SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF STATE ENTOMOLOGIST 7 



insects cf flour mills were reported from Great Falls. Losses due 

 to these insects are largely preventable by fumigation. 



Flea Beetles {Epitrix sp.). Flea beetles, attacking potatoes, 

 irimatoes, and all kinds of garden plants just as they were coming 

 out of the ground early in the season, were the source of much 

 trouble and numerous complaints concerning them came to our atten- 

 tion from all parts of the state. 



Cottonwood Blotch Miner {Odontota sp.). In many parts of 

 Montana the cottonwood trees were severely injured by this insect 

 which works between the surfaces of the leaves. On account of 

 its mode of attack it can not be destroyed by ordinary spraying, 

 and as its life-history is not thoroughly known other means which 

 might prove efifective for destroying it have not been found. 



June Beetles {Lachnosterna sp.). These large beetles, the par- 

 ents of white grubs, were observed in greater abundance than in 

 former years. 



Colorado Potato Beetle (Leptinotarsa decevxlineata Say). 

 Potato beetles were present in usual abundance. This is one of the 

 few insects about which it may be said that methods of control are 

 almost universally known. Paris green is the standard remedy but 

 it is being replaced to a large extent by a cheaper arsenical, arsenite 

 of zinc, which has been recommended during the past three years 

 by the State Entomologist. 



Wireworms {Elateridae) . Wire worms again occupied their 

 place of importance among the grain pests of the state. Numerous 

 inquiries were received as to what they were and how they could 

 be destroyed. 



Confused Flour Beetle (TribolUim confusurtv Duv.). A per- 

 sistent pest of stored cereals, crushed feed, and other starchy food, 

 was found in the feed bins of the poultry department of the Montana 

 Experiment Station. 



Alfalfa Weevil (PJtytonomus posticus Gyll.). During the latter 

 part of August a trip was made by automobile along the Oregon 

 Short Line Railway from Dillon to Monida and through the Cen- 

 tennial Valley in an effort to determine if the alfalfa weevil was 

 spreading into Montana. Careful search of alfalfa fields revealed 

 no evidence of the pest in this territory, which is the most exposed 

 of any part of Montana to migrations of this insect from infested 

 regions of Idaho and LUah. 



