UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA. Agricultural Experiment Station. BULLETIN No. 88. ui'(.J~-::- >----- '>...:: /1~. -.___ /~., ,--~ =""'"''­ ~ .. ~::--~ No· . '·-; Entomological jyisioll. ""· .. ~~--.~. .<l / (NINTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST~ •,,· ... DECEMBER. 1904. INJURIOUS INSECTS OF 1904. ST. ANTHONY l'ARK, RAMSEY COUNTY, MINNESOTA . • c~ UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA. BOARD OF REGENTS. Term Expires. The HoN. SAMUEL R. VAN SANT, Winona ......................... Ex-Officio The Governor of the State. CYRUS NORTHROP, LL. D., Minneapolis .... ;................. ... Ex-Officio The President of the University. The l-IoN. ]OIIN. W. OLSON, Albert Lea ............................ E.r-Officio The State Superintendent of Public Instruction. The HoN. ELMER E. ADAMS, B. A., Fergus Falls....................... I908 ~ The HoN. THOMAS WILSON, St. Paul. 1909 The HoN. \VILLIAM M. LIGGETT, St. Anthony Parle . I909 'l'he I-IoN. A. E. RICE, Willmar. I909 The HoN. GREENI~EAF CLARK, M. A., St. Paul (deceased)............. I9IO The HoN. E.W. RANDALL, Morris ........................ ,............ I9IO The HoN. STEPHEN MAHONEY, B. A., Minneapolis..... .. i907 The l-IoN. 0. C. STRICKLER, M. D., New Ulm.......... 1907 The I-IoN. ],\MES T. \VnrAN, Minneapolis............................. I907 THE AGRICULTURAL COl'vlMITTEE. The HoN. WILLIA)! M. LIGGETT, Chairman The HoN. ELMER E. ADAMS. The HoN. ]. T. WYMAN. The HoN. A. E. RrcE. The HoN. E. W. RANDAI,L. STATION OFFICERS. WILLIAM M. LIGGETT ................................................ Direct<>r ]. A. VYE ........................................................... Secretary EXPERIMENT CURFS. WILLET M. HAYS, M. Agr ...................................... Agriculturist SAMUEL B. GREEN, B. S ....................................... Horticulturist HARRY SNYDER, B. S ................................................ Chemist T. L. HAECKER ............................................. Dairy Husbandry M. H. REYNOLDS, M. D., V. M .................................. Veterinarian ANDREW Boss ........................................... Animal Husbandry F. L. WASHBURN, M.A ........................................ Entomologist T. A. HovERSTAD, B. Agr .......................... Superintendent. C"•::,'.}:.:.'.~'1 A. ]. McGurnE, B. Agr ........................ Superinte1v-1ient, G~and Rapids ]. A. HUMMEL, B. Agr ............................ " ........ Assistant Chemist CoxrEs P. Bui.L, B. Agr. .......................... ~ .. Assic;tant Agriculturist A. G. RUGGLES, M. A ............... '. ............... l\i.::.i.:!_tant Entomologist The bulletins of this Station are mailed free to «II residents of the State who make application for them. 9 3 7 8 2 6 111 5 ED ITH REED 1 DEL , ET Pl "4 X. A. HOEN &: CO., LITH., BALT 0. 1 MD. THE MEDITERRANEAN FLOUR MOTH. INJURIOUS INSECTS OF 1904. BY F. L. WASHBUHN, State Entomologist. THE HESSIAN FLY. This pest, destined to be with us always in greater or less abundance, which was so troublesome last year, has hardly been heard from during the season just closed. An assistant found some July 21st on rye in Kandiyohi county, and rumors of its occurrence .:' in Marshall, Morrison, Big Stone and Lac qui Parle counties reached ;, us during the summer, but there has been practically no injury what­ ever in Minnesota to wheat this year by this fly. Owing to its very ' general absence in localities infested last year, \\T haye liel'11 unable to secure pupze ("flaxseecls"J in volunteer wheat, as we clid la~t year, showing the occurence of an extra brood in this stak. '1'11·0 ' lots of volunteer wheat plants, from eight: to ten inches hig·h, \1·en~ sent us in N oyernber; one lot from .i\I arshall county and one irom Big· Stone county, in both of which counti:_·s the fly \\·as thuug·ht tu he present. Several lrnnclred of these plan ts \\Tre car cf ull y exam i 11 ed, but, contrary to last year's experience, \1·e found no puparia. \Vhy this pest should have been so extremely abundant last year, causing losses variously estimated at from IO per cent to 50 per cent and in a few cases roo per cent, and so extremely scarce this year is easily accounted for. Several minute parasites, also insects, attac);: it, and as the fly became more abundant, naturally, from the practi­ cally unlimited amount of food the numbers of the parasites increased, and finally became so large that the fly succumbed, and in the year following the one in which the flies and also their parasites were ex­ ceedingly abundant, we see none. But this great reduction in the numbers of the Hessian Fly removes the food of the parasites, and consequently their numbers decrease also, and this gives the fly a new start, its numbers increasing each year, if climatic conditions arc favorable, until the culmination is reached in a year when great damage is clone, owing to their excessive numbers. The following year, for the reasons given a hove, but few arc seen. \Ve will prob- INSECTS OF 1904. ably have a little trouble with them next summer, and still more the summer The remedies and means of prevention of injury of this were fully discussed in the Entomologist's report for 1903. THE FRIT FLY. Oscinis sorer, Macq. Fig. I.-··--Frit Fly: a, adult; /J, hn·a :n ; c, pnparium. I\f uch enlarged. Lugger. This and the next described are, without doubt, in this state. The writer has reason to believe, frorn various of certain injnries to wheat through unknown causes, that both are here in greater or less numbers, though he has not met with either one of them. The Frit Fly, subject of this sketch, is a very small insect, whose larva or maggot, b, is found in the stem of wheat just above the first or second joint. The larva when full grown encases itself in a bro1vn covering, and then resembles somewhat the "flax­ seed" of the Hessian Fly. In fact the life history of this and the result of its work so closely resembles that of the Hess·ian Fly, partic­ ularly in the "crinkling down" or falling over of the that being the first apparent evidence of its presence, that we suspect some of INJURIOUS INSECTS OF 1904. 15 its work is laid at the Hessian Fly's door. Our illustration will give an idea of the appearance of the larva, puparium and imago or adult insect. The general remedies given for the Hessian fly will apply in the case of this pest. THE WHEAT STEM MAGGOT. Meroniyza americana, Fitch. This insect was reported by Lugger as being abundant here in 1896. In 1895 from S per cent to ro per cent of the crop was ruined in some places, the maggots, according to Lugger, being common from the Red River Valley to the central part of Minnesota. From occasional reports of "white heads" or "bald heads., among the grain this year and last, the Entomologist has every reason to believe they are now with us. These ''.bald heads" in the wheat arc seen when the heads are green, and it should not be difficult for a farmer to tell at once whether the pest is present. The adult fly is about :?1u of an inch long, yellowish, with bronze colored eyes; the back is banded, the underside and legs green­ ish. The larva or maggot hatching· from the whitish eg-g- is pale green, a quarter of an inch long. The transformations arc under­ gone inside the stem. THE CI-IIi-JCH BUG. The Chinch Bug· has been conspicuous by its absrnce this year. Darring an occasional report of a few seen in yarious localities, no mention of this odorous pest has been made. In Kandiyohi county, on July 21st, we found it working in rye ancl wheat ancl in 11zacaro11i wheat. Early last fall in the Station grounds \Ve found large numbers of dead Chinch Bugs, their demise evidently having been caused by attacks of a fungus, the growth of which was encouraged by the damp weather prevailing at that time. I believe the general preva· lence of this condition over the Chinch Bug area in Minnesota has been, in part at least, responsible for our immunity this year. They will be with us again. In October a report reached this office that a farmer near St. Peter was finding thousands of them on his place, and ,,·as killing all he could with kerosene. Inquiry from this office resulted in speci- 1G INJURIOUS INSECTS OF 1904. mens being sent, which proved to be not Chinch Bugs, but a species of Lug belrn1g·i11g to the same family resembling the Chinch Bug some- Fig. 2.-Chinch Bug, 1ong wingc<l Fig. 3.-Tra/1c:::o110t11s 11clmlos11s, form. \Vcbstcr. Fah. Ltq:rgcr. what, eYen haying the same bed-buggy odor. This bug is a species of Traf'c:::o11ot11s, \Yhich feeds for the most part upon ·weeds, hence is not g·enerally injurious. In some seasons it appears in enormous numbers, filling· the minds of the farmers, \\'ho think they are the genuine article, with much alarm. \Ve figure a Chinch Dug and a species of Trapezonotus side by side for comparison. Pictures of two other bugs sometimes mistaken for Chinch Bugs are also given, Fig. 4.-Lyga'us turcicus, Fab. Lugger. Fig. 5.-l'.,rJ1sius angusta!us, Uhler. From Riley. Fig. 4 illustrating Lyga:us t11rciws, and Fig. 5 showing Nysius an­ g11stat11s. The latter is frequently called ''The False Chinch Bug'' and at times is quite injurious. The life history of the Chinch Bug and methods of combating it have been fully discussed in our preceding Annual Reports. INJURIOUS INSECTS OF 1904. 11 THE l\IEDITERRANEAN FLOUR MOTH. Ephestia kuchniella, Zell. Millers have every reason to dread this insect, since it some­ times completely stops the machinery of a flour mill, and when present always calls, sooner or later, for the expenditure of much effort and much money before a mill can be free from Its depreda­ tions. The fact that a mill is new is no safe-guard ag'"ainst contamina­ tion from returned sacks or the introduction of eggs of the pest ) in second-hand machinery corning from an infested mill.