50 ANN I A I. REPORTS 
Observations on early cutting as a control of the alfalfa weevil Indicate that 
ii Is i';iii'i\ successful iii Utah and of considerable value In Oregon, but thai 
apparently 11 would not be effective in western Colorado as 11 Is now applied 
under conditions occurring tins year. Conditions governing weevil development 
and Its synchronization with cutting dates in Oregon and Colorado require addi- 
tional study. Previously unknown infestations o • vil have been dis- 
covered in Colorado, Oregon, South Dakota, and Nebraska. Detailed stud 
this Insect have been extended to western Nebraska and western Colorado, with 
a corresponding decrease in the work being conducted in the Greal Basin. 
The vetch bruchid {Bruchva brachialis Fahr.) has continued to do severe 
damage to the vetch seed crop in North Carolina. Its known distribution has 
been extended southward to include Georgia. Observations on a series of varie- 
ties of vetch planted under conditions of heavy bruchid populations indicate 
that both smooth and hairy vetch are heavily attacked, whereas Louisiana, 
common, narrow-leaf, and monantha vetches were attacked only lightly or not 
at all. Woolly-pod vetch was heavily infested with eggs, hut serious larval 
infestation failed to develop. 
Investigations Of lygaeid plant bu<;s on the alfalfa seed crop in Arizona have 
indicated that above TO percent of the flowers may he blasted as a result of 
high bug populations. Preliminary investigations have revealed the close 
relationship between the abundance of certain weeds and the production of 
high populations of this insect, and that heavy mortality of the bugs may result 
from properly timing the cutting of the hay crop with reference to adjacent 
seed crops. 
Damage to alfalfa seed from pentatomid bugs ranges from approximately 
l to as high as 44 percent, the average injury in some areas being as high 
as 20 percent. Weed hosts are apparently important factors in developing 
large populations of these insects, and a possible reduction in damage thj 
the timely destruction of such hosts is indicated. 
The infestation of the range caterpillar in New Mexico was at a low ebb 
as a result of droughl conditions and apparently offered a favorable opportunity 
to test the value of parasite releases for direct control. Over 5,00 I 
parasites {Anas tat us semiflavidus Gahan) of the range caterpillar were pro- 
duced during the year at Tempo. Ariz.. 1,000,000 being released in New Mexico 
in the spring of 1935 on restricted areas and 3,500,000 in the fall. A high per- 
centage of parasit i/.at ion. even where the parasite releases were confined to 
small areas, was nol obtained. The results, however, were inconclusive, as dust 
storms seriously interfered with the spring releases and an unusually early 
snowfall came shortly after the release in the fall. 
GRASSHOPPERS 
During the summer of 1935 grasshoppers occurred in outbreak numbers in a 
number of Western and Middle Western States, but the outbreaks weie much 
Less intense than in 1934, Owing to a considerable extent to the effective control 
campaign waged under Government funds in that year and partly to unfavor- 
able climatic conditions for the development of the young grasshoppers. Con- 
trol was necessary, particularly in the more severely Infested northern Greal 
Plain- States, and the surplus loft from the appropriation for grasshopper 
control in 1934 was utilized. 
A very intensive grasshopper outbreak developed in the spring of 1936, con- 
comitanl with droughl conditions, in Nebraska. Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, <>kla- 
homa, Wyoming, Montana, northern Arkansas, ami eastern Colorado, with 
minor infestations in certain other Western State-. The occurrence of this 
Outbreak was fairly accurately predicted in 1935 in the States covered by the 
Cooperative annual fall grasshopper survey, which indicated the areas in which 
the mosl severe infestations could be expected. The survey did not include 
Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma, where severe Infestations developed, An 
appropriation of $250,000, made by Congress late in .June, was utilized to its 
full extent in purchasing materials for poisoned bail to aid the infested states, 
bin u.i- Car from adequate to meet the requirements, infestations in the 
Middle Western Stales were accompanied by extensive tli-htv. the indications 
being that such migrations bad spread the Infestation over areas not previously 
Infested or onlj lightly so. The severe infestation to croplands has been 
accompanied by probably the mosl Bevere range-land infestation in recent years, 
particularly in Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana. 
