37 



III. The native species (Melanoplus biviltaUis, M. atlanis and M. packardi) have 

 attracted attention on account of dry years. M. atlanis has been destructive in 

 restricted areas all through the Red River Valley. 



IV. An outbreak of spreius similar to that which took place atRolla will probably 

 occur next season at some point between Devils Lake and Fargo. This swarm, 

 however ; may have reached Minnesota. 



THE BRONZE APPLE-TREE WEEVIL. 



(Magdalis (enescens Lee.) 



By F. H. Chittenden. 



REPORTED INJURY IN WASHINGTON STATE. 



January 14, 1899, Mr. S. Kerr, of Sunnydale, Wash., wrote this 

 Division that in the fall of the previous year his attention had been 

 called to a discoloration which appeared in spots upon apple trees in 

 his vicinity. In removing a piece of bark a small hole was disclosed, 

 and on following this up a specimen of a borer was found. Thirty- 

 eight such larvae were taken from a single two-year-old tree at that 

 time and several hundred were obtained in that orchard. On further 

 inquiry it was ascertained that most of the orchards in the vicinity 

 were affected similarly, and the owners were quite anxious to learn of 

 some easier way to rid themselves of the pest than by cutting them 

 out. Mr. Kerr's own trees, he wrote, were entirely free from attack, a 

 condition which he attributed chiefly to an annual wash of the trunk 

 and larger limbs with lye. One of the difficulties in combating insect 

 pests of this sort in that locality consists in the fact that about one- 

 half of the territory is planted in orchards, while the remaining half 

 is covered with timber and brush, the wild deciduous trees offering the 

 best sort of shelter for pests which attack also orchard trees. 



February 28 we received infested twigs from which we later suc- 

 ceeded in rearing the beetle, which is now identitied as Magdalis 

 cenescens Lee. On the last-mentioned date our correspondent wrote 

 that the tunnels of this species, which are illustrated on a subsequent 

 page (fig. 20), seem to start in the majoiity of cases from the butt of a 

 tree and often continue up 5 feet from the ground ; that while some- 

 times larvae are found in the trunk most of them are in the larger limbs. 

 Larvae are sometimes found singly, and often from two to six occur 

 together. The trees that have thus far been found to be most subject 

 to attack are Baldwin and Ben Davis. King of Tompkins, Northern 

 Spy, and Bellflower occurring in the same orchard appeared to be free 

 from infestation. 



In a letter dated March 3 our correspondent stated that a dead tree 

 which had recently been cut down was so full of borers that whenever 

 the wood was cut into borers would be disclosed. In the samples 

 which he sent at that time this was found to be the case. Every por- 

 tion of the twigs showed the borers or their galleries. 



