ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES FROM MISSOURI FOE THE SEA- 

 SON OF 1889. 



By Mary E. Murtfeldt, Eirkwood, Mo. 





LETTER OF SUBMITTAL. 



Dear Sir: I inclose herewith such of my notes and observations on insects as may 

 be of economic interest, and in this connection desire to express my sincere thanks 

 for determinations and other assistance, for which I am indebted to yourself and to 

 others of the official force of the Division. 

 Yours, very respectfully, 



Mary E. Murtfeldt. 

 Prof. C. V. Riley, 



U. S. Entomologist. 



GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 



The Cabbage Gurculio (Ceutorliynchus rapce). — A number of my corre- 

 spondents in the central part of the State have informed me of the 

 serious ravages of this insect in their hot-beds and vegetable gardens. 

 Mr. F. M. Webster also wrote me, about the middle of May, that it had 

 appeared in his garden in La Fayette, Ind. As yet I have not found 

 it in Kirkwood or vicinity, aud as it was with some difficulty that I 

 obtained specimens for study, I have not been able to make such tests 

 of insecticides upon it as would be practicable iu the field. It promises 

 to become a general and very considerable pest to the market gar- 

 dener. 



The Wavy-striped Flea-beetle (Phyllotreta vittata). — This insect ap- 

 peared in great numbers this year in all parts of the State, being very 

 destructive to peppergrass, early radishes, turnips, cabbage, and other 

 Cruciferce during the months of April and May. Mr. S. W. Gilbert, of 

 Thayer, in the extreme southern part of the State, reported a loss of 

 over fifty thousand cabbage-plants from the work of the larvae on the 

 roots. I could scarcely credit the statement that such extensive injury 

 was attributable to this one insect until convinced by specimens of the 

 pest, and of the injured plants which were excoriated and channeled on 

 the surface of the roots from collar to tip, the foliage also being injured 



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