REPORT UPON INSECT DEPREDATIONS IN NEBRASKA 



FOE 1891. 



By Lawrence Bruner, Special Agent. 



LETTER OF SUBMITTAL. 



Lincoln, Nebr., October 11, 1891. 



Sir: In accordance with past custom I submit herewith, a report upon the results 

 of my labors as special field agent for Nebraska, engaged in the studies of life-his- 

 tories and habits of insects related to agriculture during the past summer. In pre- 

 senting this report I am pleased to be able to record a season of comparative free- 

 dom from the ravages of most of our common insect pests, but wish that it might 

 have been even better in this respect than it has, for during years when insect depre- 

 dations are comparatively light and scarcely noticeable it is safe to say that fully as 

 much as one-tenth to one-eighth of the entire production of a country is thus de- 

 stroyed. 



While we have had comparative immunity from insect ravages here in Nebraska, 

 it has not been so in some other States. Even here we have been obliged to recog- 

 nize a few species as being more than ordinarily abundant and destructive. These 

 will be mentioned briefly in the following pages. 

 Very respectfully yours, 



Lawrence Bruner. 

 C. V. Riley, 



U. S. Entomologist. 



The present summer lias been an extraordinary one for Nebraska as 

 far as its agricultural interests are concerned. We have had abundant 

 crops of nearly every one of our staple products, and our climatic condi- 

 tions have been sucti as to indicate even better results for next year. 

 But few insect enemies appeared in destructive numbers, and these few 

 only in limited areas. Some of these are mentioned below, along with 

 a few notes on their occurrence and habits. 



MISCELLANEOUS INSECTS. 



The Corn -root Worm, Diabrotica longicornis, appears to be alarmingly 

 on the increase over many of the eastern counties of the State. During 

 the past summer it has been reported from a number of new localities, 

 and has been noted as especially numerous in some of the counties 



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