MoXTANA EXPERIMENT STATIOxX. 139 



MEANS BY WHICH THE CROWN GIRDLER SPREADS. 



It is a remark :;l:)le fact that though this insect possesses no wings 

 and cannot fly, ■.: is capable of widely distributng itself as is shown 

 by the records m' its occurrence. It is a slow walker, practically 

 speaking, and i> dci)cndent upon outside means for its distribution. 

 Very likely it ias been distributed to some extent on strawberry 

 plants sent for planting new fields. Its desire to avoid light would 

 naturally lead i: ro rf treat not only into houses, as has been record- 

 ed, but also inl barns and other buildings as well as boxes, farm 

 •machinery, and any ..iher objects whatsoever that ofiFer desirable 

 places of retrear in any such objects that become articles of com-' 

 merce or are ren:..^\-ed from one place to another for any purpose, such 

 as household gotj k'^. etc. carried by persons moving from one place to 

 another, the beerles are liable to be taken into a new locality, and 

 once in the r.'w locality, being adapted to a large number 

 of wild-gTOwint, a.nd cultivated plants, they stand a fair chance of 

 becoming estabi'.slu-d. 



NATURAL ENEMIES. 



We have ol)S( ."\eil no parasitic enemies of this beetle and Profes- 

 sor Weed bred i hu' though he confined many of the insects for the 

 purpose. Mrs W illiams reported to me that the domestic fov/ls 

 ollowed the plor.gli in the spring ravenously eating tl^e early stages, 

 which because ( ' their white color, were conspicious oi)j(.H-ts. Mr. 

 Weed reported Miat he found the predaceous lar\ae ot Carahid or 

 ground beetles \:\ the earth around the roots of strawberries that 

 were attacked by the '^irdler larvae. 



REMEDIES. 



X 



n-^x 



'he two general methods of restraining th's ju^st that suggest 

 themselves are the use of a poisonous spray an,.' ::he use of such 

 cultural practices as interrupt the life cycle of the beetle. 



Mrs. Williams inTV»rmed me that she had made a thco-ougli test of 

 'ilic. use of Paris green as a means of poisoning the adults on the 

 .foiiage and had not been able to kill them. Kn )-vV!nq- the general 

 characteristics of the beetles we were not surprise '.1 at the resu.lts 

 t-ecm-ed in the test and decided not to make any further tests with 

 Paris ereen. 



