6 BULLETIN 812, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICTTLTUKE. 
This loss frequently varies from 50 to 400 pounds per acre as a 
result of the destructive work of this pest. At an average price of 
12 cents per pound the loss may then be estimated at from $6 to $48 
per acre annually. While this loss in the aggregate is enormous, 
there is frequently an additional loss which is caused by the planting 
of uncleaned seed, resulting in a poor stand and the loss of time and 
money in replanting. 
COMMON NAMES. 
Bruchophagus funebris is commonly known throughout the East- 
ern States as the clover-seed chalcis-fly. Throughout the alfalfa 
seed-growing districts, which are located almost entirely in the 
Western States, this insect is better known as the alfalfa-seed chalcis 
fly. Many farmers, however, frequently refer to its destructive work 
as that of a seed weevil, while others simply refer to the injured seed 
as " blighted seed," and apparently are not familiar with the cause 
of this condition. 
MEANS OF DISPERSION. 
At the present time it is impossible to study in detail the means 
by which B. funebris became distributed over the different parts of 
the United States, for the reason that it is now found in almost 
every locality where either alfalfa or red-clover seeds are grown to 
any extent. It is, in fact, very probable that this species is a native 
of this country. 
The shipment of infested seed from one locality to another has, 
without doubt, been a great factor in the dispersion of the alfalfa- 
seed chalcis-fly, since one can visit seed houses and frequently find 
hundreds of the adults present in the sacks of either clover or alfalfa 
seed. 
Their spread probably was greatly aided also by the early settlers, 
who traveled across the country with horses and wagons, taking with 
them either clover or alfalfa hay bearing a few infested seed pods. 
Throughout the mountain States there frequently is found a chain 
of small alfalfa patches along the mountain streams connecting the 
larger irrigation valleys, where alfalfa plants, along the edges of 
these fields, develop seed pods, and render conditions favorable for 
the spread of this insect from one field to another. Infested seeds 
and pods are undoubtedly washed down the mountain streams, enter 
irrigation canals, and may become distributed with the water over 
new fields many miles away. 
The wind is an important factor in the dispersion of the adults of 
B. funebris over adjoining fields. The writer has frequently ob- 
served large numbers of chalcis-flies being carried by the strong 
summer breeze from one field to another. On one occasion more than 
