194 INSECT PESTS OF FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD 



That this insect has not become a more serious pest is due to 

 the fact that as often as it becomes excessively abundant the 

 larvae are almost completely destroyed by a fungous disease.* 

 When affected by this disease the larvae climb to the top of a 

 blade of grass, curl tightly around the tip, and soon die, first 

 becoming covered with a white mold and then turning to a jelly- 

 like mass. The spores of the fungus become scattered to healthy 

 individuals, which soon succumb, so that before long nearly all 

 are destroyed, and rarely do enough survive to cause trouble 

 the next year. 



Frequent reports are received of poisoning of cattle which 

 have fed on clover having numbers of the larvae which have died 

 from this fungus. Accounts vary, some reporting serious sick- 

 ness and even death as the result and others, probably more 

 authentic, reporting merely temporary sickness. In any case, 

 it will be well to keep cattle from the infested plants. 



Control. On account of this disease repeated injury has been 

 so rare that no means of artificial control has been necessary. 

 "The necessity for the employment of any remedy does not 

 appear until the clover is well on in its second year's growth/ 7 

 says Dr. Folsom (I.e.). "If damage is anticipated, however, it 

 would seem advisable to pasture the clover lightly or to clip 

 back in the spring; this does not hurt the clover, is highly desir- 

 able as a means of forestalling the attacks of some other clover 

 pests (see page 201), and might check the larvae of the leaf-weevil 

 somewhat, though it is possible that they would subsist on the 

 cut stems until the new growth started; and in cold weather they 

 can live a long time without any food. After the second season 

 red clover should be plowed under to get rid of this pest, as well 

 as for other agricultural reasons." 



The Alfalfa Weevil f 



In recent years a first cousin of the last species has been 

 introduced into Utah, where it has become firmly established 

 and promises to become the most serious obstacle to alfalfa culture. 

 The alfalfa weevil is a native of Europe, western Asia, and northern 



* Empusa sphasroperma Fres. 



t Phytvnomus posticus Gyll. Family CurcuHonidce. See E. G. Titus, 

 Bulletin 110 and Circular 10, Utah Agr. Exp. Sta., and >F. M. Webster, Circu- 

 lar 137, Bureau of Entomology, U. S. Dept. Agr. 



