324 MONTANA EXPERIMENT STATION 



lice. An examination of the grain showed that 35 per cent of the 

 kernels had the germ eaten out. Injured kernels gave a germination 

 test of only 33 per cent, w^hile the sound kernels from the same 

 sample tested 93 per cent. 



OETHOPTEEA 



Grasshoppers (Jcrididae). Grasshoppers were again very 

 troublesome in the lower Yellowstone Valley in the vicinity of Sid- 

 ney, but were not so abundant as in 1912. An assistant was sent 

 into the district to study the situation and to give advice on control 

 measures. The two-striped grasshopper (Melanoplus Mvittatiis 

 Scud) was found to be the most injurious species. Fall plowing 

 to destroy eggs and the use of "hopperdozers" while the grasshoppers 

 w^ere small were the most effective control measures. 



THYSANOPTERA 



A Clover Thrip {Haplothrips statices Holiday). Found in the 

 heads of red clover in the Gallatin Valley, damaging the seed crop. 



HEMIPTERA 



Chinch Bug (Blissus leucopterus Say). An assistant was sent 

 to Glasgow where the chinch bug was very abundant in 1911, but 

 onl}^ a few specimens were found. Interesting facts concerning its 

 life history were learned. 



A Plant Bug (Lygaeus lateralis Dall.). An interesting feature 

 ol the season was the sudden appearance of thousands of these 

 insects upon the streets of Billings one evening early in June. They 

 swarmed about the street lights and covered the sidewalks but in a 

 day or two had entirely disappeared. No injury to vegetation was 

 reported. 



False Chinch Bug {iN'ysUis augustatus Uhl.). Reported as doing 

 considerable injury to garden crops in many parts of the State. 



A Predaceous Anthocorid {Antliocoris melanoceriis Reut.). This 

 is a beneficial insect inasmuch as it feeds largely upon plant lice. 



The Green Apple Aphis {Aphis point De G.). Although the 

 green apple aphis is abundant every season it was unusually so the 

 past summer. In some instances even the fruit was attacked. Where 

 the skin of an apple was pierced by an aphid beak, a pink spot 

 appeared, resembling very closely the characteristic pinkish blemish 



