BULLETIN 902, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



It is widely distributed in the Rocky Mountain region of Colorado 

 and New Mexico, and is known to occur in more isolated localities in 

 Arizona, Wyoming, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Kansas. It is also 

 abundant in some portions of Texas, ranging southward to Browns- 

 ville and undoubtedly into Mexico, although only doubtfully recorded 

 from that country. The known distribution is shown in the map 

 (fig. 3). This species is to be found quite frequently at very high 

 elevations and is also evidently a permanent inhabitant of lower 

 areas,. as, for example, Brownsville, Tex. It is evidently a Sonoran 

 form and common to both the Upper and Lower Sonoran Life Zones, 4 

 but in some States it has been observed in the Semitropical, Transi- 

 tion, and Boreal Zones. 



Undoubtedly the species has a wider distribution than is indicated 

 by the map, comprising an area considerably larger in extent than 

 one-third of the United States. It probably occurs in southern 



Idaho, and without 

 doubt is more widely 

 distributed in the 

 States of Nebraska, 

 Wyoming, Montana, 

 Utah, Arizona, and 

 Texas than is at pres- 

 ent known. While it 

 does not approach 

 the border lines of 

 several other States 

 known to be inhab- 

 ited, nevertheless a 

 lookout should be kept in the future for invasions in southwestern 

 Louisiana, southeastern Idaho, and Nevada. 



REPORTS OF INJURY. 



Our record of injury positively attributable to the western cabbage 

 flea-beetle begins in 1889, the year when the species was described 

 as new to science. That year, May 25, Prof. T. D. A. Cockerell 

 sent specimens to the Department of Agriculture with the report 

 that the insect did great damage to the leaves of turnip at West- 

 cliff e, Colo. Injuries were reported at intervals in 1893, 1897, 1904, 

 and 1906. In 1908 and 1909 there were several outbreaks over con- 

 siderable territory, and a somewhat smaller outbreak occurred also 

 over a large territory in 1913. 



In 1893 Prof. R. Y. Croydon sent specimens from Laramie, Wyo., 

 that were damaging turnips and radishes. 



4 The species came under the observation of the junior writer at Rocky Ford, Manzanola, Fowler, Las 

 Animas, Loma, Holly, Pueblo, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, and Greeley, Colo.; Garden City, Kans.; 

 Maxwell and French, N. Mex.; Sanibel and Mercedes, Tex.; Phoenix, Ariz.; and Thermal, Calif. 



Fig. 3. — Map showing distribution of western cabbage flea-beetle. 



