CLOVI]R AND ALFAI^FA SEED CHALCIS-FLY. 3 



DISTRIBUTION. 



In 1904 Dr. E. G. Titus (5) gave the following distribution of B. 

 funehns by States: Hanford, Cal. ; Fort Collins, Colo.; Marengo 

 and Urbana, 111.; Winona Lake, Ind. ; Richmond, Kans. ; Agricul- 

 tural College, Mich.; Agricultural College, Mi&s. ; St. Anthony Park, 

 Minn. ; Quaker Street, N. Y. ; Corvallis, Oreg. ; Providence, R. I. ; 

 Burlington, Vt. ; Pullman, Wash. ; Danville and Virginia Beach, Va., 

 and the District of Columbia. Mr. George I. Reeves reported this 

 species from Lincoln, Nebr., the same year, and in 1915 Prof. F. M. 

 Webster reported its presence at Tyngsboro, Mass., Kensington, Md., 

 Lebanon, N. H., and Chambersburg, Pa. It was further reported from 

 Wakeman, Ohio, in 1905, by W. B. Hall ; at Albuquerque, N. Mex., 

 1908, Sacaton, Ariz., 1909, and central Utah, 1910, by C. X. xVinslie; 

 at Piano, Tex., in 1909, by T. D. Urbahns; at Twin Falls, Idaho, in 

 1911, by H. T. Osborn; at Nashville, Tenn., in 1910, by George G. 

 Ainslie; at Newell, S. Dak., in 1913, by C. N. Ainslie; at Alva, Okla., 

 in 1913, by E. G. Kelly ; at Charleston, Mo., in 1914, by G. W. Barber ; 

 at Minden, Iowa, in 1915, by T. D. Urbahns ; at Hagerstown, Md., in 

 1916, by H. L. Parker ; and at Fallon, Nev., in 1917, by T. D. Urbahns. 



Under later dates, B. funehris was reared from many additional 

 localities by the writer and other persons connected with the Bureau 

 of Entomology, so that at the present time it is known to be present 

 in practically every locality in the United States where either red 

 clover or alfalfa seed is grown to any extent. 



In 1913 the writer found it in alfalfa seed reported by a seed 

 dealer to have arrived from Germany. This species has also been 

 reported from other foreign countries as follows: 



1906, N. E. Hansen, Medicago falcata, Omsk, Siberia. 



1907, C. V. Piper, alfalfa, Turkestan, Asia. 



1908, Mr, Brand, alfalfa, Pisa and Matilla, Chile. 



1908, N. E. Hansen, alfalfa, Tashkent, Turkestan, Asia. 

 1908, J. G. Sanders, alfalfa, Tashkent, Turkestan, Asia. 

 1910, C. P. Lounsburj', alfalfa, Cape Town, South Africa. 



CHARACTER OF ATTACK. 



The injury caused by the chalcis-fly consists entirely of the hollow- 

 ing out of the developing seeds (PI. II, fig. 2). By the time the 

 alfalfa seed pods and the clover heads have matured the destructive 

 work of this minute larva has been completed within the infested 

 seed, and the result is a hollow seed containing the insect in one of 

 its stages, or simply the seed shell from which the adult insect has 

 emerged. (PI. II, figs. 3 and 4.) This pest in no way interferes 

 with the growing of either alfalfa or red clover for forage purposes, 

 except in so far as a very poor stand may be expected when infested 

 and hollowed-out seeds are planted. The loss caused by this pest 



