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ALFALFA WEEVIL 
•Surveys made in the fall of 1933 indicated Menacing abundance of admits 
of the alfalfa Weevil throughout -hay- growing districts of -.Utah, .in western 
Nevada^ and in the infested area of southern Oregon. This outlook was con- . 
firmed by the spring check-up following the very mild winter, and the early 
spring gave the weevil a good .start in all sections. Moreover, in Utah, at 
least, -the general scarcity of precipitation in the spring minimized loqal 
weather differences, placing all districts on about the same developmental 
schedule. The warmth and drought in tne spring when the heat amounted to 
twice the normal number of day-degrees and the precipitation measured one- 
fourth of normal at Salt Lake City, prevented the usual slowing-up effect of 
spring weather on the egg population .and permitted hatching to keep pace with 
oviposition, thus spreading the larval attack over a much longer period. 
Under the circumstances, the threatened outbreak: failed to materialize. In 
western Nevada the situation was complicated by a severe outbreak oi .the ;oea 
aphid very early in the spring. ■ The aphid s stunted and partially killed the ' 
alfalfa growth, exaggerating the unseasonable heat and drought as regards 
weevil activities. The arhid danege, together with the grazing which was 
generally adopted for aphid control, greatly reduced the abundance of alfalfa 
weevil larvae, which were then exceptionally well Parasitized by Bathyolectes 
curculionis Thorns, As a result, the new-generation population of adult: . . 
weevils is extrenely small. The weevil survey last fall indicates a compara- 
tively low level of adult abundance, the principal exceptions being in western 
Nevada and western Idaho, where the weevil is especially scarce, .and in Salt 
Lake and Box Elder Counties, Utah, where the copulations are mostly menacing* 
'Tne Grand Junction and Delta, districts of Colorado and the Kexburg district in 
Idaho showed sizable populations in nearly half the fields. In the remainder 
of the weevil territory small and varying proportions of the fields have in- 
jurious populations. No new extensions of the weevil-infested territory were 
discovered during the year. (J. C. Hanlin, Bureau of Entomology and Plant 
Quarantine, U. S. D. 4i) 
VETCH BHUCHID 
Turing June 1931 the vetch bruchid ( Brochus brachial is Sahraeus) was first 
collected in the United States at Haddon Heights, Camden County, K. J. Later 
in that year it was found in Burlington and Atlantic Counties, N. J., Kent 
County, Del., tfic^mico County, Md., and Rowan County, N. C. In 1932 it was 
found in additional localities in Maryland, and in Virginia near the District 
of Columbia. During July 1934 the weevil wps reported from Franklin County, 
Fa., and Rowan and Iredell Counties, N. C. The present known distribution is 
indicated on the accompanying map. 
SUGARCANE BOBS* 
As in past years, the sugarcane borer was found attacking sugarcane, corn, 
rice, and sorghums witnin a radius of from 50 to 150 miles of the Gulf of 
Mexico in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, and in the southern half of 
Florida. The greatest injury occurred on BUgarcane in Louisiana and Florida, 
and on com and rice in Louisiana and Texas. In Louisiana a normal infesta- 
tion occurred t'.is season in the eastern part of the sugarcane section. In the 
