12 MUX TAX A EXPEB.IMP:NT STATION BULLETIN 260 



Moderate and slight outbreaks will probably develop in parts of 

 Toole. Pondera, Teton, Cascade, Hill, Judith Basin, and Fergus 

 counties. AVith weather favorable for grasshoppers next spring 

 Fergus County is likely to suffer from a widespread infestation in 

 spite of the effective work which was done there during 1932. 



The largest areas over which grasshoppers have deposited eggs 

 for next year's brood are to be found in the eastern counties, 

 especially Valley, Daniels, Roosevelt, Richland, Dawson, and Wibaux. 

 In these sections the grasshopper populations probably did not 

 increase in 1932 over what were present in 1931 with the exception 

 of Valley County and one or two smaller sections. However, should 

 the grasshoppers be favored by dry weather in 1933, control cam- 

 paigns against them will have to be organized. 



Estimates of the probable cost, the areas most apt to l)e troubled, 

 and other information obtained from the survey which w^as made, 

 have been furnished the counties concerned. A total of about $16,600 

 would have to be expended to control the grasshoppers over the 

 areas indicated in Figure 3. This amount for the whole state is 

 less than one-third of the amount spent by some individual counties 

 in former outbreaks. It will thus be seen that the present grass- 

 hopper situation is far less severe than Montana farmers have 

 experienced in the past. 



The $16,600 estimated cost for 1933 when compared with the 

 amount spent in 1932 does not mean increased grasshopper abun- 

 dance. It means that only the worst outbreak areas were treated 

 with poison in 1932 and if fairly complete control had been 

 obtained an amount equal to or greater than the estimate for 1933 

 would have l)een required. 



A NEW PEST OF WHEAT IN MONTANA 



Bldjistinus suhsfriatus Champ. 



Ill late May, 1931, farmers and eoiuity agents reported tlie 

 sudden destruction of l)oth spring and winter wheat by a small 

 l)lack beetle. The cause of the trouble has been tentatively named 

 the wheat-leaf beetle and belongs to a family of insects (Tenebrio- 

 nidae) the larvae of which are commonly known as false wireworms. 

 In this case, however, the larval stage is apparently harmless, the 

 adult only being responsible for crop damage. In Teton county, 

 east of Dutton, several fields of winter wheat were almost totally 



