SIXTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF STATE ENTOMOLOGIST 29 



easily might have become a veritable plague of grasshoppers. As 

 may be inferred from the above, little damage from grasshoppers 

 occurred this season in the region extending through parts of Flat- 

 head, Missoula, and Sanders counties, where in 1917 serious losses 

 were occasioned. 



In the upper part of the Bitter Root Valley, in Ravalli County, 

 there was an outbreak of considerable importance which when inves- 

 tigated was found to be due to the warrior grasshopper mainly, 

 though some other species were sparingly represented. Other coun- 

 ties where grasshoppers were reported are Rosebud, Madison, Fer- 

 gus, Sweetgrass, Meagher, and Cascade. 



The use of poison bran mash was recommended and it was 

 much used throughout the State; the catching machine, designed 

 to catch the living grasshoppers, also was generally used. 



A circular entitled "Grasshopper Control in Montana" was 

 issued early in the present season. This circular (No. 76) discusses 

 the subject of grasshopper control, gives the results of our experience 

 in the previous year, and contains seventeen new illustrations. 



CUTWOEMiS IN 1918 



The office received many complaints of cutworm troubles, com- 

 ing mainly in May and June. It was on the whole one of the worst 

 cutworm years we have had. Specimens sent in were in many 

 instances reared to the adult or moth condition and were found to 

 belong mainly to the species Euxoa ochrogaster Guen. The species 

 was present and quite injurious for upwards of two months, and in 

 this respect differed strikingly from Chorizagrotis auxiliaHs Grote, 

 the army cutworm which, when it comes, appears in excessive num- 

 bers in May and then suddenly disappears. This species, known as 

 the red-backed cutworm, has never been known to become exceed- 

 ingly abundant in Montana and take on the army habit. A peculiar- 

 ity is that it keeps under the ground more than the other species 

 and is more apt to cut plants off beneath the surface. 



This insect was particularly troublesome in gardens, where 

 practically all kinds of cultivated plants were eaten. Many gardens 

 were injured for the season by cutworms destroying the stands 

 of such crops as carrots, spinach, beets, and radishes, which were 

 sown in the drill row, and cabbages, cucumbers, and others planted 

 or set in hills. The attacks were by no means confined to gardens. 



