A small but important infestation was found on the University of 
Arizona Date Experiment Farm near Tempe, Maricopa County, Ariz. This in- 
festation was limited to a few square rods, and eradication measures were 
applied by the State Entomologist, Mr. J. L. E. Lauderdale. The area within 
a 3-raile radius was placed under State quarantine. 
Intensive scouting throughout southern and central California and 
southern Arizona failed to reveal other infestations of H. br unneipen'nis . 
METHODS OF SPREAD 
The manner in which Hvpera brunn eipenni s was introduced into the 
United States is unknown, but two possibilities have been advanced. These 
are, first, through importation of date palm stock from Egypt some 20 or 
30 years ago, and second, through movement of produce or transients from 
other portions of the United States or Mexico not now known to be infested. 
The first possibility offers the most reasonable solution, since it is known 
that large numbers of adults aestivate among the stubs of the old leaf stems 
attached to the bases of date trees in the Yuma Valley. In view of this fact 
it seems probable that the infestation at Tempe, Ariz., can be attributed to 
adults carried there with date palm offshoots from the Yuma Valley in 1937 
or 1938. The principal evidence against H. brunneipennis having been intro- 
duced through this medium is the fact that infestations have not been found 
in other date-growing areas, some of which are older plantings than those of 
the Yuma Valley, notably at Indio, Calif. There is, of course, a possibility 
that the insect has been introduced into other areas but that certain factors 
have prevented its establishment. 
During the summer of 1939 a study was begun to determine the possi- 
bility of weevil spread from the Yuma Valley through shipments of various 
agricultural products. To date, only alfalfa seed and flax seed have been 
studied thoroughly. The work on alfalfa seed indicated little danger of 
weevil spread through shipment of this product. Factors supporting this 
conclusion were (1) the apparent absence of weevils from alfalfa fields 
during the seed harvest (July 15 to August 15), (2) the effectiveness of 
threshing machines in destroying and preventing entrance into the seed of 
artificially introduced weevils, (3) the effectiveness of recleaning in 
eliminating all foreign material from the thresher-run seed, and (4) the 
unlikelihood of contamination from mill premises. A similar study of flax, 
however, indicated a distinct possibility of weevil dissemination through 
shipment of flax seed, since (1) weevils occur in most fields on volunteer 
host plants, (2) a few adults remain in fields during the period of flax 
harvest (late in May to July 1), and (3) flax threshing machines do not de- 
stroy adults or prevent their entrance into the seed. Furthermore, examina- 
tion of seed from a representative flax field revealed the natural occur- 
rence of an occasional adult. Biological studies to date in Yuma Valley 
indicate that weevils which remain in fields as late as flax harvest are 
abnormal and do not reproduce or survive the summer. If this is true there 
apparently would be little danger of establishment resulting from their 
