62 CEREAL AND FORAGE INSECTS. 



the foothill spurs near Koehler, N. Mex., several hundred feet above 

 the level of the great plain below. Larvae were also found for several 

 miles up Crow Creek Canyon near Koehler, while in October of the 

 same year large numbers of eggs were found in this same canyon, 

 much farther back than the larvae were observed during the summer 

 previous. 



It probably often happens, in the way of chance distribution, that 

 egg-bearing females are forced to earth during their long nights, and 

 oviposit where they fall, thus planting their eggs in locations which 

 they would not normally reach or select. It is not at all improbable 

 that the moths will eventually follow through or fly over the moun- 

 tain ranges west of their breeding place and reach the vast grazing 

 region of northwestern New Mexico and northern Arizona, even if 

 they do not now occur there in limited numbers. 



The area at present infested is not well defined, nor is it possible to 

 ascertain its boundaries. It is known to extend from just north of 

 Las Vegas, N. Mex., on the south, to Las Animas, Colo., on the north, 

 and from Cimarron and Koehler, N. Mex., on the west, to points well 

 within the Texas "Panhandle" on the east. Roughly speaking, 

 an area 200 miles from north to south by 150 miles from east to west — 

 30,000 square miles — is infested very unevenly as yet, but with the 

 insect more or less prevalent everywhere. 



OCCURRENCE OF THE MOTHS OUTSIDE OF NEW MEXICO. 



On October 29, 1909, multitudes of Hemileuca moths, many of them 

 very fresh and unworn, were flying about the electric lights at Trinidad, 

 Colo., 148 males having been counted at two street lights 90 paces 

 apart. This was the first intimation that the insects had crossed the 

 high mountain range at Raton, N. Mex., and had invaded Colorado. 

 On November 4 a number of these moths were taken at the lights at 

 Las Animas, a town lying 100 miles northeast of Trinidad, Colo. 

 How far beyond Las Animas they extend we have no means of 

 knowing. 



At Garden City, Kans., November 5, 1909, a number of moths, 

 believed to be of this species, were seen about the electric lights, but 

 it was a warm night, the moths were active, and no captures were 

 made. Observant residents to whom specimens were shown declared 

 that earlier in the season they had seen many moths of the species 

 flying. There exists a doubt as to the presence of the species in 

 Kansas, but it is known to be in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and 

 Colorado. How far north the species will spread with its present 

 start can only be conjectured, but by those who are familiar with the 

 facts of the outbreak the situation is viewed with apprehension. It 

 must be borne in mind, however, that only the moths have been 



