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Precipitation was deficient in the Northeast, the central and western 
parts of the. Ohio Valley, in Missouri, and in the central Plains States, hut 
wps generally above normal throughout the central and eastern parts of the 
country. Deficiencies occurred from the Rocky Mountains westward. 
. The fall was abnormally warm except in the Norther st and along the Atlanta 
and Gulf coasts. It was very warm in the upp'er Mississippi and Missouri Valle; 
and in the Great Plains, 
The fall weather was favorable to insect development and many species con- 
tinued activity later than usual and built up heavy populations to go into 
hibernation. Of these the chinch bug, the boll weevil, and the' codling moth 
i^ere outstanding examples, 
GRASSHOPPERS • 
The remaining infestations of the range grasshopper ( Dissosteira longi- 
pennis Thos.) in Colorado and New Mexico were reduced to a status of noneco- 
nomic importance. This was due to cool, wet wea.ther at hatching time in certa 
areas, to the work of predators and parasites, and to intensive control prac- 
tices. 
North-central Montana was heavily infested with eggs of Melanoplus mexi - 
canus Sauss. by adults that flew into that area in 1939 * Large-scale flights 
failed to develop from the above area, owing to control work. Only minor crop 
losses were sustained in the area an a whole, .•whereas just across the adjacent 
Canadian border, where grasshopper populations were similar but where little 
bait was spread, crop destruction was complete. 
Second-generation adults, of M. mexicanus deposited eggs in 1939 over ex- 
tensive areas of idle and waste lands in southeastern Colorado, the Panhandle 
of Oklahoma, and in northern Texas. General but not. heavy flights of first- 
generation adults spread the species over most of the counties of western 
Kansas. Late in September 19^0 second'-generation adults of M. mexicanus began 
migrating in western Kansas and southern Nebraska... By mid-October flights ex- 
tended the Infestation 100 miles into Texas, Field margins of wheat were 
completely destroyed in considerable areas in the southern part of the infesta- 
tion, Control activities by farmers increased materially and were continued 
into the early part of November, Subsequent low temperatures, together with 
parasitization and other natural causes, resulted in almost complete destruc- 
tion of live grasshoppers in the second-generation area. 
Little has been known of Aeoloplus turnbullii Thos. as an economic specie' 
It caused severe marginal and considerable field damage in Kansa.s in 1939 , was 
predominant there in acjlult and egg surveys, and it seemed probable that this 
species might cause heavy crop damage in 1940. In 1939 marginal growths of 
weeds dried up, forcing the species to migrate into fields. Weather condi- 
tions in 1940 favored the harboring of the species in marginal vegetation, 
therefore little migration to fields took place and little crop damage re suiter 
