TWENTY-EIGHTH REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST 11 



ticed feeding extensively on these insects were crows, magpies, 

 sage hens, Brewer's blackbirds, meadow larks, horned larks, and 

 lark buntings. In many cases the bands of crickets could be locat- 

 ed by the flocks of birds hovering over them. It has also been ob- 

 served that coyotes and skunks eat large numbers of the pests. 



Control in 1939. — The 23 counties participating in the 1939 cam- 

 paign were Big Horn, Blaine, Carter, Carbon, Cascade, Chouteau, 

 Custer, Fergus, Gallatin, Golden Valley, Hill, Judith Basin, Lake, 

 Meagher, Musselshell, Park, Phillips, Powder River, Rosebud, 

 Sanders, Stillwater, Sweet Grass, and Yellowstone. The pro- 

 gram was on a crop-protection basis with most of the work being 

 done on or within five miles of cropland. In isolated areas, how- 

 ever, crickets were occasionally controlled to rid a county of an in- 

 festation. In most of the above counties the program was very suc- 

 cessful, and populations were reduced by the campaign and natural 

 factors to such an extent that no control work was necessary in 1940. 



Control in 1940. — The 1940 control program was carried out on 

 the same basis as the previous one. There were only five counties 

 involved, Big Horn, Chouteau, Judith Basin, Sanders, and Yellow- 

 stone having infestations severe enough to make control work ne- 

 cessary. It is doubtful if control work will be necessary in Chou- 

 teau, Judith Basin, and Yellowstone counties in 1941. In the fall 

 of 1940 a large migration entered Beaverhead County from Idaho, 

 and there has been some increase in Meagher County (table 4) . 



TABLE 4. — MORMON CRICKET CONTROL ACTIVITIES 



1939 1940 



Crop savings $489,215 $99,840 



Crop losses 16,280 125 



Acres protected 235,885 72,123 



Acres injured 13,268 75 



Crop acres infested 582,820 364,020 



Range acres infested 3,827,400 1,199,100 



Total infested acres - 4,410,220 1,563,120 



Acres dusted 107,207 16,052 



Acres baited 4,567 5,663 



Equipment and materials used 



Hand dusters 439 92 



Power dusters 79 30 



Mixed dust (pounds) 516,293 83,301 



Mixed bait (pounds) 93,540 108,120 



Oil barrier (miles) 114.8 



Oil (gals.) 36,831 



Metal barrier (miles) 150.9 3 



OTHER IMPORTANT INSECTS OF 1939 AND 1940 

 Clover Insects 



The past two years have been marked by an increase in damage 

 caused by clover insects in the Flathead district, and the damage 

 which they have caused has run into several hundred thousand 

 dollars. The important insects involved were the clover seed 

 midge, the clover root borer, and clover aphids. 



