2/0 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I9O/. 



hoppers fell vicitims to the fungus Entomophthora grylli* dur- 

 ing late August and September. 



Figure 34 shows one of these grasshoppers in the position 

 characteristic of victims of the grasshopper fungus. In low 

 meadows the work of this same fungus was particularly to be 

 observed with certain of the Tryxalince, as many as 4 or 5 dead 

 grasshoppers being found clinging to a single grass stem. One 

 of the invariable symptoms of this disease is evinced in a tend- 

 ency to climb and to cling, and the dead grasshoppers remain 

 clinging to the tops of grass heads or weeds until beaten off by 

 storms. The sick grasshoppers when disturbed do not jump 

 but instead climb a little higher and clasp their legs a little 

 tighter about the plant they are on. 



Except in the southern part of the State, the season was very 

 wet, a condition which favored fungus parasitism among much 

 of the insect life, hairy caterpillars and plant lice as well as 

 grasshoppers being especially susceptible. 



Beetles. 



Buprcstids. — Chief among the Buprestids of the season is 

 Brachys arosa Melsh. June 15, 1907, everywhere in the vicin- 

 ity of Portland the adults of this species were common, feeding 

 greedily upon the leaves of various trees. Collections were 

 made from Alnus incana, oak, hazelnut, wild rose, elm, haw- 

 thorn, birch, cherry, Amelanchier, hazelnut and willow, the 

 leaves of all of which they were skeletonizing, though they 

 were most abundant upon the first four mentioned. As many 

 as 12 to 20 of these bettles were common upon a single leaf 

 of alder or oak. Their bright metallic colors made them con- 

 spicuous in the sun. At the slightest jar they relaxed their 

 hold and slipped to the ground. They were not taken in large 

 numbers in other parts of the State, though a few were found 

 at Orono and elsewhere during June. This species in the larval 

 stage is a leaf miner. 



The strawberry weevil, Anthonomus signatiis, is apparently 

 widely distributed throughout the State, although strawberry 

 growers have not complained of their presence to any great 

 extent on cultivated plants. One large strawberry crop a few 

 miles out from Farmington was practically destroyed by this 



Kindly determined by Doctor Roland Thaxter. 



