the surface of 
the ground. In one case the taproot of the plant appeared to have 
been eaten entirely off several inches below the surface of the ground. 
On digging into the soil, the first shovelful of earth turned up revealed 
between 12 and 20 larve of this insect about the injured roots, and 
further investigation revealed their presence even more plentifully in 
other areas of the field. This condition was reported by Mr. Graybill 
as occurring throughout all parts of Baltimore County, Md. 
At the time of this investigation the larve (fig. 5) and the pups 
(fig. 6) were present in about equal numbers. That is, the ravages 
of the pest were subsiding. In all cases both of these stages were 
within an inch, or at the most an inch and a half, of the surface of the 
ground. Later on—on July 6—complaints were received, with speci- 
mens, from Mr. George A. Billings, of West Chester, Pa. Here again 
considerable damage had been inflicted upon alfalfa. On consulting 
with agronomists we have found that either this or a very similar 
injury to alfalfa has been observed for several years, but no one 
heretofore appears to have traced this injury to its source. 
Mr. C. N. Ainslie found the beetles excessively abundant in alfalfa 
fields in April, 1910, about Salt Lake City, Utah, but of course at that 
time the larvee were not at work upon the roots of the plants, and 
while during later years other assistants in cereal and forage insect 
investigations found the adults abundantly in alfalfa fields at various 
points in Utah, none of them succeeded in securing the larvee or 
observing their ravages on the roots. The work of the insect is so 
obscure that itis likely to escape completely the attention of alfalfa 
growers. 
NATURAL CHECKS. 
Our information relative to natural checks, as also that to bird 
enemies, has not changed materially since the publication of Mr. 
Wildermuth’s paper, and therefore the statements made by him are 
quoted. 
The larva was found to be attacked by a fungus, one of the Entomophthore, which 
no doubt assists in keeping the insects in check. The larve, because of their slug- 
gish movements, might be easily captured and fed upon by predaceous beetles, but 
the fact that the larve and pup are subterranean in their habits is a semiprotection 
from parasitic insects as well as from many predaceous enemies. No Hymenopterous_ 
or Dipterous parasites were observed. 
