8 
During February all over the region west of the Mississippi River 
and the Great Lakes the temperature was above the normal, and 
in the Carolinas it was only slightly below. During this month 
much damage seems to have been done in Texas, and there is every 
probability that the pest was breeding freely in the Carolinas, though 
it had not yet been reported from the latter States. ; 
Up to this time the outbreak in Texas was being investigated by 
Mr. E. C. Sanborn, an agent of this Bureau detailed to the Texas 
Agricultural Experiment Station. The first report of the insect 
outside of Texas was under date of March 6, from Mr. C. H. Drake, 
of Summers, Ark., who reported that “a small green bug” had 
destroyed the wheat in spots in the fields in his locality. This letter, 
received March 11, led to the prompt dispatching of Mr. C. N. 
Ainshe for the West, with full instructions to investigate the out- 
break thoroughly, to experiment with measures for destroying the 
insects in the fields, especially over the spots where they seemed to 
be most abundant, and to. determine what could be accomplished in 
checking the ravages of the pest by the early introduction of natural 
enemies into the infested fields. Arrangements were perfected with 
Mr. W. D. Hunter to ship to Arkansas living parasites (Lysiphlebus 
tritici), which were then abundant in Texas, and the same train by 
which Mr. Ainslie reached Summers brought several boxes of the 
parasites. These parasites were promptly placed in the infested 
fields and liberated March 18. But Mr. Ainslie found that both the 
lady-beetles and the little wasplike parasites (Lysiphlebus tritict) 
were already present at Summers and near-by points in greater num- 
bers than could possibly have been introduced. The latter were 
simply everywhere, running about over the young grain plants and 
placing their eggs in the bodies of the “ green bugs.” 
Clearly the importation of parasites would be useless under these 
conditions, and Mr. Ainshe, hoping to find a more favorable field for 
the introduction of parasites or direct experimental work with rem- 
edies, proceeded, on March 23, for various points in Oklahoma. 
At Chandler and Guthrie, March 23 to 25, the pest was very 
abundant, but the conditions at these points were again even less 
favorable than in Arkansas for the introduction of parasites. For 
example, on one blade containing about 150 of the “green bugs ” Mr. 
Ainslie counted 25 that were parasitized. He then proceeded to 
Kingfisher (March 26) and here found the parasites apparently less 
plentiful than at the other points visited, which were to the eastward. 
Arrangements had been made with Mr. Hunter to furnish parasites 
from Texas fields when these were called for, and in response to a 
telegraphic request he dispatched a quantity of material collected by 
his assistants in Texas and in southern Oklahoma. When this was 
[Cir, 93] 
