4 BULLETIN 94. 
sweeping alfalfa with the net and it seemed probable that those 
taken in this manner might have come from the weeds. In case 
of peas and beans the pods were chiefly attacked and the juices 
were extracted from the seeds within. A peculiar effect upon the 
peas was that the punctures introduced or prepared a way of en¬ 
trance for a fungus which soon rendered all the seeds unfit for use. 
“No one remembered having seen the insect in injurious num¬ 
bers before and some believed that the insect had migrated into 
their midst from farther down the river where it was reported that 
the bugs were still more abundant, and where they did some in¬ 
jury last year.’ 1 
The following letter giving an estimate of injuries in Monte¬ 
zuma valley was written by Mr. P. S. Taylor, Oct. 21, 1903, in 
reply to my letter of inquiry: 
“The bugs first appeared tn the valley about the 20th of May, com¬ 
ing from the southwest for three days in succession. These lighted 
mostly on alfalfa fields where they deposited their eggs, which hatched 
about two weeks later. 
“The bugs remained on the alfalfa until the first cutting of hay was 
made. Then, (about the first part of July) they left the hay fields going 
to adjoining wheat fields where for a time they sucked the sap from the 
wheat plants. As soon as grain formed in the heads the bugs bored in¬ 
to it, drawing their nourishment from the soft grain. This they contin¬ 
ued until the wheat either hardened or was killed. 
“Leaving the wheat they attacked oat fields in August, working in 
the same manner as on the wheat. But the damage that was done to 
oats was not nearly so great as that done fo wheat. 
“By the first of September nearly all the bugs had disappeared and 
so far as I could determine there were no eggs deposited after the first 
lot in June. The damage was done almost entirely in the lower part of 
the valley, on an area of 725 acres where an average yield for the past 
eight years was 35 bushels per acre, or a total of 25,375 bushels. The 
yield of the past season on the same number of acres was 15 bushels per 
acre, or a total of 10,875 bushels. This would show a shortage of 14,500 
bushels and a money loss at present prices of over thirteen thousand 
dollars. 
“Some fields of grain were entirely destroyed while others were in¬ 
jured only in spots.” 
Respectfully yours, 
P. S. Taylor. 
The following is an extract from a letter received from Mr. 
M. V. B. Page, of Fruita, Colo., dated August 6: 
“I am sending you samples of a bug that is destroying crops of all 
kinds but more especially potatoes, by sucking the sap from the stems 
of the plants. They are upon oats as well. They come in patches and 
then spread over the fields. I first discovered them in a small patch of 
ten acres of early potatoes a week ago and now they are all over the 
patch. I find no small ones; all seem to be of the size of the sample sent.” 
This bug is a close relative of Lioderma uhleri which was 
reported by Saunders in Bulletin 57 of the South Dakota Experi¬ 
ment Station and the habits of the two insects seem much alike. 
The species that has been so abundant in the southwestern por¬ 
tion of Colorado the past summer is generally distributed over the 
mountainous portions ofl the State and has frequently been taken 
