38 



We did not have the insect here at Lincoln in sufficient numbers to 

 attract attention . Although several larvae of the ordinary Garden Web- 

 worm (Loxostege similalis) had been taken early in July, nothing* was 

 thought of the matter and no further considerations taken concerning 

 them until after the destructive brood had done its work at Grand 

 Island and Schuyler, and a report of its presence and injuries was seen 

 in the state papers. A special inspection of our beet plats at this time 

 resulted in the finding of a number of specimens of another web-worm 

 that we had noticed on several former occasions working on Amarantus 

 and Chenopodium, but not on the beet. Upon visiting the station at 

 Schuyler it was found that this second web-worm was identical with 

 the one which occurred there; and, as Dr. Maxwell assured me, the 

 same as was then present at Grand Island and several others of the 

 surrounding towns where beets were being grown. A couple days 

 later the same insect was found to be quite plentiful at Norfolk, Platte 

 Center, and Genoa, where many of the beet fields either had been 

 stripped or were at the time being stripped of their leaves. At Norfolk 

 •the greater part of half a day was spent in company with Mr. Huxman, 

 the agriculturist in charge of the fields "which supply that factory. 

 Here a careful examination of the grounds was made and some facts 

 gathered in relation to the insect as it appeared in this locality at least. 

 Several new insects were here added to the list of •• beet insects " as 

 heretofore recorded. Afterward Norfolk, Stanton, Wisner, Beemer, 

 and West Point were visited. At each of these localities sugar beets 

 had been planted for the Norfolk factory, and at each some signs of 

 the insect in question were found, though in much smaller numbers 

 than where beets had been grown the year before. 



From observations made at these different localities, and from infor- 

 mation gathered through conversations held with various persons who 

 were interested in the culture of beets, the following facts were gath- 

 ered: These web-worms are more numerous away from sheltered locali- 

 ties than near bordering groves* and on high grounds, as hill tops and 

 slopes, than on low flat grounds • they are never plentiful on a piece of 

 ground planted to beets for the first time unless it adjoins one that was 

 in this crop the year before* they are more plentiful in the middle of 

 large fields than in small ones, and those that were allowed to run to 

 "pig weeds" the preceding year, than in those where these weeds were 

 kept down. The insects are also apparently more numerous where the 

 soil is sandy than where it is heavier* at least this latter appeared 

 to be the case in the localities where I made my observations. It was 

 also learned that these web-worms are very subject to the attack of a 

 number of parasitic insects, as well as falliug prey to several species of 

 predaceous beetles, bugs, and wasps, while birds and toads seem to rel- 

 ish them. Chief among the parasites reared from the specimens se- 

 cured at Schuyler, Norfolk, and Grand Island is a small yellowish 

 Hymenopterous fly. Next in point of numbers is a species of flesh-fly. 



