PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE ALFALFA WEEVIL. 
INTRODUCTION. 
The alfalfa weevil belongs to a genus or group of beetles all of the 
members of which attack clover, alfalfa, and closely allied plants. 
Even before the appearance of this one, Phytonomus posticus^ Gryll. 
(fig. 1), in our midst several other species had been introduced from 
Europe, had become established in our fields, and had spread to a 
greater or less extent over the country.^ After becoming fully devel- 
oped in early summer, all apparently have the same habit of scattering 
themselves over the country, a little later crawling into any secluded 
place that they can find, there to pass the winter. Years ago a lady 
residing in Michigan and spending the summer in New York, where 
one species of these beetles, Hypera punctata (fig. 2), was at the 
time very abundant, on her return home and on unpacking her 
trunk found some of them ensconced among the contents. They had 
in all probability secreted themselves, either in the trunk itself while 
it was being packed, or else among articles of clothing exposed out of 
doors prior to being packed in the trunk. 
The alfalfa weevil is found in Europe, western Asia, and northern 
Africa, where, though it sometimes becomes abundant, it is not 
especially destructive. The foregoing wdll illustrate the numerous 
ways whereby it might have been introduced into this country in 
articles of commerce, in household goods, or among other belongings 
of immigrants coming from those countries. 
FIRST APPEARANCE OF THE ALFALFA WEEVIL IN THE UNITED 
STATES. 
The pest was first reported on the outskirts of Salt Lake City, 
Utah, in the spring of 1904. At that time it had seriously injured 
several acres of alfalfa, the first crop being damaged fully one-half 
and the second crop practically destroyed. The follo^\ang spring, 
1905, its work was observed several miles way. The particular 
locality where the pest was first observed is on the eastern border of 
the city. Although not far distant from nurseries, it is not in close 
iln a recent paper, "The Genera Hypera and Phytonomus in North America north of Mexico" 
(Annals of the Entomological Society of America, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 383, 473, pis. 24-34, December, 1911), 
Prof. E. G. Titus has given this species as P. posticus Gyll. Phytonomus punctatus had already 
been placed in the genus Hypera by European authors. 
'^Phytonomus punctatus Fab.: See Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture for 1881-82, pp. 171-179; 
Phytonomus nigrirostris Fab.: See Bui. 85, Part I, Bur. Ent., U. S. Dept. Agr., 1909. For other species of 
the genus see paper by R. L. Webster, Ent. News, vol. 20, pp. 80-82, 1909. 
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