THE CLoveR SEED CHALCID 103 
per cent of those of late crops were found to be destroyed by this insect. 
He examined several samples showing damage to the extent of 85 
percent. Speaking of the money loss, he says that it varies on different 
farms from $5 to $60 per acre. 
A. W. Morrill states, in the third annual report of the Arizona 
Horticultural Commission, that in the Buckeye valley the destruction 
of alfalfa seed by the chalcid ranges from 30 to 60 per cent, entailing 
an annual loss of $300,000. 
According to Swenk (1913), the loss to the alfalfa seed crop in 
1911, in Red Willow County, Nebraska, was 80 per cent. 
T. D. Urbahns while employed at the Minnesota station examined 
many samples of red clover seeds to determine the amount of infesta- 
tion. One record which we select from his notes relates to a lot of 
2,183 seeds collected in the field during the summer of 1910. Of these, 
856 seeds were infested, or 39.2 per cent. Quoting from his notes: 
“Estimating the average crop of clover seed under the present (1910) 
conditions to be 150 pounds per acre, and this being at a loss of 39 per 
cent, the yield in the absence of Bruchophagus funebris would have 
been 246 pounds per acre. The seed chalcid is responsible for destroy- 
ing 96 pounds per acre.” 
The destruction of 96 pounds of clover seed per acre would mean 
a money loss to the grower of $18 to $20 per acre at the present 
time. 
METHODS OF CONTROL 
The most common practice where red clover is grown for seed is to 
cut the first crop for hay and the second crop for seed. If the first crop 
is left standing too long, that is, until the heads are ripe, the eggs 
laid in the seeds by the first generation of adult chalcids will have a 
chance to develop and produce the adults which lay their eggs in the 
seeds of the second crop. 
It was first suggested by Webster (1906) and afterwards recom- 
mended by Folsom (1909) that the same treatment employed against 
the midge be used in combating this insect also. Early cutting of the 
first crop would prevent oviposition to a great extent. If any eggs or 
young larvae were present, they would die with the drying of the un- 
developed seed. Under this treatment the summer generation of 
chalcids would be greatly forestalled while the seeds of the second 
clover crop would mature early and most of them would be too hard 
to receive the eggs of any chalcids that might appear. Clipping back 
