10 



MONTANA EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 216 



wasp was found within the cricket egg, where it grew, devel- 

 oped, and consumed the entire contents of the egg. Instead of 

 the cricket hatching from the egg in the spring, these para- 

 sitized eggs would remain in the soil until late July, at which 

 time an adult wasp would emerge from the cricket egg in time 

 to begin work on the newly laid cricket eggs of the following 

 season. Neither of these parasites developed in large numbers 

 until most of the control work had been completed and killing 

 of the crickets in the control campaign depleted their numbers 

 seriously. However, had no control practices been used, these 

 parasites would undoubtedly have destroyed a large proportion 

 of the crickets during the next few years. 



THE BEKTHA AH.HY W0K3r 



The Bertha army worm, Barathra configurata Walk., made 

 its first appearance in Montana in outbreak numbers during 

 the late summer and fall of 1928. Dr. W. C. Cook, of the Ex- 

 periment Station, has taken occasional individuals of the adult 

 moth in light traps for some years past, but not until this year 

 has the worm appeared in large numbers in this state. This 

 insect has been a rather serious pest during the last few years 

 in the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta, Canada. On 

 August 3rd, the writer first found these insects near the Cana- 

 dian border north of Eureka. Soon thereafter specimens began 



Distribution of the Beirthe Amy Wonr 

 1928 



Figure 1 



