. Bulletin of the Department of Agriculture. Agriculture. 2 BULLETIN 124, U. S, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. the Southwest, placing on this species the blame for injury to alfalfa, were doubted. In the spring of that year, however, the writer was detailed to investigate these reports in the Imperial Valley and discover whether the butterflies bore any relation to the destruction of alfalfa by a " green ; His observations showed that the accusations were well founded, for in July, 1910, the butterflies were seen to lay the eggs that hatched into the green larvue which ate up t
. Bulletin of the Department of Agriculture. Agriculture. 2 BULLETIN 124, U. S, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. the Southwest, placing on this species the blame for injury to alfalfa, were doubted. In the spring of that year, however, the writer was detailed to investigate these reports in the Imperial Valley and discover whether the butterflies bore any relation to the destruction of alfalfa by a " green ; His observations showed that the accusations were well founded, for in July, 1910, the butterflies were seen to lay the eggs that hatched into the green larvue which ate up the alfalfa crop, causing a loss of thousands of dollars. At the end of the first year's investigation, experiments and ob- servations had been completed which were thought to be of immediate benefit to the ranchers in controlling the pest, and a preliminary report v\'as made and published as Circular 133 of the Bureau of Entomology. During the three years subsequent to this preliminary. Fig. 2.—The alfalfa caterpillar: Full-srown larva. Enlarged about three diameters. (Original.) investigation the writer and others have made a more exhaustive study of the species, its habits, and natural or artificial methods of control, and the object of this bulletin is to record these observations as they have been interpreted. GENERAL DISTRIBUTION. According to Scudder ^ this insect is well distributed over the United States, but is found in its greatest numbers in the Valley (see map, fig. 3) and to the westward. In only a few cases does it appear east of the Allegheny Mountains, but its range ex- tends northward into Canada, even as far as Hudson Bay. In 1911 Mr. R. A. Vickery made observations on the species at Brownsville, Tex., thereby considerably extending the southern range from that included in Scudder's map. In past years the species has been espe- cially abundant throughout the alfalfa-growing sections where irri- gation is extensively developed. 1 Scudder, S. H. T
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