4 MONTANA EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 408 



have involved the suppression of grasshoppers, Mormon crickets, 

 and to a lesser extent the army cutworms. During the past two 

 years Mr. O. B. Hitchcock, Assistant State Entomologist, has taken 

 over most of the direct field supervision. These campaigns have met 

 with considerable success, but as pointed out later in this report, 

 losses actually may be greater during light infestations than during 

 heavy ones. This is primarily a problem of individual interest and 

 participation, and the success of any insect control campaign is the 

 result of the activity of each farmer involved. 



The last session of the Legislature provided that the handling 

 of bee inspection problems be a part of the responsibilities of this 

 office. This work was organized and equipped during the spring 

 of 1941. Mr. J. F. Reinhardt of the University of Minnesota was 

 employed as the State Apiarist, and his time has been fully occu- 

 pied with this work. After a cessation of bee inspection work for 

 several years it was necessary to start almost from scratch, and 

 the large amount of work which has been accomplished during 

 the past two seasons is gratifying. The success and value of this 

 activity will become more apparent as time goes on. The first sum- 

 mary of Mr. Reinhardt's work is included in this report. 



MAJOR INSECT CONTROL PROBLEMS 



GRASSHOPPER CONTROL, 1941-42 

 O. B. Hitchcock, Assistant State Entomologist 



The migration of the lesser migratory locust (Melanoplus raexi- 

 canus) has been of great importance and interest since the ex- 

 tremely heavy infestation of July, 1938. As reported in the 

 Twenty-seventh and Twenty-eighth Reports of the State Entomolo- 

 gist' the movements of these insects for 1938, 1939, and 1940 were as 

 follows: the flights which originated in North and South Dakota 

 first entered eastern Montana on July 1, 1938, and migration con- 

 tinued during much of the summer. The egg bed for 1939, laid down 

 by the migrants, covered most of the northeastern part of the State 

 including all of Garfield, Richland, McCone, Roosevelt, and parts 

 of Valley, Daniels, Dawson, Prairie, Custer, Rosebud, Treasure, 

 Musselshell, Petroleum, and Phillips counties (figure 1). 



In 1939 the 'hoppers, after becoming adults, migrated into the 

 north-central part of the State and a smaller area in the south- 

 central part where they laid large numbers of eggs for the 1940 

 generation. 



The 1940 migration was west until the 'hoppers reached the 

 Rocky Mountains and the heaviest egg depositions in 1941 were in 

 Cascade, Chouteau, Pondera, Teton, Toole, and Liberty counties. 



J Mont. Exp. Sta. Bui. 336, pp. 12-16, 1939. 

 384, pp. 1-5, 1941. 



