ata ao tealh= tomer en at egtintin intr Ge = Cae Anaee 2die Me dant Se P= trv Oe Set te He ae Seatiaralanas neneonaed nova none teen en 2 NOE, Se OI Sg eb Seon Rag OO ee Oe are eee em pT Te eager a ree te ain anne Rn ane ne Oe er tals fr Seba ne Oe ae we Meets A aaa ae oe RE = Ol ee ne ee eas ene en alle Dotted Ae An es Sednd ee et aap ee aa ec a naan ig ae nn tg SS A / a a a ~ onde danger to our future ag ricultural prosperity. The food-producers have not been strong enough to effect the much needed reform’ Let the food-consumers now unite with them in dem anding it. The paper, which was discussed by several eminent scientists, then and there present, who conjured up all the possible cases of poisoning from Paris Green they could think of, in its careless handling, use in coloring wall paper, etc., provoked the following resolution : Resolved, That a committee be appointed to investigate and report upon the subject of the use of poisons applied to vegetables or otherwise for the destruction of delete- rious insects and other animals, and also the incautious use of poisons in the orna- mentation of articles of food and destructive purposes generally, such, for instance, as the coloring of paper. No one can hold that eminent entomologist, Dr. J. L. LeConte, in higher esteem than does the writer; and so just and to the point do I deem the remarks about our Department of Agriculture that I make place for them in full. Yet the position assumed regarding the use of Paris Green places my friend in the attitude of an alarmist, and sub- sequent writers, prone to exaggerate, have played upon the tocsin sounded by him till pictures of suffering and death from the use of the mineral; of the earth poisoned with it and sown with danger, are conjured up ad libitum. Quoth the Utica (N. Y.) Herald: ‘The eye of science sees the horrible spectre of the demon bug stalking over the patch where its body was struck down by the deadly Paris Green, and laughing in fiendish glee over the terrible retribution that awaits its slayer. * * * The chemical possibilities which may result in the poisoning of the vegetation raised from the poisoned soil are fear- ful to contemplate!” While, therefore, Dr. LeConte’s object—which was evidently to cause more thorough experiments and investigations to be made than had hitherto been made—was praiseworthy enough, I consider the attitude assumed neither commendable nor tenable; first, because it takes no account of an extensive past experience ; second, because it is contrary to that experience, and what experi- ment had already been made. The subject.is one of vast importance, and as it was my lot to be, perhaps, as instrumental as any one in causing the now general use of Paris Green, both for the Colorado Potato-beetle and for the Cot- ton-worm, I take pleasure in presenting the facts in the case, so far as they are known; for these facts will serve to dissipate much misap- 10 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT prehension, and certainly support the opinion previously expressed on the subject in these reports :* Past Experience.—In the early history of the use of this mineral as an insecticide, most persons, myself included, were loth, on theo- retical grounds, to recommendits general use; and I have ever insisted that the many other mechanical and preventive measures, which, if persistently employed, are sufficient to defeat the foe, should be resorted to in preference. But the more diluted form and improved methods now-a-days employed in using the poison, render it a much safer remedy than it was a few years back; and no one should fail to take into account that during the past six years millions of bushels of potatoes have been raised, the leaves of which have been most thor- oughly sprinkled with the Paris Green mixture, without any injurious: effect to the tuber, or to persons using potatoes raised in this manner. Indeed, scarcely any potatoes have been raised in the Middle States during these years, without its use; yet I have to learn of the first authentic case of poisoning or injury whatever, except through care- lessness and exposure to its direct influence. So far as experience * We hear many fears expressed that this poison may be washed into the soil,.absorbed by the rootlets, and thus poison the tubers; but persons wh» entertain such fears forget that they themselves often apply to the ground, as nourishment for the vines, either animal, vegetable or mineral substances that are nauseous, or even poisonous tous. Animal and vegetable substances, of whatsoever nature, must be essentially changed in character and rendered harmless before they can be converted into healthy tubers, and a mineral poison could only do harm by being taken with the potatoes to the table. That any substance, sprinkled either on the vines or on the ground, would ever accompany to the table a vegetable which develops underground, and which is always well cooked before use, is rendered highly improbable. There can be no danger in the use of sound tubers. But the wise and well-in- formed cultivator will seldom need to have recourse to Paris Green, as he will find it more profitable to use the different preventive measures that have, from time to time, been recommended in these columns. The poison may do harm, however, by being carelessly used, and it is most safely applied when attached to the end of a stick several feet long, and should not be used where children are likely to play.—[8d Rep., pp. 99-100. Some persons have even imagined that potatoes grown on land where it has been used are often watery, rank and of bad flavor, and according to the Monthly Report from the Department of Agri- culture for August and September last, peas planted in soil mixed with the green rotted immediately and would not germinate, while those in unadulterated soil grew finely and flourished, but died immedi- ately when transplanted into the soil mixed with the Green. How far these statements are to be relied on, each one must judge for himself, but it is certainly advisable to avoid as much as possible the use of the poison, by carrying out the other methods, both preventive and remedial, advocated in previous. Reports; for wholesale remedies always have the disadvantage of destroying some friends with the foes, and in this case the true parasites and those cannibals which by mastication partake bodily of their green-covered prey, certainly fall in the general slaughter. But this remedy has now , been so extensively used with good results and without any apparent harm to the tubers, that full and thorough proof against it will be necessary to cause its abandonment. Properly mixed I have used it without the slightest trace of evil eTect on the leaves or tubers, and I know hundreds of others who have done likewise; so that with present experience I should not hesitate to recommend ifs judicioususe. What is wanted on this subject, is a long series of thoroughly accurate and reliable ex= periments. Let our Agricultural Colleges make them! Meanwhile Paris Green will be extensively used, especially while the vines are young and most need protection; for after the expense of prepa- ring the land and planting has been incurred, it will not do to get discouraged and abandon the field to the enemy, when such an efficient remedy is at hand.—[4th Rep., pp. 11-12. OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 1t goes, therefore, there is nothing to fear from the judicious use of the mineral. Let us then consider, from the best authority, what are the effects of its use as at present recommended: First, on the plant itself; second, on the soil; third, on man, indirectly, either through the soil or through the plant. Irs INFLUENCE ON THE PLant.—Practically the effect of sprinkling a plant with Paris Green, will depend very much on the amount used and on the character of the plant treated. Thus, from experiments which I made in 1872, a thorough coating of a mixture of one part of Green to fifteen of flour, while injuring some of the leaves of peas, clover and sassafras, had no injurious effect on young oaks, maples and hickories, or on cabbage and strawkerries; while the fact has long been known that when used too strong and copiously it destroys potato vines. It is for this reason that the experiments made during the past year on beets, by a committee appointed by the Potomac Fruit Grower’s Society, are‘ of little value, as against the universal experience of the farmers of the Mississippi Valley. The mixture used by the committee, and which they call “highly diluted,” con- sisted of one part of Green with but six of the dilutent, instead of from twenty-five to thirty parts of the latter; and it is no wonder that, as reported by the committee, the vitality of the plants was seriously impaired. There can be no question, therefore, about the injurious effect of the Green upon potato vines, when it is used pure or but slightly diluted ; yet in this case, since it is the office of the leaves to expire rather than inspire, we cannot say that the plant is injured, or killed by absorption, any more than if it were injured or killed by hot water, which, according tc the degree to which it is heated, or the copiousness of the application, may either be used with impunity or with fatal effects. Indeed, judging from my own experience, I very much incline to believe that future careful experiments will show that injury to the leaf by the application of this compound, arises more often from the stoppage of the stoma, which is effected as much by the dilutent as by the arsenite itself. So much for the influence of the poison when coming in contact with the plant above ground. The question as to how it affects the plant below ground, through the roots, may be considered in connection with— Its INFLUENCE ON THE. Soin.—As Prof. J. W. Johnson, in an admi- rable review of this subject, has recently stated:* “One pound of pure Paris Green contains about ten ounces of white arsenic, and about four ounces of copper;” or, to state it in the usual way, Sweinfurt or pure Paris Green contains fifty-eight per cent. of arsenious * New York Weekly Tribune, December 16, 1874. 12 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT acid. One pound of the Green uniformly spread over an acre of soil, would amount to sixteen-hundredths of a grain per square foot, or nine-hundredths of a. grain of arsenious acid. If uniformly mixed with the soil to the depth of a foot, it would, of course, be the same to the cubic foot. In actual practice,even this amount does not reach the soil direct or in an unchanged form, since much of it is acted upon by the digestive organs of the fated insects.” Itis safe to say that even if the Green retained for all time its poisonous power and purity in the soil, this mere fractional part of a grain might be added annually for half a century without any serious effects to the plants. In real- ity, however, there is no reason to believe that it does so remain. Of the few experiments on record which bear on this point, those made by Prof. W. K. Kedzie, while connected with the Michigan Agricul- tural College, in 1872, are the most interesting and instructive. In a paper read before the Natural History Society of the College, he proved, from these experiments, that where water was charged with carbonic acid or ammonia, a certain portion of the Green was dis- solved, but was quickly converted into an insoluble and harmless pre- cipitate with the oxide of iron which exists very generally in soils. Fleck has shown (Zeitschrift fiir Biologie, Bd. viii, s. 455, 1872) that arsenious acid in contact with moist organic substances, especially starch sizing, forms arseniuretted hydrogen, which diffuses in the air; and it is more than probable that the Green used in our fields will lose its poisonous power, and disappear in these and other ways. The question as to how the plant is affected by the poison through the soil is, therefore, partly answered by the above facts. Wateris both the universal solvent and the vehicle by which all plants appropriate their nourishment; but in thisinstance its solvent and carrying power is for the most part neutralized by the oxide of iron in the soil; and though some experiments by Dr. E. W. Davy, and quoted by Prof. Johnson in the article already cited, would indicate that, under cer- tain circumstances, some of the arsenious acid may be taken up by plants before passing into the insoluble combination ; yet the quantity is evidently very slight. Some persons have imagined that the soggy and watery potatoes that have been so common of late years are due to the influence of this poison; but this idea is proved to be erroneous by the fact that such imperfect potatoes are not confined to the districts where Paris Green has been used. Indeed, they are much more likely due to the injury and defoliation of the plant by the insect; for no plant can mature a healthy root when its leaf system is so seriously impaired by the constant gnawings of insects. Finally, we must not forget that both arsenic and copper are widely distributed throughout the inor- OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 13: ganic world* and are found naturally in many plants; andso farfrom injuring plants, in minute quantities, arsenic occurs in the best super- phosphates and the volcanic soil around Naples, which, like all volcanic soils, contains an unusual amount of it, has the reputation of being a specific against fungoid diseases in plants. A certain quantity may therefore be beneficial to plants, as it appears to be to animals, since horses fed on a grain or two a day are said to thrive and grow fat.t Irs INFLUENCE ON MAN INDIRECTLY THROUGH THE SoIL OR THROUGH THE Puant.—The Green as now used could not well collect in sufficient. quantities to be directly deleterious to man in the field in any imagi- nable way; while its injury through the plant is, 1 think, out of the question ; for the plant could not absorb enough without being killed. The idea that the earth is being sown with death by those who fight the Colorado Potato-beetle with this mineral, may, therefore, be dis- missed as a pure phantasmagoria. In conclusion, while no one denies the danger attending the care- less use of Paris Green, and all who have recommended its use have not hesitated to caution against such carelessness, a careful inquiry into the facts from the experimental side bears out the results of a long and extensive experience among the farmers of the country— viz: that there is no present or future danger from its judicious use, in the diluted form, whether as liquid or powder, in which it is now universally recommended. Nor is the wholesale charge made by Dr. LeConte that the remedy has been recommended by persons who have observed only the effects of the poison on the insects to which their attention has been directed, warranted by the facts. It is in this asin so many other things, a proper use of the poison has proved, and will prove in future, a great blessing to the country, where its abuse can only be followed by evil consequences. Poisonis only arelative term and that which is most virulent in large quantities is oftentimes harmless or even beneficial to animal economy in smaller amounts. The farmers will look forward with intense interest to the work of the committee appointed by the National Academy, or of any national commission appointed to investigate the subject, and will hail with * Prof. Johnson, (loc. cit.) writes : The wide distribution of both arsenic and copper is well known to mineralogists and chemists. These metals are dissolved in the waters of many Jamous mineral springs, as those of Vichy and Wies- baden. Prof. Hardin found in the Rockbridge Alum Springs of Virginia, arsenic, antimony, lead, copper, zinc, cobalt, nickel, manganese, and iron. ‘The arsenic, however, was present in exceedingly minute quantity. Even river water, as that of the Nile, contains an appreciable quantity of arsenic. Dr. Will, the successor of Liebig at Giessen, proved the existence of five poisonous metals in the water of the celebrated mineral springs of Rippoldsau, in Baden. In the Joseph’s Spring he found to 10,000,- 000 parts of water arsenic (white,) 6 parts ; tin oxide, 1-4 part; antimony oxide, 1-6 part; lead oxide. 1-4 part; copper oxide, 1 part. Arsenic and copper have been found in a multitude of iron ores, in the sediments irom chalybeate springs, in clays, marls and cultivated soils. But we donot hear that the wrsenic thus widely distributed in waters and soils ever accumulates in plant or animal to a deleterious extent. + See an article on ‘*‘ Arsenie in Agricultural and Technical Products,’’ by Prof. A. Vogel, in Scientific American, Oct. 17, 1874. 44 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT joy and gratitude any less dangerous remedy that will prove as effect- ual; but until such is discovered, they will continue to use that which has saved them so much labor and given so much satisfaction. I would therefore say to those agriculturists of the East who are in any way alarmed by what has been written on this subject, and who hesitate to use the Paris Green mixture—profit by the experience of your more western brethren, and do not allow the voracious Dory- phora to destroy your potatoes, when so simple and cheap a remedy is at hand! THE BEETLE EATS AS WELL AS THE LARVA. As the statement has been quite frequently made during the year, in Eastern papers, that the beetle does not feed, and that consequently there is nothing to fear from them early in the year, the fact may as well be reiterated that the beetle does feed, though not quite so rav- enously as the larva. But as they are on hand as soon as the young plants peep through the ground, and as these first spring beetles are the source of all the trouble that follows later in the season,it is very important to seek and destroy them. IT PASSES THE WINTER IN THE BEETLE STATE. The statement is continually made that the insect hibernates as a larva. “I must insist that with us it never does, but that the last brood invariably hibernates in the perfect beetle state. Specimens have been found at a depth of eight and even ten feet below the surface, but the great majority do not descend beyond eighteen or twenty inches, and many will not enter the ground at all if they can find other substances above ground that will shelter them sufficiently. The beetles are found abundantly above the ground in the month of April in the latitude of St. Louis, but often re-enter it after they have once left, especially during cold, damp weather.”—[4th Report. NEW FOOD PLANTS. Mr. A. W. Hoffmeister, of Ft. Madison, Iowa, an entomologist, the accuracy of whose observations may be relied on, writes: Last year, after all the early potatoes had been taken up and the late ones either wilted through excessive dryness or eaten up by the Colorado gentleman, I was aston- ished to tind so many 10-lined spearmen in the lower part of town, while in the upper part they were reasonably scarce; but | was more astonished to find that the larvae had stripped the Verbascum of its leaves. The Mullein, belonging to the Figwort family, must therefore be added to the list of plants on which the insect livesand flourishes. An item went the rounds of the papers during the year to the effect that OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 15 alfalfa is greedily devoured by this insect, but just how much credit should be given to the statement, which originated with a Montana correspondent of the Harmer’s Home Journal of Kentucky, it is dif- ficult to say. Probably the reference was originally made to the old- fashioned “ potato-bugs,” or blister-beetles, which are common in the Western country and very general feeders. NEW MEANS OF DESTRUCTION. The use of Paris Green having become a universal remedy for this pest, there is little to be said under this head, except as regards the improved methods of using the application. Last spring, Mr. Frank M. Gray of Jefferson, Cook county, Llls., sent me a sprinkler which he has constructed for sprinkling two rows at once. It is so simple and yet so useful that a brief description of it will not be out of place here. It consists of a can capable of holding about eight gallons of liquid, and so formed as to rest easily on the back, to which it is fastened, knapsack fashion, by adjustable straps, which reach over the shoulders and fasten across the breast. To the lower part of the can are attached two rubber tubes which are connected with two noz- zles on sprinklers. The inside of the can has three shelves which help to keep the mixture stirred. There is a convenient lever at the bottom which presses the tubes and shuts off the outflow at will, - and two hooks on the sides near the 3 top on which to hang the tubes = when not in use. On the top isa ! small air-tube and a capped orifice. - Two bucketfulls of water are first A ae a ae aie =~ = * poured into the can, then three hl Gna esere DEI sae tablespoonfulls of good Green, well mixed with another half-bucketfull of water and strained through a funnel-shaped strainer which accompanies the machine, and the use of which prevents the larger particles of the Green from getting into the can and clogging up the sprinklers. Five to eight acres a day can readily be sprinkled by one man using the can, and from one to cne and a half pounds of good Green, according to the size of the plants 16 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT will suffice to the acre. Two lengths of nozzles are furnished, one for use when the plants are small, the other when they are larger. The ean should be filled on the ground and then raised on a bench or bar- rel, from which it is easily attached to the back. The walking serves to keep the Green well shaken, and the flow of liquid is regulated at will by a pressure of the fingers at the junction of the tubes with the metallic nozzles. When not in use, the tubes should be removed and the can emptied and laid on its back. I can testify to the ease and efficiency with which this little machine may be used, and it has been so well thought of that it is now manufactured and for sale at 66 W. ' Madison street, Chicago, though I do not know at what price. THE PROPER SCIENTIFIC NAME OF THE BEETLE. Of course the American reader need not be informed of the fact that this insect has been universally known, since it attained popular notoriety, by the scientific naine of Doryphora 10-lineata Say. Amer- ican coleopterists have from the first been fully aware that it, differed from the typical genus Doryphora in lacking the point produced on the mesosternum (middle of breast), which is characteristic of that. genus as defined by its founder, Olivier. Yet as this character is of secondary importance, and by no means of generic value, in many other families of Coleoptera; and our insect in other characters, and especially in the short and transverse form of the maxillary palpi, approaches nearer to the genus Doryphora than to any other genus of its sub-family (CArysomelides), that father of American Entomology, Thomas Say, described it under that genus. Subsequent American authorities, including Dr. LeConte, have followed this enlarged defini- tion of the genus Duryphora, considering the palpial of much more value than the sternal characters; and Say’s name has consequently been universally adopted in this country both by popular and technical writers. The genus CArysomela of Linrzeus has been made the basis of several minor divisions, which are considered to be of generic value or not, according to the opinions of different systematists. Thus: Melsheimer in his catalogue of N. A. Coleoptera (1853) refers our potato-beetle to the genus Polygramma erected by the French ento- mologist Chevrolat upon unimportant colorational characters. Re- cently, the Sweedish entomologist Stal in a Monograph of the Ameri- can Chrysomelides* erects the genus Myocoryna, on the slghtly compressed form of the antennal club, for our potato beetle, and sev- eral other species from Texas and Mexico. Until some yet distant day when the science of entomology shall be perfected, there will be * Trans. Sweedish Academy, 1858,p. 816. OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 17 a constant chopping and changing in generic nomenclature (much of it of questionable warrant or advantage), and it is ofttimes preferable, especially in popular works, to anchor to the more comprehensive and better known generic terms, instead of confounding the reader by the more recent changes. There is nothing to prevent any author from erecting new genera, but whether a proposed genus is in the end by common consent adopted or not will depend on the value of the char- acters on which it is founded. Our best authorities ignore the more recent divisions, and LeConte writes me: ‘ Let us set our faces against the adoption of the multitude of genera, which even the founders fail to sustain. * * * Let Polygramma, Leptinotarsa, Myocoryna,* etc., never be mentioned amongst us.” Thence, if we write Chrysomela 10-lineata (Say), with Crotch, in his list of N. A. Coleoptera (1873), we indicate that in our opinion the later divisions into which that genus has been broken up, and which would include this species, are not based on sufficiently important and distinctive characters; if we write Doryphora 10-lineata Say, we express our belief in the generic value of the palpial characters. In either event no confusion will ensue providing the authority for the species is given, and the Ameri- can entomologist does no violence either to good sense or propriety by designating the insect as it was at first described, i. e., Doryphora 10-Zineata. Itis because of the present unsettled conditon of ento- mological nomenclature that the custom yet prevails of attaching the abbreviated authority to the names of insects, as the only sure way to express our meaning and obviate all confusion as to the species intended. I have been led to these synonymical remarks by an article by M. E. A. Carriére, which, had it occurred in a less important journal than the Revue Horticole,t of which he is editor, would not deserve notice. With an arrogance in keeping with the superficial knowledge of the subject he displays, M. Carri¢re undertakes to read the Ameri- cans an entomological lesson, teach them how to correctly designate this potato enemy and “cut short the confusion” which he takes it for granted exists on the subject in this country. As the idea is altogether too prevalent among European writers that American naturalists are a set of know-nothings, I shall briefly notice this article of M. Carri€re’s to show how ridiculously pragmatical he appears in * Even if the characters given by stal are ever considered by authors: generally of generic y: aie: the name Myocoryna could not be employed, as it is preoccupied by a genus, in the same family of Chrysomelians, founded by Dejean (Cat. 3d edit., p. 428); and if our potato- beetle is to be known by any subgeneric title [would propose that of Thlibocoryna, + Subsequently noticed in several European periodicals, and republished in the Journal d’ Agri- culture Pratique, and in the Bulletin of the Soc. Centrale @ Agr. du Dep. del’ Herault, 1874, pp. 84-5. E R—2 18 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT the eyes of those whom he attempts to teach, however much his show of erudition may awe his French readers. First. then, we are informed that our insect should be referred to the genus Chrysomela, or else—admitting the subdivisions of that genus—to the sub-genus Polygramma of Chevrolat. Considering that before M. Carriére wrote, Crotch had made the former reference, and Melsheimer many years previously, the second—this information is not novel. Secondly, we are gravely told that another error “ more difficult to comprehend, because it is pure nonsense,” consists in calling the insect by the specific name of decempunctata ! Since no American entomologist has ever called it by that name, and it was first so desig- nated in a foreign journal, by mistake, M. Carriére might have saved himself the exhaustive effort to comprehend it. Thirdly, M. Carriére considers the juncta of Germar as a syno- nym of 10-lineata Say, a thing which no entomologist at all informed would think of doing to-day, after the characters of the two have been so well defined in this country. Fourthly, he undertakes to define this amalgamated species, and does it in so bungling a way that only general characters are given, and the most distinctive features omitted. Yet with complacency he speaks of this definition as “these details which we have deemed necessary tu particularize and firmly establish the identity and the character of C. decemlineata//” Fifthly, we are gravely informed that our beetle is not a fly (mouche)—most interesting information, since no one in America calls iia fly.” Sixthly, we are told that Colorado is the vulgar name for the insect—a statement which shows thatits author is as good a geographer as he is entomologist. He then declares that no remedy has been discovered “for that which is employed is no less redoubtable than the evil itself;” ridicules (as do all who have no proper knowledge of the important part played by parasitic and predaceous insects in keep- ing the vegetable feeders in check) the idea of benefit to man from predaceous insects; and closes by recommending certain remedies, which have been proved useless here and are the conceptions of in- experience. Such are some of the more glaring errors in this production of a gentleman who plays the role of instructor to the American entomolo- gists. In short, instead of deriving his information from trustworthy sources, and ascertaining what had really been written by Americans on this subject, as every cautious critic would have done, M. Carri¢re gets all he possessed at second hand from the poor translations, in cer- OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 19 tain London journals, of Col. F. Hecker’s communication to the Gartenlaube, which I referred to in my Sixth Report (p. 15). He thus lances his criticisms at imaginary errors, and in attempting to be deep becomes extremely shallow. THE CHINCH BUG—Iicropus leucopterus (Say). (Subord. HrrerorterRA; Fam. LyGx1p2.) Never, perhaps, in the history of the country, and certainly never in the history of the State of Missouri, was the Chinch Bug so disas- trous in its work as during the year 1874. This fact is explained in part by the very dry weather which prevailed during early summer in the Northwestern States—weather favorable to the insect’s well-being and multiplication—but was also greatly due to the very dry Fall of 1873 and the following comparatively inild and dry Winter; conditions that permitted the survival of an unusually large number of the bugs, which dispersed over our fields in the spring and gave birth to myriad young, which throve and prospered amazingly. In order to gather as complete statistics as possible about this insect in Missouri, I sent the following questions to several prominent farmers in every county in the State: 1. How far back in the history of your county has this insect (the Chinch Bug) een known to injure the grain and grass crops? 2. What crops have suffered most from its ravages? 3. Have any systematic efforts ever been made to overcome its injuries ; and have you any idea to what extent my Second Report—which contained what was known about the insect up to that time, and which was bound in with the Fifth (1869) State Agricultural Report—is distributed or known of among the farmers of your county ? 4. Give approximately this year’s estimated damage in your county, by this single insect—all crops affected by it considered. Replies to these questions have been received from nearly every county, and I am under obligations to the many gentlemen through- out the State who have thus assisted me. To publish these replies in full would occupy altogether too much space, and would be unneces- sary; yet, as there is much valuable experience contained in them, I have brought together such parts as will most generally interest the farmers of the State, in an Appendix at the end of this article. It will be seen that the replies to the third question are almost unanimous to the effect that little or nothing is known or has been seen of the Second Entomological Report; and it is for this reason and from the number of letters of inquiry about the insect that reached me about harvest time last Summer, that I deem it advisable to give a full account of the Chinch Bug in the present volume, repro- 20 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT ducing, in quotation marks, portions of the article referred to in the Second Report. APPEARANCE AND TRANSFORMATIONS OF THE CHINCH BUG. estes! Few farmers in this section of the country need ; an introduction to this insect ; but lest there be those who are so blessed as not to know the gentleman by sight, I annex his portrait. Known to science as Micropus leucopterus,he belongs to the Half-wing Bugs ( //eteroptera,) the same sub-order to which a well known bed pest belongs, and he exhales the same most disagreeable odor. He subsists by sucking with ii his sharp pointed beak (Fig. 3,7) the grasses and Cumcn Bra: Hair cereals, thereby causing them to shrink, wilt and line underneath showing, Oe 3 natural size. wither—and not by biting their substance as many persons suppose. Like the other species of its sub-order, it undergoes no very sudden transformations. Bornas a little pale yellow 6-legged atom, scarcely visible to the naked eye, and with a tinge of red near the middle of the body, (Fig. 3, (Pig. 3.] ¢,) it goes through four molts Na 5 : before acquiring wings. It is bright red, with a pale band , across the middle of the body — after the first; somewhat darker with the merest rudi- ments of wing-pads after the IMMATURE STAGES OF CHINCH BuG:—da, b, eggs; c, second. and quite brown, with newly-hatched larva; d, its tarsus; e, larva after first molt ’ J, same after second molt; g, pupa—the natural sizes indi- sleds 7 12 7 cated at sides; h, enlarged leg of perfect bug; j, tarsus of distinct wing pads, but with same still more enlarged; i, proboscis or beak, enlarged. the pale transverse band still visible, after the third, in which it as- sumes the pupa state, and from which, in the fourth molt, it escapes as a winged bug. [Fig nae “There are, as is well known to entomologists, many genera of the Half-winged Bugs, which in Kurope occur in two distinct or ‘\dimorphous” forms, with no intermediate grades between the two; nainely, a short-winged or sometimes even a com- pletely wingless type and a long-winged type. Fre- quently the two occur promiscuously together, and are found promiscuously copulating so that they can- not posibly be distinct species. Sometimes the long- Siaepgaetoa: Wa ttre winged type occurs in particular seasons, and espe- OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 21 cially in very hot seasons. Morerarely the short-winged type occurs -in a different locality from the long-winged type, and usually in that case in.a more northerly locality. We have a good illustration of this latter peculiarity in the case of the Chinch Bug, for a dimorphous short-winged form occurs in Canada, and Dy. Fitch describes it from specimens received from the States, as a variety, under the name of apterus.” DESCRIPTIVE. Microrus Leucorrerus (Say.)—Egg—Average length 0.03 inch, elongate-oval, the diameter scarcely 1-5 the length. The top squarely docked and surmounted with four small rounded tubercles near the center. Color, when newly laid, pale or whitish, and translucent, acquiring with age an amber color, and finally showing the red parts of the embryo, and especially the eyes toward tubercledend. The size increases some- what after deposition, and will sometimes reach near_0.04 inch in length.* ; Larval Stages—The newly hatched larva is pale yellow, with simply an orange stain on the middle of the three larger abdominal joints. The form scarcely differs from that of the mature bug, being but slightly more elongate; but the tarsi have but two joints (Fig. 4, d,) and the head is relatively broader and more rounded, while the joints of body are sub-equal, the prothoracic joint being but slightly longer than any of the rest. The red color soon pervades the whole body, except the first two abdomi- nal joints, which remain yellowish, and the members, which remain pale. After the first molt the red is quite bright vermillion, contrasting strongly with the pale band across the middle of the body, the prothoracic joint is relatively longer, and the meta- thoracic shorter. The head and prothorax are dusky and coriaceous, and two broad marks on mesothorax, two smaller ones on metathorax, two on the fourth and fifth abdominal sutures, and gne at tip of abdomen are generally visibie, but sometimes obso- lete ; the third and fourth joints of antennz are dusky, but the legs still pale. After the second molé the head and thorax are quite dusky, and the abdomen duller red, but the pale transverse band is still distinct; the wing-pads become apparent, the members are more dusky, there is a dark red shade on the fourth and fifth abdominal joint, and, ventrally, a distinct circular dusky spot covering the last three joints. Pupa—In the pupa all the coriaceous parts are brown-black, the wing-pads extend almost across the two pale abdominal joints which are now more dingy, while the gen- eral color of the abdomen is dingy gray; the body above is slightly pubescent, the members are colored as in the mature bug, the three-jointed tarsus is foreshadowed, and the dark horny spots at tip of abdomen, both above and below, are larger, Imago—The perfect insect has been well described, and I will append the original ‘descriptions : LyGc#us Lencorrerus (chinch bug). Blackish, hemelytra white with a black spot. Inhabits Virginia. Body Jong, blackish, with numerous hairs. Antenne, rather short hairs; second joint yellowish, longer than the third; ultimate joint rather longer than the second, thickest; thorax tinged with cinereous before, with the basal edge piceous ; hemelytra white, with a blackish oval spot on the lateral middle ; rostrum and feet honey yellow; thighs a little dilated. “Length less than three-twentieths of an inch. 1 took a single specimen on the eastern shore of Virginia. ‘The whiteness of the hemelytra,in which isa blackish spot strongly contrasted, distinguishes this species readily—[Say, Am. Entomology, I, p. 329. *This last is the length given by Dr. Shimer? The stricture on this measurement in my 2d Report (p. 22,) first appeared in the American Entomologist, in an editorial prepared principally by Mr. Walsh, and was made without having measured the egg. i) bo SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT The above description originally appeared in 1832, in a pamphlet entitled ‘‘ Descrip- tions of new species of Heterocerous Hemiptera of N. A.” Length 14 lines, or three-twentieths of an inch. Body black, clothed with a very fine grayish down, not distinctly visible to the naked eye; basal joint of the antennae honey yellow; second joint of the same tipt with black ; third and fourth joints black; beak brown ; wings and wing-cases white; the latter are black at their iasertion, and have near the middle two short irregular black lines, and a conspicuous black marginal spot; legs dark honey yellow, terminal joint of the feet, and the claws black.—[Dr. Wm. LeBaron in the Prairie Farmer for September, 1850, vol. x, pp. 280, 281, where the name of Rhyparochromus devastator is proposed for it. Dr. Fitch also enumerates the following varieties of this insect: a, immarginatus. Basal margin of the thorax not edged with yellowish. Com- mon. b, dimidiatus. Basal half of the thorax deep velvety black, anterior half grayish. Common. c, fulvivenosus. The stripes on the wing covers tawny yellow instead of black. d, albivenosus. Wing covers white, without any black marks except the marginal spot. A male. e, apterus. Wingless and the wing covers much shorter than the abdomen. f, basalis. Basal joint of the antenne dusky and darker than the second. g, nigricornis. Two first joints of the antennz blackish. h, femoratus. Legs pale livid yellow, the thighs tawny red. Common. i, rufipedis. Legs dark tawny red or reddish brown. To these varieties, all of which occur with us, I would add one which may be known as melanosus, in which the normal white of the wings is quite dusky, and con- tains additional black marks at base and toward tip, and in which all the members and: the body except the rufous hind edge of thorax are jet black. PAST HISTORY OF THE CHINCH BUG. “The first record we have of the prevalence of the Chinch Bug was in the old Revolutionary times in North Carolina, where it was. confounded with the Hessian Fly, an insect just then imported from Europe into the United States. Ever since those times it has been an epidemic pest, in particular years, in North and South Carolina. and in Virginia. The great American entomologist, Thomas Say, in 1831, when he had been residing in Indiana for six years, was the first to name and describe it scientifically. He states that he ‘took a single specimen on the Eastern shore of Virginia; whence we may reasonably infer that it was then either unknown or very rare in Indi- ana, and probably also in other Western States.” PAST HISTORY OF THE CHINCH BUG IN MISSOURI. In the Appendix will be found records of this insect as far back as 1836 in two counties in Missouri. W. D. Palson, of Southwest. City, McDonald county, writes: “I have been here ever since 1836,, and have seen the bugs ever since I could recollect, but never knew what they were until 1873.” D. P. Dyer, of Warrenton, Warren county, also speaks of their appearance during the same year. No very serious damage was however done at this time by the insect, and not until 1844 are any complaints made. From this time it gradually increased in numbers, and during the summers of 1854, 55, 56, 57 and 59 did much OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 23 damage to all kinds of cereals and grasses. In 1866 they were quite bad and also in 1870 and 1871, while during the dry years of 1872 and 1873, they spread pretty much all over the State and were injurious in counties like Scott, Greene and Mississippi, where they had scarcely been noticed before. “We may safely conclude that the Chinch Bug has always existed in Missouri, in small numbers; but that it did not multiply to an injurious extent until the grains began to be cultivated on an exten- sive scale. At all events, we know from the evidence of Dr. Harris and Dr. Fitch, that it existed long ago in exceedingly small numbers in New York, and even in Massachusetts. What the causes may have been that thinned out the numbers of this insect in former times in the West,is another question. In former times,the great bulk of these bugs were probably destroyed every winter by the prairie fires, and, as cultivation has extended in consequence of the country being gradually settled up, and less and less prairie has been annually burnt over, the number that has survived through the win- ter to start the next year’s broods has annually become greater. If these views be correct, we may expect them, unless more pains be taken to counterwork and destroy them, to become, on the average of years, still more abundant than they now are, whenever prairie fires shall have become an obsolete institution; until at last Western farmers will be compelled, as those of North Carolina have already several times been compelled, to quit growing wheat altogether for a term of years. ‘Tt may be very reasonably asked, why the Chinch Bug does not increase and multiply in Massachusetts and New York, seeing that it existed there long ago, and that there are, of course, no prairie fires in those States to keep it in check. The answer is, that the Chinch Bug is a Southern, not a Northern species; and that hundreds of Southern species of insects, which on the Atlantic seaboard only occur in southerly latitudes, are found in profusion in quite a high latitude in the Valley of the Mississippi. The same law, as has been observed by Professor Baird, holds good both with Birds and with Fishes.”* The Chinch Bug will, also, for reasons which will presently be made apparent, naturally thrive less in the moister climate of the New England States. Again we may very naturally infer that the more cleanly and careful system of culture, and the more general use of the roller in the older States have had much to do with the com- parative immunity they enjoy. Iam also of the opinion that it will *Silliman’s Journal, XLI, p. 87. 24 SEVENTH ANNUAL kEPORT not multiply as much on a sandy as on a clayey loam, for the reason that it cannot move about as readily in such a soi); and the immunity of grain immediately along the Missouri river in Cole county, attested by Mr. N. DeWy] and others, is, I think, more due to the sandy nature of the soil, compared to that farther back of the river, than to the greater moisture in the immediate vicinity of the river. DESTRUCTIVE POWERS OF THE CHINCH BUG. Though but one of the many insect pests that afflict the farmer, it is, perhaps, all things considered, the most grievous. Few persons who have not paid especial attention to the subject have any just conception of the amount of damage the Chinch Bug sometimes inflicts, and many will be surprised to learn that, setting aside the injury done to corn, the loss which the little seamp occasioned to the small grains in the Northwestern States in 1871, amounted to upwards of thirty million dollars, at the very lowest estimates—as proved by careful computations made by Dr. LeBaron in his Second Annual Report as State Entomologist of Illinois. The loss in 1874 may safely be put down at double that sum. Indeed, not even the migratory locusts that, from time to time, spread devastation over the western country can be compared in destructiveness to this little bug; for his devastations, though not so general, are more incessant, and cover a more thickly settled range of country. Those who have not seen the ground alive and red with its young, or the plants black with the dark bodies of the more mature individuals; those who have not seen the stout cornstalk bow and wilt in a few hours from the suction of their congregated beaks, or a wheat field in two or three days rendered un- fit for the reaper; those who have never seen the insect marching in solid phalanx from field to field, or absolutely filling the air for miles —can form no adequate conception of its destructive powers! It is no wonder, therefore, that Kirby and Spence, more than half a cen- tury ago, exclaimed, in speaking of this “chintz-bug-fly,” that “it seems very difficult to conceive how an insect that lives by suction, and has no mandibles, could destroy these plants so totally.” * ITS INJURIES IN 1874. Though we have had previous bad Chinch Bug years, of which the more recent ones of 1864, 1868 and 1871 may be mentioned, vet I doubt whether in any one previous year it has occasioned such wide- spread destruction. Its greatest injury is usually confined to the spring wheat belt, which includes, roughly speaking, South and Cen- tral Illinois, North and Central Missouri, South Nebraska and Kansas ; * Introduction to Entomology, London, 1828, Vol. I, p. 171. 5 J ’ b J } OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 25 butits ravages the past year were reported over a far wider range of country, and extended south to Texas and Arkansas and east to Vir- ginia. Even in Kentucky, where it does not usually attract much attention, Mr. John C. Noble, of Paducah, wrote me last June that the corn in the western counties was being ruined by it. Any estimates of the loss to the country at large must necessarily be crude, and the figures would foot up till they would appear incredible. I shall there- fore confine myself more particularly to ITS INJURIES IN MISSOURI IN 1874. From the detailed county returns in the Appendix the estimated loss by counties may be stated as follows: Adair, $20,000; Andrew, $140,000; Atchison, $217,000; Barry, $80,000; Barton, $100,000 ; Bates, $500,000; Benton, $350,000; Buchanan, $100,009; Butler, $120,000; Caldwell, $125,000; Cape Girardeau, $40,000; Carroll, $550,000; Cass, $500,000 ; Cedar, $278,000 ; Chariton, $600,000 ; Christian, $45,000 ; Clark, $50,000 ; Clay, $350,000 ; Clinton, $300,000; Cole, $160,000; Cooper, $150,000; Crawford, $90,000; Dallas, $50,000 ; Daviess, $400,000; DeKalb, $230,000; Douglas, $25,000; Dunklin, no bugs; Franklin, $160,000; Gasconade, $65,000; Gentry, $220,000; Greene, $300,000; Grundy, $125,000; Harrison, $255,000; Henry, $600,000; Hickory, $130,000; Holt, $540,000 ; Howard, $50,000; Iron, $180,000; Jackson, $450,000; Jusper, $230,000; Johnson, $700,000; Knox, $30,000; Laclede, $45,000; Lafayette, $550,000 ; Lawrence, $210,000 ; Lewis, $58,000; Linn, $160,000; Macon, $155,000; Madison, $27,000; Maries, $100,000 ; Marion, $90,000; Mercer, $250,000; Mississippi, $15,000; Monroe, $280,000; Mont- gomery, $100,000 ; New Madrid, $50,000; Newton, $85,000; Nodaway, $100,000; Ore- gon, $10,000; Osage, $210,000; Ozark, $40,000; Perry, $50,000; Pettis, $300,000; Platte, $100,000; Polk, $300,000; Pulaski, $75,000; Putnam, $100,000 ; Ralls, $80,000 ; tandolph, $20,000; Ray, $250,000; Ripley, $40,000; St. Charles, $25,000; St. Clair, $375,000 ; St. Francois, $100,000; St. Genevieve, $125,000; Saline, $450,000; Scotland, $100,000 ; Scott, $50,000 ; Shelby, $50,000 ; Sullivan, $65,000; Taney, $45,000; Texas, $70,000; Vernon, $225,000; Warren, $120,000; Washington, $100,000; Wright, $60,000. The aggregate loss from these counties foots up, therefore, to $15,335,000. From the remaining 28 counties, either no reports have been received, or they have been too meagre to form a basis on which to estimate. Some of these counties are not thickly settled, but, esti- mating by the census returns for 1870, and by the counties which have reported, and which made similar returns, the loss to these 28 coun- ties would amount to about $3,615,000—making the total loss for the State, nzneteen million dollars ! These calculations do not include any other than the three staple ‘ erops of wheat, corn and oats, and are based on the U.S. Census Report of 1870, and on average prices of 90c per bushel for wheat, 50c for corn and 60c for oats. 26 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT In taking no account of the increased acreage since 1870, nor of other cereals than those mentioned ; andin estimating at prices below present market rates, the damage by drouth, independent of Chinch Bug, is fully offset, and the calculation must be below rather than above the mark. I am aware of the difficulty always encountered in endeavoring to get accurate crop reports and estimates; and, indeed, anything like accurate agricultural statistics is almost impossible in this country ; yet the above figures cannot be far out of the way, and will certainly astonish our legislators, and even the farmers of the State, few of whom have any just conception of the vast sum this apparently insignificant little bug filches from their pockets. That the sum here given is below the actual loss will be appreciated all the more when I state that the estimated money loss through the Chinch Bug in Illinois, in 1864, was over seventy-three million dollars. The damage does not even stop here, but brings many serious indi- rect evils in its train. In a number of counties the farmers have not had sufficient grain to fatten their stock, and have been obliged to sell them at ruinous prices; or, hoping to bring their animals through the winter, and disappointed by its unprecedented and prolonged severity, they have seen their stock die off without power to avoid the calamity. In some counties, and especially south of the Dent county line, the distress has been so great that the Legislature was appealed to for aid in keeping the sufferers from actual starvation, but a bill appropriating $50,000 for this purpose failed to pass both Houses. ITS FOOD PLANTS. It may be stated as a rule, which admits of very few exceptions, that the Chinch Bug is confined to, and can subsist only on, the juices of the grasses and cereals; its original food, when the red man ruled the land, being the wild grasses.* All accounts, therefore—and such accounts are coming to me constantly—of chinch bugs injuring grape vines, potatoes, etc., are based on the error of persons who mistake for the genuine article some one or other of the species which will be presently referred to as bogus or false chinch bugs. It is true that Packard, in his * Guide to the Study of Insects,” says, in speaking of the Chinch Bug, that “they also attack every description of garden vegetables, attacking principally the buds, terminal shoots, and most succulent growing parts of these and other herbaceous plants ;” but. this statement is the result of bad compilation, the language, which is quoted from Harris, having reference, in the original, to the Tar- *T have found the young around the roots of strawberry plants, under circumstances which lead me to believe that they can feed upon this plant. OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. QT nished Plant Bug (Capsus oblineatus Say), which, as may be seen from my second report, (p. 114), really has such an omnivorous habit. Though, therefore, the subject of our present sketch is restricted to certain families of plants, yet it manifests a decided preference for some of the grains over others. Thus it shows a great predilection for Hungarian grass; while of the more important cereals it is most severe on spring wheat and barley. MODE OF REPRODUCTION AND HIBERNATION. “Most insects—irrespective of the Order to which they belong— require 12 months to go through the complete cycle of their changes, from the day that the egg is laid to the day when the perfect insect perishes of old age and decrepitude. THOROUGH TRIAL. There are a number of possible remedies or preventive measures that suggest themselves to any one having athorough acquaintance with the insects’ economy, the thorough trial and test of which will require much time, labor and expense. There are others which are from year to year continually recommended on pretty good authority. *Prairie Farmer, Apyil 9, 1870. 42 SEVENTH ANNUAL KEPORT None of them can be recommended with any assurance; yet it will be weil to enumerate a few of the more plausible, as worthy of more thorough trial, in the hope that some of our Western Agricultural Colleges, having the opportunities and facilities, will be induced to carry out such a system of carefully conducted experiments, as will forever settle the question of their utility—a system which it is impos- sible for the State Entomologist of Missouri to carry out, with present means and duties. In June, 1871, Mr. Wm. F. Talbott, of Richmond, Ills., strongly recommended in the columns of the Missouri Republican the use of salt and brine—the salt to be sown with the seed at the rate of about ahalf barrel to the acre and the brine to be poured on the plants. The recommendation was extensively copied, but subsequent trial has proved that the bugs are not particularly affected by it. Yet as a fer- tilizer and by ‘invigorating the plant and hastening its maturity so that it will ripen before the insect acquires the greatest power for harm, such an application may prove highly beneficial; and this fact will account no doubt for some of the favorable reports of the use of salt. The same may be said of lime and gas lime which have been extolled by some and denounced by others as chinch bug antidotes. There is a very general impression that hemp is obnoxious to the Chinch Bug, and no end of instances are reported where grain crops surrounded or interspersed with it have been unmolested, while other adjacent fields have been injured. The testimony is, however, somewhat conflicting. Flax, too, is recommended as having the same power of protecting from chinch bug ravages; and Mr. S. T. Kelsey, of Hutchinson, Kans., who is abundantly able to judge intelligently, and has had good opportunity so to judge, reports that last year, in Kansas, small grain planted on ground where flax was grown the pre- vious year, generally escaped damage from the bugs. He recom- mends sowing with wheat and other grains, one or two quarts of flax seed per acre. “It can be putin early in the spring, even with fall wheat by a light harrowing and rolling, (if a roller can be had) so as to not damage the grain. Its growth could not materially injure the crop, and if the seed ripened it could be easily separated. Some people sow flax and barley mixed on the same ground, separate the seed in cleaning, and claim that it pays better than sowing either one alone. If flax is really offensive to the Chinch Bug, so that they will not stay around it, why may we not “flax” the pests outof our grain fields en- tirely ?”* * Kansas Farmer, Januaty 13, 1875. OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 43 Mr. Alfred Gray, the enterprising Secretary of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture, who has made a number of official inquiries, gets substantially the same favorable reports as to the influence of flax. A similar influence is claimed for castor beans and even for buck- wheat; and some years back Mr. Erwin, Agricultural editor of the Fulton (Mo.,) Jail, informed me that, having once gotten a poor stand of corn, he harrowed it and sowed to buckwheat. The Chinch Bug almost destroyed the rest of his corn, but did not work on this piece. The tendency of buckwheat to keep the ground moist may throw some light on this experince. It has been recommended to sow with each 12 bushels of winter wheat, one bushel of Winter rye; and with Spring wheat the same proportion of Winter wheat—with the idea, I suppose, that the bug prefers the young to the old plants. There is little harm in the methods and they are worthy of further trial. There are a great many other proposed remedies that appear in the columns of our agricultural journals each year—some of them utterly absurd and founded on ignorance; others of doubtful utility, because founded on isolated experience, where too often it is evident that cause and effect have not been properly understood. It is need- less toinstance them. As to the ridiculous proposal put forth in the Waukegan, Ills., Gazette in 1865, with a great blowing of trumpets, by one D. H. Sherman, of that town, namely, to destroy the Chinch Bug in the egg state by pickling all the seed wheat, it is sufficient to observe that this insect never deposits its eggs upon the kernel of the ripe wheat. Consequently, to attempt to kill chinch bug eggs by doctor- ing the seed wheat, would be pretty much like trying to kill the nits in a boy’s head by applying a piece of sticking plaster to his great toe. Inthe old Practical Entomologist, nine years ago, I showed that there were no such eggs in the wheat kernels, which Mr Sherman himself had sent me, and which he had supposed to be thus infested. Of course the same remark applies to every other proposition to destroy this insects’ eggs by manipulating the seed—however bene- ficial such measures may be as a means of invigorating the plants, causing an early start, or preventing rust and smut. INJURIOUS TO STOCK. Accounts reached me from several sources, and were common in the agricultural papers, of stock being injured when fed with corn fodder badly infested with the bug; and I have no reason to doubt that animals confined to corn-fodder in seasons when every corn-stalk 44 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT harbors dozens or even hundreds of bugs, will suffer from eating them —the symptoms described being a falling off in flesh and constipation. Verbum sat sapienti. PROGNOSTICATING. After such a Chinch Bug season as we had in 1874, the question is continually asked during the Winter: ‘“ Will there be any chinch bugs next Summer?” It is impossible to give any satisfactory answer to such a question, because so much depends on the character of the approaching Spring. We had some very severe and continued cold weather this Winter, and many entertain the hope that the chinches have been frozen out. The farmer must lay no such unction to the soul, however; for it is not intense cold but changeable Winter weather—successive thawings and freezings—that injures and destroys the Chinch Bug.* UNNEUESSARY FEARS. While some thus take a bright view often unwarranted by the actual facts, others again are unnecessarily pissimistic and hopeless of the future prospects—-borrowing trouble where there is, perhaps, no cause for it. This fact may be illustrated by the following letter from Mr. Wm. H. Avery, of Lamar, Barton county, as a sample: About a month or six weeks ago, numerous farmers of this county reported find- ing large quantities of dead chinch bugs on the ground beneath shocks of corn. ‘They were so numerous that double handfuls could be taken up without much effort, and many believed that all the bugs in the country were dead. One man said that he had observed that what appeared to be dead bugs were only the shells or outer covering of bugs, and he believed the bug itself had only escaped from its old covering. { have not heard of any living chinch bugs being seen for two or three months, though I have not made particular search. P.S. Since writing the foregoing, Dr. Dunn and [ have made search in the fields for living chinch bugs and could find noue, while dead ones are abundant. I send you, in another wrapper, a piece of corn-stalk containing the bugs just as we found them. . Now in the corn-stalk sent, though, on a superficial view, it appeared black with chinches, there was not a single living bug to be found. What had been mistaken for them was a mazs of the empty pupa-skins. We have seen, in speaking of the insect’s transformations, how, at each successive molt, the colors of the perfect bug are more and more approached, until in the pupa state, both in color and size, there is great resemblance to the mature bug. When about to un- dergo the last molt, i. e., to shed the pupa-skin, the insects in late * Since this was written, I have found the Chinch Bug by millions in its Winter quarters, and on the 28th and 29th of March—the weather being quite warm—they already began to move and fly about. This shows tbat the long and severe Winter had little effect on them. * OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 45 Summer and Fall, are fond of congregating on corn-stalks in the shel- ter afforded by the broad blades; and since all insects, in molting, fasten themselves as securely as possible, and as none of them that live by suction, like the Chinch Bug, ever devour their cast-off gar- ments, as many of the mandibulate species are known to do, the cast- off pupa-skins in such corn-stalks remain indefinitely between the blades. Again, many chinch bugs naturally die in the Fall or in the Winter, either from disease or from having run their course; while in some years, as Dr. Shimer has conclusively shown, and as I can testify from personal examination, a very general fatality attends the hiber- nating bugs,so that it is difficult to find a living one. In all such cases, a little careful research by aid of an ordinary lens will soon enable the farmer to determine whether he is dealing with dead or living chinches, or only their skeletons. The pupa-skins, though dis- tended, with every leg-covering perfect, readily reveal their mocking emptiness under the lens or by the pressure of the finger, and while, when numerous, they speak in unmistaken terms of the large numbers of chinches that came to maturity in the Fall, they bear no evidence of the present strength, nor furnish any clue to the future power of the foe: the dead bugs are generally covered with mold and are dis- colored and soft: the living ones are bright-colored, and will soon begin to kick and crawl on being brought into a warm room. BOGUS CHINCH BUGS. “ Few things are more astonishing than the acuteness of perception superinduced by being constantly conversant with some one particu- lar subject. I have often been surprised at the readiness with which nurserymen will distinguish between different varieties of Apple, even in the dead of the year, when there are no leaves, and of course no fruit on their nursery trees. In the same way old practiced shep- herds can recognize every individual sheep out of a large flock, though, to the eyes of a common observer, all the sheep look alike. Experienced grain-growers, again, can distinguish at a glance between twenty different varieties of wheat, which the best botanist in the country would fail to tell one from the other; and I have been in- formed that a miller of many years’ standing, as soon as he has shoul- dered a sack of wheat, knows at once whether it is Spring grain or Fall grain; while ninety-nine entomologists out of every hundred would probably be unable, on the most careful inspection, to tell the difference between the two, and some might even mistake wheat for rye. 46 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT “Tt is not surprising, therefore, that persons who have paid no particular attention to the study of insects, often confound together insects which, in the eyes of the professed entomologist, look as dif- ferent from each other as a horse does from a cow orahog. It would, indeed, be little short of miraculous if this were not so; for there are about thirty thousand distinct species of insects to be found within the limits of the United States, and of course in such a vast multipli- city, there must be many strong resemblances. “T will therefore conclude this article on the Chinch Bug, by briefly mentioning several true Bugs, belonging to the same sub-order of Half-wing Bugs (Heteroptera), as that pestilent little foe of the farmer, and which I know to be frequently mistaken for it. The reader will then, by comparing the different figures, see at once how | widely they all differ, and by a very little practice, his eyes will be- come so well educated that he will soon, without any artificial assist- ance from glasses, be able to distinguish the creatures one from the other, as they crawl or fly about in the almost microscopic dimensions assigned to them by their Great Creator. “One reason, perhaps, why so many different bugs are popularly confounded with the Chich Bug, is the similarity of their smell. Everybody is aware that chinch bugs possess the same peculiarly unsavory odor as the common Bed Bug; and hence when a person finds a small insect that has this obnoxious smell, he is very apt to jump to the conclusion that it must be a chinch bug. No mode of reasoning, however, can be more unsafe or unsound. There are hun- dreds of different species of Half-wing Bugs—the common brown Squash Bug (Coreus tristis) for example—that possess this peculiar smel].” Tue Fatst CuincH Bua.—This insect is most often mistaken for the genuine article, and letters like the follow- ing, received from a correspondent last Fall, are not uncommon, and relate to it: I came across a (to me) curious thing the other day. I have allowed the purslane to grow in my strawberry ground this Summer, thinking to protect the plants from the sun somewhat. Lately we have been clearing it out, and I was much surprised to find under the rank growth millions of chinch bugs. They were not all in the per- FALse Crincu Buc :—b, pupa; fect state (winged), but many not half grown. — Can they c, mature bug. be the real thing? They look like it, and certainly smedl like it. But the wing-marks do not seem as distinct or broad, only tive white lines cross- ing atan acute angle. Also, the young ones are not red, but ashen gray, and with bodies thicker and broader than the true grain bug. What were they there for? They would not feed on purslane, would they? and no other weeds were there. I found quantities of leaves and fragments of leaves on the ground; but the Chinch Bug is not an eater, OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 47 but a sucker, I suppose. If they were there to Winter, it would be advisable to rake it all off and destroy it in some way, but purslane dies hard as well as Chinch Bug. Coak oil, though, will kill him as quick as lightning. As there is an account, with description, of this False Chinch Bug in my 5th Report, it is only necessary to say in this connection that the species is a very general feeder and in the Spring of the year does much damage to many plants, such as young grape-vines, strawberries, potatoes, young apple grafts, but especially to plants of the Cabbage family. It is especially fond of purslane, and at approach of Winter, congregates beneath it in immense numbers. Long after Jack Frost has blackened and deadened all but the very butts of the plants, these bugs may be found under them, running actively about whenever the sun is the least warm. They are found at this time of all ages, but principally mature and in pairs, and it is doubtful if any but the mature ones survive the Winter. All the reports—and such come sometimes from noteworthy sources—of chinch bugs injuring herbaceous plants, vegetables and vines, owe their origin to the confounding of this, the bogus, with the true Chinch Bug;-for though the latter may occasionally be found sheltering under purslane and other plants, it does not feed on any other than those already indicated. Tue Insrp1ious FLowrr-sue—Next to the preceding species, this little fellow, already referred to (p.41, ante) as preying on the Chinch Bug, ‘s quite often mistaken for it, having somewhat similar colors, and being so often associated with it. Tue Asu-cray LEAr-sue—This species (Piesma cinerea Say, Fig. 10), is also often mistaken for the great American grain pest. Itisa small greenish-gray bug, its size being about the same as tbat of the Chinch Bug, though it is flatter, broader, with shorter legs, and lacks altogether the conspicuous black and white markings which charac- terize that little grain pest, and really resembles it in nothing but the [Fig. 10.] unpleasant odor which it emits. It has been found doing some damage to grape blossoms in early Spring, but is not otherwise very injurious, as it lives princi- pally on forest shrubs and trees. ‘The Ash-gray Leaf- \. bug belongs to an entirely different group (Zingzs fam- ily) from the Chinch Bug, all the species of which have a short 3 jointed beak, which however differs from that of the 3-jointed beak of the Flower-bugs ( Anthocoris) by being encased in a groove when not in use. They ASH-GRAY LEAF- i 4 , sii mostly live on green leaves in all their three stages: 48 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT after the fashion of plant-lice. Like the Chinch Bug, the Ash-gray Leaf-bug hibernates in the perfect state, and may be found in the Win- ter in considerable numbers under the loose bark of standing trees and especially under that of the Shag-bark Hickory. It also fre- quently swarms in the air, and I have gathered it by hundreds on top of one of the highest buildings in St. Louis, on a warm October day. Tue FLEA-LIKE NeGro-pue—Fourth among the bogus chinch bugs may be mentioned the Flea-like Negro-bug (Corimelena pulicaria, Germar, Fig. 11). Its color is black with a white stripe each side. [Fig. 11.] This insect resembles the Chinch Bug in having an : ordinary 4-jointed beak, but differs from it in belong- ing to a very distinct and well marked group (Scu- eG _ tellera family), which is characterized by the enor- A ta A’, mous size of the “scutel” or shield. This bug has a FLEA-LIKE Necro-nuc. great passion for the fruit of the Raspberry, and is sometimes so plentiful as to render the berries perfectly unsaleable by the bed-bug aroma which it communicates to them, as well as by sucking out their juices. Wherever it occurs, the nauseous flavor which it imparts to every berry which it touches, will soon make its presence manifest, though the little scamp may elude ocular detection. It is really too bad that such alittle black “ varmint” should so mar the exceeding pleasure which a lover of this delicious fruit always expe- riences when in the midst of a raspberry plantation in the fruit sea- son. It is also quite injurious to the Strawberry, puncturing the stem with its little beak, and thus causing either blossom or fruit to wilt. It also attacks both Cherry and Quince, occurring on these trees in very large numbers, and puncturing the blossoms and leaves, but especially the fruit stems, which in consequence shrivel and die. It is also quite injurious to garden flowers and especially to the Coreop- sis, and abounds on certain weeds, among which may be mentioned the Red-root or New Jersey Tea-plant (Ceanothus Americanus), and Neckweed or Purslane-Speedwell ( Veronica peregrina). In the month of June under these two last named plants, they may be found in countless numbers of all sizes and ages, from the small light brown wingless, newly hatched individuals, to the full fledged jet black ones. Though found on so many different plants however, it does not, like the true Chinch Bug injure, or in any way effect, our grasses and grains. “To these four bogus Chinch Bugs, might be added one or two other species of small stinking bugs which have been, by some per- sons, mistaken for the true Chinch Bug. But enough has been already OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 49 said to show, that insects which in reality are shaped and fashioned as differently as are cows and deer, are yet often confounded together in the popular eye, principally, no doubt, because they have the same peculiar bed-bug aroma. Should the ignorance of the popular judgment in confounding these tiny creatures, which seem to the En- tomologist so very, very different from each other, therefore, be des- pised and ridiculed? Far be it from me to display such intolerant stupidity! As well might the nurseryman ridicule the grain-grower because the grain-grower cannot distinguish a Baldwin Seedling from a High-top Sweeting; or the grain-grower the nurseryman, because the nurseryman cannot tell Mediterranean from Tea wheat, or Club from Fife. I do, however, entertain an abiding hope that by the pres- ent very general and praiseworthy movement toward the populari- zation of natural history, and by the dissemination of Entomological Reports, a better knowledge of this practically important subject will soon exist in the community. Our farmers will then, not so often wage a war of extermination against their best friends, the cannibal and parasitic insects, while they overlook and neglect the very plant- feeders which are doing all the damage, and upon which the others are feeding in the very manner in which a Wise Providence has ap- pointed them to adopt.” RECAPITULATION. While there is much more on this interesting subject to be said, the length this article has already assumed prompts me to bring it to a close; and I will recapitulate by giving a condensed statement of the-more important facts relating to the Chinch Bug: The Chinch Bug injures by suction, not by biting.—It winters in the perfect winged state, mostly dormant, principally in the old rub- bish, such as dead leaves, corn-shucks, corn-stalks, and under weeds and prostrate fence rails and boards that generally surround grain fields ; also, in whatever other sheltered situation it can get in adja- cent woods: hence the importance of fighting the pest in the Winter time, either by trapping it under boards laid for the purpose, or by burning it with its afore-mentioned shelter. Such burning will not destroy all the dormant hosts, but will practically render the species harmless—especially where whole communities combine to practice it.—It issues from its Winter quarters during the first balmy days of Spring, when those females which were impregnated the previous Fall, and which are most apt to survive the Winter, commence Ovipositing E R—4 50 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT at once, if suitable conditions are at hand. Others take readily to wing and scatter over our fields, attracted by preference to grain growing in loose and dry soil, into which they penetrate to consign their eggs.—The eggs are deposited on the roots, and the young bugs, which are red, remain under ground, sucking the roots during the early part of their lives, or until they are forced from necessity to travel from one plant to another. These Spring-hatched bugs, consti- tuting the first brood, do not, as a rule, acquire wings till after wheat is cut. It is, therefore, during and just after wheat harvest, that they congregate and travel in such immense swarms as to attract atten- tion.—In July, as these acquire wings, they scatter over grass, late grain and corn-fields, where they lay their eggs; but the second brood, hatching from these eggs, generally attracts less attention and does less injury than did the first, because of its more scattered nature and the greater maturity and resisting power of the plants.—Anything that will prevent the mother bug from getting at the roots of the grain, will prevent the injury of her progeny: hence the importance in this connection of Fall plowing and using the roller upon land that is loose and friable; and hence, if old corn ground is sufficiently clean, it is a good plan to harrow in a crop of small grain upon it without plowing at all. The earlier, also, that wheat gets well started and matures, the Jess it will suffer; because it may be harvested before the bugs acquire their greatest growth and power for harm : hence, and from the greater compactness of the ground, Winter wheat suffers less than Spring wheat.—Heavy rains are destructive to the Chinch Bug: hence, if such occur in the Fall, the farmer may plant with little fear of injury the following year, while if they occur in May, he need suffer no anxiety, so far as chinch bugs are concerned: hence, also, where irrigation is practicable, the pest may at all times be over- come.—It injures no other plants than grasses and cereals.—In its mi- erations from field to field it may be checked by a line of tar poured on the ground, or by deep furrows or trenches, but the tar must be kept soft and the surface of the furrows friable and pulverized. APPENDIX TO THE ARTICLE ON THE CHINCH BUG. To publish entire all the answers to the questions in the circular sent out over the State would be an unnecessary waste of space; and I have, in this Appendix, endeav- ored to condense as much as possible without omitting any statistical facts or experi- ence in any way valuable. In order to save space and avoid repetition, [give the returns by counties, signed by the initials of the correspondents, and preface by a list of the gentlemen who have favored me with replies and to whom I hereby tender my sincere acknowledgments. From the counties following which there are no names, reports have failed to come to hand; while a number of replies are unrecorded, because they eame to hand without the postoffice address or the county being indicated. In some counties, as St. Louis, I have been able to make personal observations. LIST OF CORRESPONDENTS WHO MADE RETURNS. ADAIR—E. M. ©. Morebeck, * *; JohnS. Erwin, Kirksville. ANDREw—J. H. Smith, Whiteville; Jacob Kimbertin, Rochester; R. H. Talbot, Bolekow; John White. Flag Spring. AtTcHIson—B Bond, * *. AupRAIN——— Barry—S. "M. White, Wash- burn; W. F. Tuttle. Hazle Barrens. Barron—A, A. Dye, M. D., Lamar; J.J. Bry- ning, "Doylesport ; W.#H. Avery, Lamar. Batres—W. R. Thomas, Lone Oak; G. B. Hickman, Mulberry : Addie Haynes, Rockville. Brnron—J. A. Hughes. * *:; James H. Lay, Warsaw; W. F. Joplin. Lincoln; J. H. Maxwell. Mt. View: J. M. Murress, Windsor. Bouiixcer——— Boonz—J. B. Douglass, Columbia. BucHanan—M. W. Farris, Agency; J. P. Reichard, St. Joseph. Burter—Albert Ponder, Freddie ; John M. Allen, Cane Creek. Catpwriit—C. L. Gould, Hamilton; D. W. Monroe, Kidder. CaLLaway— — — CamMpEN— —— Capr Grrarpeau—Henry Bruihl, Ap- pleton; H. G. Wilson, Cape Girardeau ; R. H. Burford, Burfordsville. Carroti—H. S. Hall, Van Horn. Carrrr——— Cass—W. H. Barron, Raymore; H. L. Hewitt, Austin ; P. C. Homey, * *; D. Defahaugh, Harrisonville; W. A. Smith, East Lynn; J. L. Kanaga, Raymore. Orpar—E. W. Montgomery, "Cane Hill; C. N. Jordan, Whitehare ; W. Smiley, Stockton. CHarrron—R. Fox, ‘Westville. Crristran—R. P. Lawing, Ozark. Crark—B. P. Haman, Clark City ; D. H. Lapsley, Kahoka. Cray— G. T. Odor, ; Dan. Carpenter, Barry ; J. C. Evans, Harlem. Criinton—A. J. Mc- Crayner, Blsttsbure, CoLte—Frank M. Dixon, Jefferson City. Coopmr—W. R. Baker, Lone Elm. Crawrorp—James Asher, Clinton Mills; M.O. Taylor, Bourbon, Dapze— Ross A. Workman, Greenfield. DatLas—G. A. Howerton, * *; M. L. Reynolds, Buf- falo. Davress—Israel Coen. Jamesport; G. D. McDonald, **. W. OW. Woodbridge, Jamesport: L Dowell, Bancroft. DeKAtB—Horatio Morris, Winslow ; (CA Bp Shulz, Havana; W T. Wallingford, DeKalb. DENtT——— Doveras—W. Pryon, Pryon’s Store. DunkiIn—W. G. Bragg, Kennett. FRaNKLIN—F. W. Pehle. New Haven ; S. Miller, * *. Gasconapk—Henry Read, * *. Gentrry—A. J. Clark, Gentryville; Levi 52 . SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT Long, Mt. Pleasant; Charles S. Whitescarver, Mt. Pleasant ; Hugh Stevenson, Gentry- ville; Weak: Rogers, Alanthus; H. W. Johnson, New Castle: J. A. Mauring, "Havana; Elisha Br: ace, Sampson Creek ; James Shillingham, * *, GREENE—S. A. Edmonsom, Walnut Grove. Gruxpy—Val. Briegel, Trenton ; G. H. Hubbel, * *. Harrtson—Ji. Whiteley, New Castle; Col H. Fiteh, Eagleville ; Ve Jal. Burrows, Cainsville ; Sam. McCray, Mitchellsville ; C.F. Frans ham, Yankee Ridge ; Wom. Rikestraw, Bethany. Henry—D. ©. Melntire, Norris Fork; J. E. Stringer, Leesville T. J. Quick, Gaines. Hickory —W.L. Snidow, Elkton; James W. Dickerson, uncon OF ae Hostetler, Wheat- Jand. Hoirr—Bennet King, % *- J. W. Crow, Bigelow ; W. Kancher, Oregon; J. D, White, Forest City ; J. W. ei Oregon. Howarp—Garnett W. ore Glasgow. HowreL_t— —— I[ron—W. Cam. Belleview. Jackson—Dr. John . Gregg, Stony Point; W.S. Parrish, Hickman’s Mill; J. W. Geiger, Hieckman’s Milt 3; J. A. Moore, Pink Hill; W. J. Gault, New Santa Fee. Jasper—J. M. Peterson, Preston; W. G. L. Craig, Smithfield; J U. Thornburg, Reeds ; Thomas McWallie, Avilla. JoHnson—W. Campbell, Holden: J. (4. Cleland, Chalybeate Dr. Dunkly, Dunksburg; D. B. Reavis, Kingsville; E. J. Coleman, * *; J. Milo Martin, Pittsvillé : J. L. Motsinger, Fayette- ville. KNox—Jae. Wi. gerter, Millport. LacLepEe—L. R. Rupart, Hazle Green. La- FAYETTE—James Belt, M. D, Napoleon; J. J. Ferguson, Sniabar; James E. Gladish, Aullsville. LAWwRENCE—W. L. Goodman, Mt. Vernon. Lkwis—W. B. Dement, Bun- ker Hill. Lincoun— — — Linn—A. Moyer, Brookfield. Livinacston — — — Macon— W. B. Martin. College Mound. Maptson—Joseph M. Anthony, Fredericktown. Ma- rrES—D. L. Dodds, Vienna. Marron—J. K. Martin, Philadelphia; W. R. Anderson, Palmyra; Rutus M. Brown, Palmyra; 8. F. Taft, Hannibal. McDonatp—W. D. Pal- son, Southwest City. Merrcer—J. H. Burrows, Cainsville. MiLLER—— -— Mrssis- SIPPI—S. 8. Smith, Bertrand Monrrrau— —— Monron—J P. Myers, * *. Mont- GOMERY—I|). T. Mitchell. Jonesburg; KE R. Brown, Montgomery. Moragan— — — New Maprip—James S. Barney, New Madrid. NEw ton—John Thrasher, Neosho ; W. H. Wetherell, Seneca. Nopaway—W. B. M. Harman, Pickering ; W. Pittman, Marys- ville; W H. Clark, Luteston; T D. Wallace, Hopkins OrnGon—J. R. Woodside, Thomasville. OsaGe—Lucien Philbert, Dauphine. Ozark—James Price, * *; T. J. Gideon, * *. PrEMiscor— —— PERRy—R. M. Brewer, Perryville. Pr rris—Flihu Canaday, Ionia; L H. Williams, M. D., Houstonia; O. A Crandall, Sedalia; C. rR Hoag, Sedalia: PLatre—James Adkins, Platte City; R. P. C. Wilson, Platte City. PoLtk—T. W. Simpson, Payne’s Prairie; M. D. Mitchell, Morrisville; John Carson, Bolivar; H. M Wallard, Humansville. PuLaskr—Charles Curtis, Dundas ; O. J. Ry- ther, Iron Summit. Pornam—A D. Thomas, ‘l'erre Haute. RaLLs—A. E- Trabue, Han- nibal. RaNnpDOLPH—W Quayle, Moberly. Ray—-* *, Morton. Rryno_ps----—- Rrip- LEY—B Hassell, Doniphan. Sr. CHarLeEs—C. Weinrich, New Melle. Sir. CLharr—S. H. Long, ‘Vaborville; W. H. Fillery, Collins ; C. A. Schooley, Taborville. Sv. FRANCOIS-— E. H. Perkins, Farmington ; F. E Clay, * Xs ; A.J. Leathers, Farmington. STK GENE- VIEVE—J. R. Prichard, “Bloomsdale. St. Worse = SaLine—Jno. P. McManus, Lutes- ville. SCHUYLER———— ScoTLAND—A|bert North, Memphis. Scorr—H. P. Lynch, M. D., Commerce. SHANNON——— SuHeELBY—John B. Randal, High Prairie Home. STropparp— — -—— SToNne-- —- —— SouLirvan—Sumner Boynton, Milan. Tanny—ZJ. J. Brown, Forsyth; W. R. Howard, Forsyth Trxas—R.S. Smiley, Houston ; George A. Bezoni. Roubedoux. VERNoN--M. L Modrel, Little Osage; J A. Princeton, Schell City. Warren—D. P. Dyer. Warrenton. WasHInctTon—W. Riehl, Potosi. WayNE-- —— WrbpsteR——— Wricut—tk. B. Griftin, Hartville. Worra— -—- — QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY CORRESPONDENTS. 1. How far back in the history of your county has this insect been known to in- jure the grain and grass crops? 2. What crops have suffered most from its ravages ? 3. Have any systematic efforts ever been made to overcome its injuries ? and have you any idea to what extent my Second Report—which contained all that was known about the insect up to that times and which was bound in with the Fifth (1869) State Agricultural Report—is distributed or known of among the farmers of your county ? 4. Give approximately this year’s estimated damage in your county, by this single insect—all. crops affected by it considered. The answers, here following, are numbered to correspond with the questions. Those to questions 1 and 2, which have been summed up on pages 22, 23, 26 and 27, and which are very similar, are almost entirely omitted. ¥ OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 53 Adair County. 3—No systematic efforts have been made to overcome them. Iknow nothing of your Second Report; have never seen one.—r. M. Cc. M. The only attempt to check them thas been by plowing a furrow and dragging alogin it. They have sometimes been pre- vented from passing from grain into corn by this means. I believe very few here have seen the report to which you refer.—z. s. E. 4—I cannot arrive at anything like a correct report for this year. In some loca- tions whole fields of corn, especially late planting, oats and Spring wheat. The last named grain we hold to be the nursery of the Chinch Bug.—n. Mm. c. Mm. I believe that 20,000 dollars is a moderate estimate of the damage to crops in this county for the present year.—J. Ss. E. Andrew County. 3—None have been made.—J. H. s. No preventives found against them.—J. k. None. Your reports do not get into the hands of many farmers.—r. H. T. None. I have no knowledge of your report on that insect.—J. w. 4—The corn crop has been damaged this year at least one-half.—s. H. s. I should estimate that the damage done this year by these bugs would amount to fully ($40,000) forty thousand dollars.—R. H. T. About 83 per cent.—rT. w. Atchison County. 2—The crop of this year principally injured by Chinch Bug is the corn crop, as ‘they made their appearance too late tor small grain.—s. B. 3—No systematic effort has been made to overcome its injuries; but very few copies of your Second Report were distributed among the farmers of this county.—B. B. 4—The damage to the corn crop is fully one-third to one-half, and they are still, to this date (December 24), alive in all protected places.—B. B. Barry County. 1—The Chinch Bug has never been known in the county or in this section of country prior to the Summer of 1874.—s. mM. w. It never was known in this county until this Summer.—w. F. Tv. 3—No systematic effort has ever been made to overcome its ravages and injuries. I do not know, neither can I learn, of your Second Report being distributed among the farmers.—s M. w. Nothing has been done to overcome its injuries. I know nothing about your Second Report, but would like to see it —w F. T. 4—The wheat was not hurt to any great extent, as it was ready to harvest before they made their appearance in any very great quantities. Corn—late corn—in some localities was ruined. Hereabouts corn was not seriously injured as it was large and forward at the time of wheat harvest. Probably 10 per cent. would cover the whole amount of damage done to all crops. * * * —s.m.w. ‘The damage done in this THE EGGS ARE LAID BY PREFERENCE In bare, sandy places, especially on high, dry ground, which is toler- ably compact and not loose. It is generally stated that they are not laid in meadows and pastures, and that hard road-tracks are preferred ;. in truth, however, meadows and pastures, where the grass is closely grazed are much used for ovipositing by the female, while on well traveled roads she seldom gets time to fulfill the act without being disturbed. Thus a well traveled road may present the appearance of being perfectly honey-combed with holes, when an examination will show that most of them are unfinished, and contain no eggs; whereas a field covered with grass-stubble may show no signs of such holes and yet abound with eggs. Furthermore, the insects are more readily 124 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT noticed at their work along roads and roadsides than in fields, a fact which has also had something to do in forming the popular impression. Newly broken or plowed land is not liked; it presents too loose a sur- face. Moist or wet ground is always avoided for the purpose under consideration. During the operation the female is very intent on her work and may be gently approached without becoming alanmed, though when suddenly disturbed she makes great efforts to get away and extricates her abdomen in the course of half a minute or more. “THE MIGRATORY INSTINCT AND GREAT DESTRUCTIVE POWER BELONG TO BUT ONE SPECIES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. Being anxious to ascertain whether the injuries reported in the different parts of the country between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains were all caused by one species, or whether others joined their forces in devastating the country, I took some pains to procure specimens from as many different localities as possible. What with specimens collected in previous years in Colorado, and received from Missouri and Texas, and those obtained in 1874, I now have material from Manitoba, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, Colorado, Kansas, Mis- souri, Indian Territory and Texas. In each instance it is the same species that proves such a scourge. As we shall presently see, the same species occurs in Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Montana and Arizona. I know nothing of the migratory species which at times does damage in California and other parts of the country west of the Rocky Mountains ; some have supposed it to be @dipoda atrox Scud- der; but I agree with Mr. Thomas that, with its comparatively short wings, this species cannot sustain lengthened flight, and the probab- ility is that the spretus under consideration, or a race of it, is the culprit. Only occasionally do specimens of some of the more common species accompany the migratory one. Thus the larger and common species, the Two-striped Locust (Caloptenus bivittatus, Say) and the Differential Locust (C. differentialis, Walk.) which are incapable of migrating to any great distance, and which are common in the Missis- sippi Valley, have occasionally been caught with the spretus, and sent to me with it. Already existing in the country invaded by the Rocky Mountain species, they were simply gathered up with it. Yet, while no other species possesses such wonderful migratory habits, several become so enormously multiplied during certain years in their native homes as to commit very serious injury to vegetation. “Of these, I shall speak more fully further on. OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 125- EASILY CONFOUNDED WITH THE RED-LEGGED LOCUST. In my endeavors to accurately map out the territory in our State invaded in 1874 by the Rocky Mountain Locust, I have been fre- quently puzzled by accounts from counties east of the limit-line presently indicated. In every such instance, where I have been able to obtain specimens, they proved to be the common Red-legged Locust. [Fig. 26.] This last species is common in most of the SG States, extending to the Atlantic, and is even reported in parts of the Rocky “=< Mountain region, where the Migratory spe- Ruptincatar Locust! cies is at home. The two bear such a close general resemblance that even entomologists have doubted their specific distinctness; and indeed size and colorational characters would not suffice to separate the exceptional individuals which depart most from the typical characters of their species, and approach most [Fig. 27.] to those of the other. Yet they are dis- IE tinct, as species go, and in order to prop- erly study the distribution of the Rocky ae : Mountain species, and its power of be- Rocky Mountain Locusr. coming acclimated in the Mississippi Valley or not, it is of the first importance that observers confound not the two species. Hence, I shall describe in detail the two insects. From these details, which follow, it is evident that the distinguishing characters, most easily observed [Fig. 29.] by the non-entomologist, are the relative length of wing, and the _.7 | structure of the terminal joint Wi. of the male abdomen, which is ausleharsciers of mule: Rocky Mountain Lo- : . 4, side view; b, c, hind eas of turned up like the prow of a ship and top views, of tip. hind and top views, of tip. —this last character being the most important and constant. The Rocky Mountain species has the wings extending, when closed, about one-third their length beyond the tip of the abdomen, and the last or upturned joint of the abdomen narrowing like the prow of a canoe, and notched or produced into two tnbercles at top. The wings of the Red-legged Locust extend, on an average, about one- sixth their length beyond the tip of the abdomen, and the last abdom- inal joint is shorter, broader, more squarely cut off at top, without. terminal tubercles, and looking more like the stern of a barge. 126 SEVENTH ANNUAL KEPORT DESCRIPTIVE. The large amount of material above referred to has enabled me to make very thor- ough comparisons between the two species. The genus Coloptenus to which the spe- cies belongs, is distinguished principally by the stoutness of the spine-like tubercle on the fore-breast between the front legs, and by the tip of the abdomen in the male being much swollen. Mr. Cyrus Thomas, in his admirable work onthe “ Acrididz of N. A.” has published good descriptions of the known N. A. species, and I will transfer what he has said of the two in question—adding only some subsidiary remarks in brackets, -and at the close: COLOPTENUS FEMUR-RTUBRUM, Burm. Handb. Ent., If, 638. Syn. Acridwum femur-rubrum, Deg. Ins., IIL, Pl. 42, Fig. 5, p. 498. “ femorale, Oliv.. Encyl. Meth., 121 Ins. VI, 22s. Gryllus (Locusta) erythropus, Gmel., Linn, Syst. Nat. I, IV, 2086. ‘*Grizzled with dirty olive and brown; a black spot extending from the eyes along the sides of the thorax; [but never onto the third lobe] ; an oblique yellow line on each side of the body beneath the wings; a row of dusky, brown spots along the middle of the wing-covers ; and the hindmost shanks and feet blood-red, with black spines. : The wings are transparent, with a very pale greenish-yellow tint next to the body, and are netted with brown lines. The hindmost thighs have two large spots on the upper side, -and the extremity black [more correctly three such spots, or including the extreme one at tip, four: Harris seems to have overlooked the basal one]; but are red below, and yellow on the inside. The appendages at the tip of the body in the male are of a long triangular form. Length from [to tip of abdomen] 0.75 to 1 inch; expansion of wings 1.25 to 1.75 inches.”? As this species, which is so common, varies considerably, I have concluded to give Dr. Harris’s description without change, adding the following: Ver- tex but slightly depressed, with a minute angular expansion in front of the eyes ; frontal costa usually but slightly suleate; sides parallel. Eyes large and rather prominent. Elytra and wings generally a little [usually extending about 1-6 their length beyond the abdomen] longer than the abdomen. ‘Che cerci of the male rather broad and flat {longer and narrower towards tip than in spretus]; apex of last ventral segment entire and truncate. The yellow stripes on the side extend from the base of the wing to the insertion of the posterior femora. ‘The ground color varies with localities and age, and most of the specimens from one or two sections appear to have unspotted elytra ; some- times a reddish-brown tint prevails ; at others a dark-olive ; at others a dark purplish- brown; yet the markings generally remain the same. ; Localities.—Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Mary- land, Tennessee, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio, Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Vancouver’s Island (?), west coast of America (?)—[ Thomas, Acridide of N. A, (1873), pp. 163-4. In addition to what Mr. Thomas states of the variation in color, it may be added that the dark marks on the hind thighs are in exceptional specimens wholly wanting, -and in others so conflueat that the whole of the upper part is brown-black. In order to show how variable (within certain limits, however,) is the relative length of wing, I will add measurements of over eighty specimens, all taken in St. Louis county. As the length of the abdomen is an uncertain criterion, varying according as this last is distended with eggs or contracted from one cause and another, I have made these measurements from the juncture of the hind thighs and shanks. The specimens were killed in the cyanide bottle, and while yet fresh and supple laid flat on a scale divided into hundredths of an inch. The furthermost hind leg was then stretched until the suture between shank and thigh was just visible above the inner border of the front wings. Careful measurements were then taken, first of the whole body, second of the extent of wing beyond the base of shank, third of extent of abdomen beyond the the same. It will be understood that as the abdomen shrinks slightly in drying, and the wings do not, the figures in the fourth column in all these tables are somewhat Jower than if taken from dry specimens. The tables showing these measurements will prove interesting when compared with that further on, giving similar measure- OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 197 ments of spretus, and conclusively show by compariug the figures in the fourth col- amn that the specific distinction cannot, as Mr. Walsh thought, be safely and solely left to length of wing beyond the abdomen; as specimens of either species may approach each other in this respect to within the hundredth of an inch, and might be found to entirely agree if larger suites were compared. Nevertheless this relative length of wing has great value as a specific character, since of all the specimens meas- ured, in even the longest. winged femur-rubrum the wings fall short one hundredth of an inch of extending as far beyond the abdomen as they do in the shortest winged spretus. The anal characters of the male, (Fig. 29) will be found pretty constant and reliable. Yet they also vary and frequently approach spretus in the narrowing notched form of the tip. In the female the anal characters are of less value in distinguishing the species. CALOPTENUS FEMUR-RUBRUM. Measurements of the Male; in Hundredths of an Inch. Whole length from front ene thionmincibe Length of abdomen P Sse cee. g g beyond ; ay ciety Length of wing beyond = Pome Oo base of tibia. bey as os tip of abdomen. 0.95 0.03 0.03 0.00 1.05 0.04 0.03 0.01 1.00 | 0.038 0.02 0.01 1.03 } 0.04 0.03 0.01 1.03 | 0.04 0.03 0.01 1.03 0.05 0.03 0.02 0.98 | 0.02 0.00 0.02 1.08 0.05 0.03 0.02 )).97 | 0.02 | 0.00 0.02 1.06 0.10 0.08 0.02 1.03 0.04 0.02 0.02 0.94 0.02 0.00 0.02 1.06 0.038 0.05 0.03 1.10 0.09 0.06 0.03 1.02 0.03 0.06 0.03 1.04 0.05 0.02 0.03 1.10 0.08 0.04 0.04 0.95 | 0.09 0.05 0.04 0.99 0.08 0.04 0.04 1.05 | 0.08 0.04 0.04 1.08 0.09 0.05 0.04 1 08 0.10 | 0.06 0.04 1.09 0.08 0.03 0.05 0.99 0.05 0.00 0.05 1.04 0.05 0.00 0.05 1.05 0.06 | ().00 0.06 1.12 0.12 0.05 0.07 1.05 ‘ 0.08 0.00 0.08 Measurements of Female. 1.22 } 0.15 { 0.15 0.00 LS) 0.13 0.15 0.00 1.05 0.04 0.05 0.0L 1.08 0.09 0.10 0.01 1.20 0.13 0.14 0.01 1 USI I) 0.03 0.03 0.0L 103) 0.04 0.04 0.01 1.10 0.06 0.05 0.01 1.06 0.03 0.02 0.01 1.06 0.03 0.02 0.01 1.08 0.03 0:02 0.01 1.08 0 .04 0.038 0.02 1.05 0.03 0.02 0.02 1.09 0.06 0.04 0.02 Al gay 0.14 0.12 0.02 1.04 0.02 0.00 0.02 1.08 0.02 0.00 0.02 1.04 0.08 0.00 0.03 1.09 0.08 0.05 0.05 1.03 0.05 0.00 0.03 1.05 0.12 0.09 0.03 1.04 0.03 0.00 0.05 1.10 0.06 0.08 0.03 1.138 0.44 0.10 0, 04 128 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT Measurements of Female—Continued. Whole length from front | pength of wing peyond| Lensthof abdomen | yenoth of wing beyond of er aoe of base of tibia. PevouG ee of tip of abdomen. 1.13 0.08 0.04 0.04 1.08 0.04 0.00 0.04 1183 0.09 0.05 0.04. 1.18 0.12 ; 0.08 0.04 1.13 0.09 0.05 0.04 1.15 0.13 0.08 0.05 1.09 0.08 0.03 0.05 ita} 0.13 0.08 0.05 1.19 0.15 0.10 0.05 1.19 0.14 0.09 0.05 1.04 0.05 0.00 0.05 1.19 0.14 0.08 0.06 1.15 0.14 0.08 0.06 1.18 0.08 0.02 0.06 1.18 0.14 0.08 0.06 1.13 0.09 0.03 0.06 1.13 0.09 0.02 0.07 1.06 0.10 0.03 0.07 1.09 0.10 0.03 0.07 13 0.10 0.03 0.07 ita 0.10 | 0.03 0.07 1.15 0.08 | 0.00 0.08 Teh 0.08 0.00 0.08 1,14 0.15 0.06 0.09 1.18 0.09 0.00 0.09 1.10 0.13 0.04 0 09 1.16 0.12 0.03 0.09 1.19 0.23 0.12 0.11 ELD 0.14 0.03 0.11 1.138 0.12 6.00 0.12 CALOPTENUS SPRETUS Ubhler Mss. Syn., Acridium spretum* Thos. Trans. Ill. St. Agr. Soc, V, 459. Very much like C. femur-rubrum, Burm., the principal difference being in the length of the elytra and wings; a notch at the tip of the last [¢'] ventral segment. Posterior lobe of the pronotum slightly expanding; median somewhat distinct. Elytra and wings pass the abdomen about one-third their length. The last [¢'] ventral segment, which is turned up almost vertically, is somewhat tapering and is notched at the apex, which distinguishes it from the femur-rubrum ; the notch is small, butis distinct. Pros- ternal spine robust, sub-cylindrical, transverse. Migratory. Color.—Searcely distinct from the C. femur-rubrum. The oeciput and disk of the pronatum generally reddish-brown ; the posterior lobe somewhat paler than the ante- rior and middle. Spots, as in femur-rubrum, arranged in a line along the middle of the elytra ; these are a little larger and more abundant towards the apex. The head and thorax are sometimes a very dark olive-brown, at others, reddish-brown, and even brownish-yellow, the color deepening with age. ‘I'he wings are pellucid, nerves dusky toward the apex; when flying high and against the sun, their wings look like large snow flakes. Dimensions.—Q Length, [to tip of abdomen] 1 to 1.2 inches; elytra as long as the body ; posterior femora, 0.55 inch; posterior tibize, 0.5 inch. @ Length, 0.85 to 1 inch 3; elytra, 0.9 to 1.05 inches. *This is called ‘‘ Acridium spretis, Uhler’? in the article alluded to, and I very much doubt if the description refers to the species in question; first, because I do not believe that spretus occurs in Mur- physboro, Hls., where Mr. Thomas was then residing, and where he quotes Acridium spretis as being quite common; secondly because the description in some respects would not apply to spretus as at pres- ent defined. I call attention to this discrepancy, because it is upon this (as I believe erroneous) refer- ence, that Mr. Thomas quotes spretus from Illinois; whereas I agree with Mr. Walsh that (as we understand the species to-day) it is not indigenous to that State. Where the anal characters of the male are not carefully given, it is impossible to be sure of the species. OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 129 Illinois, [very questionable], Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Wyo- ming, Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Montana, Minnesota, and Dakota. (Thomas, by examina- tion and collections in person); Minnesota, Wisconsin [doubtful], Dakota (Scudder) ; Texas, Arizona, British America (Thomas)—[Thomas, Acridide of N. A., pp. 164-5. Regarding coloration, as with femur-rubrum, it is quite variable, and the dead speci- mens convey a very imperfect idea of the living colors, which are thus given in my notes taken in the field. The more common specimens are yellowish-white beneath ; glaucous across the breast and about mouth-parts; pale bluish-glaucous—often with shades of purple—on the sides of the head and thorax and on the front of the face ; olive-brown on the top of head and thorax; pale beneath, more or less bluish above and marked with black, especially towards base, on the abdomen. The front wings have the ground-color pale grayish-yellow, inclining to green, and their spots and veins brown; the hind wings, excepta yellowish or brownish shade at apex and along the front edge anda green tint at base, are transparent and colorless, with the veins brown. The front and middle legs are yellowish. The hind legs have the thighs striped with pale glaucous and reddish on the outside and upper half of inside, with four broad black or dusky marks on the upper edge, the terminal one extending beneath around the knee. The shanks are coral-red with black spines; the feet somewhat paler, with black claws ; antennz pale yellow ; palpi tipped with black. In the dead specimens all these colors become more dingy and yellow. Palpi and front legs in some specimens tinged with red or blue; the hind tibize sometimes yellowish instead of red, especially in the middle. Larva—When newly hatched, the larva is of a uniform pale gray without distine- tive marks. It soon becomes mottled with the characteristic marks however. After the first molt the hind thighs are conspicuously marked on the upper outside with a longitudinal black line; the thorax is dark with the median dorsal carina and two dis- tinct lateral stripes pale yellow, the black extending on the head behind the eyes. The sides of the thorax then become more yellow with each molt, the black on the hind thighs less pronounced, and the face at first black and then spotted. The occiput and abdomen above are mottled with brown, the former marked with a fine median, and two broader anteriorly converging pale lines, the latter with two rather broken lateral lines of the same color. Pupa—The pupa is characterized by its paler, more yellow color, bringing more strongly into relief the black on the upper part of the thorax and behind the eyes; by the spotted nature of the face, especially along the ridges, by the isolation of the black subdorsal mark on the two anterior lobes of prothorax, and by the large size of the wing-pads, which—visible from the first molt and increasing with each subsequent molt—are now dark, with a distinct pale discal spot, and pale veins and borders. The hind shanks incline to bluish rather than red as in the mature insect. In the following table of measurements, introduced for comparison with that given of femur-rubrum, the same rules were adopted as in the other case, and particular pains were taken to get specimens from as many parts of the ravaged country as possible ; also, by study of the structural and other peculiarities of spretus to guard against the chance mixing of specimens of femur-rubrum. E R—9 130 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT CALOPTENUS SPRETUS. Measurements of the Male; in Hundredths of an Inch. Whole length from front|Length of wing beyond|Length of abdomen be-|Length of wing beyond tip of head to tip of base of tibia. yond base of of abdomen. wing. tibia. 1.24 0.25 0.05 0.20 1.20 0.28 0.08 0.20 S29) 0.28 0.08 0.20 1.18 0.33 0.12 0.21 1.26 0.25 | 0.03 0.22 1.22 0.29 0.06 0.23 1.10 0.29 0.05 0.24 1.35 0.29 0.04 | 0.25 1.33 0.35 0.09 0.26 1.24 0.29 0.03 0.26 1.29 0.35 | 0.08 - 0.27 1.30 0.32 0.05 0.27 1.30 0.35 0.08 0 27 1.28 4.35 0.08 0.27 1.29 0.32 0.05 } 0.27 1.24 0.30 0.03 0.27 1.19 0.33 0.06 0.27 1.28 0.36 0.09 0.2 1.28 0.30 0.02 0.28 1.24 0.38 0.09 0.29 1.35 0.39 0.10 0.29 1523 0.38 0.09 0,29 35 0.35 0.05 0.30 135 0.40 0.10 0.30 1A8ts) 0.34 0.03 0.31 1.30 0.34 0.03 0.31 1.33 0.33 0.02 0.3L 1.25 0.34 0.03 0.31 1.32 0.34 0.08 0.31 1.30 0.34 0.03 0.31 1.18 0.34 | 0.02 0.32 1.38 0.40 0.08 0.32 1.38 0.42 0.09 0.33 1.40 0.38 0.05 0.33 1.28 0.38 | 0.05 0,33 1.30 0.35 } 0.02 0.33 1.24 0.38 0.04 0.34 1.30 0.38 * 0.03 0.55 1.40 0.38 0.03 0.55 1.33 0.35 0,00 0.35 1.33 Q 0.03 0.35 1.35 0.38 0.02 0.36 1.34 0.38 0.02 0.36 1.29 0.38 0.02 0.36 1.35 0.35 0.02 0.37 1.36 0.43 0.06 0.37 1.38 0.34 } 0.05 0.39 1.33 0.36 { 0.03 0.39 Measurements of Female, 1.25 0.28 0.15 0.13 1.2: 0.33 | 0.18 | 0.15 1.28 0.40 0.23 | 0.17 1.3 ; 0.30 0.12 0.18 1.38 0.40 0.22 0.18 1.29 0.24 0.06 0.18 A383 0.38 0.19 0.19 1.44 0.38 0.19 0.19 1.25 0.39 0.19 0 20 1.38 0.43 0.23 0.20 1.24 0.33 0.13 | 0.20 1.25 0.32 0.12 | 0.20 1.15 0.33 0.13 0.20 1.35 0.42 0.20 ().22 1.28 0.40 0.18 (0,22 1.30 0°40 0.18 0.22 1.33 0.43 0.20 0.23 1,29 0.28 0.05 0.23 L385 0.38 0.10 0,23 1.16 0.36 0.13 0.23 1.48 0.38 0.15 0.23 OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 181 Measurements of Female—Continued. Whole length from front |Length of wing beyond|Length of-abdomen be-|Length of wing beyond tip of head to tip of base of tibia. yond base of of abdomen. wing. : tibia. 1.28 0.38 0.15 0°23 1.30 0.36 0.13 0 23 1.29 0.36 0.12 0.24 1.30 0.42 0.18 0.24 1.33 0.28 0 04 0.24 135 0.32 0.08 0.24 3s 0.39 0.15 0.24 1.30 0.42 0.18 0.24 1.35 0.43 0.19 0.24 1.26 0.30 0.06 0.24 1.38 0.40 0.16 } 0.24 1.33 _ 0.36 0.12 0.24 1.24 0.33 0.08 0.25 1.29 0.38 | 0.13 0.25 1.45 0.43 0.18 0.25 1.50 0.43 0.18 0.25 1.33 0.33 0.08 0.25 1.30 0.43 0.18 0.25 1.30 0.33 0.08 0.25 1.25 0.30 ().04 0.26 1.30 0.35 | 0.09 0.26 1.28 0.32 0.06 0.26 1.34. 0.30 0.04 0.26 1.36 0.34 0.08 0.26 1.25 0.38 0.12 0.26 1.45 0.52 0.16 0,26 1.45 0.44 0.18 0.26 115} 0.30 0.04 0.26 1.39 0.45 0.18 0.27 1.52 0.40 0.13 0.27 1.26 0.36 0.09 0.27 1.28 0.40 0.13 0.27 1.28 0.35 0.08 0.27 1.33 0.33 0.06 0.27 1.33 0.35 0.08 0.27 1.28 0.35 | 9.08 0.27 1.26 0.39 | 0.12 0.27 1.38 0.42 0.15 0.17 1.30 0.40 | 0.18 0.27 TBR 0.35 0.08 0.27 1.43 0.30 | 0.02 0.28 1.29 0.36 0.08 0.28 1.28 0.38 0.10 0,28 1.30 0 36 0.08 I 0.28 1°35 0.43 } 0.15 0.28 1.30 0.43 0.15 0.28 1.33 0.38 0.10 | 0.28 1.33 0.42 | 0.13 | 0,29 1.15 0.38 0.09 0.29 1.38 0:42 0.13 0.29 ae35 0.42 | 0.13 0.29 1.36 0.39 0.10 0.29 1.29 0.38 0.09 0.29 1.38 0.43 0.14 0.29 1.28 0.38 0.09 0.29 1.33 0.39 0.10 0.29 1.36 0.34 0.04. 0.30 1.45 0.43 0.13 0.30 1.38 0.33 0.03 0.30 1.35 0.40 0.10 0.30 1.38 0.39 0.08 0.31 1.29 0.35 0.04 0.31 1.38 0.35 0.03 0.32 1.42 0.48 0.16 0.32 1.30 0.40 0.18 0.32 1.43 0.38 0.06 0.32 1.25 0.35 0.08 0.32 1.46 0.44 0.12 0,32 1.33 6.36 0.04 0.32 1.24 0.36 0.03 0.33 1.34 0.45 0.12 | 0.33 1.35 0.43 0.10 0.33 1.35 0.45 0.10 0.35 1.32 0.38 0.03 0.35 1.33 0.38 0.03 0.35 1.43 . 0.45 0.10 0.35 1.38 0.42 0.04 0.38 1,53 0.49 0.10 0.39 132 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT Finally, to sum up the differences between the two species, besides the structural and more reliable characters already given, in general terms, spretus compared to femur-rubrum, may be distinguished by the following less reliable and more inconstant characters: Itis the larger species; the antenne are slightly shorter and paler; the occiput and two anterior lobes of the prothorax are more livid and darker ; the third lobe of prothorax broader; the dark, subdorsal, prothoracic mark running from the eyes less pronounced; the oblique, yellow line from base of wings to base of hind thighs more often obsolete; the front wings paler toward tips, more ferruginous at base, with larger, more conspicuous spots; the anal abdominal joint of male also much paler; the cerci and valves in the female generally shorter and more robust. Such are the distinguishing features between these two insects, when the more typical specimens of the western spretus are compared with femur-rubrum as it occurs around St. Louis. That these distinguishing features will lose their value in propor- tion as abundant material from all parts of the country is-examined and compared, I have not the least doubt; for I have already shown that such is the fact so far as color- ation and length of wing is concerned, and the meagre material which I have trom the East indicates considerable variation and approach in the more important structu- ral characters. In considering the ravages of migratory locusts in the Atlantic States, I shall recur to this subject. CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY. The plague of locusts is as old, nay older, than the Bible, where, in Exodus, we are told how they went up over the land of Egypt and “ covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened ; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left; and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, throughout all the land of Egypt.”* Paulus Orosius tells us that in the year of the world 3,800, such infinite myriads of locusts were blown from the coast of Africa into the sea and drowned, that, being cast upon the shore, they emit- ted a stench greater than could have been produced by the carcasses of one hundred thousand men, and caused a general pestilence.t Numerous, indeed, are the accounts of general devastation, pesti- lence and famine that have frequently followed in the wake of these locusts in the East, and travelers in South Africa, Asia and South Europe, have left us abundant records of the fearful devastations of this “ Army of the Great God,” as the Arabs term these migrating. hosts. Their history is one of dire calamity and desolation; and their devastations have become part of the history of nations: they have even been perpetuated in coins. Those who have the curiosity to acquaint themselves with the history of locusts in the more ancient * Exodus, X, 15. t+ Oros, Contra Pag, 1, V., ¢c. 2. + Introduction to Ent. I., Letter VII., London, 1828, OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 133 or to the compilation published in this country by Frank Cowan.* It suffices here to state that the injuries by locusts in the desert coun- tries bordering mountain ranges in the Kast, are byno means matters of past history only, but that they are felt occasionally at the present time as they have been for all time past. In 1866, during the same year as our previous great invasion, Algeria and the whole country in the north of Africa, was severely visited, causing the famine of 1867, and the epidemics which followed; and even in 1574, these insects caused serious alarm in the same parts of Africa; and M. H. Brocard tells us that in the three subdivisions of Constantine, Setif and Batna, 4,890 hectolitres (about 14,000 bushels) of eggs were collected. The species most conspicuous in its devastations, especially in Central Europe, is the Migratory Locust (4dipoda migratoria, Linn), though in Africa and Asia the Acridium perigrinum and the Caloptenus Ttalicus have similar destructive and migratory powers. All these insects belong to the same family as our own species, and the last named, even to the same genus. [Fig. 30.] MIGRATORY LOCUST OF EUROPE. While the chronological record of Locust invasions and devasta- tions in the “ Old World,” is full and complete, the record of such in- vasions in our own country, has never been fully written. The most complete record that I know of, is that by Alexander 8. Taylor, of Monterey, Cal., published in the Smithsonian Report for 1858, (pp. 200- 213), to which I am indebted for the earlier accounts, which follow: From what is here given, it is very evident that these insects have occasionally proved great plagues from the earliest settlement of the country; and there can be no doubt that from time immemorial, or since our continent assumed its present configuration, they have from time to time played the same réle of devastators, and that the only exceptional circumstance about the 1874 irruption, compared to those of former years, was the larger area of settled and cultivated country devastated, and the consequent greater amount of distress entailed. * Curious History of Insects, pp. 101—31, Phila. , 1865, +:Comptes Rendus, Paris Academy, Jan. 25, 1875. 134 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT The earliest record I can find of Locust injuries in America, is in Gage’s West Indies, and they date back to the year 1632. In speaking of their visitation in Guatemala, he says: ‘ ical specimens, from the preceding, not only by its. larger size, but by its Rar: 2 ee brighter yellow and green DIFFERENTIAL LOCUsr. “colors. The head and tho- rax are olive brown, and the front wings very much of the same color,. and without other marks have a brownish shade at base, the hind wings being tinged with green; the hind thighs are bright yellow,. especially below, with the four black marks as in spretus, and the hind shanks are yellow with black spines, and a black ring near the base. Next in injuriousness comes the Two-striped Locust ( Calop- tenus bivittatus, Say, Fig. 34,) also a larger species, of a dull, olive- 174 - SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT green color, the hind thighs conspicuously yellow beneath, and with two yellow lines extending from above the eyes along each side [Fig. 34.] of the thorax superiorly, and thence, more distinctly on the front wings, narrowing and ap- ered, especially around the base of the wings, with small red mites, seldom larger than the head of a pin. These mites have but six legs which, though easily visible when the animal first attaches itself, become more or less obso- Tae Locusr ete and invisible as it swells and enlarges, though a shied’ “"'Y careful examination will generally reveal them at the anterior end of the body. The mite, therefore, more often presents to the ordinary observer a bright red, swollen, ovoid body, so immova- ble and firmly attached by its minute jaws, that those who are not aware of its nature might easily be led into believing it a natural growth or excrescence. In fact, it attacks the Locust precisely as the different wood-ticks attack man and the lower mammals. This mite belongs to the genus Astoma, briefly characterized by Latreille for a very similar mite (Astoma parasiticum) which affects the common House-fly and several other insects. The specific name locustarum was first proposed for it by B. D. Walsh,* but Dr. LeBaron afterwards gave it the name of Atoma gryllaria,t in connection with the following more detailed description : They are of an oblong, oval form, moderately convex and having an uneven sur- face, produced by four shallow depressions on the upper side, the two larger near the middle, and the others behind them. The body has also two slight constrictions, giving it the appearance of being divided into three segments ; but the impressions are super- ficial and only visible at the sides. The whole surface is finely striate, under the micros- cope, the striw# running in a waving transverse direction. The mouth-organs appear to be reduced to their minimum of development. The only part visible, externally, is a minute papilla, on each side of which are two bristles, the inner of which is stouter, tapering to an acute point, and curved inwards, or towards its fellow of the opposite side. They differ from the majority of Acarides in having but six legs, and these, being of but little use in so stationary a creature, pre short and slender, projecting but little beyond the outline of the body. They are 6-jointed [in reality they are 5-jointed, the middle joint much the shortest, and the terminal joint longest.—c. v. R.], garnished with short stiff bristles, and terminate in two slender, curved hooks. The anterior and middle legs are closely approximate and situated near the anterior extremity of thé body; the posterior are set a little nearer to each other, and a little in advance of the middle of the body, being inserted at the posterior part of the anterior division orlobe. Four hairs project from the posterior extremity of the body. * Practical Entomologist, I, p.126. ¢ LeBaron’s 2nd Ills. Ent. Rep., 1872, p. 156. Theauthor employs the term dtoma, which, though first so employed by Latreille, is corrected to Astoma in his ‘‘ Genera Crustaceorum et Insectorum,’? I, * pe 162, (1806). OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. — 177% (Big. 37 .] The dorsal figure on the opposite page (Fig. 86) exhib- its the general appearance of the mite under a high mag- nifying power, and figure 37 which represents a ventral view of the mite found onour house-flies, and which is doubtless the A. parasiticum of Latreille, will better show the structure of the head and legs. During some ofthe Howes seasons scarcely a fly can be caught that is not infested with a number of these blood-red mites, clinging tenaceously around the base of the wings. As remarked in my last Report (p. 56) the genus Astoma and probably most other six-legged genera, are only larval or immature forms of some other mites; and this very Locust mite may be the larva of the Silky mite previously described, for ought we know to the contrary—there is so much to learn yet of the transformations of the Mites. Indeed, Hermann, and some other arachnologists have actually referred Astoma to Trombidium. In speaking of the Irrita- ting Harvest Mite (Leptus irritans Riley, 6th Rep. p.122) the so-called Jigger of the Mississippi Valley, and which is, in all probability, an immature form; I have stated my belief that its normal food must, apparently, consist of the juices of plants and that “the love of blood proves ruinous to those individuals who get a chance to indulge it ; for unlike the true chigoe, the female of which deposits eggs in the wound she makes, these harvest mites have no object of the kind, and, when not killed at the hands of those they torment, they soon die—victims to their sanguinary appetite.”* The same argument may, I think, be applied to the Locust Mite.. The Rocky Mountain Locust infested with this mite was sent to me in 1868 by Uriah Bruner, of Omaha, Nebr., and in 1869 by Clark Irvine and C. Twine, of Oregon, T. K. Faulkner, of Whitesville, and Jno. D. Dopf, of Rock Port, Mo.,—the latter gentleman stating that it was fast causing a diminution in the number of its victims. I have also received it from Minnesota and Kansas, and found it on several of our native locusts; while the following passage from an editorial account of the ravages of locusts in Kansas in 1869, which appeared in the Prairie Farmer, (Aug. 21, 1869,) is a sample of many newspaper accounts, and will show how efficient even a mite may be in killing. The course of the locusts was brought to a sudden halt by the operation of some parasite, appearing in the shape of small red mites, which attach themselves to the body, under the wings, where they suck the carcass to a dry shell; the dead bodies of * Am, Naturalist, Vol. VII, p. 19. ER—12 178 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT the grasshoppers almost covering some plants, where they have taken hold of a leaf or stalk, and clasped it, with a dead embrace; many others fall to the ground to die, too weak to rise again. Ina half day’s examination, where they were very thick, we failed to find more than two grasshoppers not so attacked, and this was not local, fora distance of thirty miles across the country they were found similarly affected. Tue ANoNnyMous TacHiINA-FLY.—Our Locust, like so many other in- sects, is also subject to the attacks of certain two-winged flies much resembling the common House-fly, but larger. One is the very same Tachina-fly (Zachina anonyma) which I have bred from a number of other insects.* I first reared this fly from specimens of the Rocky Mountain Locust sent me by Jos. C. Shattuck, Vice Prest. of the Union Colony, Greeley, Col., who wrote, July 14, 1873, as follows of its work: x a Also, I will say that the grasshoppers which a month since seriously threatened to devour every green thing, have met with a mortal foe and been slain by millions. (Don’t think ‘‘millions”’ too large a word.) Very few have ‘‘ taken to them- selves wings and flown away,” as heretofore, but lie dead in the fields they lately rav- aged, A small fly pierces them and deposits an egg while on the wing, (or on the jump) and like Herod of old “ they are eaten of worms and give up the ghost.” The following items undoubtedly refer to the same insect: A Grasshopper-Exterminating Fly.—It seems that the grasshoppers that are so destructive to vegetation in many places in the central portion of the continent, are likely to find an enemy which threatens their rapid destruction. The Deer Lodge Inde- pendent says thata fly bas made its appearance, closely resembling the common house- fly, but much larger, and of a gray, mottled color, which deposits its eggs under the wings of the Grasshopper. The egg is enclosed in a glutinous substance, which secures it in its position until the worm is ‘matured fembryon developed.] It then penetrates the body of the Grasshopper, which speedily dies. The worm then burrows in the ground, and at the end of seventeen days comes forth a fly, ready to again commence the work of destruction. Mr. Wm, Walker, of Dempsey Creek, informs the Independ- ent that twice during the past Summer the grasshoppers threatened to destroy his crops, but the flies killed them so rapidly that they did him but little damage. As the grasshoppers were killed before depositing their eggs, it is generally believed that this plague is ended in the Deer Lodge Valley. a euehed in several Montana papers in Summer of 1874. A great many of the locusts seemed to be punctured on the back, and on pulling their heads off after death (many were found dead) from 1 to 3 ordinary looking mag- gots would be found. Many farmers fear it might be an introduction of a new plague. May not this gentleman with his little gimlet in time prove the destroyer of the hateful Locust ?—[R. “P. C, Wilson, Platte City, , Mo., in private letter. I saw a hopper kicking about as if he could hardly move; I pulled him to pieces and found that he contained a footless grub, half an inch in length. In a short time more were procured, placed in a covered tumbler, where, in a little more than two weeks, the grubs changed to Tachina flies, very much resembling the common house- flies, * * When we » remember what an enormous number of ¢ eges (fly- -blows) a fly will ‘lay and that each, in about a month, will be a perfect fly, it is seen that it would take but a few generations to clean out an army of grasshoppers—[Oscar J. Strong, Rolfe, Pocahontas county, Lowa, in Western Farmer, Feb., 1869, Mr. Byers, in speaking of the locusts hatching in Colorado in 1865, (loc. cit.) says: “ That upon attaining about half their full size, they were attacked by a fly, which, stinging them in the back between _ the root of the wings, , deposited c one or more eggs, which produced a a * See Bente, 4, p. 129 and 5, p. 133. OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 179 large white maggot. The worm subsisted upon the grasshopper, finally causing its death, when it cut its way out and entered the earth. In this way probably half were destroyed, often covering the ground, and filling the furrows in plowed fields with their carcasses. The remainder took to flight, moving southeast, when their wings were sufficiently developed, and we lost trace of them on the great Plains.” Mr. J. W. Crow, of Bigelow, Mo., in his correspondence with me, describes these maggots as infesting the “hoppers” in Holt county last Fall; and in 1869 I received the parasite from John P. Dopf, of Rock Port, Atchison county, and have bred it from the Differential Locust, figured further on, and from the Carolina Locust ( £dipoda carolina, L.) in St. Louis county. Finally, Mr. S. E. Wilber, of Greely, Col., has published an account of what is evidently the same fly.* In this account, after showing how persistently the fly pursues the Locust—leaving it no rest, and so effectually weakening whole swarms as to render them harmless—he expresses the opinion that the constant, importunities and annoyances of this fly are the cause of locust migrations. While, however, they may constitute a factor in the result, such a conclusion is too sweeping. The Red-tailed Tachina-fly (Fig. 38) which is so useful in destroy- (Fig. 38.] ing the Army-worm, will serve to illustrate the species, and, indeed, differs scarcely at all | except in having the tip of the abdomen red. . These Tachina-flies firmly fasten their eggs —which are oval, white and opaque and quite tougn—to those parts of the body not easily reached by the jaws and legs of their victim, and thus prevent the egg from being detached. The slow-flying locusts are attacked while flying, and it is quite amu- sing to watch the frantic efforts which one of them, haunted by a Tachina-fly, will make to evade its enemy. The fly buzzes around, waiting her opportunity, and when the locust jumps or flies, darts at it and attempts to attach her egg under the wing or on the neck. The attempt frequently fails, but she perseveres until she usually accom- plishes her object. With those locusts which fly readily, she has even greater difficulty; but though the locust tacks suddenly in all direc- tions in its efforts to avoid her, she circles close around it and gen- erally succeeds in accomplishing her purpose, either while the locust is yet on the wing, or, more often, just as it alights from a flight or a RED-TAILED TACHINA-FLY. * Popular Science Monthly, IV, p. 745. 180 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT hop. The young maggots hatching from these eggs eat into the body of the locust, and after rioting on the fatty parts of the body—leaving: the more vital parts untouched—they issue and burrow in the ground, where they contract to brown egg-like pupe, from which the fly issues either in the same season or not till the following Spring. \-\elsielvicieie « ¢ 9 41 Apple-tree borer—The Flat-headed............ 71 MILET UES UIUC OPUS WAM oiale clas cree e/siele = \ieie =)e1 a1 4) were 22 GUOLCLO TAO PLO ORG are, at ajulay sia oiei2ictereis'2 el eyelessiaie rofele 106 Asparagus beetle............5..2-. 22 eee e eee 5 RUSS LG Cem CO MnVOCE TS a crete nralalolevals\elelalnisveleleieial sieve elelesele 5 PALOMINO MULL CIUG 2 piace tshc) eeleieieieeais 76 sie TOTP ACLO Tae es eise cranial ee eeete cists Tiere eters 4} CUDARBGS TROON oo cha saeEeGado MoOeaAAonOUaNSLO 7 Closter cA Mert COM Nene, jas ovo) selclarcteia aterele aie rtelointe 27 COCCI GUNG Mer ereilaasietsestvetsicieteetaistere ste doom et, Colorado Potato-beetle.............. Agee moegac oy aul AVarm aADOUb LE ADTORG (0 as lcfaciscree el eelsiclels 3 Injuries during the year...............-+++. 2 Is if POISONOUS ?. ..... 0... ewe eee eee ees 6 It passes the Winter in the beetle stafe...... 14 Tt reachesi the Adan ticle (jstriels cree «1-10leieielelers 1 New food-plants. ...........+++2.2-sseseees . 14 New means of destruction................0+ 15 The beetle eats as well as the larva......... 4 The proper scientific name of the bectle.. 16 Mhewserot Lams Greene. 's:steiieitte- sie leie iors 8 II INDEX. Colorado Potato-beetle-- PAGE PAGE IRASTEXPCLIENGEceeitelecie cielo: cle aniedaeisere ele 10 1 Its influence on the plant................. MLN ano Vests. (CRMYSO DO... aciaiscicieee -eieiale ee eaten ..09, 40 Tisintluenceonithe\soil... o\..5.--occiecie-i 11 | immarginatus, Micropus var...... Pera Acco 22 VES MMAMEN CEO MINA 2 .1c\< 01 ives ssvieleversteieraloiel« 13) ANSTDLOSUSs ANTNOCOTIS. ccc. le © sioniecers eee ee Al AE OMIM OGM EHMES EM yee atessviataie)eseio.e eierote sisters eieieiossiove WSO Grritans, Wepies. mare ictecsitees ++ ool serene ii GOIULC PERU MLO DEN Mts ars <1 c)arete\o[c\ 0 a\aicieisPevora ter epelereieveints » LS etalicus, (Caloplenusemcmimcictans ee) sisisaitereeteieeiys 153 (ChYREDS HEVAS: 15. 00 SAB BO DONONO JOGO GUODHADSGODRO ESO 46 COMMEIENOMUCOTIG. «< 56 orice oes ooinicseliciess 48 I CT AOCOTTSIOSP ONG «5.x wroxas oleie(o 2 «1 s-010 01s eiaieta/a einielerele) es BN ILM) fH aman aoqokssnanvoo0bbdes arsristezrerte 75 CCFO LUSHOMOULOLOD sa 0:cre 60 nie) ore 01 eieleiero.o/= ehehaleqayele rans \s 75 | Lachnosterna quercind.........c+..-..+0+ PER Seem te wT D Leaf-beetle—The Blm...............2ccesseseee 5 Leaf-crumpler—The Rascal .............-...0.-. $1 Daktylospher QiCONY C-MAOMUNU rareiscles reli > oletelalors WG || eptus\arritans....A2ccncct\.cck eee eee ae neecee Pe! Wiz CORY @-SCME a emieincicleteieieie seeinciele « MAT Lesument,, Ghrysobvothris) Wal. 2ccee see see eter ipl ef COI @-3CNTWM Noirs foie ls cleieis\eleieie eaters 1dT|\Meucopterus, Aficropus.. cess eneeceee eee 19 oe COUCH Ra 5 anne oassedes oooQOnDOoC 183) Locusta eryinropus.jo.c ade es ccisesnioeeneetsae 126 sie GONMUPETUM Serials eine cee neta eiere LIS) Locust Mite=The®,. 2.25%... cttte steve seteleteisieltetorerle 175 os CEDRESSUNUettetlee eet rr etieereeiet 118 | Locust--The Rocky Mountain.................. 121 a: OT CALM ae cccie eine tteiseserhesieiieis tte 118) | Byg cus leucoptenus:.. nc ccecenccce se aaeete eee 21 OG LOU OSUTNY cretercisyalemrautolore mic.e sipferelavolee 117 ge hemisphericum, ........0...0-0- 17 M . SUDCLUPILCUI.”. 0.0.22 oes esesee* 1% |" naculata, Wippodamia......5-.-.2202 nena eee 39 i SUILOSUITUM staratotorel tetetaisrictnie elvererelerete 118 | mantivora, Sarcophaga Var............0e+eeeeees 180 edecemlineatd, DOryphord. .... 2.2.2 ceceserceces ie iS MELANOSUS, | NULCTOPUS ViATi\- 1. 1telecre cielo ele sieteleieveteterete 92 depressa, Phyllowera..........0.ceee seen cee ee ees 118 Micropus leucopterus a ofa ahgsnvaceis ey oie else eheees eon 19 sdestructor, Cecidomyta.........2...-20ereeeseers 27 | G VAL: CIOVENOSUS. - oo owie detcauietieeateeie 22 . differentialis, CAlOptenus trestle ee eit: 124, 173 | es CS AP CCHUS shores. tetellol aietoet el eens 22 UMA LaiUs, MACTODUS VAL. > « cele selec ee sicereliie «' 22 | GG ££" DASGMSURE ij. bbs soon inseee eee 22 Doryphora. MQ =LUTUCOLE sarees ta y-neisisteto's cust tel ovehsratore 1, 16) ce SC MAUI GHOLUS sink he ne peel bier eer sp ee = | 6s CS. POMONOLUSE kek Mela hic lgeiees A ieotn 22 Gis 6¢ fulvivenosus ..... sleisiate svete Seite 22, Lhd ORO sag ao0ded dood dobsdaEboobood aac 3 | Ot SS AMUMVORG UT GALS en) -(-)-'=) 2412 ele teat feriete 22 2 36 SED MELON OSUS xr. siolelalorersiciarefetetere sate 22 F $13 OF | NIGTLCONNIS... ies saroueeloeeeh eee 22 HAE CATIK EL WOLD «is oie.oeksisieretsissersieinreteier yervion lie 83 a6 OS LNUPUDCAIS Scion as cen ecieeteieel Calcauoe Fastidiosa, Chrysobothri HIVE aoooonogtons sone nene ML ntgratored, (CLAP OGG: hi, ais wn\leietslelelote enieretsicttetersters 135 enor iam ee! Ve Ses arene eee acre aL \eniselia, ChirysSOOOLhris) Valeo. -12)-1-1-)a1s)etsi eaten 71 ‘femoratus, IV TVCTOD US| NU 7-.6 ors sie =itys's|sisiete sis cte)cts/stcye.e 22) Mite—'ThedsOCust... 1... celeste eros ects eteeiee eer 175 femur- rubr MITUa CC HLOPLEIUS wep elis cima elereie oteloleisiesel 126) | JMite—Mhe silkiy::< .\/ssesnered ote section eere tiers 175 ‘Flat-headed Apple- SUCOUD OLE eee ='e\2 viene oy ope 27 ULCLCUNGMEACHNOSTEN IU ss cies csc. we nieeen o neonate DIAL DEC Usa LEU CTO MUS) Vellore ioiersraisiala « eeies e)atayaie se sletereie 22 QUERCUS PNY LORETO v0.0.0 sj0.00 6 ons dais viniminieiaiein Hes 91, 119 s R ECLA DIDITI AUG S 6 doa aUtGOOAS SOCUCONGOD HASOB Ob 27 Rape butterfly Bey Me ahd Soke ae, \ ek eer ee ee 5 | Sar cophaga COPTOMUGS ta cethne cate ou sentences 180 UDG, TONGS Ree ee ARE eek eee he peopatobron: 5 VAL, MANUVOTA.... 05. .00ceceeseseces 180 ancalplest-ernmpler) sas .ccscascscceeee conten SIU) SCI, TREE soo cc on dana obosbmooobaconbenoe 506 Pf Rent-titleds Tachina-thysnsassesu ve edensonunee 79) |(SCLOLUM Ler OM OUCUUTIES aine are mreeiersteven tereteversicieieicteiete 175 Rhyparochromus devastator......0.0..0..cuee eee 22 | sericeum SXF Manik SAR Mane ar PEC has 0 ena 175 RALCY Us ERYLLODEN Gs. whee ciaesseeecneescccns 91, 117. 118 | semisculpta. Chrysovothnis varvcss nee one cies ai Rocky Moun taAInvlOCUstiesestecrer cee. eee HD TE | SOROS aman ay a ete INe Wl ncoe arclatemntetatcveretetenetonetela 71 Chronological ISTON YA setees ceuroo cease 132 septemdecim, Gicad Gt see oe eee 27 Descr iptiv CR Ree more mae Oe 1925}|) iMag Wi bee AN SE Coc ooGeoneddagnDdobDsoboSEocano 175 Easily confounded with the Red-legged SDUUOS Gry PMY LOW eT Oivoje ate 2) 75-10 elele chaser stevie eietatate 118 NGOCUB Ue ter Gia Ns ete corns is Sessa ae eye eieletorsle 125 | spretus, Caloptenus... 0.0.0.0... sccccssceccmacass 121 Enemies and parasites. ee ee Oe Saar ae if) |pspring) Canker=wocmlay cee ssn eee eet 80 The Anonymous Pachina-Nysnccescse or 178 | Sprinkler for the Use of Paris Green Water.... 15 ihe, Common, Mlesh=flys: 7.206. .s.ese cee 180 | Synopsis of the American Species of the Genus Mh eWeoensteMites, sea gaceen cna cadens eae 175 IPhyllomeravccc cae cee cecete eee 117 MIN SUS piKeyo MUG s<.3 < ceiee clecniceieteteoelelre ne 175 T la GLTAENNIS | 05.36 coonbe co aebesyopobosuacaced 158 Injury from other, pon- migr atory Locusts. 171 tabida, Chrysopa Biol afeveicielaiciei=teie/siedslohel sieiekel ate teveretener cnet 106 Its Flight and Ravages Sl ee ee ne 156 | Tachina-fly—The Anonymous ...:............. 178 Its Natural History. PO RRAnUr non mer oeE bores ADT WGC ANON TIA, 30s -1-)ecie cioteie/-ler erste cloiotete 178 Its native Home: it cannot thrive in the Machina -fy— dhe red-tailed! 2). ycjishere sciseeiie 179 Mississippi Valley, and can neyer reach ANCLOTAUM IS UOMOLATUNY soe seen sees 175 HarhintOovMisSsOUlLwaee elena eee ee aGl \Wtredecim:, Crucadayy.in see ae te cae een eee 27 Measur ements of C. femur-rubrum ......... MQ Tel ErtStt 8) COT CUS Se. siciars ois nis tele ieteteraial= oieveisayerars erate steerer 46 SEO SPRCCUS TNT ne ste ee 130:| Zrombidium holosericeum. ........c.c.+0secccece 175 Rayages of migratory Locusts in the Atlan- OC SCOOTUIM 215s nw vioareesee ea OO 175 ICIS TALES Ryser cco eaa orn aiiclaeabels 167 He SONUCEUNY Nasaiioitacrveistsiacdarartleetetreerate 175 PTeMIMNVASION OL STS! ox yscc:ctecsearece ccccssi oe gases 141 ns EUTUCLOT: UUM sain « n\aie aly eri eke estaisasiassntieers 1i5 a eRMVASION OL, 1ST4: sf. ac-.cjssctssik sae «clei ere sere 143 v ROSS OUT ler orara, sar uys eye sieieisisveisttheli are Seat ase 144 ASANTE ASM eaters Sins a neaieersiela sit wateireeilorsaa nets 148 | vagabundus, Pemphigus...........csceecescesees 97 INGOTS Sesh ease BOIS Gemieercta DED Mtoe FIG boe TM VaStaLriie PEI ILO er dy... ns ecctately- se, casinierrereineie se Gls aly OW ietetetete ci ctolers (oisievaveve. tic: eversieseysnsvetojstereisielovarels ssnie NTS VELMALAs ANTS ONLENY We a crnisicteia «inte, telelaiciclel aaietelsistereist 80: METTIMESO Uteetei ci tofermictie sceticianlelscisasieshis 153 ON PRALINE orc dale Herehs as ticloeeien Cerne eee 80: GOLONARO) Fir kc crsictearers csioaveiocleleie seweinisarsioysare 154 x 1D YF 0) Fe er ee ee 155 = WTATITOD a Pee Arete caine Seis case cnn ABS Meropnylla caries CMere as. assis cistleleeis icicle ete Wz ERRATA. Page 5, line 16, for ‘‘State’’ read ‘‘ state.’’ Page 7, line 7, for ‘‘calubrine’’ read ‘‘ colubrine.’’ Page 17, last line, note, for ‘‘ Dep. del’ Herault ’’? read ‘‘ Dép. de 1’ Hérault.’* Page 21, line 14 from bottom, for ‘‘ Lencopterus’’ read ‘‘ Leucopterus.’’ Page 89, under Fig. 6, for ‘‘ Trim’? read ‘‘ TrIM,’’ Page 80, under the heading, add ‘‘(Ord., LerrpoprErRA; Fam., PHALANIDa.)’* Page 90, under the heading, add ‘‘(Sub-ord., HomoprersA; Fam., APHID#.)’’ Page 94, in the sub-head, for ‘‘ gall-inhabiting ’’ read ‘‘ root-inhabiting.’’ Page 124, line 10 from bottom, for ‘‘Coloptenus’’ read ‘‘Caloptenus.’? ON THE NOXIOUS, BENEFICIAL, AND OTHER INSECTS . SATE OF MISSOURL MADE TO THE STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, PURSUANT TO AN APPROPRIATION FOR THIS PURPOSE FROM THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE. Ks BY CHARLES V. RILEY, ee State Entomologist. , JEFFERSON CITY: REGAN & CARTER, PRINTERS AND BINDERS. 1876. +i Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1876, by CHarLes V. Rivey, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. i ey Ae iy. To the President and Members of the State Board of Agriculture : GENTLEMEN: The following pages constitute my Eighth Annual Report on the Noxious, Beneficial and other Insects of the State of Missouri. The year 1875 was notable in the annals of our State by the ravages of two in- sects more particularly, viz.: the Army Worm and the Rocky Mountain Locust, and the present Report is, consequently, largely devoted to them. Of the former species I have been fortunate enough to ascertain, by direct observation, the mode, place and time of oviposition, which have hitherto remained unknown, notwithstanding the insect is at times so very abundant and destructive, and notwithstanding that on our knowledge of when and where the eggs are laid, depends our most successful and simple means of preventing its injuries. I have deemed the matter of sufficient im- portance to delay the closing of the Report in order to add some supplementary notes, giving an account of the eggs and of the early stages of the worm. On the Rocky Mountain Locust I have dwelt at length, embodying the dear- bought experience of the year. The fearful ravages of this pest and the destitution and suffering which it caused in our western counties, in the Spring of 1875, are too fresh in the minds of our people to need further notice. They warrant the large amount of space devoted to the subject in the following pages; and I trust that in the event of a repetition of such visitations as those of 1874 and 1875, the record of ex- perience, the suggestions and recommendations in this and the preceding Report, by being placed before our farmers in available form for reference, will enable them to successfully cope with the enemy and avoid the loss and suffering experienced the past year. I would especially call the attention of the members of our next Legislature to what I have said on pp. 32-40, where I hope that the necessity for some action on their part is demonstrated. It is gratifying to know that my conclusions and predictions published last Spring were justified by subsequent events, and, so far as we can judge from the indications, it is shown in the following pages that our farmers are not likely to seriously suffer during the year 1876 from any of their three worst insect enemies—the Army Worm, the Chinch Bug and the Rocky Mountain Locust—and I hope that the apprehensions that exist, regarding this last more particularly, will be allayed by what I have re- corded. Once more I must refer to the inconvenience of having these Entomological teports bound in the same volume with that of your Secretary. Instead of being distributed in April, when it was out, and when the information contained in it was most being sought for, my last, as I am informed by the Secretary of State, was not IV PREFACE, sent out till into the Fall. From a small, separate-bound edition, which I always have published and sent out at my own expense, it was noticed, and extracts were made from it, both at home and abroad soon after its completion; but the fact nevertheless remains that it was not distributed among our farmers till long after many of them had applied for it; and the only way to avoid such difficulties in the future is to have the two reports separately bound. As it is frequently advisable to give to the public facts to be embodied in these teports when they are yet fresh and most useful, I have chosen as media for so doing the New York Weekly Tribune and Colman’s Rural World more particularly, so that some of the matter in the present Report has already appeared, generally over my own name or initials, in the columns of those journals. In this, as in the previous volumes, when the insects treated of are new, or the existing descriptions of them are imperfect, or in a foreign language, or in works out of print or difficult of access, | have added a full description, which is, however, always printed in smaller type, so that it can be skipped by the non-interested reader. I have endeavored to give a popular name to each insect of economic importance, and this is invariably accompanied, wherever accuracy demands it, by the scientific name, and the latter is generally printed in ifadics and mostly in parenthesis, so that it may be skipped by the practical man without interfering with the text. The Order and Family to which each insect belongs, are also given under each heading. The dimensions are expressed in inches and the fractional parts of an inch. Where so small, however, as to render such measurement inaccurate, [ have adopted the mili- meter—one milimeter (1 mm.) not quite equaling twenty-five hundreths of an inch (0.25 inch.) The sign -~' wherever used, is an abbreviation for the word ‘‘male,”’ the sign 2 for “female,” and the sign © for neuter. Some of the figures are enlarged, but the natural size of each of such is also given or indicated by a hair-line, except in the representation of enlarged stuctural details, where they are connected with the life-sized insect to which they belong. The name of the author of the species, and not of the genus, is given as authority ; and in order to indicate whether or not the insect was originally described under the generic name which it bears, [ have adopted the following plan: When the specific name is coupled with the generic name under which it was first published, the de- seriber’s name is attached without a comma—thus indicating the authorship of the dual name: e. g. Phycita nebulo Walsh. But when a different generic name is em- ployed than that under which the insect was first described, the authorship is enclosed in parenthesis thus—Acrobasis nebulo (Walsh ;) except where the whole name is already in parenthesis, when acomma will be used for the same purpose: e. g&. (Acrobasis nebulo, Walsh.) All the illustrations, unless otherwise stated, are drawn by myself from nature. My office is still at Room 42, St. Louis Insurance Building, N. W. Corner of Sixth and Locust Sts., where all communications should be sent. I tender my cordial thanks to the oflicers of the Lron Mountain, IK. C. & Northern, and Mo. Pacific Railroads, for courtesies extended, in the way of passes, over their respective lines. Respectfully submitted, CHARLES V. RILEY, State Entomologist. St. Louis, Mo, May 15, 1876. PA BLEOLr CON THN IS. NOXIOUS INSECTS: EHO OM OAD OPA O PAT OSD MM TL Hie sccsesc vs caceh ce epuidetiecssssiechenaeeancs covleisa cess siosee erecoeccsenece romana Damage during the year, 1—Abundant in Atlantic States, 1—Swarming on Coney Island, 2—Injuring Egg Plant, 2—Its Scientific Name, 2—Additional Enemies, 3—Eaten by Crow, 3—Remedies, 3—Cost of Applying Paris Green, 3—Preparing the Poison, 3-—Use of Straw as a Protection, 4—Machine for Sprinkling, 4—Machine for brush- ing off the Insects, 4—Experience with Paris Green, 5—Experiments of Professors R. C. Kedzie and McMurtrie show that it may beused with safety, 6—Trial of other Remedies, 6—The Insect’s Native Home,8—The Theory that it came from the Rocky Mountain Regicn essentially correct, 10—Pvoisonous Qualities of the Insect dis- cussed, 10. NBPAINISHIR MV VIO MG pec nee scan on ecaccnscaa ocean aa: # ity } ie f f "? ’ bd ole ib al i a | A 5 i] my crn s 7 ed : i ‘ ‘ 7 ! ‘ i] " ‘ j i + ¢ - ‘ : é - = r ‘4 - he , ’ > a : a : df be : | s 7 ‘ gue F 7 eal - : rly ‘ . ! = 4 i = — C: > i oi , | i > ‘ fi Pa * ’ . ef r 7 ee) ’ ae i . id * ‘ ot . ’ ae ; +o Day by a * } ‘ , ¥ 7 i 4 , ‘ ay } * VG . v7 q a& y i j ’ = e + ne _ + i \ ? 4 ‘ yi = n _ J : ay Wh yh - bw i ee Wd RS A * _— a. A i Shi Mae Ay | ieee ae ee) Apa * es) ae +s oe 7 Oe Ac ‘ ate lage a we 2 i ” VSG a i cel =. . a ae wi oe? ~ ' rk » ‘ ue - ‘ J} ‘ 5 ‘ { : fn = f e ‘ jeata ‘ ea Wen TL gS i or at 9 NOXFOUS: INSHECES: THE COLORADO POTATO BEETLE—Doryphora 10-lineata Say (Ord. CoLeorTERA; Fam. CHRYSOMELID®. ) _ In accordance with previous custom, I herewith record such notes on this insect as are suggested by the past year’s experience with it and as are deemed of sufficient interest. ? DAMAGE DURING THE YEAR. The summer in Missouri was so excessively wet that although the beetle was abundant enough in the spring it subsequently became comparatively scarce and harmless, and did not again become multi- plied till after the rains had ceased and the third brood had developed ; by which time the crop was sufficiently matured to be out of danger. Very much the same conditions occurred all over the upper Missis- sippi Valley country, and as there was an increased acreage planted, the crop throughout this whole section was larger and prices lower than they have been for many years. Indeed in some parts of Michi- gan, Ohio and Indiana, it has been difficult to dispose of potatoes at even 25c. per bushel. IN THE ATLANTIC STATES the insect attracted much more attention. From almost all parts of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia, accounts came of the excessive numbers in which the pest made its appearance in the months of May and June. Local papers throughout the States mentioned, published records of the insect’s injury and laid the ex: perience that had been gained in the States to the West before their readers; while even large city dailies, like the World and /erald of New York, devoted column after column to Doryphora’s consideration. E k—20 2 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT Judging from the mass of accounts, the first brood was very generally neglected by those who had not before had experience with the in- sect, and not till the more numerous second brood appeared did the farmers awake to the importance of action, and, as far as possible, con- certed action. Much injury was consequently done. Later in the season the beetle at times swarmed in and about the large cities, and was commonly seen flying in the streets of Philadel- phia and New York, as in past years it had been seen in those of St. Louis. Mr. J.J. Dean of New York, after referring to its frequency in the streets of Brooklyn, gives me the following interesting account of its occurrence on Coney Island. On the 14th of September I picked up the enclosed specimen at Coney Island. The beach for miles was covered with them—ihe hummocks and sand-hills which comprise the greater part of the island were literally alive with them. In the towns of Flatbush and Gravesend, both situated in King’s Co. — the latter town including Coney Island within its boundaries—the ravages of this insect have been very serious. The Egg-plant seems to have afforded him his favorite article of diet. Iam however puzzled by the fact that so many millions of them desert the fertile fields of Flatbush and Gravesend and steer for the barren acres of Coney Island, on which the principal vegetation is a coarse sea grass which they do nof seem to touch. They appear to have an irresistible tendency tu travel East and are only stopped by the waves of the Atlantic Ocean, » In the Fall the*insect reached up into Vermont and extended to within a few miles of Boston,* but has not yet occurred in Maine. ITS SCIENTIFIC NAME. In further support of the views expressed last year on this sub- ject, I will add that an examination which I was permitted to make last summer of the admirable and extensive collection of Chrysome- lidze belonging to H. W. Bates, of London, shows that the tibial groove on which Stal founds his new genus Leptinotarsa, to which our potato beetle is referred and under which it is published in Gemminger and Harold’s Catalogue, is really of no generic value. Several genuine Doryphorz with the sternal spine fully developed have it in varying degree, and in concatenata, Fabr. it is even more conspicuous than in 10-dineata. I fully agree with Dr. LeConte, that if any character has value in separating 10-dineata, it is the form of the palpi which ally it more to Doryphora than to Chrysomela, and make of it, with a few others, a natural group in that genus, distinguished by peculiar colo- ration and want of development of the sternal spine. —— - ~ ————— * Mr. Geo H. Perkins, Prof. of Geology and Zoology in the University of Vermont writes: ‘‘ It may interest you to know that the Doryphora 10-lineata, the genuine animal, was found in the western part of this State last August. I think it did not appear much before, as I was on the look out for it.’’ Dr. Packard (Scientific Farmer, Feb. 1876) records its appearance at several places in Massachusetts. OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. > NATURAL ENEMIES. The different natural enemies that have been enumerated in these reports were often found efficiently working to aid man in destroying vthe pests, and two additional ones have been reported. Mr. P. R. ‘Uhler found the Black-bellied Lebia (Zebia atriventris Say, a species of the same color and general appearance, but only half as large as Z. grandis, Fig. 1) destroying it around Baltimore; while the editor of the American Agriculturist in the January (1876) number of that ex- | cellent journal, gives good evidence (p. 18) that the com- ILEBIA GRaNDIS. mon crow devours the beetles, and even digs up the ground to get at them after they have entered it to hibernate. [Fig. 1] REMEDIES. The prevailing remedy has been the Paris Green mixture recom- mended in the Fifth Report. Mr. Trask Lee, Trumble Oo., Ky. ( Coun- try Gentieman, April 29, 1875) shows that with flour that cost him $6.50 per barrel (the poorer and cheaper quality answering as well) he protected 8} acres at a cost of $17.42, including labor. He prefers flour and Paris Green to everything else; and so does Mr. Elias Mott (ibid. April 8, 1875) and many others for the reasons which I have already given. ‘“T.of Iowa,” in which signature I recognize an old friend and intelligent observer, gives the following experience in the Prairie Farmer tor July 3, 1875: I have had quite as good success in using the ingredients from which the green is made, as from the finished article, bought in paint and drug shops at 50 cents a “pound, especially when the local demand is so great that it cannot be bought atall. The fol- lowing directions for making it are taken from Brande’s Chemistry : Dissolve two pounds of sulphate of copper, blue vitriol, (costing 20 cents per lb., or 40 cents) ina gallon of hot water, keeping it in a stone jar. Dissolve in another large jar, one pound of white arsenic, (costing 10 cents), and ‘wo pounds of saleratus or pear ash (cost 20 cents) in forty-four pounds of hot water, stirring well, till thoroughly dissolved. These articles, costing 75 cents, will make about five pounds of Paris green, costing $2 50. 1 usually keep them in solution and mix in the proper proportions, One part of the first to five of the latter, as they are needed. The green immediately begins to precipitate in a fine powder, and is much more convenient for use, in solution, than the dry article sold in the shops. Among the novel methods that have been employed in defence against Doryphora, two are more particularly worthy of mention as being reasonable and preventive, and as having been employed with success. The first is to slice potatoes, dust the pieces with Paris Green and drop them about a field early in the season when the beetles come from their winter quarters. They feed upon the slices and of course die. The method can only be safely practiced where no domestic ani- mals can get at the baits. The second is that first employed by Mr. James Rivers of Cass County, Mich., viz., a mixture of chicken manure 4 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT and ashes, applied to each hill of potatoes just as the plants are com- ing through the ground—the object being to check the cracking and raising of the soil, and thus prevent the beetles from hiding around the young plants at night or during cold weather. ‘I'he application appears in addition to keep the beetles off, at the same time that it invigorates the plant. Col. Fred. Hecker, of Summerfield, Ills., writes me that he had the past summer a patch of potatoes covered with straw, which had entire immunity from the insects’ attacks; but it is doubtful whether under the same treatment such immunity could always be relied upon. Of machines not previously referred to, Mr. S. S. Rathvon of Lan- caster, Pa., speaks very favorably, from experience, of one patented by Mr. Anthony Iske of that town. It is a machine simple in con- struction, but is quite effective in sweeping the bugs from potato and tobacco plants into receptacles provided for that purpose. It is com- posed of two pieces of tin gutter pipe, about two feet long, which hang near the ground, one on each side of the row of plants, while above them is suspended a broom. The revolution of the wheels on which the machine is propelled causes the broom to vibrate from side to side, knocking the bugs off the plants against wooden shields, which are placed behind the gutters into which the insects fall. The gutters are said to be adjustable and to accommodate themselves to the Lait 33 te Y/ fips i S yyy pe Mpyyy WY; YW iff yp Wi LUKE, Peck’s Spray Machine. OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 5 shape of the ground and the size of the plants. From plans and de- scriptions which have been submitted to me I am not very favorably impressed with the invention. The machine looks cumbersome; and the work it proposes to do can, I think, be done in a more simple way. An excellent spray machine carried on the back after the style of the Gray Sprinkler described in my last report, has been invented by Mr. W. P. Peck, of West Grove, Pa., who kindly sent me one of the machines for trial with the following explanatory remarks: “ Like many an other inventor I have found something to do since I thought my invention complete. To apply a liquid to trees there must be force to raise it above the tank. My plan for doing this is to connect the blower with the tank by means of a rubber pipe passing over the left shoulder which creates a pressure of air in the tank. By this means liquid can be raised two or three feet above the head and by the aid of a step-ladder six or eight feet in height we are able to make application to trees 14 or 15 feet from the ground. I have been trying _ and hoping to discover some plan that would enable me to do without the step-ladder and have delayed sending out any Atomizers until I could do so, but have given it up for the present, and the company have begun to fill orders.” This atomizer, can of course be used to distribute other liquids than Paris Green water, and to protect other plants than potatoes; but for use in the potato field it answers an admirable purpose. The tank holds three gallons and there is a simple device at the bottom which by the motion of walking keeps the liquid in agitation and pre- vents the mineral from settling. The liquid issues in so fine a spray that it is scarcely perceptible. FURTHER EXPERIENCE WITH PARIS GREEN. Last year I discussed the value of this mineral as an insecticide, especially in reference to the insect under consideration. So far as past experience, and the facts at that time known, permitted, its infla- ence on the plant, on the soil, and on man either indirectly through the soil or through the plant, was considered; the conclusion arrived at being that, used with ordinary caution and judgment, it was a val- uable and safe remedy. This had long been the conclusion of practi- cal men inthe Mississippi Valley who had used it extensively ; but the question was opened again bya paper read by Dr. J. L. LeConte of (Philadelphia, before the National Academy of Science, which paper, from the theoretical side, strongly condemned the use of the poison for the purposes mentioned, and which naturally attracted considera- ble attention and was harped upon by the manufacturers of “ potato 6 KIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT bug machines,” or their glib agents. The National Academy, after the reading of Dr. LeConte’s paper, appointed a committee to ‘ investi- gate and report upon the subject of the use of poisons applied to veg- etables or otherwise for the destruction of deleterious insects and other animals,” etc.; but that committee has, I believe, made no re- port yet. Prof. Rh. C. Kedzie, of the Michigan Agricultural College did, however, carry on a series of interesting experiments last sum- mer, and while visiting the college in August I had the pleasure of witnessing and making notes of the Professor’s operations. As he has. since given these results to the American Public Health Association, and published an abstract of them in the Detroit Pree Press, I take the liberty of giving them wider circulation. First, as to the use of the mineral for the Doryphora. Does Paris. Green poison the tuber? Tubers taken from vines that had been re- peatedly dosed with the ordinary mixture—as much Paris Green, in fact, as they would bear—gave no trace of arsenic. Regarding the idea, which has been suggested, that the use of the poison rendered the tubers watery and waxy, the conclusion is that such condition is. brought about by the stunted growth and destruction of the vines caused by the insect, which thereby prevents maturity of the tuber. Does Paris Green poison the land? This is meant, of course, in the sense of rendering the land unfit for the growth of crops; and Prof. Kedzie justly considers not only its immediate, but its remote effect. Theoretically, one would naturally infer that Paris Green is con- verted into an insoluble precipitate or salt with the hydrated oxide of iron which exists in most soils; but not resting the matter on theoreti- cal or abstract reasoning, Prof. Kedzie made careful tests and experi- ments. He passed a solution of arsenious trioxide through common garden soil, an¢ filtered Paris Green in a solution of hydrochloric acid through dry earth. In neither case could any poison be detected in the filtrate by the severest tests. Soil taken from a field of wheat that had been sown with Paris Green at the rate of five pounds to the acre showed no trace of the poison when submitted to any or all of the tests which the soil would get by natural solvents in the field, but distinctly showed the arsenic when treated with dilute sulphuric acid. The Paris Green was sown on the ground early in Spring, and was thick enough to give avery distinct green tint to the surface. The grain and the straw were submitted to careful chemical examination, as were also cabbages grown in soil that had the year before been in potatoes and received a heavy sprinkling of Green. No trace of the poison was found in either, and it was observed that the chipmunks ate large quantities of the grain without injury. The more practical conclusions from Prof. Kedzie’s experiments may be thus summed up: OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. i( 1. Paris Green that has been four months in the soil no longer remains as such, but has passed into some less soluble state, and is unaffected by the ordinary solvents of the soil. 2. When applied in small quantities, such as alone are necessary in destroying injurious insects, it does not affect the health of the plant. 3. The power of the soil to hold arsenious acids and arsenites in insoluble form will pre- vent water from becoming poisoned, unless the Green is used in ex- cess of any requirement as an insecticide. These experiments of Prof. Kedzie’s accord, so far as they refer to the influence of Paris Green on man through the plants, with others by Prof. McMurtrie of the Department of Agriculture, which showed that even where the Green was applied to the soilin such quantities as to cause the wilting or death of the plants, the most rigorous chem- ical analysis could detect no trace of arsenic in the composition of the plants themselves. They also fully bear out the opinions which I have always held, and justify the advice which I have given. Before leaving this subject of remedies for the Colorado potato- beetle, it may be well to say a few words about two other compounds that have been strongly recommended and advertised as such. The most notable of these is that advertised as “ Potato Pest Poison,” by the Lodi Chemical Works of Lodi, N. J. It is put up in pound pack- ages, which are sold at $1 each, with directions to dissolve four ounces in two quarts of hot water, then pour into a barrel containing thirty gallons of cold water, and use on the vinesin as fine a spray as possi- ble. Analysis shows it to be composed of one part pure salt and one part of arsenic (arsenate of copper), and it has the general color and appearance of common salt. Early in September, during quite hot and dry weather, I had this poison tested in a field of late potatoes be- longing to Mr. W. Hinterthur of Laclede, Mo., the field having been badly infested during the Summer, but about half the vines having been saved by pretty constant hand picking. These wereat the time fairly covered with the insect in the egg, larva, and beetle states. Five rows were treated with the poison, both according to directions and by finely sprinkling the dry powder over the vines. As soon as the pow- der touched the larvae, they writhed and became restless, as with pain, the powder dissolved and formed a translucent coating upon them, and in about three hours they began to die. The beetles were not so easily affected, though they too were in time killed by it. Used as di- rected, it destroys, but hardly as efficiently as the ordinary Paris Green mixture. A pound of Paris Green, costing much less than a pound of the Lodi poison, will go nearly as far in protecting a field of potatoes, and I cannot see azy advantage to the farmer from the em- 8 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT ployment of a patent poisonous compound of the nature of which he is ignorant, when a cheaper one is at hand. The color of the Lodi poison is also very objectionable, as there is much more danger in the use of puisons when their color renders them undistiguishable from ordinary salt. The other powder is one prepared by a gentleman in Philadelphia, and strongly recommended as a“ potato-bug remedy.” It was given to me by Dr. J. L. LeConte for trial. It is a dull, yellow- ish powder, which when analyzed proves to be crude “flowers of sul- phur,” containing 95 per cent. of sulphur and 5 per cent. of impurity and coloring matter, such as yellow ocher, sand, etc. A thorough trial on the potato patch above mentioned showed it to be entirely worthless. In conclusion, the fact that Paris Green cautiously handled and judiciously used, is an excellent and cheap antidote to the rav- ages of the Colorado potatu-beetle, cannot be too strongly urged. That it is useful against some other insect pests is also true; but it is sometimes recommended for suctorial insects, which it will not affect as it does those which masticate, and its too general use should be op- posed. In an emergency it may be used against the Canker Worm. Yet I cannot recommend it in such a case where other available pre- ventive means are at hand—means which are as simple as they are dangerless. A method of using it during the year in suspension that gave sat- isfaction was by pouring a gallon of molasses and a pound of Green into a barrel of water, the molasses having the tendency to make the Green stick better to the foliage. THE INSECT’S NATIVE HOME. As in the case of all insects that spread or are introduced from one section of country to another, it is interesting to know the origi- nal home or range of the Colorado Potato-beetle, so faras such can be learned, though the question has no especial practical bearing. Fol- lowing Walsh, I have always believed that this species, which has gradually spread to the Atlantic, originally came from the mountain regions of Colorado, and the reasons given are sufficiently convincing to have been very generally accepted as valid. Nevertheless Prof. Cyrus Thomas questions the soundness of the theory in the following language, which I quote because Mr. Thomas’s views are entitled to careful consideration : The first we hear of its attacking the potato, so far as I can ascertain, is in 1859, at which time it was in Nebraska, about 100 miles west of Omaha; the next we hear of itis in lowa,in 1861, from which point its progress has been carefully noted. Now, itis not contended by any one that it travels except from potato patch to potato patch. That it manages in some way to get over intervening spaces of a few miles, is admitted, but never over spaees which require the production of intervening broods. Previous to OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 9 1859, as is well known, there was an interyening space between the border settlements of Nebraska and the eastern base of the mountains of two or three hundred miles in which there were no potato patches. Howare we to account for its bridging this space ; what induced it to take up its line of march across this barren region in which there were no settlements? Isit not much more reasonable to suppose the plains themselves formed its native habitat, and thatassoon as the pioneer settlements reached this region and the potato was introduced, it commenced its attack upon it, and then began its march east- ward along the cultivated area?— Western Rural, Dec. 4, 1875. The weak points in the above reasoning are that it implies, first, that the insect travels only from potato patch to potato patch, and that there must have been potatoes at every few miles between the point west of Nebraska where the beetle was first noticed on culti- vated plants and the mountains; second, that no cultivated potatoes were grown on said plains. In truth, however, potatoes were undoubt- edly grown around Fort Keaney and other forts and settlements prior to that time, and the beetle may travel by the spreading of other wild species of Solanum, and by being carried along water courses or on vehicles." One point that may be urged in favor of the supposition that the insect was indigenous to the plains that reach far eastward into Kansas and Nebraska, is that it was unobserved in potato fields by certain parties in parts of Colorado after it had reached as far as Iowa. The point is, however, weakened by the fact that it was found in great abundance in Colorado by Drs. Velie and Parry in 1864. An- other point that may be made is that it is difficult to imagine that an insect with such a natural predilection for Solanum tuberosum could have passed from settlement to settlement across the plains without its depredations being noticed and recorded. But this last point may also be turned against Prof. Thomas’s supposition, since it is also just as difficult to imagine that the potato patches that have been grown in restricted localities on the plains should have remained untouched, if the insect had always existed on those plains. Moreover since potatoes were cultivated on the eastern borders of the plains in Nebraska and Kansas long prior to 1859, there can be no good explanation why the insect did not sooner commence its eastward march, except on the theory of a natural barrier in the shape of the more barren plains, which had up to that time prevented its advance from more western confines. Mr. Thomas, in support of his views, supposes that the sand bur (Solanum rostratum) originally occurred over the plains in question, citing as proof Gray’s ‘ Wild on the Plains West of the Mississippi,” and the localities given by Porter and Coulter in their “Flora of Colo- rado.” Dr. Gray’s language is altogether too general to help much in the argument, and refers to the range of the plant ten years after the beetle had appeared in Nebraska. Porter and Coulter’s localities are all in Colorado, and their ‘“‘ Plains of the Platte” doubtless refers to 10 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT r the south fork of that river. At all events. nothing is more certain then that the original home of the plant was the more fertile portions. of the mountain region, and that, like the beetle which it nourished, it has been for many years extending its range eastward through man’s agency in one way and another, and is now rapidly extending across Missouri, where but a few years back it was entirely unknown. Mr. Carruth, of Topeka, says that prior to 1864, it was unknown in Kansas, and Mr. C. W. Johnson, of Atchison, writes me that the com- ing of Doryphora and of the weed in question were cotemporaneous in that section; that the northern dispersion of the plant from the South-west, through the Texas cattle traffic, afforded the means by which the beetle passed the great stretches of prairie lying east of its native haunts. Bearing in mind that as early as 1824 Say reported the beetle suf- ficiently common on the upper Missouri, and that it flourishes most in the more northern of the States, I think we may justly conclude that the native home of the species is the more fertile country east of the mountains, extending from the Black Hills to Mexico, where it becomes scarce, and is represented by Doryphora undecemlineata and D. melanothorax.* Putting all the facts together, we may also conclude that it crossed the great plains through man’s agency. That it first reached the more fertile cultivated region to the east, in Ne- braska, finds explanation, perhaps, in the fact that travel was greatest along that parallel, and that the insect’s natural range extended fur- ther eastward in those more northern parts, just as the mountain re- gion does in Wyoming and Dakota. On the whole, Walsh’s theory is doubtless at fault, and needs modification in so far as it implies that the insect necessarily came from Colorado, but I can but think that Doryphora came from the Rocky Mountain region, and that civilization, in the way of traffic, travel, and settlement on the plains, was the means of bringing it, and that if we put not atoo strict construction on his language, Walsh’s. views are in the main correct. THE POISONOUS QUALITIES OF THE INSECT. Some interesting experiments, to test the poisonous qualities of these insects, were made during the year by Messrs. A. R. Grote and *Mr. W.S. M. d’Urban mentions in the February (1876) number of the Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine (London) finding a specimen of the bectle in a case of Coleoptera sent from New Grenada as long ago as 1845. I do not believe 10-lineata occurs there, and am strongly of the opinion that some one of the similarly marked and closely allied species has been mistaken for it by Mr. d’?Urban. The 11- lineata, for instance, which Stal reports from Mexico, Costa Rica, Bagota, and Bolivia might easily beso mistaken, and was for some time actually so mistaken by the members of the Belgian Entomological Society in the discussions had in that body about a year ago as to the possibility of the importation of our Colorado Potato-beetle. OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 11 Adolph Kayser, and reported in a paper entitled ‘“ Are Potato Bugs poisonous 2” read before the American Association for the Advance- ment of Science at its meeting in Detroit. The following extracts give the substance of the paper: To investigate the matter, a quantity of the bugs collected from fields near Buffalo, where no arsenic had been used, was submitted to distillation with salt water, so as to allow of an increased temperature. Under this process, about four ounces of liquid were procured from one quart measure of the insects. This liquid was perfectly clear, and emitted a highly offensive smell; it proved of alkaline reaction on account of the presence of a certain quantity of free ammonia and carbonate of am- monia. Again, an equal quantity of the bugs was used to prepare a tincture made as fol- lows :—Absolute and chemically pure aleohol was condensed upon the live bugs ; after a digestion of twenty-four hours the alcohol was evaporated at a gentle heat. The tincture so obtained had a decidedly acid reaction, was brown in color, and was not disagreable in smell. To ascertain the effect on the animal system of the liquid and the tincture above described, anumber of frogs were procured for the experiment. About one half cubic centimeter of the liquid and the tincture each was introduced separately into the stomach. Neither the liquid nor the tincture produced any apparent effects. The viva- city of the frogs so treated continued unim saired, notwithstanding the complete reten- tion of the doses. Again two fresh frogs were submitted to a hypodermic injection of the liquid and the tincture, in the hind legs, by means of an ordinary hy podermic syringe. The injection of the distilled liquid was unattended by injurious results. A slight disinclination, at first, to use the hind limbs was shown also in the case of an- een irog, which was treated hypodermically with pure water to check the results ob- tained. The injection of the tincture, however, proved fatal to the subject. A few moments after the injection the leg operated upon seemed to become paralyzed, and’ the heart stopped beating within thirty minutes afterwards, by which time the other two hypodermically treated seemed to have completely overcome the effects of the operation. The tineture though highly concentrated, contained but a small quantity of animal acids. * * * The acids being found to be present in such small quantity, the con- clusion is unavoidable, in the hight of the present experiments, that the bugs are not poisonous. The experimenters conclude that the reported cases of poison- ing result rather from the arsenic used in destroying the insects, or from carbonous oxide produced by incomplete combustion when large amounts of the beetles are thrown into a fire. It is to be hoped that the experiments will be continued, Ist, because they by no means cover the whole ground; 2nd, because, so far, they admit of the oppo- site conclusion to which the experimenters arrived. Until we have learned what the active principle is which produces the physiological effect that has been well attested, and the precise conditions under which it acts, the experience recorded in my last report will go for more than such experiments. The active principle, as there stated, is most probably volatile, and the processes described in the above ex- periments very probably had the effect to liberate the poison. Boil- ing is well known to destroy many organic poisons in this manner or by decomposition, and the green tuber, the fruit and haulm of the common potato lose their poisonous qualities by being so treated. In obtaining tinctures, whether by percolation of the powdered material, or as described in the experiments, the poisonous principle may, 12 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT further, not be extracted: it may be coagulated by, or insoluble in) the alcohol, and it is quite essential that we know the nature of the vessel employed. 3 In conclusion, the physiological effects of a poison may differ vastly as between cold and warm blooded animals; the tincture is admitted to have contained an acid (which may be the poisonous principle) and to have killed a frog; and the possible injurious effect of the fumes from burning the insects granted. I therefore find no reason to change the views expressed a year ago, and it is worthy of note that Prof. A. J. Cook of the Michigan Agricultural College, from experiments somewhat similar to those of Messrs. Grote and Kayser, has arrived at opposite conclusions to those which these gentlemen came to. CANKER WORMS. (Ord. LeprporpreRa; Fam. PHALZNIDZ.*) In my seventh Report I illustrated and explained the differences in habit and structure between the Spring and Fall Canker-worms which had been for so many years confounded. Further investigations dur- ing 1875 have enabled me to still more fully complete the compari- sons there instituted, and have shown that the structural differences are greater than I had at first supposed. These differences led me to separate the insects generically, in a paper read last Fall before the St. Louis Academy of Science. The volame of Transactions in which this paper is published will not be given to the public for many months to come, and in order to lay the subject before the reader in succinct form, and at the risk of repeating much that has appeared in my previous reports, I here reproduce the paper in extenso, with only such alterations as are necessitated by the proper references to the figures. REMARKS ON CANKER-WORMS AND DESCRIPTION OF A NEW GENUS OF PHALANIDZ. [Read before the St. Louis Academy of Science, Oct. 14, 1875.[ From the time when Wm. Dandridge Peck published (in 1795) his essay on the Canker-worm, which received a prize from the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture, up to the year 1873, all writers on the subject spoke of rum Canker-worm under the impression that there was but one species. Nevertheless two very distinct species have been confounded under this name. The first intimation we have of there being two species is where Harris—after describing at length, as THe Canker-worm Moth, not the species first called the Canker-worm by Peck, but the larger species (pometaria) here treated of—uses the following language: ‘Specimens of a rather * Ilybernidie of Guenée. OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 13 smaller size are sometimes found, resembling the figure and description given by Prof. Peck in which the whitish bands and spots are wanting, and there are three interrupted, dusky lines across the fore-wings, with an oblique, blackish dash near the tip. Per- haps they constitute a different species from that of the true Canker-worm moth. Should this be the case, the latter may be called Anisopteryx pometaria.’’* ‘The portions of this passage which I have italicized are well calculated to mislead, for the term ‘‘ true Canker-worm Moth,” should only apply, in justice, to that described as such by Prof. Peck, and not, as Harris here applies it, to the other species. Indeed, most subsequent writers, including Fitch, Packard, Mann, and myself, were misled by the language, and took it for granted that the name pometaria was proposed for the smaller form—a mistake first clearly pointed out by Mr. H. K. Morrison, of Cambridge.t So long as the male moths only were carelessly compared, there was always a question as to whether the differences were varietal or specific—lst, because the gen- eral resemblance is strong ; 2d, because each species varies considerably both in size and ornamentation ; 3d, because the wing-scales, especially of one species, easily rub off, and perfect specimens, captured at large, are uncommon. More careful comparisons made in 1873 by Mr. Mann (Joc. cit.) between both sexes, established the specific differ- ences of the two; and further comparisons, by myself,2 of the preparatory states, showed these differences to be still more remarkable than had been supposed. During the present year I have been able to make still more careful comparisons, which show the two insects to be so very distinct that they must be separated generically. These differences are set forth in the following comparative columns. They show that pome-, taria alone can be retained in the genus Anisopteryx, and for vernata I have, therefore, -erected a new genus, Paleacrita. PALEACRITA VERNATA, ANISOPTERYX POMETARIA. Egg. Elliptic-ovoid, the shell of delicate tex- Squarely docked at top, with’a central ture and quite yielding ; generally ap- puncture and a brown circle near the bor= pearing shagreened or irregularly im- der; of firm texture, and laid side by side pressed ; nacreous, and laid in irregular in regular rows and compact batches, and masses in secreted places. (Fig. 3, 0.) generally exposed. (Fig. 4. a, 0, e.) [Fig. 4.] Larva. No. prolegs on joint 8. (Fig. 3, a.) With a pair of short but distinct pro- legs on joint 8. (Fig. 4, f.) * Insects Injurious to Vegetalion, 3rd ed. p. 462. ‘ + Vide Fitch, Rep. I, § 38; Packard’s Guide, 3rd ed. p. 324; Mann, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. , XV. p. 382, Riley; Mo. Rep. VI. p. 29. { Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. vol. xvi. p. 204. §7th Mo. Ent. Rep., pp. 80-88. 14 _ EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT PALEACRITA VERNATA. Head distinctly mottled and spotted, the top pale, and two pale transverse lines in front. Body with eight superior, narrow, pale, longitudinal lines barely discernible. the two lowermost much farther apart than the others. Dorsum pale, with median black spots ; ‘ssubdorsal region dark; stigmatal region quite pale. Pilliferous spots quite visible and large on joint 11, where the pale lines generally enlarge into white spots immediately in front of them. When newly hatched dari olive-green or brown, with black shiny head and cer- vical shield. ANISOPTERYX POMETARIA. Head very indistinctly spotted, and dark on top. Only six superior, broad, and very dis- tinct pale lines, those each side equidis- tant. Dorsum dark, without ornament; sub- dorsal region pale ; stigmatal region dark. Pilliferous spots subobsolete. When newly hatched pale olive-green, with very pale head and cervical shield. Chrysalis. Formed in a simple earthen cell, the earth compressed, and lined with very few silken threads so as to form a fragile cocoon, which easily breaks to pieces. Mare—Sparsely and shallowly pitted. Pale grayish-brown, with a greenish tint on the wing-sheaths, which extend to the posterior edge of the 5th abdominal joint ; abdomen with the spine at tip gneerally simple, and only occasionally slightly bifurcate. FremMsLe—With wing-sheaths, but com- pared with those of the male, thinner and extending only to the posterior edge of the 4th abdominal joint: much more robust and more arched dorsally, with the mesothoracic joint shorter, and much reduced in size. Pitted like the male. (Fig. 5.) Formed in a perfect cocoon of fine, densely spun silk of a buff color, inter- woven on the outside with particles of earth ; never breaking open except by force or purpose. Mate—Not pitted. Darker brown than vernata; the wing sheaths, as in vernata, reaching to the 6th abdominal joint; the anus more bluntand with the spine more dorsal, decurved, and always bifureate, the prongs spreading and often long and fine. ‘(Fig. 6, a.) FrEMALE—Differs from the male in the same way as vernata, but is relatively stouter and more arched dorsally: a broad, dusky, dorsal stripe often visible toward the time of issuing—all the more remarkable that there is no such stripe on the imago, whereas in vernata, where the imago bas such a stripe, it is not indi- eated in the chrysalis. (Fig. 6, 6.) OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 15 PALEACRITA VERNATA. ANISOPTERYX POMETARIA. Imago. Mate—Palpi very short, but distinctly 2-jointed. [Fig. 7.] Za Antenne with not quite 40 joints, the longest more than twice as long as wide, each with two pairs of hair fascicles, springing from very slight, lateral eleva- tions, the longest hair about thrice the diameter of joint. Looking from above, with ordinary lens-power, these hairs give the appearance of fine, ciliate pectinations. (Fig. 7, c.) Abdomen with the first seven joints bearing each two transverse dorsal rows of stiff, reddish spines, pointing posteri- orily. [Fig. 9.] Wings delicate, silky, semi-transparent, transversely striate, the scales short and very loosely attached. Front-wings with costal and sub-costal veins well united, with the discal cross- _vein partially open, and but éwo short cos- tal branches, the superior veins straight.* {Fig. 7, a.) cS Upper surface brownish-gray. *A microscopic examination shows the venation in vernuda to be on the same plan as that in pome- Mate—Palpi rudimentary with joints indistinguishable. [Fig. 8. Antenne with over 50 joints, the longest not twice as long as wide, each with one pair of fascicles of slightly curled hairs, the longest about thrice as long as the di- ameter of the joint, and all springing from a prominent, dark hump which occu- pies the basal half of the joint beneath, and gives a somewhat serrate appear- ance from the side. The same appear- ance of ciliate pectinations looking from above. (Fig. 8, c, d.) Abdomen without spines and often with a moderate anal brush. [Fig. 10.] Wings less transparent, more glossy, not striate, the scales on an average longer and more firmly attached. Front-wings with costal and sub-costal less closely united, with the discal cross- vein well closed, and with three costal branecbes. All the veins 7-11 are more distinctly separated and the superiors more curved, veins 9 and 10 forming an open areolet near the disc: the apex more produced. (Fig. 8, a.) Upper surface also brownish-gray, but somewhet darker, with a purplish reflec- tion. taria. The difference is that in vernata the costal vein is feeble and generally obsolete at its termination, and all the veins 7-12 are more closely tnited with the costal than in pomelaria. 16 FIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT PALHMACRITA VERNATA. Crossed by three jagged, dark lines, sometimes obsolete except on the subme- dian and median veins, and on the costa where they are always distinct and divide the wing into four subequal parts. No white costal spot. (Fig. 9, a.) ° A pale, jagged, subterminal band, cor- responding in some degree to the outer- most band in pometaria, but running out to apex, where it is always sharply re- lieved posteriorly by a dark mark, and often the whole length by dusky shad- ings. Hind-wings with the costal vein bifur- cating at, or but little beyond, the discal, and with the independent or vein 5 faint. (Fig. 7, 0.) Color pale-ash or very light gray, with a dusky discal dot. No white band, and rarely any margin- al dots. Under surface with a more or less dis- tinct dusky spot on each wing, the front wing having in addition a dusky line along median vein and spot on costa to- ward apex. No pale bands. FEemMaLe—Antenne generally with but few more than 30 joints, the longest about thrice as long as wide, faintly constricted in middle, and pubescent. (Fig. 9, c.) Body and legs pubescent, clothed with whitish and brown, or black, dentate scales or hairs; general coloration not uniform. Crest of prothorax and meso- thorax black. A black stripe alone the middle of the back of the abdomen, often interrupted on the second to seventh joints, with a whitish patch each side of (Fig. 9, 6. d.) Abdomen tapering rather acutely be- hind, and with an exsertile, two-jointed, conspicuous ovipositor. (Fig. 9, e.) its front end, ANISOPTERYX POMETARIA. Crossed by two less jagged, whitish bands, the outermost suddenly bending inward near costa, where it forms a pale, quadrate spot, relieved by a darker shad- ing of the wing around it: the bands sometimes so obsolete as to leave only this pale spot ; but more often relieved on the sides toward each other by a dark shade, most persistent on the veins. (Fig. 10, a ) No such band. Hind-wings with the costal vein bifur- eating considerably beyond the discal, which is etrongly elbowed; vein 5 quite sirong. (Fig. 8, 0.) Grayish-brown, with a faint blackish discal dot. In most specimens a curved white band runs across the wing, and the veins inside this band and on hind border are gen- erally dotted. Under surface witha dusky discal spot on each wing, and with the outer pale band on upper surface of front-wings as well as that of the hind-wings showing” distinctly, the former relieved by a dusky spot inside at costa. FrEMALE—Antenne with over 50 joints, the longest hardly longer than broad ; uniform in diameter; without pubescence. (Fig. 10, c.) Body and legs smooth, clothed with glis- tening brown and white truncate scales intermixed, giving it an appearance of uniform, shiny, dark ash-gray: somewhat paler beneath. (Fig. 10, 0. d.) Abdomen tapering rather bluntly be- hind, without exsertile ovipositor. v OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 17 PALEACRITA VERNATA, ANISOPTERYX POMETARIA. Two rows of spines on back of the first No spines on abdomen. seven joints more prominent than in the male, and often giving the dorsum a red- dish aspect. (Fig. 9, d.) Of a rather smaller size than pometaria, The wings of the male expand from the wings of the male expanding from 1.05-1.35 inches; and the female meas- 0.S6-1.30 inches, and the female measur- ures 0.25-0.40 inch. ing 0.20-0.35 inch in length. . From the above detailed descriptions of the two species it is evident that, as already remarked, pometaria alone can be referred to the genus Anisopteryx, and this doubt- fully. It agrees with the European species of the genus in the principal pterogostic characters, obsolete tongue, and rudimentary palpi; and is, indeed, the analogue of the well known escularia. Yet in the antennal characters of the male, and especially in the basal hump on each joint, it agrees more nearly with the typical species of the genus Hybernia as characterized by Guenée. Again, so far as we now know, it differs from Anzsopteryx in the additional pair of prolegs in the larva, and in the more distinct areolet in the front-wing. Ican find no detailed account of the early states of any of the European species of the genus, though in none of the descriptions of the larva at my command is any mention made of additional prolegs. Mr. Geo. T. Porrit, who particularly describes the larva of A. escularia,* makes no mention of this structural feature, and Guenée particularly says: ‘‘Il ne faut pas chercher des charactéres pour les Anisopteryx dans les premiers tats, car les chenilles ne different ni pour la forme, ni pour les couleurs, ni pour les mceurs, de celles des Hybernia du premitre groupe.”’ Should future observations prove this statement correct, then the characters that belong to pometarta may come to be considered of generic value. For the present I deem it best to refer it to Anisopteryx, as more careful study will probably show that in the characters of egg, larva, and chrysalis, the European species of the genus agree with it, and that some of the structural features of the adolescent states have been overldoked in Europe, as they so long were in this country. Paleacrita, nov. gen., approaches much nearer Hybernia, from which it is, how- ever, readily distinguished by the double pair of hair fascicles to each J‘ antennal joint ; the pubescent hairs that cover the female; the two-jointed, horny, exsertile ovipositor ; but, more especially, by the dorsal abdominal spines in both sexes—all characters un- mentioned in existing diagnoses of the genus. One peculiar feature which [ noticed in pometaria is that the larva molts but twice. Yellowish-white when first hatched, with the black eyelets showing distinctly on the pale head, it soon deepens to pale olive-green, and the three whitish lines each side show soon after birth. Itdeveiops very rapidly, often entering the ground within three weeks from hatching. The chrysalisis not formed tillabout a month afterwards, where- as vernata takes on this form two or three days after entering the ground. The, practical lessons to be drawn from the differences here pointed out between these two Canker-worms have been set forth in the report already cited. Paleacrita vernata rises from the ground mostly in early Spring, for which reason I have popularly designated itas the Spring Canker-worm. The priucipal efforts to prevent the female from ascending the tree should, therefore, be made at that season. The cocoon being fragile is easily broken by any disturbance of the land, and, as the chrysulis is more * Ent. Month. Mag. (London) ix. 272. E k—21. 18 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT . liable to perish when the cell is broken, fall-plowing of the soil under trees that have been attacked by the worms is to be recommended. The eggs being secreted, for the most part, under loose bark, the scraping of trees in early spring, or any system of keeping them smooth, will act as a preventive of injury. Anisopteryx pometaria, which T have called the Fall Canker-worm, rises, for the most part, in the Fall, and should be attacked most persistently at this season. Its cocoon being tougher, and its eggs attached to smooth as well as rough trees, scraping and plowing will effect little in preventing its injzries. Both species attack fruit and shade trees ; but while vernata is common and very injurious in the apple orchards of the Western States, pometaria is rare there, and most common on the elms of New England. These two insects, so long confounded, forcibly illustrate the practical importance of minute discriminations in Economic Entomology. Thus, in addition to the characters pointed out a year ago, we have an important distinction between the two insects, from the practical stand point, in the manner in which the chrysalis state is assumed. The Spring Canker-worm, with its chrysalis formed ina simple earthen cavity, will be very materially affected by late fall plowing of the soil, especially if the soil be of such nature as to crumble easily; for I showed in 1869* that whenever the fragile cocoon is broken open, as it very readily is by disturbance of the soil, at that season the chrysa- lis has not the power to penetrate it again or to form a second cavity, and either rots, dries out, becomes moldy or,if on the surface, is de- voured by birds. For the same reason the rooting of hogs is very beneficial in lessening the work of thisspecies. With the Fall Canker- worm, on the contrary, these measures will avail little, if anything; for the cocoon, composed of a thick layer of yielding silk strength- ened by the interweaving of particles of earth cannot be broken open by any such processes, and a dozen plowings would not expose a single chrysalis. Without doubt, we have in these facts a valid ex- planation of the contradictory experience as to the value of fall plow- ing or the use of hogs in an orchard as canker-worm checks. In brief, ali the more important measures to be pursued in our warfare against the Spring Canker-worm—such as the use of hind- rances to the ascensions of the moths in spring; the removal of all loose bark and keeping the trunk and limbs as smooth and clean as possible; the employment of hogs, and fall plowing—are, in the main, useless as directed against the Fall Canker-worm which must be fought principally by traps or barriers applied to the tree in the Fall to pre- vent the climbing of the moths which mostly issue at that season. Important points like these cannot be too often insisted on, because I find that our horticultural writers yet very generally speak of THE * 9nd Rep. 102. OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 19 Canker-worm as though there were only one species in the country, and give general directions which of course are more or less mislead- ing. I find too that even where the differences pointed out have been recognized, they have not always been properly apprehended ; so that in the report of a lecture before the Iowa Agricultural College it is erroneously stated that the Fall Canker-worm hatches in the Fall of the year, whereas, while the moths rise and lay their eggs at that season, these do not hatch any earlier than do those of the Spring ‘species. Of a number of the Fall species experimented on the past year, I obtained 58 chrysalides from larvez that had been fed, some of them on Elm, some on Apple, some on Cherry and some on Peach. This last food was evidently relished least and rejected when the other three kinds could be had, but I perceived no preferences for any of the other kinds. A careful examination of the chrysalides in the Autumn showed that out of the 58, only two were males.* I divided the co- coons into two equal lots, placing the one lot in a covered flower pot out-doors, and retaining the other in breeding cages in-doors, so that the first would be submitted to the influence of frost and the other not. From Nov. 8, to Dec. ¥, the moths issued almost daily—27 in all, namely, the two males and 25 females. An examination in January, 1876, showed that all the others had perished by rot, induced doubt- less by the premature opening of the cocoons in order to examine the chrysalides. .Those exposed to frost commenced issuing first, and a larger percentage of moths were obtained than from those kept in- doors—which would indicate that alow freezing temperature followed by a thaw assists development, though by no means essential. The two males were placed in a separate, covered pot with five females that issued contemporaneously. Each of these five females was served, and each laid her full complement of eggs, four of them in sin- gle batches of 224, 230, 241 and 243 respectively, and the fifth in two batches of 142 and 63 respectively. The first four batches were laid on the smooth pine sticks that supported the muslin cap; the last two on the muslin. In each instance the time occupied in oviposition was between two and three days. None of the unimpregnated females laid regular batches. Most of them laid a few scattered eggs, gener- ally in ones, but also in small groups ranging from 2 to 54. Before concluding these notes I will add to the other contrivances that have been mentioned in previous reports descriptions from the * Inasmuch as the larvee were purposely poorly fed—the withholding of food having been carried to the extent that only the number mentioned entered the ground out of some 2,000 that were commenced with; the result is rather damaging to those who believe—if there yet be such—that the male sex can be ® wroduced in insects by stunting the larva. ~ 20 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT “Tllustrated Annual Register of Rural Affairs.” published by Luther Tucker & Son of Albany, of two contrivances for protecting trees from this insect, that are unknown in Missouri, and that are very favorably spoken of by that careful horticultural writer, Mr. J. J. Thomas. The first is one successfully used by OC. L. Jones of Newark IN. J: Fig. 11 is a view of the contrivance, which consists essentially of a band or circle- [Fig. 11. of tin, a few inches outside the [Pig~ 2°] trunk of the tree, and held there by a circle of muslin, attached to the tin at its edge and drawn PIT TURE with a cord at the top, so as to MUS CN: fit the tree closely, and prevent was eas So Saaa ae aiae the insects from getting up |... _.._- ‘i without going over the tin, cov- iy ered with a mixture of castor- Hin init a ll wl A i om and Fig. 13a section of the union of the tin [Fig. 13.] and muslin, effected by turning over the upper Series Trap. edge of the tin before it is bent to a circle, in- serting the edge of the muslin, and hammering them together. The tin may be about three inches wide, and long enough to rest three or four inches off from the trunk, when bent around inthe form of a hoop, and secured by rivets or small tacks. After the tin and muslin are attached to the tree, the whole inner or lower surface of the tin is daubed with a mixture of equal parts of kerosene and castor oil. The tin and muslin entirely protect the oil from the sun and the weather, and it will not dry for several days: It will notrun down, as the ecastor-oil thickens it. Of course it needs occasional re- newal, with a small brush or feather. This protector is kept on the tree till the moths- disappear. For those who wish to do work thoroughly while they are about it, and who believe that a little extra time and expense at the start is more than saved in the long run, I do not know that any better contrivance could be recommended. But I would remind the reader that even so perfect an ‘‘estopper” as this, may measurably fail, if directed solely against the moths. The worms that hatch below the trap, and which are more difficult to manage, must also be headed off; and I would insist in pursuance of this object, that, in addition to the above direc- tions, the muslin be tied around the tree over a layer of cotton wad- ding, and that the contrivance be kept on the tree and the tin oiled, at least three weeks after the tree begins to leaf out in the spring. The eggs laid below the trap should, of course, be destroyed as far as. S 4 oil and kerosene, which as soon as they touch, they drop- tothe ground. Fig. 12 is a section of the contrivance,. _OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 21 they can be, and such destruction in dealing with the Spring species will be facilitated by a bandage of rags below the trap or by anything that will afford the moth shelter for her eggs and that can be easily removed and scalded: where no such lure is used, an application of kerosene will prevent the eggs laid on the tree from hatching. But some are likely to be laid where they escape the closest scrutiny, and while the precautions I have indicated will insure against the ascent of such, whether from the Fall or Spring species; without those precau- tions some of the newly hatched worms which can pass through a very minute crevice or over the smoothest surface, may get into the tree; and though they may be so few in numbers as to attract no at- tention they nevertheless perpetuate the species in the orchard. The second contrivance is an old one that has been employed for nearly forty years in Massachusetts, and lately used with satisfaction by Mr. J.G. Barker of Cambridge. Fig. 14 is a section of the whole contrivance—a a being the zine roof over the oil troughs, 66; dd, the surface of the earth, cc, the tar or lime which is used to fill the box around the tree. Fig. 15 isa smaller view of the same. The box is square—large enough to leave about four inches of space around the tree; is sunk some four inches in the ground, and rises about ten inches above the surface. The trough is in shape like the letter V, two inches deep, and is made Ranereeprin ees Peace by a tinman before nailing on the box; itis tacked on two inches below the upper edge of the box, and then the roof is placed in position and secured by a single screw into the upper edge of each side or board. It must, of course, be placed in a level position, to hold the oil. This is done by means IFig. 15.] of aspade used in setting the box in the earth. The box and roof are nearly completed in the tinshop, but the cor- ner of both must be left open till placed around the tree, when the parts are soldered together. The roof is about four and a half inches wide, with the underside turned un- der about the fourth of an inch, to keepit stiff and in shape. Tn order to examine the oil, and to see that allis right, it is necessary to loosen one of the screws. The box will vary somewhat in size with the magnitude of the tree; witha trunk six inches in diameter, the box should be about four- teen inches square and fourteen inches high ; fora trunk a foot in diameter, it should be about twenty inches square 3; but a variation of two or three inches would not be of greatimportance. that on, the swarms were more and more dense, extensive and disastrous, indicating that they had come from a greater distance. It was reported from Yankton, August 2,that the Indians would lose half their crops, but the reports generally during the early part of the month were very contradictory, while those received during the latter part of August showed that the locusts were doing but little damage, and that there had been much exaggeration, especially as to the injury in the Red River Valley. The elevators and warehouses in Yankton were doing a large local business in the Fall. Goy. Pen- nington represents the damage to wheat at only 5 per cent., and states that corn was one-fourth to one-half a crop. Eggs were laid in the extreme southwest corner, but principally, I think, by the insects from Minnesota. Considerable injury seems to have been done to fruit trees, which in many localities were stripped. Such trees put out fresh leaves and even bloomed again, and it was noted that a frost in September, which stripped most trees of leaves, left the new growth on the locust-stripped trees untouched. [ have observed similar results elsewhere. Minnesota—Less fortunate than the States to the South, a good supply of eggs was left in the ground in 1875 in some of the more sparsely settled counties to the Southwest, including Murray, Cottonwood, Watonwan, Brown, and parts of the adjoin- ing counties. Many of the farmers were unable to get large amounts of seed-wheat, after three years depletion. The average sown to small grain was, therefore, small. Yet, from statistics furnished me by J. B. Phillips, Commissioner of Statistics, the estimated yield of wheat in the State, notwithstanding all drawbacks, was over 15,000,000 bushels. After the grain was up and the locusts had began to hatch, it was considered in many cases to be more profitable to seek the certainty of employment elsewhere, than to take the chances of (at best) a small crop at home. But there were quite a number of cases in which men, by using various means, succeeded in saving half or two-thirds of a crop; and reviewing the situation in Blue Earth county, the Mankato Review of August 15, says: It is a notable fact, worthy of mention, in this connection, that the grasshoppers were very bad in the town of Rapidan, but under the vigorous fight instigated by the county and local bonus, the loss was comparatively light—only 6,570 bushels, and the average yield of the town, not including this loss, was about 16 bushels to the acre. The town of Lyra was much less affected by grasshoppers, yet its loss is nearly 2,500 bushels in excess of Rapidan, a sum more than suflicient to pay the local bounty of the latter town. *See, more particularly, the records published by Mr. Whitman in his ‘‘ Report on the Rocky Mountain Locust for 1876.?? OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 61 During the second week of July, these home-bred locusts took wing, and it is interesting to note that they instinctively went in a north and northwest course, just as the fledged insects had done a few weeks earlier in the season, the previous year, from Missouri, and the adjacent country to the west. Numerous dispatches to St. Paul, Minneapolis and other papers, show conclusively that the general direction taken was northwest, and that when the wind was unfavorable, the locusts awaited a change. The exodus to the northwest was, however, by no means so general as from the more southern country the year before, and, as I learn through Mr. Whitman, many of the insects remained and commenced laying early in July, within two weeks after they had commenced to fly, and not many miles from their hatching grounds. This has never occurred in our own State, and simply indicates what I have in these Reports maintained, viz: that Minnesota is so much nearer the native home of the insect that the species can sustain itself for a longer time there. The swarms that left early in July returned, did more or less damage, and toward the end of the month left in numbers ina southerly direction. Some, however, re- mained. About the 6th of August fresh swarms came from Dakota, having been heard of on the 23d of July as passing over Gen. Crook’s army. These, as I learn from Mr. John C. Wise of The Weekly Review, Mankato, by letter of August 22, pushed contin- uously to the southeast, and reached as far east as they were ever known to do, or as far as the southwest corner of Dodge county. The Pioneer Press and Tribune of the 19th remarked: They appear to have left the southwestern counties and moving northward, have settled down on strips of land, to a width of 65 miles, extending from the upper part of Nicollet county to Minnesota Falls; south toa line drawn between these points there are but few hoppers reported, and they are not doing any damage—but they extend northward up to Otter Tail county and beyond. They were found at intervals over that whole country, depositing eggs, doing much damage in some localities and scarcely any to others. ‘They came too late to do much damage to the principle crops, which were mostly harvested. If we study the reports from the south and southwestern parts of the State, published in the journal aforesaid, we find that from one-half to two-thirds of a crop of the small grains had been harvested on an average in the worst visited section, and drouth and other insects, such as the Hessian-fly had much todo with the poor yield. The eggs were exten- sively destroyed not only by the Silky Mite, but by the Anthomyia Egg-parasite, and the Ichneumon grub, which I shall describe further on. It was further noticeable that the insects came down with the northwest winds, and that when the wind changed to the south, as it did for several subsequent days, few of the insects returned with it. The great bulk of them were restless and remained till the winds shifted again to the north and northeast. Another noticeable feature was that the eggs were quite gen- erally laid in very moist ground, as there was abundant rain about the middle of August. Throughout the month of September the insects were moving mostly south and southeast, spreading, but very gradually, further and further east. Many of them remained and continued laying till frost. The fact, that in their previous invasions into Minnesota the locusts had never penetrated farther east in Blue Earth and Nicollet counties than the Minnesota river, led there, to the advancement of a theory that they are peculiar to and thrive only in an alkali region. This is the character of the region west of the Blue Earth river, across which they, seemingly, had never ventured to any extent, and certainly had never prospered. In answer to an inquiry on the subject last August from Mr. Wise, I stated my 62 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT belief that there was no ground for the theory, and that I had more faith in the other causes which I have discussed as limiting the eastward spread of the species. Subse- quently the insects extended some distance beyond the riverin question. Indeed, they reached a full degree further east than in previous known invasions, extending from Clay county to a little west of St. Paul, and thence to Dodge and Mower counties. Eggs have been laid more or less thickly over the larger part of the southwest half of the State. Mr. Whitman has carefully mapped out the area, and it includes most of the country southwest of an eastwardly bulging line drawn from Clay to Mower coun- ties, or about four times the territory in which eggs were laid in 1873, and about five times that in which they were laid in 1874 or 1875. Itis a singular coincidence, how- ever, (and something similar will be noted in Kansas and Missouri further on), that, as reported by Mr. Whitman, those counties in which the insects hatched in Spring, and where vegetation was mostly consumed, are most nearly free from eggs. Governor Pillsbury has, from the first, taken a lively interest in the suffering of the farmers from this plague, and by a timely proclamation, setting forth the best known means to be used against them, and in other ways, has done much good. He devoted considerable space to the subject in his last message, and urged legislative action, not only on the part of his own State Legislature, but on the part of Congress. As a result of his efforts, and the liberal policy pursued in having investigations officially contin- ued by Prof. Whitman, the people of the State, by means of organization and ingenious machines, are better prepared to meet the enemy next year than are those of any other> State. The legislature also has recently passed two bills which are important in this connection; the one appropriating $75,000 for seed grain to the destitute, the cost of the grain to be assessed against the property of the person receiving it, and paid, as other taxes, in two equal assessments, whenever the recipient shall have raised two crops; the other provides for a bounty of $1.00 per bushel for all grasshoppers caught previous to June 1 next, with smaller compensation thereafter as the insects approach maturity.—(See further on under “Legislation.’’) CoLorapo.—What with persistent and generally successful fighting by farmers, with burning machines, ditches and coal oil, together with their natural enemies and the heavy rains, the insects that hatched out in Colorado had greatly diminished in June, and those that took wing vanished without leaving any very strong impression as to the direction taken. During the early part of August the locusts were passing over large parts of Colo- rado from the north, in a southwesterly direction, at the rate of about fifteen miles a day. They came in successive and almost continuous clouds, and the general opinion was that they came from Wyoming. The small grain was mostly saved throughout the State, but all late and green crops suffered. The Colorado Farmer (Denver) of the 10th of August, stated that, while the damage had been great, it was quite probably over-estimated; and the same journal a week later, reported that the insects had very generally left that part of the State. According to Signal Service reports, they had also very generally left by the 13th, but others were passing over from the 22d to the 28th, and thenceforward in diminising numbers. Toward the end of the month they were very thick along the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, frequently impeding the trains. The Georgetown Miner gives the following account of their drowning in large numbers: WF a a As the ravenous millions were driven up against the high ranges about Mount Evans, they were chilled and commenced falling into the little stream which flows past Sisty’s place, until for days, the rivulet was transformed from OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. ~ 63 a sparkling stream of limpid water, into a floating mass of dead grasshoppers, the water becoming so corrupt and offensive that neither man or beast could tolerate it. The trout pond in Mr. Sisty’s meadow became so putrid that he was compelled to cut away the dam and let the accumulated filth flow off. Mr. Sisty says that he never before witnessed such a phenomenon. The theory is, that a cold shower along the range threw down the dense swarms of insects, which were drowned, and the little tributary streams swept them into the brook in such numbers that it required days for the whole to be carried away, while the masses that had accumulated in the eddies, decayed, imparting putridity to the waters. Mr. Stanger, of the Colorado Farmer, tells me that the flight of the great clouds that were far up in the air, was invariably southwest over Denver, and he believes that eggs were laid over the whole traversible territory of the State. Iowa—As in a few of the 8. W. counties in Minnesota, so in adjoining parts of N. W. Iowa, and notably in Osceola and Dickinson counties, the young insects hatched out from eggs laid in 1875; but, as Mr. J. M. Jenkins, of La Mars, writes me, they had entirely disappeared by the middle of June, either dying of inanition, being devoured by their various enemies, or moving off to the N. W. About the first day of August, the northwestern counties of this State were visited by heavy swarms. They appeared to cross the State line from Dakota and Minnesota at almost exactly the same date for Emmett, Dickinson, Osceola, Lyon, Sioux and Plymouth counties, and from here they swept at once out into the counties lying east- ward and a little tothe south. The direction of flight was a little south of east, and the rate at times eight or more miles an hour. The insects were at times so thick as to darken the sun, and to impede trains. That the invasion was from the northwest may be readily seen by consulting a map in connection with the following data furnished by Prof. Bessey of the Agricultural College : Lyon county, commencement of harvest. Sioux county, July 27. Plymouth county, last week in July. O’Brien county, July 27 or 28. Pocahontas county, August 1. Cherokee county, August 6. Monona county, August 10. Audubon county, about the middle of August. Harrison county, August 18. Carroll county, August 18. Sac county, August 23. Apparently in vorthwestern part of county about a week or ten days before. Pottowattamie county, August 23. Hamilton county, August 30. Boone county, first week in September. Hancock county, September 8. Guthrie county, from Ist to 10th of September. Story county, first noticed about the middle of September, flying over in consider- able numbers. The amount of damage done, as shown by all obtainable data, was not so great as in former years. Some lIncky sections in the area traversed by them escaped entirely ; though a few counties, and particularly those first visited, suffered very heavily. The loss to Lyon county was three-fourths, to Sioux, one-half, of all crops. In Plymouth county corn was damaged two-thirds. Monona and Harrison report injury to corn from 10 to 20 per cent. In Pottowatamie county their preference for nursery-stock and garden vegetables made their injury to the grain-grower comparatively slight. This 64 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT was the case, also, in Sac county, where they were represented as making raids on garden produce, and leaving corn almost an immunity from attack. O’Brien county reports the destruction of all uncut small grain, garden vegetables and most of the corn. In Cherokee potatoes were damaged about 75 per cent., corn 25 to 33 per cent., and Fall wheat considerably; and in Carroll corn was injured 25 per cent., and cab- bages and turnips devoured ‘‘in toto”. These are the worst cases. Hamilton county suffered a small loss in late potatoes, Fall rye and cabbage; in Audubon the damage did not exceed one per cent., and the counties of Boone, Story and Guthrie almost entirely escaped damage. The most eastern point reached was in the middle of the State, and the line retreats from Story county both north and south. In all the counties invaded, eggs were deposited, and in most instances quite thickly. Prof. Bessey republished the remedies and recommendations in my last Report, and issued them in a little bulletin, that was easily and cheaply sent to farmers through- out the State. Nesraska—Those locusts that came into Iowa earlier in August passed southwest into Nebraska, and, in scattering numbers, reached Council Bluffs and Omaha August 17. A dispatch from Omaha the next day summed up with the statement that: ‘‘a general review of the situation was very favorable, and there was no apprehension of a failure to harvest the fine and large crop.” P From many other reports it would appear that in the northeast counties, from locusts and other causes, not more than half a crop of corn was saved, but that most of the small grain was duly harvested; and Mr. L. W. Chandler, of St. Helena, wrote, toward the end of the month, that notwithstanding the injury to corn, the country thereaDouts was in better shape thanit had been for five years. _ Almost simultaneously with the incursion$’ in the eastern part of the State, there were others from the north overrunning the western part, and from the 5th of August throughout the month, their movements were reported by the Signal Service. The direction was principally south, or southwest early in the month, and mostly southeast toward the end of the month; and here, as in Minnesota, it was everywhere remarked that when the wind was from the south, the insects remained and awaited a change before passing over in the main direction. ‘The tollowing account from a correspond- ence of the New York Tribune, gives some interesting details : Early in August they reached the western portions of this State, but were partial in their depredations, devouring everything in some localities, doing litthe damage in others. On the twelfth of the month they made a forward movement, and appeared in the valleys of the Elkhorn, Platte and Republican. Our local papers, acting on the “ostrich”? policy, suppressed the facts or misrepresented them, and all were wishing for a favorable wind to carry the pests beyond our borders. But a soft, southerly wind, varied by an occasional thunderstorm from the northwest, prevailed till the 23d, when, by a stiff northwester, the grasshoppers rose and came from their exhausted feeding- grounds upon the east and south portions of the State. They came literally in clouds, looking like the frost-clouds that drift along the horizon on a winter morning. They are devouring ‘‘ every green thing,’’ including shade trees and even weeds, such as the “ Jamestown weed” and wild hemp. The great body of them seemed to pass south, moving in dense masses during the 23d, 24th and 25th, and will probably be heard from in Kansas and Missouri. Eeges have been laid all over the eastern part of the State, but less extensively in the western counties. Ex-Governor Furnas thinks that there are few in the counties over one hundred miles west of the Missouri river, and, regarding the young insects next Spring, he remarks, in a recent letter, ‘* that while in the West we have room for OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. Ga. millions more people, and are glad to have them come, and with us occupy and utilize the broad fertile acres God has bequeathed to the Far West, those who have not ‘‘sand and erit ” enough to clean out a crop of young locusts are not the men wanted! [ repeat what I said to you at the Convention in Omaha, and am prepared to demonstrate the truth of the assertion: that any thrifty, energetic farmer can exterminate the most extensive stock of locusts, on any one farm known, with less labor and expense than he can get rid of an ordinary crop of weeds.”’ Prof. A, D. Williams, of Kenesaw, Adams county, writes : It is safe to say that eggs were laid in every one of our sixty settled counties. Not one has escaped. But the amount of eggs in the western part of the State, where they appeared earliest, is much less than in the eastern portions of the State. There is un- doubtedly a gradual increase of eggs, all the way from the western to the eastern line of the State—the river counties suffering much the more severely. The amount depo- sited there is beyond all estimation, while west of Kearney there is not a very large amount. uy % ie Upon the whole, I incline to the opinion that the casualties of the season, the depredations of the birds and the efforts of the homesteaders will so diminish the number of locusts in the Spring, that small grains will be raised in the western part of the State. But I fear that unless Providence is unusually favorable, and the people bestir themselves unusually to fight the locusts, very little, save corn and late crops, will be raised in the river counties. x wo ‘3 ee The actual damage done by the locusts last year, in Nebraska, was fully equal to that done in 1874. But the greater abundance of small grains, and the greater reliance of the people upon stock and a more diversified industry, have saved us from the desti- tution of that year, and largely disarmed Caloptenus spretus of his terrors. Kansas.—A review of the invasion in Kansas shows it to have been in the main from the north and northwest. The insects came into the northwest part of the State late in July and early in August and were seen flying about in many directions, but mainly southward, during the whole month. Early in September the swarms thickened, and the wind blowing almost a gale from the west on the 7th and 8th of the month, and strong from the west and northwest for two or three days subsequently, the insects during that time swept down in darkening clouds over the greater portion of the State from the 98th meridian to beyond the 96th. The following extracts from my corres- pondence indicate the nature of the invasion: I drop you these lines to let you know that the locusts called on us to-day in force. This morning the wind was blowing from the northwest, and as the day advanced the air was filled with a cloud of locusts as thick as any I ever saw before. Toward even- ing they came down and are resting to-night. ‘hey do not manifest much tendency to eat, but may by to-morrow. a os 2 [Robert Milliken, Emporia, Lyon county, Sept. 9, 1876. * % * I am sorry to say that the locusts are still with us, more plentiful than I ever saw them before. As I wrote you before, they made their first call on the 9th, and more plentifully on the llth, the wind blowing from the north and northwest most of the time from the 9th to the 14th; they traveled before it, except when it was too cool for them to fly, as was the case on the 12th and partly the 18th, but on the 14th they were so thick that the cloud fairly darkened the sun. The 16th, 17th and to-day the wind has blown from the south and they have not flown to amount to anything. They are pairing almost universally and are commencing to deposit eggs. Not enough eggs are yet left to make any serious trouble in the Spring, but if they stay another week [ tremble for our prospects.—[J/did, Sept. 18, 1876. The locusts came to the line of the Santa Fé Railroad from Hutchinson as far west as Grenada, about the 25th day of August, 1876, brought by a north! by northeast wind. They camein great dark clouds for one day (the 24th) at this place, Sterling, Rice county, Kansas. ‘Chey mostly passed over here to the south and southwest. A few lit upon us and devoured corn blades, potato leaves and some other toothsome herbage. Little real damage is done as yet to crops. Some of the early wheat is eaten and killed and farmers are generally holding off to sow after the locusts leave. A few returned with south winds, but on the 31st, at 2 p. M., the wind changed to north and ER-—-5 66 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT nearly all took wing. But great clouds came fresh from the north and the face of the earth wasalive withthem. A northeast wind, September Ist, carried the greater part of them with it to some place distant from here. Enough remain to do some damage to vegetation and the south winds bring them back, not in great dark clouds as from the north, but some every day. They seem to float about with the shifting winds, perhaps for food, but when the wind gets north they go inswarms. ‘That shows their tendency to migrate southward. ‘Those that remain are laying eggs.—[H. E, Van Demen, Ster- ling, Kansas, Sept. 6, 1877. * % * Such a host of insects I never saw. -The gronnd is com- pletely covered and the branches of the trees are bending down with their weight. In my orchard of nearly twenty acres the trees are covered by myriads. Two hundred Siberian crab-apple trees, next to the house, are completely defoliated, and the grove on the north is one huge moving mass. Our corn crop is splendid, and U think is so far advanced that it will not be mate- rially injured. Thirty acres of wheat which looked beautiful and green in the morn- ing is eaten up. Six hundred and forty acres, two miles south of me, that was looking fine at the beginning of the week, looks this morning as if fire had passed over it. A large acreage has been sown in this county earlier than usual, I suppose it is all gone. —[Jno. W. Robson, Cheever, Dickinson county, Sept. 8, 1876. Mr. H. A. Brous, a former pupil of mine, who spent the whole Summer in Western Kansas, in company with Prof. B. F. Mudge, kept a careful record of the movements of the locusts, and has sent me the same. From this record it is interesting to note that the western part of the State was just as free in Spring and early Summer of the Caloptenus spretus as was the eastern, and that none but the genuine femur-rubrum and different species of (dipoda, and of other genera, were noticed. The first specimens of spretus were seen in Wallace county August 5th, flying south from 10 a. M. to 4 P.M. From that time forth they were noticed almost daily flying in different directions, but thickest when from the W. and N. They were most numerous on the 12th and 18th, and on the 24th they were again very thick in Gove county—in both instances flying S.S. W.andS. W. During September the direction also varied, but was most often to S. W. The highest and heaviest swarms were, however, to the S. Ona number of days two distinct strata or currents were observed. Thus, on September 1, there was an upper current going W. and a lower one going S. W.; on September 2, an upper S. W., a lower N. W.; on September 9, an upper 8S. W., a lower 8. E. E. In Octo- ber there were few noticed. The damage done, though serious enough, was less noticeable than in 1874. Vege- tables and Fall wheat suffered most ; one extensive wheat-grower (Mr. T’. C. Henry, of Abilene,) losing 2,500 acres. A great many farmers sowed again, and plowed the soil under, believing that where not sown early enough to come up in the Fall, it is best that it should not come up till Spring, and that an average crop under such conditions can be grown. They reached east, according to the records I have at hand, to a line drawn a few miles west of Lawrence, including the larger part of Brown, Doniphan and Atchison in the N. E. corner; portions of Jefferson, Douglas, Franklin, Anderson, Allen and Neosho, and most of Labette, Cherokee and Crawford counties in the 8. E. Bourbon, Linn and Miami were only partly overrun; Johnson and Wyandotte escaped entirely, and most of Leavenworth was untouched. In nearly all of the more thickly-settled country invaded, eggs were abundantly laid; and the insects remained laying until buried by the first snows. In the western third of the State, where the insects came earlier, few or no eggs were laid. It will be noticed that the very counties which suf- fered most in 1875 have here escaped, as is the case in Missouri, and as is the case in Minnesota with the counties ravaged in the Spring of 1876. Missourr—The counties ravaged by the young insects in 1875, had splendid crops in 1876, and the scarcity which I had anticipated (Rep. 8, pp. 120, 156,) of most OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 67 noxious insects, including the native locusts and the Chinch Bug, was everywhere noticed and commented upon. The incoming of the winged insects in the Fall was anticipated and feared, as soon as it was known that they were overruning Nebraska and Western Iowa. Feeling the importance of obtaining exact data as to the territory invaded in our own State, and in which eggs were laid, in order to indicate just where injury may be expected, or not, next Spring; Ihave taken pains to examine, or get reports from, all the western counties. These reports, in condensed form, are herewith submitted ; and, summarized, they show that the middle western counties, which suf- fered most in 1875, (i. e., the portion of the State in which the winged insects reached farthest east in 1874, and laid most eggs) were not overrun in 1876, and will not suffer next Spring. Such are the counties of Platte, Clay, Jackson, Lafayette, Cass, John- son, Bates, Henry, Pettis and Benton. In these counties the farmers have little or nothing to fear, except as they may receive a few straggling and comparatively harm- less bevies of the winged locusts next June and July, from the neighboring country. The counties that were overrun and that will suffer are: Ist, Atchison and Holt, and the western half of Nodaway and Andrew, in the extreme northwest corner. 2d, Me- Donald, Barry, Jasper, Lawrence, Barton, Dade, Newton, Cedar, Vernon, more par- ticularly in the southwest half; Polk in the northwest third ; Hickory in the south- west third; St. Clair in scattering places, and Christian and Greene in the extreme border. The locusts came into all these counties last Fall, very generally ate off the Fall wheat, and filled the ground with their eggs, in most parts quite thickly. As else- where, they continued laying till overtaken by frost. Bates, according to one correspondent, also received a few of the insects in the western half; while a few stragglers are also reported in Harrison, and even in Gentry, Henry and Cass; but it is evident that in these cases they were not in sufficient num- bers to do harm or to cause any forebodings for the Spring. They came into the N. W. corner from the N. and N. W., early in September* and were to some extent prevented from reaching beyond the points indicated, by south winds. They entered the 8S. W. counties from the 8S. W. nearly a month later, invading Newton and McDonald by September 23, and reaching the middle of Barry by the first of October, and Cedar by the middle of this month. It is quite clear that the eastern limit of the swarms which came from the N. and N. W. was receding west- ward after they reached N. W. Missouri, and that S. W. Missouri, S. E. Kansas and N. W. Arkansas would have escaped had it not been for W: and 8. W. winds that brought back insects which had reached south of these points. The dates of arrival of the insects are nearly a month later than in 1874, and in this respect the 1876 invasion more nearly resembles that of 1866. It was also less immediately disastrous than that of 1874, and most crops were either garnered or beyond injury, and the principal damage was to the Fall wheat, which, as already stated, was eaten down, and in most cases effectually destroyed, at a time, too, when it was generally too late to do anything more than let the ground lie over to plant in corn in Spring. Various correspondents note that all the holes made by the female were found to contain no eggs when examined, and they argue therefrom that few or no eggs have been laid. From what I said two years ago (Rep. 7, p. 123), and from the philosophy of the process of egg-laying (given further on), it follows that such reasoning is fallacious, * According to Signal Service Reports some were seen in Nodaway county much earlier. _ 68 " NINTH ANNUAL REPORT for all holes left by the female are more or less completely empty, since whenever ovipo- sition has taken place, the hole is filled up, Locusts, or “ grasshoppers,” were reported as quite troublesome in Ste. Genevieve and other eastern counties, but they were invariably the common Red-legged species ( femur-rubrum). Andrew Co.—lf you draw a line about five or six miles west of the One Hundred and ‘Two River and Savannah, about due north and south, it will show the extreme eastern boundary of the locust this year in this county. It willshow you, at its northern extremity, a strip of about eight miles east of the Nodaway River infested; while at its southern point it will be only about two miles. A great many eggs are there depos- ited, but not so many as were left two years ago; nor is there so much alarm felt now asthen. The locusts arrived late, yet in time to eat up Fall wheat before the frost arrested their progress. Where I live—four miles east of Bolckow—there were no locusts and no eggs, and we do not feel much alarm for next year. Bouickow, Mo., Nov. 26, 1876. Rk. H. TALBOT. The locusts visited this county in the Fall, but only the western part. It was late in the Fali when they came. They laid some eggs, but they did no great damage. WHITHESVILLE, Mo, Dec. 1, 1876. J. F. SMITH. The locusts flew into Andrew county in large numbers. They did not 20 farther east than the center of the county ; but in the northwest and western parts they depos- ited their eggs in great numbers, and the prospect is that next year the supply will exceed the demand. JOHN K. WHITE. Frac Sprincs, Mo., Dec. 9, 1876. The grasshoppers were in the northwest part of this county and did some damage to wheat crops. They deposited some eggs. Injury from them in the Fall was small. J. KIMBERTIN. Rocnester, Mo, Dee. 18, 1876. Atchison Co —The locusts commenced to drop here the first day of September, coming from the north with the first north wind we had for some time, and commenced depositing their eggs on the fourth, staying with us till the wind got in the north again, when many would leave every clear morning, but only to be replaced in the evening by others. Though their numbers have greatly diminished in the last few days, timothy meadows, pastures, gardens and al! available places are full of eggs, in many instances from three to five thousand to the square foot; Fall wheat and turnips are eaten off close to the ground, and what timothy is not already destroyed, will surely be in the Sprivg when the eggs hatch. C.E. TREADWELL Rocxvorr, Mo., Sept. 10, 1876. : {Dispatches from various parts of the’county show that during the early part otf September the insects continually came from the N. W., but poured down in increased numbers on the 11th. By the middle of October the unusually warm weather had about that time caused many of the eggs to hatch. ] The Rocky Mountain Locusts came upon us in September and October. The only damage done by them was to the Fall wheat and rye, They covered the entire county, so far as I could ascertain, depositing their eggs all over it. When they commenced jaying, the ground was wet, and they did not appear (as far as my observation extended) to deposit as many eggs as heretofore in their cells—not over half of them having eggs in, and even these being seldom more than half filled. I have heard of some of the eggs hatching out late in the season, but saw nothing of the kind myself. I made examinations some time in the latter part of October, and found what appeared to be the common maggot in the cells, the eggs in the same having the appearance of being spoiled, many being addled or entirely without substance in the shell. There is consider- able anxiety among our farmers, as well as in the community generally, as to what they will do the coming season. Much could be done, in my opinion, by concerted action in the early Spring months, in destroying the eggs and the ‘‘hoppers’’ as soon as hatched. If half the time given to grumbling and loafing, in this community, had been spent in active efforts against the ‘*‘ hoppers,’’ in past seasons, and had such efforts been general throughout the grasshopper regions, an immense amount might have been saved to the country. JOHN D. DOPF. Rockport, Mo., Dee. 38, 1876. Barry Co.—The grasshoppers came into this county about the first of October, OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 69 from the west, and extended to the eastern border. As far as they came east they laid eggs. They worked onthe wheat-fields. Ws ko TULTEE: GOLDEN, Mo., Dec. 3, 1876. Barton Co.—The Rocky Mountain Locust made its appearance in this county about the 25th of September last, coming from the south and southwest. They have destroyed the wheat in the southern and western portions of the county, but have not done so much damage north or east. They laid a great many eggs, some of which hatched out before the cold spell we have lately had. A. A. DYE. Lamar, Mo., Nov. 26, 1876. T take the earliest opportunity of giving the limited information I am in possession of. The grasshoppers came into the northeast portion of Barton county in small num- bers on the 2d of October, from the southwest ; and again, in large numbers on the 13th, from the south. They destroyed all the late wheat, but deposited few eggs. DoyxeEsponrt, Mo., Dee. 9, 1876. J. J. BRYNING. _ The grasshoppers did visit our county last Fall. They came from the west, or, perhaps, from the southwest. Came into the western part of the county in destructive numbers about October 20th, arriving at Lamar about two weeks later. In the southwestern corner of this county the wheat is all, or nearly all, destroyed. In the northwestern corner, early sowed wheat is from one-third to one-half remain- ing—late sowed wheat is all gone. At Lamar, the destruction is less. In the S. E. corner of the county wheat was much injured. In the N. E. corner wheat was not injured at all. They remained where they first lit down until frozen up in sleet and snow. Large pieces of wheat are less injured than small ones, as the hoppers com- menced on the edges and worked toward the center. Farmers could not sow over, as the hoppers 1emained until cold weather. It is impossible to say how much of the wheat that was eaten off will recover, as the ground froze up and wheat stopped grow- ing as soon as the hoppers died. We know, however, that the wheat at the edges is killed, but we cannot tell before growing weather how far in it is killed. I have two large pieces, containing 91 acres, in N. W. corner of county, that I believe one-third remains uninjured; while a 13-acre piece, 110 rods long, I believe is all gone. I believe that most farmers are preparing to sow oats early in the Spring around the edges of their wheat fields, and it is hoped that this course will destroy the egys. There were comparatively few eggs deposited. WM. H. AVERY. Lamar, Mo., Dee. 22, 1876. Bates Co.—No part of this county was visited by the locusts this Fall. The south- ern part of Vernon was; also, all Barton, Jasper, Newton, McDonald and the western parts of most counties immediately east of those named. 'Thev deposited their eggs in all parts visited. G. B. HICKMAN. Mutperry, Mo., Dec. 14, 1876. [Addie Haynes, of Rockville, and others, report them to some extent in the western half of the county, and some eggs laid as far east as Butler. | We have not had, so far as my knowledge extends, any Rocky Mountain Locusts - the past season in our county. Our people sowed last Falla larger number of acres of wheat than they had put in for the previous three years, and all the wheat fields, up to the present time, look very promising for a good crop. CHAS. J. ROBORDS. Hupson, Mo., Jan. 3, 1877. ; Benton Co.—No locusts came into Benton county this Fall. Warsaw, Mo., Nov. 29, 1876. JAMES H. LAY. The locusts did not, to my knowledge, visit this county in the Fall. If they did at all, it was in the northwest part, and very few. J. H. MAXWELL. Mr. View, Mo., Dee. 16, 1876. Buchanan Co.—No ‘‘hoppers”’ visited any part of this county last Fall, nor do I think they came nearer than twenty miles west of it. M. W. FARRIS, AGENCY, Mo., Nov. 28, 1876. Cass Co.—There were no locusts in the county during the year. AUSTIN, Nov. 30, 1876. Ho, HEWITT. 70 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT There have been no locusts in this county the present year, for which all good citizens are truly grateful. WM. A. SMITH. East Lynne, Mo, Dec. 3, 1876. There were a few scattered grasshoppers in this county during the Fall, but Iam not sure they were of the Rocky Mountain species. They did no damage and laid no eggs, In fact, depredating insects were remarkably scarce this Fall, except the Flat- headed Apple-tree Borer, which was more numerous than usual. RAYMORE, Mo, Dec. 4, 1876. W. H. BARRON. A few Rocky Mountain Locusts alighted in the southern border of Cass county, and also in our neighborhood, near Harrisonville; but very few. This was about the end of October and beginning of November. I don’t think they laid any eggs in thls county ; I have seen no signs of them. On the 5th, 6th and 7th of November, I was in the southwestern part of Bates county, and there I saw more of them. I saw that the young wheat was eaten off, and, after hunting a little, | found them huddled in under the blades of the wheat. Their general course of flying was southeast, and I think it was too late in the season for them to deposit any eggs. DAVID DEFAKAUGH. Raymore, Mo., Dec. 18, 1876. Cedar Co.—The grasshoppers came to this county in October, and remained until the snow came and destroyed them. They laid eggs all the time they were here, and ate all the wheat in the county. G. W. MONTGOMERY. Stockton, Mo., Dee. 2, 1876. The locusts arrived here about the 16th of October, and began at once to bore into the ground and deposit their eggs. They chose the hardest ground they could find, seeming to prefer that- which was sandy or gravelly. They continued coming for two weeks, and would average one to every square foot of the whole ground. They devoured about nine-tenths of the wheat in this, the south part of the county. - They came from the southwest. W. SMILEY. Srockton, Mo., Dee. 2, 1876. : Locusts were here in vast numbers, laying eggs and destroying nearly all the wheat. C. W. JORDAN. WHITEHARE, Mo., Dee. 9, 1876. Caldwell Co.—No injury from locusts in this county, and no eggs laid. GouLp Farm, Mo., Dec. 23, 1876. Cc. L. GOULD. Clay Co.—No part of our county was visited by locusts the past season. Harem, Mo., Novy. 30, 1876. J. C. EVANS. The Rocky Mountain Locusts did not make their appearance in this vicinity at any time during the year 1876. An occasional straggler could be seen during September and ’ October. None but close observers noticed them. DAN. CARPENTER. Barry, Mo., Nov. 30, 1876. Dade Co.—The locusts came the first week in October in sufficient force to destroy about all of our Fall wheat. They laid eggs, which, in dry spots, hatched out, and the young hoppers have been killed by the frost. R. A. WORKMAN, GREENFIELD, Mo., Dee. 11. 1876. DeKalb Co.—DeKalb county has not been visited by the Rocky Mountain Locust this vear. G. E. SHULZ. Havana, Mo., Dec. 2, 1876. Gentry Co.—A few scattered grasshoppers were seen passing over the county this Fall, but none stayed. ‘They were flying very high in air, and to the southwest. Mr. PiKasant, Mo., Dec. 3, 1876. CHARLES S. WHITESCARVER. One flight of locusts passed over this county. Wind from the N. W. A few stayed here. No deposit of eggs. GENTRYVILLE, Mo., Dec. 16, 1876. HUGH STEVENSON. OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 71 There were a few Rocky Mountain Locusts along the western part of the county, but they stayed only a few days. and deposited no eggs. LEVI LONG. IsuaNnpD Crry, Mo, Dec. 29, 1876. Greene Co.—There were no hoppers in Greene county, except in the S. W. corner, where they came too late todo much harm. Some passed over to Christian Co. and didsome injury. In Lawrence Co.. also, they did considerable mischief. SPRINGFIELD, Mo., Dec. 23, 1876. F. F. FINE. Harrison Co.—Only a few straggling grasshoppers fell into this county the past sea- son; they deposited no eggs. Theirnearest approach, in large numbers. was about 40 miles west of us. JOSEPH WHITELEY. New Caste, Mo., Dee. 4, 1876. There has not been any locusts or grasshoppers in this county this fall. EaGLevIiItye, Mo., Dec. 4, 1876. Cou. H, FITCH. There were no locusts in either Harrison or Mercer counties the past vear. CaINSVILLE, Mo., Dee. 1, 1876. J.H. BURROWS. Henry Co —The locusts did not get to our county this year. They reached the counties South and West of us. We have a few, remaining from a year ago, that seem to be acclimated, and they are enough, with our native hoppers, to eat considerable wheat; but the weather is good for their destruction this Fall. T. J. QUICK. GaINEs, Mo. A few Rocky Mountain Locusts came to this, the eastern part of Henry Co.; but I have seen none, neither have J heard of any. depositing their eggs. LEESVILLE, MO, Dee. 12, 1876. J. E. STRINGER. Hickory Co.—The locust came into the southwest part of this county in the latter part of September. They did little or no damage, as they came in late, and were but tew innumber. [ do not beheve they laid any eggs here. Our native locusts, this Summer, were fewer than I have ever seen them, and I have lived on a farm in Mis- souri since 1849. W. L. SNIDOW. ELKTon, Mo., Dec. 7, 1876. Not any part of Hickory county was visited by the grasshoppers, nor any part of this (Cass Co.) They have been South of us in Vernon, Cedar, Polk and parts of St. Clair counties, depositing eggs. C. J. HOSTETTER. East Lynne, Cass Co., Mo. Holt Co.—The grasshoppers (Caloptenus spretus) commenced their flight over us to-day at 12 o’clock M., going in a southeasterly direction. Wind is blowing from the North, which is very favorable for the.a in their journey this way. They are not in very great numbers as yet; but are reported as being in immense numbers in the North part of the county. J. W. MAPLE. OREGON, Mo., Sept. 8, 1876. ~ The spretus are daily increasing in numbers here, taking all the wheat and rye sown in the county. They are depositing eggs. To-day they are going N. W. Wind South. J. W. MAPLE. OREGON, Mo., Sept. 26, 1876. The pests are still with us, and are now depositing their eggs by the million. Some report that a small white worm is killing them, but I have been unable to find any up to this time. Some of the eggs are now hatching in North parts of the county. OrEGON, Mo, Oct. 12, 1876. J. W. MAPLE. Many of the grasshopper eggs have been destroyed by a small white worm, and many have been washed out and destroyed by exposure to the weather. The grass- hopper limits extend about 5 miles east of the Nodaway River, in Andrew Co. OrxrGon, Mo., Dec. 2, 1876. J.W. MAPLE. 72 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT The locusts have spread all over this county, and have deposited their eggs in vast quantities, though perhaps less than in ’74. I examined many of their perforations, and in some localities found at least three-fourths empty ; in the others, trom 12 to 20 eggs. A few passed over here the 25th of August, and occassionally thereafter, until the 20th September, when they came in large numbers. They had destroyed, by the 25th of September nearly all the wheat and rye in the county. On the 26th they were first noticed laying eggs here. A few were noticed on the lith of November, some on the ground, others flying North. Many farmers have resown their devastated fields, and will no doubt profit by so doing. Some say that worms and bugs have been destroying the eggs, also that theeggs have been hatching out in exposed places. ‘The experience of some of our farmers is against turning the eggs under in the Fall or Spring. OREGON, Mo., Nov. 29, 1876. WM. KAUCHER. The grasshoppers were all over this county, and laid more eggs than they did two years ago, the ground being literally filled with them. BiGEeLow, Mo., Dec. 2, 1876, J. H. CROW. From examination made in various parts of the county by several farmers and others, the eggs of the locusts seem to be rotted. This is ascribed to the wet weather, we had some few weeks ago. CLARKE IRVINE. OrEGON, Mo., Dee. 3, 1876. The Rocky Mountain locusts came here last Fall in September; they came from the North, and deposited their eggs in great quantities ; some stayed till cold weather killed them, and some wenton South. Some say their eggs have turned to worms and will not hateh, which might be the case, for I noticed, myself, some worms in the cells, but whether they were deposited by the hoppers, or not, [am unable to say. Forrest City, Mo., Dee. 18, 1876. J. D. WHITE. The locusts extended all over our county. They came from the N. W. about September 20th. The ground is fuller of eggs than ever before. All the wheat was. taken up; rye also. A few resowed, but it makes no show. They stayed here until frozen to death. BENNET KING. OREGON, Mo, Dee. 25, 1876. Jasper Co.—The grasshoppers or locusts came here October 2d, and again on the 3d, 5th, 8th and 9th. ‘Ten years ago they reached three miles east of here, now, they are several miles still further east. No doubt ina week the wheat will be all destroyed, as, indeed, most of it is already. They came from the southwest. Wind south. They did no damage here in the Springs of 1867 and 1875. THOS. McNALLIE. SaRcoxigz, Mo., Oct. 14, 1876. The grasshoppers made their appearance in this county again on the 2d of Octo- ber. The wind was blowing from the southwest during the day. About noon they came into the city ; the sky was darkened with them. They soon covered the entire county, and at once began their onslaught upon the wheat fields. Jasper county farmers had put in more wheat than they had ever done before; the season being™ favorable, it was making rapid growth, and the future looked encouraging with promi- ses of a large wheat crop. In a few days, scarcely a spear of wheat was to be seen over the entire county. However, at the close of November they began to leave; and large quantities of them were found dead; many seeming to have been destroyed by an insect. ‘They deposited eggs, some of which hatched out during the warm days in November. In some of the late sown fields the wheat seems to be starting again ; and some farmers have resown portions of their fields, in the hope that a favorable Winter will secure acrop. The eastern line seems to have extended to the west of Green county. JOSIAH TILDEN. CartTHaGE, Mo, Nov. 20, 1876. On the 2d of October the grasshoppers made their first appearance here, coming from southwest and going northeast, in such numbers as to, in a measure, obscure the sun’s rays. They stayed here in millions, until killed by cold; eating up all growing wheat and green grass. The ground was perforated in all directions with innumerable holes, and I suppose they deposited eggs in great abundance. We are in the eastern part of the county, a few miles from the Lawrence county line. Rerps, Mo., Dec. 8, 1876. J. M. THORNBURG. Myriads of grasshoppers were passing over Granby, from southwest to northeasts OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. (3: on Sunday and Monday, the 8th and 9th. A glance upward towards the sun revealed them filling the air as far as vision could extend, as thick as snowflakes in a storm, and they drifted along with the breeze, and fluttered down at your feet occasionally, or lit on your nose, with as much unconcern as if they had been a part of the elements. eae bushes and sides of the road were speedily thick with them.—St. Louis Republican, ct. 1, 1876. The locusts were all over the county in great numbers. They laid a great many eggs, but as most of them hatched out this Fall, I apprehend no trouble next Spring. They came in September, and stayed until killed by frost. No wheat recovered, as far as I know. Farmers generally resowed, but the wheat has not come up. SMITHFIELD, Mo, Dec. 26, 1876. WM. G. L. CRIAG. The wheat that was eaten off did not recover. Very few farmers have resown. There will be no wheat crop in this and adjoining counties this year. Next Fall there will not be much sown on account of scarcity of seed, and dread of the hopper. Some farmers are contemplating a crop of oats on their wheat ground; others, flax and barley. J. M. PETERSON. January 2, 1877. Jackson Co.—There were no Rocky Mountain locusts in this county the past Fall, and, per consequence, no eggs deposited. Chinch bugs were seen in the early Fall. Hickman Mitts, Mo., Dec. 4, 1876. W. S. PARRISH. The grasshoppers did not deposit any eggs here; only a few straggling ones, and they perhaps of native species made their appearance. JACOB GREGG. Stony Pornt, Mo., Dec. 10, 1876.. Johnson Co.—The Rocky Mountain locust failed to visit us the past season. A few were noticed very high in the air, passing over with the wind, but none alighted. We have no chinch bugs at all this season, owing, perhaps, to the fact that the small grain was totally destroyed by the hoppers in 1875. But such other pests as usually trouble us were yery numerous and destructive. D. B, REAVIS. KiInGsviILug, Mo., Dec. 4, 1876. No grasshoppers came here this season. They appeared in Barton county in Oc tober, though not in great numbers, and west of that county, in Kansas, for a hun- dred miles, they were very numerous, and depositing their eggs, at the end of Sep- tember. W. A. CAMPBELL. Houpen, Mo , Nov. 27, 1876. There were no grasshoppers in our county this Fall. There may have been some at the southwest corner of the county, but I do not think so. WARRENSBURG, Mo., Dec. 8, 1876. J. L. CLELAND. FAYETTEVILLE—None. J. L. MOTSINGER. Lafayette Co —Lafayette county has not been visited this year by the Rocky Mountain locust. J. BELY. Lexineton, Mo. No locusts came into this county the past season, or into Jackson county either. Snr-a-BaRk, Mo., 1876. J. T. FERGUSON. Lafayette Co.—There were a few of the genuine Rocky Mountain locusts with us during the latter part of September, and beginning of October; but they were so few in number as to pass almost unnoticed, and were supposed to be stragglers, from a flight that passed down through Kansas, depositing a vast number of eggs as far South as Montgomery county, in that State. If those that were in this county laid any eggs, they were so few as not to be observed, and it is my opinion that none were deposited. As to what part of the county was invaded, it would be hard to tell, as they were so few in number; and the fact that they mix up with the natives, adds to the difficulty. AULLSVILLE, Mo., December 10, 1876. JAS. E. GLADISH. Lawrence Co.—The locusts came into this county about the 5th of October. Their course was North. A small portion of the southeast part of the county was not visited by them, and there the wheat crops are not hurt; but they spread over all other parts, 74 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT . eating up thousands of acres of wheat. Some farmers have resown, but many have not. They deposited their eggs by the acre, choosing, strange to say, the hardest and most gravelly places to lay them in. I found, on examination, just at the setting in of Winter, that very many of the eggs had so far advanced as to resemble small white maggots. The hoppers have penetrated considerably farther East this year in this county than they have ever done before. W.S. GOODMAN. Mr. Vernon, Mo., December 12, 1876. McDonald Co.—The Rocky Mountain locust visited all parts of McDonald county, and deposited their eggs very liberally, some of which hatched out before the cold set in. W. D. POLSON. Newton Co.—First saw the grasshopper here on September 29. On Sunday the sky was full of them. going East. From here to Joplin they are everywhere: to-day the ground is covered. and the air filled with them. They are at Granby. Farmers are afraid to sow wheat. G. C. BROADHEAD. Nrosno, Mo., October 7, 1876. Grasshoppers came into the west part of this county in large numbers on the 23d of September, and soon extended all over it. They came from Northwest at first, but soon they came from all parts, as the wind blew. They would rise and fly off in the fore part of the day, and a new lot would come in at night. They continued very numerous till the sleet storm in November, which killed them; and they filled the ground with eggs; some of which hatched out, and some were destroyed, but plenty yet remain. JOHN THRASHER. Nerosno, Mo, December 7, 1876. The locusts came into all parts of this county in vast swarms, and laid large quan- tities of eggs; every batch of land that was bare, and not too hard, is filled with them, and some few have hatched out this Fall. W. H. WETHERELL. Seneca, Mo., December 6, 1876. Nodaway Co.—The Grasshoppers came into this county from the Northwest on 11th of September. and left, going southwest, on the 26th of October. They spread over about two-thirds of the county, but the northeast they did not reach, and that part remained uninjured. They deposited eggs, but not so many as was expected from their numbers. Many fields of wheat in the western part of the county were entirely destroyed. The greatest damage was done to fall grain and meadows. PICKERING, Mo. M. B. W. HARMAN. The locust came into the west or northwest portion of our county late in the Fall. In the extreme West they laid eggs, and devoured the Fall wheat. Lutrrston, Mo., December 14, 1876. WM. H. CLARK. The grasshoppers were in the northern and western portions of this county last Fall, but did little damage. They laid eggs, but opinions differ as to the probability of their hatching out next Spring. Many contend that some kind of insect has de- stroyed them, as, repeatedly, when the holes in which they were deposited were dug into, no eggs were found. T. D. WALLACE. Hopkins, Mo., December 3, 1876. Pettis (o—A few grasshoppers came into this county last Fall, but I do not think they laid any eggs. They did no damage. J. kK. PB. LDOL, M.D: Hlousronra, Mo , November 30, 1876. The Rocky Mountain Locust did not visit any part of Pettis county during the year 1876. O. A. CRANDALL. SrepDaL1a, Mo., December 11, 1876. Platte Co.—No locusts here this year. Sixty miles north and west is as near as they came to us. JAMES ADKINS. Puatre Ciry, Mo., Dec. 1, 1876. OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 75 No locusts in our county this Fall; a few are reported to have fallen from a great height, carried out of their course by adverse winds. ; R. P. C. WILSON. Pratrz City, Mo, December 1, 1876. Polk Co.—The locusts came into our county last Fall at a late date. They did not get so far East as this in large quantities; but at the western border of the county they were numerous, though | have been unable to ascertain whether or not they deposited any eggs; but they came so late that I hardly think they did. T. W. WILSON. Payne’s Prarrie, Mo., December 18, 1876. In the three western townships of this county the hoppers have damaged the wheat badly, and have deposited large numbers of eggs, ‘They have been very destructive in the eastern part of Dade and Cedar county. J. CARSON. Borivar, Mo, December 15, 1876. No wheat was eaten off in this immediate vicinity. I do not think any attempt was made to resow; the damage was done too late. I hear of no measures being taken to protect wheat or other grain from the threatened ravages. T. W. SIMPSON. PAYNE’3 PratriE, Mo., December 30, 1876. The locusts visited the western portion of this county some time last Fall, in Octo- ber or November, I believe, and did considerable damage to a few fields of young wheat; though I think they were found only in a few isolated spots. Don’t know whether they laid eggs or not. H. CARR PRITCHETT. MorRIsvVILue, Mo., January 6, 1877. The locusts visited the western townships of our county, Jackson, Madison, and Johnson. They made their appearance between the Ist and 10th of October, and came from the West. They filled the ground with eggs. Where most numerous they entirely destroyed the growing wheat. J. M. LOAFMAN, M. D. MorRISsvVILue, Mo., December 27, 1876, Ray Co.—No part of our county was visited by the Rocky Mountain locusts during the vear. W. R. MEADOR. Harprin, Mo., December 29, 1876. St. Clair Co.—The locusts dropped in here in very small numbers late in October. The wind was from the north as they were coming in, and carried the greater part to Texas; only those that had tired out staying with us. They laid eggs, andinjured the wheat somewhat. I hear that they have eaten all the wheat from Sac River south to Arkansas. It is very cold just now, and no hoppers visible. Couuins, Mo., Dee. 2, 1876. Won. H. FILLERY. But very few Rocky Mountain Locusts came into the county this year. None to do any damage tocrops. South of us, in Barton, part of Cedar and Polk counties, they are reported to have destroved the wheat crops in places. JOHN HILL. TABORVILLE, Mo., Dec. 6, 1876. Vernon Co.—The locusts visited the southwestern portion of our county this Fall, doing much damage to wheat. They deposited a vast number of eggs, yet tha depos- its were not so numerous in proportion to the number of insects as in former years— say fifty per cent. M. L. MODREL. Lirtie OsaGe, Mo., Dee. 9, 1876. They came into the south and west half of Vernon in great numbers, and, it is said, deposited eggs as usual. Very few appeared in the northeast part. and no eggs ‘deposited there. J. A. PURINTON. SCHELL City, Mo., Dee. 2, 1876. No damage sustained in northeast part of this county. But few made their ap- pearance. In theSpring of 1875, the young appeared in immense numbers, but unac- countably disappeared from this locality before half grown, and did no damage. SCHELL City. Mo., Dec. 23, 1876. J. A. PURINTON. 76 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT The grasshoppers destroyed every field of wheat with which they came in contact, beyond recovery. On account of the lateness of the season farmers are letting their wheat lands lay over for corn, in the Spring. M. L. MODREL. LirtLe OsaGce, Mo., Jan. 8, 1877. InpDIAN TeRRITORY.—They were thick over most of the Territory, passing south- ward, from the middle of September, and many of them remaining through the season. They rendered horse-back travel extremely unpleasant. Trxas—The swarms reached Texas from the North and West about the middle of September, and from that time forth till Winter were flying very generally, over the State, reaching eventually latitude 29°, or more definitely to the Gulf all the way from the Sabine river to Austin. Their course was almost due South, and their injury con- fined to succulent vegetables, shrubs and fruit trees, the Orange and Cotton suffering more particularly. Mrs. H. 8S. King, of Austin, writes: The cars for about ten days were so much obstructed on the Texas Central line as to necessitate their stopping occassionally to clear the track of the grasshoppers. Though there were millions, they were never sufticiently numerous to obscure the sun, even for an instant, and they have been, as they usually are at this season, com- paratively harmless to vegetation. For about six weeks: they would fly up in the promonaders’ face like a pelting rain, alighting on the head and clothes, or taking short flights in advance of him. They were especially thick on walls, fencetops, and tree trunks, remaining there torpid until the sun shone out, and during the heat of the day swarming high in air, when they look like snow- flakes, walted by changing breezes. Messrs. Nelson and Sadler, of Galveston, state that the insects occurred all along the line of the Texas Central Railroad. It was most noticeable, as Mr. Jno. M. Crocketf, of Dallas, assures me, that notwithstanding the wind was, on the 19th Sep- tember, and for a few days thereafter, when the heaviest flights occurred, from N., N. E.; it yet varied much during the invasion, blowing mainly from the S. E. Neverthe- less the insects made steady progress southward, succeeding best on calm days and not diyerging E. five miles in fifty. Contrary winds simply baffled them and brought them to the ground until the conditions permitted them to continue their course, Eggs were laid throughout the territory overrun, and the young hatched in large quantities during the mild weather of February. Up to the time this writing goes into the printer’s hands, (March 5, 1877), the young, which have numerously hatched near the Gulf, have been destroyed by heavy cold rains that occurred the latter part of February. ARKANSAS—The insects overran the extreme N. W. corner of this State, as indicated in my map, and were particularly bad in Benton county. Indeed the injury was mostly confined to this county and the region south of it, the insects not extending east to Carroll county. This is the first recorded instance of their reaching into Arkansas. They made their advent from the 7th to the 15th of October, coming with the wind from the N. W. and flying S. and S. E., until they struck the base of Baston Mountain, Asin our ownS. W. counties, wheat was greatly injured by them, and eggs were laid up to the time Winter set in. From the foregoing record, summed up from numerous reports and observations, it is manifest that the locusts that hatched and did more or less damage in Minnesota early in the year, endeavored to get away to the northwest as soon as they got wings. They were sub- sequently repulsed and borne back again by the winds to their hatch- ing places; thence south and southwest into Iowa and Nebraska. As OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 77 they rise and fly from day to day they concentrate and condense, since in passing over a given area during the hotter parts of the day new accessions are constantly being made to the flying hosts which, with serried ranks, descend in the afternoon. Thus, in returning, the swarms were thicker and more destructive in places than they were in leaving. Yetitis evident that the column which thus came back to Minnesota and passed to the south and southwest was more strag- gling than in 1874, and that by the middle of the month it had spent its force and left egg¢s throughout most of the country traversed. Had the invasion consisted of these only, the damage would have been but slight, and the insects would hardly have reached into Kansas. Their eggs, laid in August, were far more liable to injury and to premature hatching than those laid later. But it is clear that fresh swarms that hatched in Dakato, and further northwest, followed on the heels of the Minnesota swarms, passing over much of the same country to the east and southward into Colorado, and eventually overruning the: larger part of Nebraska and Kansas, the Western half of lowa and some of the Western counties in Missouri, and reaching into Indian Territory, Texas and parts of Arkansas. The extent of the region invaded will appear by referring to the map (Fig. 16). Coming generally later than in 1874, they did less damage, and the farmers were in so much better condition to with- stand injury, that it was much less felt. In most sections visited, part of the migrating hosts remained to lay eggs; and the invasion of 1876 is remarkable as compared to that of 1874, for the large extent of country supplied with eggs. Another fact is notable, viz: that the very parts of Minnesota in which eggs were laid in 1875, and the por- tions of Missouri and Kansas in which they were most thickly laid in 1874, escaped in 1876. I cannot believe, however, that this is any- thing more than coincidence. DESTINATION OF THE DEPARTING SWARMS OF 1875. In considering this subject a year ago, I expressed the belief— founded on observation and the records as far as made—that the swarms which left the country south of the 44th parallel and the 100th meridian passed to the N. W., reaching into N. W. Dakota, Wyoming and Montana. I was unable at the time to state whether or not they reached up into British America, and from the large per centage of the departing insects that were diseased and that dropped on the way, I was led to the following conclusions: We may very justly conclude that a large proportion of the insects which departed from the country invaded in 1874, perished on their way toward the native habitat of the species, and that those which did not perish reached the Rocky Mountain region of the Northwest whence their parents had come the previous year. They struggled back 78 “NINTH ANNUAL REPORT ‘with thinned and weakened ranks, and it will probably take many years ere they become so prodigiously multiplied again, and are enabled by favorable conditions to push so far east as they did in the year 1874. They did some harm at their resting places on the way, but in a large number of instances they rose after their brief halts,” without doing serious injury. Nor can [learn of any instances where these swarms that left our territory deposited eggs. Had the winds been adverse to their northwest- ern course, and obliged them to remain in the country where they hatched, I believe that the bulk, if not all of them, would, nevertheless, have perished before laying eggs.—[Rep. 8, p. 108. E Information gathered during the past year shows conclusively that the insects which left the Mississippi Valley in 1875 did reach into British America. The Winnepeg Standard of August 19, 1876, as quoted by Professor Whitman, says: The locusts which hatched in Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska, in an area of 250 miles from east to west, and 30 miles from north to south, took flight in June, and invariably went northwest. and fell in innumerable swarms upon the regions of British America, adjoining Forts Pelly, Carlton and Ellice, covering an area as large as that they vacated on the Missouri River. They were reinforced by the retiring column from Manitoba, and it seemed to be hoping against hope that the new swarms of 1876 would not again descend upon the settlements in the Red Rtver valley. Intelligence was received here that the insects took flight from the vicinity of Fort Pelly on the 10th of July, and then followed a fortnight of intense suspense. Professor G. M. Dawson, of Montreal, writes: ‘“ You may be in- terested in knowing that the northward flying swarms in 1875 pene- trated a considerable distance into the region west of Manitoba, while most of the insects hatching in the latter Province went southeast- ward when winged, and that large numbers got at least as far east as the Lake of the Woods.” In an interesting paper in the Canadian Naturalist, on the “Appearance and Migrations of the locusts in Manitoba and the N. W. Territories in the Summer of 1875,” Frofessor Dawson further gives many other valuable records, some of which, as bearing on the question under consideration, I quote entire, as they will hardly bear condensing : From the reports now received from Manitoba and various portions of the North- west Territory, and published in abstract with these notes, it would appear that during the Summer of 1875 two distinct elements were concerned in the locust manifestation. First, the insects hatching in the province of Manitoba and surrounding regions, from eggs left by the western and northwestern invading swarms of the previous autumn ; second, a distinct foreign host, moving, for the most part, from south to north. ‘The locusts are known to have hatched in great numbers over almost the entire area of Manitoba, and westward at least as tar as Fort Ellice on the Assineboine river (long. 101° 20’), and may probably have been produed, at least sporadically, in other portions of the central regions of the plains; though in the Summer of 1874, this district was nearly emptied to recruit the swarms devastating Manitoba and the Western States, and there appears to have been little if any influx to supply their place. Still further west, on the plains along the base of the Rocky Mountains, from the 49th parallel to the Red Deer river, locusts are known to have hatched in considerable numbers—but of these more anon, é Hatching began in Manitoba and adjacent regions in favorable localities as early as May 7th, but does not seem to have become general till about the 15th of the month, and to have continued during the latter part of May and till the 15th of June. * * * The destruction of crops by the growing insects, in all the settled regions was very great, and in many districts well nigh complete. The exodus of these broods began in the early part of July, but appears to have been most general during the middle and latter part of that month, and first of August. The direction taken on departure was, with very little exception, southeast or south. Itis tobe remarked, that as there does OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 79 not seem to have been during this period any remarkable persistency of northwest or northerly winds, the insects must have selected those favoring their intended direc- tion of migration, an instinct which has very generally been observed elsewhere. * * * * * * * * * Foreign swarms from the south crossed the 49th parallel with a wide front stretch- ing from the 98th to the 108th meridian, and are quite distinguishable from those pro- duced in the country, from the fact thaf many of them arrived before the latter were mature. These flights constituted the extreme northern part of the army returning northward and northwestward from the States rava ged in the autumn of 1874. They appeared at Fort Ellice on the 13th of June, and at Qu’ Appelle Fort on the 17th of the same month, favored much no doubt by the steady south and southeast winds, which, according to the meteorological register at Winnipeg, prevailed on the 12th of June and for about a week thereafter. After their first appearance, however, their sub- sequent progress seems to have been comparatively slow, and their advancing border very irregular in outline. They are said to have reached Swan Lake House—the most northern point to which they are known to have attained—about July 10; while Fort Pelly, further west,and nearly a degree further south, was reached July 20th, and about seven days were occupied in the journey from there to Swan River Barrac ks, a distance of only ten miles. We thus learn that vast swarms not only reached: into British America in 1875, from our own country, but that the young hatched there from swarms that had come the previous year from the further northwest. There was, therefore, north of the 49th parallel, a repetition of the devastation we were at the time experiencing; the insects hatch- ing there in bulk just about the time they were leaving Texas on the wing. SOURCE OF THE SWARMS OF 1876. From the preceding statement of facts, and from the detailed history of the invasion of 1876, it becomes obvious that this invasion was made up, ist, of such insects as hatched out in southwest Minne- sota, and parts of Colorado, Wyoming and Dakota; 2d, of additions to these from Montana and British America. In how far those in either of these categories were made up of the progeny from the insects that left our country in 1875 we shall never be able accurately to determine. ‘The proportion of parasitized and diseased insects that left Missouri, doubtless became less among those which hatched and rose from the farther north and west, and we may, I think, take it for granted that the larger part of the swarms that reached Montana and British America, laid eggs. In addition to the vast bevies which invaded the northwest from the south and southeast, there were in 1875, as Prof. Dawson shows, others that hatched in the northwest, pouring from British America into our Northwest territory. There were, in fact, in Manitoba, and large parts of the Northwest, two grand opposing movements of the winged insects, which thus replaced each other. And bearing this in mind, we can understand the increased area inthe Northwest over which eggs were laid that year, andfrom which the 18/6 swarms had their source. As no eggs were laid in Manitoba, while the young are known to have abounded in the moun- $0 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT tain region to the west of that province, itis more than probable that the principal source of the 1876 invasion was Montana and the Saskat- . chawan and Swan River countries. The question as to how far the northwest breeding grounds are recruited by the insects which hatch in the more fertile country which I have designated as outside the species’ natural habitat, is a most interesting one; for if thus recruited there is all the greater incentive for us to exterminate the young insects which hatch with us. All such questions can only be settled by a thorough study of the subject by a properly constituted com- mission, charged by Congress with the work. EASTERN LINE REACHED. A study of the eastern limit of the invasion of 1876, compared with that of 1874, shows that it is peculiar in reaching farther east in Minnesota and Iowa, and farther south and east in Texas. The limit- line—extending from Clay county, Minnesota; bulging toward St. Paul, reaching southwardly to the center of Iowa; thence westwardly receding to Lawrence, Kansas, and bulging again to Southwest Mis- souri—is more irregular between the 36th and 46th parallels than it was in 1874. Onan average, however, it does not extend east of the 94th meridian. RATE AT WHICH THE INSECTS SPREAD, Leaving Montana about the middle of July the insects reached — far into Texas by the end of September, thus extending about 1,500 miles in 75 days, or an average of about 20 miles per day. But over a large part of this territory, viz., portions of Wyoming, most of Da- kota and Nebraska, W. Minnesota, N. W. Iowa, N. W. Kansas, and N. EH. Colorado—they appeared almost simultaneously, or during the last few days of July and the first few day of August; and this, I think, indicates that they were at that time swept down at a very much higher rate by the N. W. winds from Montana and British America. After that time the extension S. was tolerably rapid, but the exten- sion EK. was more and more slow. They occupied nearly a month reaching from N. W. Iowa to the S. W. limit in the same State, and their eastward progress on the confines of the limit line already indi- cated was still more gradual as they went South. All of which indi- | cates that they fly most powerfully when leaving the higher altitudes of the N. W., and most persistently during the first week or so after becoming fledged, while the females are not yet prompted to descend for oviposition. This is also the period when they are passing over the vast plains and the sparsely settled and uncultivated portion of the country,in which there is, perhaps, least inducement for the raven- ous host to halt. OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 81 As flight is not consecutive day after day, but often impeded hy _bad weather, and as it is not continuously in one direction, the aver- age rate is not more than 20 miles a day. It is also most variable and at times reaches a maximum of between two and three hundred miles daily. DIRECTION OF FLIGHT. The wind was quite changeable during the period of invasion, and we find the insects, at one time or another, traveling in nearly all possible directions, except due west. Yet, if we except the departing swarms which flew from N. W. Minnesota in July, the direction of the invad- ing hosts was, as I believe it always has been and always will be, con- spicuously S.and 8S. EK. The exceptions were principally during the first week in August, when they swept S. W. from Minnesota over parts of Iowa and Nebraska; and two months later when they were carried N. E. into our S. W. counties. INFLUENCE OF THE WIND IN DETERMINING THE COURSE OF LOCUST SWARMS. That excessive multiplication and hunger are the principal causes of migration from the native home of the species, and that the pre- vailing winds determine the course therefrom, I have endeavored to show (Reps. 7, p. 104; 8, p.112). That all these influences very largely determine the return migration when the insects hatch out in the Mississippi Valley is also doubtless true; and it is interesting to note in this connection that, according to observations, covering a period of from two to five years, furnished by General Myer, at the request of Dr. A. S. Packard, Jr.,* the prevailing winds in May and June, within the region subject to invasion, are from the Gulf of Mexico, or from theS. E. and B8., z. ¢. in the opposite direction, prevails later in the season. Yet, to assume that the migrations are solely dependent for direction on the winds would be incorrect, as there is cumulative evidence (much of it recorded in these Reports) that when once the migration has commenced, adverse winds only retard, but do not materially change its course. LOCUST FLIGHTS EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. To the unscientific mind there are féw things more difficult of apprehension than that species, whether of plants or animals, should be limited in geographical range to areas not separated from the rest of the country by any very marked barriers, or by visible demarca- _ tions. Yet it is a fact well known to every naturalist, and the geo- *<¢«The Destructive Locust of the West,’? Am. Naturalist, Vol. XI, p. 27. ER—6 a 82 NINTH ANNUAL -REPORT graphical distribution of species forms at once one of the most inter- esting and one of the most important studies in natural history. Some species have a very limited, others a very wide range; and while in the course of time—in the lapse of centuries or ages—the limits have altered in the past and will alter in the future, they are, for all practical purposes, permanent in present time. These limits may in fact, for the purpose of illustration, be likened to those which separate different nations. Though frequently divided by purely imaginary lines, the nations of Europe, with their peculiar customs and languages, are well defined. Along the borders where the nations join, there is sometimes more or less commingling; at other times the line of demarkation is abrupt ; and in-no case could emigrants from the one,long perpetuate their peculiarities unchanged in the midst of the other. Yet in the battle of nations, the lines have changed, and the map of Europe has often been remodeled. So it is with species. On the borders of the areas not abruptly defined, to which species are limited, there is more or- less modification from the typical characters and habits; while in the struggle of species for supremacy, the limits may varyin the course of time. The difference is, that the boundaries of nations result from human rather than natural agencies, while those of species result most from the latter, and are threfore more permanent. These re- marks apply of course to species in a natural state and where their range is uninfluenced either directly or indirectly by civilized man. I found some difficulty at the late Conference of Governors at Omaha to consider the locust problem, in satisfying those present that the Rocky Mountain Locust could not permanently thrive south of the 44th parallel, or east of the 100th meridian, and that there was no danger of its ever extending so as to do serious damage east of a line drawn a little west of the centre of Iowa. They could not see what there was to prevent the pest from overrunning the whole country, and thought that Congress should be appealed to, not only on behalf of the country that has suffered fromits ravages, but on behalf also of the whole country that is threatened therefrom. Having discussed in my two previous Reports the native home of the species, and the conditions which prevent its permanent settle- ment in the country to which it is not native, it is unnecessary here to go into detail on these points. Briefly, the species is at home and can come to perfection only in the high and dry regions of the Northwest, where the Winters are long and cold and the Summers short; and whenever it migrates and oversweeps the country to the south or OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST, 83 southeast, in which it is not indigenous, the changed conditions are such that the first generation hatched out in that (to it) unnatural climate, either forsakes it on the wing or perishes from. debility, dis- ease and general deterioration. On the soundness of this conclusion depends the future welfare of most of the more fertile States between the Mississippi and the mouniains, and science, as well as past experi- ence, show it to be sound. Upon this hypothesis the people of nearly the whole country so scourged during the past year, and so threatened next Spring, may console themselves that the evil is but temporary: they may have to fight their tiny foe most desperately next Spring, but they have also the assurance that even if he prove master of the field, he will vacate in time to, in all probability, allow of good crops of some of the staples, and that he may not return again for years. On the other hypothesis—for which there is only apparent, and no real reason—ruin stares them inevitably in the face. The causes which Jimit the eastward flight of the winged swarms that come from the Northwest are, with the majority of people, still more difficult to appreciate ; for most persons can see no reason why aswarm that overruns the western portions of Minnesota, Iowa and Missouri, should not extend to the eastern borders of the same States, or into Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and eastward. Having previ- ously considered the more occult climatic influences that bear on the belief that they never will, I need only state here, that the principal arguments rest in the facts that—Ist, the power of flight of any insect that has a limited winged existence, must somewhere find a limit; 2d, that all past experience has shown that Caloptenus spretus has never _extended, in a general way, beyond the limit indicated, and that as long as the present average conditions of wind and climate prevail, it is reasonable to suppose that it never will. One of the principal difficulties in the way of a proper apprehen- sion of the facts, is found in the failure, in the popular mind, to dis- criminate between species. The ordinary newspaper writer talks of the grasshopper, or the locust, as though all over the country and all over the world there was but one and the same species. One of the Governors present at the Conference referred to, was at first fully of the belief that our Rocky Mountain pest came all the way from Asia. In the case of this destructive species, even some entomologists have added to the difficulty by erroneously claiming that it is common all over the country to the Atlantic ocean. The above thoughts were suggested by the following reports, that met my eye, in the Cincinnatz Gazette of the 24th of October, from Dayton and Hamilton, respectively, in the State of Ohio: 84 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT The advent of Kansas grasshoppers, over Sunday and until Monday evening, in great numbers throughout the city, is a most remarkable incident. They were found early Sunday morning, and left, as suddenly as they vame, on Monday evening. A shower of mammoth grasshoppers came down upon our town and vicinity on Saturday night. We have never seen such large ones before, and we understand from old citizens, that they are entire strangers in this part of the country. Wesaw a boy have a string tied to two of them (which were as long asa man’s finger) trying to drive them, and he succeeded pretty well. ‘ A flock of grasshoppers alighted in Hamilton about 11 o’clock on Saturday night, from the northwest. Those that were not drowned in the river or killed by the heavy rain, were probably gobbled up before Sunday night by the chickens. [Fig. 17.] AMERICAN ACRIDIUM, Such reports as these very naturally confirm the unscientific in the idea that the locust plague of the West, or so-called “ Kansas grasshopper,” has overstepped the limits entomology ascribes to it, and is upsetting the conclusions which I have come to. The same swarm passed over Oxford in the same State, in a southwesterly direc- tion, and fortunately that veteran and well-known apiarian, the Rev. L. L. Langstroth, who has not forgotten to be a close observer, had specimens sent tome. They proved to be the American Acridium (Acridium Americanum). As stated in my 8th Report, this is one of the largest and most elegant of our N. A. locusts, the prevailing color being dark brown, with a pale yellowish line along the middle of the back when the wings are closed. It has a wide range, hibernates in the winged condition, and differs not only in size and habits from the Rocky Mountain Locust, but entomologically is as widely separated from it as a sheep from a cow. It is a species common over the country every year, and during exceptional years becomes excessively numerous and acquires the migratory habit, its wings being long and well adapted to flying. As I learn from Dr. 8S. Miller of Franklin, it passed in swarms over part of Johnson county, Missouri, late in Sep- tember; and it was everywhere abundant in 1876. The following extracts from letters of correspondents refer to this species: I send you by Mr. Shaw a small package containing specimens of locusts, destruc- tive about Chattanooga and in all eastern Tennessee. They strike me as nearly allied to the Rocky Mountain Locust; fly with the same noise and shine of wings, in large shoals, but are larger.—[Dr. G. Engelmann, Warm Springs, N. C., Aug. 29, 1876. OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 85 We have a locust here which has in some places occurred in considerable numbers, and some people think it the same as the one which has produced so much damage in the West. This I doubt, as it is evidently a native species.—[E. M. Pendleton, Prof. of Agriculture, Un. of Ga., Atlanta, Ga., Sept. 14, 1876. The American Acridium visited us on the night of November 21, (Saturday.) A rain fell during the night. Cambridge City, Indiana, was also visited by them on the same night.—[ Herschel I. Fisher, Eastham College, Richmond, Ind. Toward the end of July the unfledged insects did an immense amount of damage tothe cotton and other crops of Georgia and South Carolina. The papers were full of graphic accounts of their destruc- tion, and editors not only very generally took it for granted that they had to do with the western spretus, but Mr. T. P. Janes, Commis- sioner of Agriculture for Georgia, in his circular No. 27, supposed they were the same. Specimens which he subsequently sent me, however, at once revealed their true character. The damage done by some of the more common locusts that occur over the country, is, let me repeat, sometimes very great, especially during hot, dry years. In some of the New England States their ravages have, in restricted localities, fairly equalled those of the vora- cious spretus of the West. But while a few of them, under exceptional circumstances, develop the migratory habit, they none of them ever have, and in all probability never will, compare to Caloptenus spretus in the vastness of its migrations and in its immense power for injury over extensive areas. Whenever we hear of locust flights east of the Mississippi, we may rest satisfied that they are not of our Rocky Mountain pest, and are comparatively harmless. DOES THE FEMALE FORM MORE THAN ONE EGG-MASS ? Whether the female of our Rocky Mountain Locust lays her full supply of eggs at once, and in one and the same hole; or whether she forms several pods at different periods, are questions often asked, but which have never been fully and definitely answered in entomological ? works. It is the rule with insects, particularly with the large number of injurious species belonging to the Lepidoptera, that the eggsin the ovaries develop almost simultaneously, and that when oviposition once commences, itis continued uninteruptedly until the supply of eggs is exhausted. Yet there are many notable exceptions to the rule among injurious species, asin the cases of the common Plum Curculio and the Colorado Potato-beetle, which oviposit at stated or irregular intervals during several weeks, or even months. The Rocky Moun- tain Locust belongs to this last category, and the most casual exami- nation of the ovaries in a female, taken in the act of ovipositing, will show that besides the fully formed eggs then and there being laid, there are other sets, diminishing in size, which are to be laid at future periods. This, I repeat, can be determined by any one who will take 86 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT the trouble to carefully examine a few females when laying. But just how often, or how many eggs each one lays, is more difficult to determine. With spretws I have been able to make comparatively few experiments, but on three different occasions I obtained two pods from single females, laid at intervals of 18,21 and 26 days respectively. I have, however, made extended experimenis with its close conge- ners, femur-rubrum and Atlanis, and in two cases, with the former, have obtained four different pods from one femaie, the laying cover- ing periods of 58 and 62 days, and the total number of eggs laid being 96 in the one case and 110 in the other. A number of both species laid three times, but most of them—owing, perhaps, to their being confined—laid but twice. They couple with the male between each period, and I have no doubt but that, as in most other species of animals, there is great difference in the degree of individual prolifi- cacy. We may, therefore, feel tolerably confident that the Rocky Moun- tain Locust will sometimes form as many as four egg-pods. The time required for drilling the hole and completing the pod will vary according to the season and the temperature. During the latter part of October or early in November last year, when there’ was frost at night and the insects did not rouse from their chilled inactivity until 9 o’clock a.M., the females scarce had time to com- plete the process during the four or five warmer hours of the day; but with higher temperature not move than from two to three hours would be required. HOW THE EGGS ARE LAID. The question as to how best to treat the soil, or to manage the eggs so as to most. easily destroy their vitality, is a most important [Fig. 18.] and practical one, and as f assisting to a decisive an- swer, I have carried on a series of experiments, ‘which will be presently detailed. To make the ex- periments the more intelli- gible, I will first give the — reader a deeper insight into ~ the philosophy of the pro- CF wi =4>— cesses of egg-laying and of Sn ORE Ny a hatching than I have hith- Rocky Mountain Locust:—a, a, a, female in different positions, ovipositing; b, egg-pod extracted from ground, eyrto done, and this the with the end broken open; c, afew eggs lyfag loose on the ground; d, e, shows the earth partially removed, to illustrate } if an egg-mass ‘already in place, and one being placed; /, shows more readily that it has Where such a mass has been covered up. never been given by any other author. OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 87 I have already explained (Rep. 7, p. 122) how, by means of the horny valves at the end of her abdomen (Fig. 19) the female drillsa [Fig. 19.] cylindrical hole in the ground in which to consign her eggs. . The curved abdomen stretches to its utmost for this purpose, and the hole is generally a cf |) }~\_ little curved and is always more or less oblique, (Fig. " | Alia - 18, e. d.) If we could manage to watch a female Rocky Mountain 7 . Ses 4 rod ose MoentaN during the arduous work of ovipositing we should sete ery eaves °* find that, when the hole is once drilled, there com- mences to exude at the dorsal end of the abdomen, from a pair of sponge-like exsertile organs (Fig. 20,4) that are normally retracted and hidden beneath the super-anal plate, (Fig. 20, 2) near the cerci, a frothy, mucous matter, which fills up the bottom of the [Fig. 20.] hole. Then, with the two pairs of valves brought close together, an egg would be seen to slide down the ovi- [2; duct (7) along the ventral end of the abdomen, and, | el guided by a little finger-like style,* (g) pass in be- | § tween the horny valves (which are admirably con- wane structed, not only for drilling, but for holding and con- ducting the egg to its appropriate place) and issue at their tips amid the mucous fluid already spoken of. Then follows a period of convulsions, during which | Ovirosrtion or Rocky Mountain more mucous material is elaborated, until the whole loecusz. end of the body is bathed in it—-when another egg passes down and is placed in position. These alternate processes continue until the full complement of eggs are in place, the number ranging from 20 to 35, but averaging about 28. The mucous matter binds all the eggs in a mass, and when the last is laid the mother devotes some time to filling up the somewhat narrower neck of the burrow with a compact and cellulose mass of the same material which, though light and easily penetrated, is more or less impervious to water, and forms a very excellent protection. (Fig. 21. d.) PHILOSOPHY OF THE EGG-MASS. To the casual observer the eggs of our locust appear to be thrust indiscriminately in the hole made for their reception. A more careful study of the egg-mass or egg-pod will show, however, that the female took great pains to arrange them, not only so as to economize as much space as possible consistent with the form of *This is a simple process or extension of the sternite, not particularized, that lam aware of, by any auther. It may be known as the egg-guide or gubernaculum ovi. 88 ; NINTH ANNUAL REPORT each egg, but so as to best facilitate the escape of the young locust; for as the bottom eggs were the first laid and are gen- erally the first to hatch, their issue would, in their efforts to escape, eral _ disturb and injure the other 3 = s eggs, were there no provision against such a possibility. The eggs are, indeed, most care- — fully placed side by side in 1 four rows, each row generally containing seven. They Ea@e-mMass or Rocky Mountarn Locusr:—a, from the cylinder. (Fig. 21, a). The the side, within burrow; 0b, trom beneath; c, from - above—enlarged. posterior or narrow end which issues first from the oviduct is thickened, and generally shows two pale rings around the darker tip (Fig. 22, a). Thisis pushed close against the bottom of the burrow which, being cylindrical, does not permit the outer or two side rows to be pushed quite so far down as the two inner rows; and for the very same reason the upper or head ends of the outer rows are necessarily bent to the same extent over the inner rows—the eggs when laid being somewhat soft and plastic. There is, consequently, an irregular channel along the top of the mass. (Fig. 21, c) which is filled only with the same frothy matter which surrounds each egg and occupies all the other space in the burrow not occupied by the eggs. The whole plan is seen at once by a reference to Figure 21, which represents enlarged,a side view of the mass within the burrow (a), and a bottom (6) and top (c) view of the same, with the earth which adheres to it, removed. HOW THE YOUNG LOCUST ESCAPES FROM THE EGG. Carefully examined, the egg-shell is found to consist of two layers. The outer layer which is thin, semi-opaque, and gives the pale cream- yellow color, isseen by aid of a high magnifying power to be densely, minutely and shallowly pitted ; or, to usestill more exact language, the whole surface is netted with minute and more or less irregular, hexag- onal ridges (Fig. 22,a,6). Theinner layer is thicker, of a deeper yel- low, and perfectly smooth. It is also translucent, so that, as the hatch- ing period approaches, the form and members of the embryon may be distinctly discerned through it. The outer covering is easily rup- tured, and is rendered all the more fragile by freezing; but the inner covering is so tough that a very strong pressure between one’s thumb and finger is required to burst it. How, then, will the embryon, which fills it so compactly that there is scarcely room for motion, OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 89 succeed in escaping from such a prison? The rigid shell of the bird’s egg is easily cracked by the beak of its tenant; the hatching cater- piliar, curled within its egg-shell, has room enough to move its jaws and eat its way out; the egg-coverings of many insects are so delicate [Fig. 22. and frail that the mere swelling of 3 the embryon affords means of es- cape’ those of others so construct- ed that a door flies open, or a lid lifts by a spring, whenever pressure is brought to bear: in some, two halves open as in the shell of a muscle; whilst in a host of others the embryoniis furnished with a spe- cial structure, called the egg-bur- ster, the office of which is to cutor ruptire the shell, and thus afford means of escape. But our young lo- cust is deprived of all such contri- vances, and must use another mode of exit from its tough and sub-elastic \ \ ae ie vet = wl rett=3 y=) , j Beir. of erate co ane vers prison. Nature accomplishes the highly magnified; c, the inner shell just before hatching; d, e, points where it ruptures. same end in many different ways. She is rich in contrivances. Every one who has been troubled by it must have noticed that the shanks (tibize) of our locust, as of all the members of its family, are armed with spines. On the four anterior legs, these spines are inside the shank; on the long posterior legs, outside. The spines of the hind shanks are strongest, and the termi- nal ones on all legs stronger than the rest. There can be no doubt that these spines serve to give a firm hold to the insect in walking or jumping; but they have first served a more important pre-natal pur- pose. When fully formed, the embryon is seen to lie within its shell, as at Fig.22,¢c. The antenne curve over the face and between the jaws, which are early developed, and, with their sharp, black teeth, reach onto the breast. The legs are folded up on the breast, the strong ter- minal hooks on the hind shanks reaching toward the mesosternum. Now the hatching consists of a continued series of undulating con- tractions and expansions of the several joints of the body, and with this motion there is slight but constant friction of the tips of the jaws and of thesharp tips of the hind tibial spines, as also of the tarsal claws of all the legs against the. shell, which eventually weakens 90 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT between the points d and e, and finally gives way there. It then easily splits up to the eyes or beyond, by the swelling of the head. By the same undulating movements the nascent larva soon works itself entirely out of the egg, when it easily makes its way along the channel already described, without in the least interfering with the other eggs, and finally forces a passage-way up through the mucous filling in the neck of the burrow (Fig. 21, d). Once fully escaped from the soil, it rests from its exertions, but for ashort time only. Its task is by no means complete: before it can feed or move with alac- rity it must molt a pellicle* which completely encases every part of the body. ‘This it does in the course of three or four minutes, or even less, by a continuance of the same contracting and expanding move- ments which freed it from the earth, and which now burst the skin on the back of the head. The body is then gradually worked from its delicate covering until the last of the hind legs is free and the exu- vium remains, generally near the point where the animal issued from the ground, asa little, white, crumpled pellet. Pale and colorless at first, the full-born insect assumes its dark-gray coloring in the course of half an hour. From this account of the hatching process, we can readily under- stand why the female in ovipositing prefers compact or hard soil to that which is loose. The harder and less yielding the walls of the burrow, the easier will the young locust crowd its way ont. The covering which envelops the little animal when first it issues from the egg, though quite delicate, undoubtedly affords protection in the struggles of birth from the burrow, and it is an interesting fact that while it is shed within a few minutes of the time when the ani- mal reaches the free air, it is seldom shed if, from one cause or other, there is failure to escape from the soil, though the young locust may be struggling for days to effect an escape. While yet enveloped in this pellicle, the animal possesses great forcing and pushing power, and if the soil be not too compact, will frequently force a direct passage through the same to the surface, as indicated at the dotted lines, Fig. 21, e. Butit can make little or no headway, except through the appropriate channel (d@), where the soil is at all compressed. While crowding its way out, the antenne and four front legs are held in much the same position as within the egg, the hind legs being generally stretched. But the members bend in every conceivable way, and where several are endeavoring to work through any particular passage, the amount of squeezing and crowd- ing they will endure is something remarkable. Yet if by chance the * This pellicle (the ambion) is common to most Orthopterous and Neuropterous insects. OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 91 protecting pellicle is worked off before issuing from the ground, the animal loses all power of further forcing its way out. The instinctive tendency to push upwards is also remarkable. In glass tubes, in which I have had the eggs hatching in order to watch the young, these last would always turn their heads and push toward the bottom whenever > the tubes were turned mouth downward; while in tin boxes where the eggs were placed at different depths in the ground, the young never descended, even when they were unable to ascend on account of the compactness of the soil above. « ADDITIONAL NATURAL ENEMIES. The enemies of the Rocky Mountain Locust may be divided into those which destroy the eggs and those which attack and destroy the active insects. Animals which destroy the eggs.—In addition to the Black-bird and Prairie Chicken, previously mentioned as feeding on the eggs, Mr. Geo. F. Gamner, of Lawrence, Kans., has found the Lapland Long- spur (Plectrophanes lapponicus), the Horned Lark (Hromophila cornuta) and the Quail doing the same good work, feeding especially on such eggs as are exposed by freezing and thawing. Mr.J.W. Rob- son, of Cheever, Kans., has found the Skunk and Striped Squirrel destroying large numbers of the eggs, and the Greeley (Col.) Sun reports five acres of land dug all over by the former animal in search of them. The Silky Mite ( Zrombidium sericium), the habits of which were related in my 7th Report, did much good in destroying the eggs in the more northern States. In parts of Minnesota it reduced them to a powder over extensive areas, and as the power of these minute scarlet bodies for good as egg-destroyers has been questioned, I give the following reports, which tell their own story: Last evening, when we reached Worthington from Lake Shetek, there was quite an excitement in Worthington, owing to the fact that the citizens were generally con- vinced that a red parasite was destroying the grasshopper eggs. I examined the mat- ter carefully myself. and became convinced that the destruction of the eggs in that immediate vicinity was well assured; bat I determined not to write you and excite any hope until a further and more complete examination could be had. We therefore fur- nished our Bohemian friends with a bottle of the eggs and their pests, and the commis- sion left-in high spirits. We postponed further investigation until this morning, when IT left and prosecuted the examination with vigor. The farmers in the vicinity knew nothing of these signs of deliverance until the visitors from Worthington reached them, and I feel safe in saying to you that in a circle of ten miles from Worthington there will scarcely be an egg left by to-morrow night. Isend you a bottle herewith containing the cones and the parasites. We could scarcely find a cone or sack, except as they were indicated by the parasite on the surface; and each cone, which was not entirely destroyed, had from five to fifty of the red laborers at work upon the eggs. We found scores of cells with no eggs left, except the shells. * * * * * * * * * * * Istopped for fifteen minutes one-and-a-half miles west of Wilder, where Section Foreman Smith took me to that portion of his farm where eggs were deposited. We could find none by general digging, but wherever we toun!, as we frequently did, the red parasite on the surface, we found the cone beneath, with the parasite at work con- 92 - NINTH ANNUAL REPORT suming theeggs. * ©* * Tamaware that two years ago this parasite was found working upon the eggs at Madelia and other places, but here we have the remedy al- most as soon as the eggs are laid, while in the former instances the parasite was only discovered in the Spring.—[Letter from Ex-Goy. Stephen Miller, written from Win- dom, Minn., Aug. 15, 1876. We send herewith a box of grasshopper eggs, together with the “ silky mite,” of which so much has been said. You can see a sample of the work they are doing. They are over the ground and in it wherever eggs have been laid. They suck the eggs, . leaving the bare shell. We have talked with farmers from all parts of the county, “and they all tell the same story—not a cell to be found that is not partially or wholly de- stroyed, We have personally inspected them in more than tiventy different places, and are satisfied that in this county the eggs of the festive G. H. are a “ total wreck.’”? Allow us to suggest that you call for a report from every county in the State that has been infested by them.—[Letter to Pioneer Press and Tribune, from Bell & Gruelle, Worthing- ton, Nobles Co., Minn., Aug. 16, 1876. I send, enclosed in a circular tin box, mailed with this, some dirt containing grass- hopper’s eggs, and also the red mite or spider that sucks them, as you will perceive on examination. I trust they will be received in good order. I send them at the request of A. Whitman, of St. Paul, of this State, with whom I am corresponding sometimes on this grasshopper matter. [Letter from R. B. Potts, U.S. N , Worthington, Minn., August 18, 1876. Up to the past autumn the Silky Mite was the only parasite that was known to attack the eggs of our locust, though a small Chalcid- fly* had been bred by Mr. 8. H. Scudder, from those of the Carolina Locust, a large species with blue and black hind wings; and two Ich- neumon-flies were known to attack locust eggs in Europe. The present year five new insect enemies have been found attacking these eggs almost everywhere throughout the infested country, and these I will proceed to describe. Tue AntHomy1a Kaa Parasite, (Anthomyia radicum, var. calop- tenv.)—This is by far the most wide-spread and generally useful of the [Fig. 23.] different egg enemies. It has occurred in Minneso- ta, Iowa, Nebraska, Kan- sas, Missouri and Texas, and wherever I have ex- amined the locust eggs, whether in Missouri, Kan- sas or Nebraska, I have found it destroying on an cent. of them. It is the ANTHOMYIA EGG-PARrasitnm:—a, fly; b, pupa; c, larva from rey referred to by Mr. side; d, head of same from above—enlarged. a JinosD: Dopf, of Atchison, and by Mr. J. D. White, of Holt soon. in the He oe from MisvOury *A similar, if not the same Chalcid, infests the eggs of spretus, for Mr Potts has sent me egg masses in which every egg hada Chalcid pupa. Unfortunatelyf they were too dry when receiy adit permit of rearing the imago. OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 93 (ante, pp. 68, 72.) and the following items will serve as samples of many others that referred to the same parasite: Recently a white worm or maggot has been discovered in the locust eggs laid in this vicinity, and so generally are the grubs that we really look for a great diminution in next year’s locust crop. About the time the hoppers began laying eggs we hada hard, soaking rain, and since then we have had several more—the last this morning. By this time the ground is well soaked with water.and the eggs were and are laid in earth that is quite moist.’ It is about two weeks since the hoppers first reached Man- kato, they have laid many eggs, and already this worm or maggot has developed and seems to be on the increase, being found in the egg cells, where it sucks or destroys the egg. Some cells that I have opened have had two and three woruws in them.— [From a letter from J. C. Wise, Mankato, Minn., August 20, 1877. On the ninth [ sent youa box of locust egg parasites, and to-day I will send you some more of different sort: or different stages of development or both. I find them more plentiful to-day than before. The ground seems to be full of them from 5 to 20 of the small white worms in a single cell, one generally, though sometimes two of the large white ones in a cell. The reddish covered ones I suppose are in a different stage of development, though the same parasite. In every cell in which I have found any of those sent you the eggs were nearly or quite destroyed. But there is another, and afar more destructive enemy, viz: the hot sun, which is hatching them out by the million, though the parasites may continue their work after it ceases to operate. [ shall be happy to do all I can to aid you in your investigations—[Letter from C. E. Treadwell, Rockport, Atchison county, October 16, 1876. Yesterday we discovered on a warm southern exposure that our locust eggs were hatching out maggots. We break open the cocoons and the eggs on exposure to the sun fora few moments crawl away a worm. In warm places along the hedges the earth is alive with them. Is this a new development of the locust question? It would seem to bea confirmation of the theory you promulgated, asf understood it, at the time. I secured a few of the perfect cocoons which I enclose for your examination. We suppose these will do as the others do upon exposure to the sun. The people here are quite excited over the matter, hoping it may bea solution of the problem for next year, at least, and have deputed me to lay the matter before you. Any information you can give usin regard to this our latest development, will be thankfully received and acknowledged—[Letter from 8. M. Pratt, M. D., Hiawatha, Brown county, Kansas, October 30, 1876. Various reports have been circulated in regard to the destruction of the eggs of the Rocky Mountain Locust (Caloptenus spretus) by a worm, I am happy to state that these reports were substantiated yesterday by Mr. McLockhead of Deer Creek, Kana- waka, twelve miles west of this city, who brought me a box of earthin which the eggs of the ‘‘hopper”’ had been abundantly deposited. To-day a similar box was secured from W. B. Barnett, Esq. of Hiawatha, Brown county. In both of these instances a large proportion of the eggs have been destroyed by a small, white larve. Many of the egg-cases, which ordinarily each contain from twenty to thirty eggs, had no eggs in them, but were full of these worms or larve, each one of which took the place of an egg which it had destroyed. Some of theegg-cases contained only two or three larve with more than twenty sound eggs. I consider these to be the larvz of a parasitic Hymenopterous insect [it was subsequently verified as the Anthomyia under considera- tion] which I hope to obtain in the winged or perfect state, if I succeed in carrying them safely through their transformation—[Prof. F. H. Snow, in Lawrence (Kansas) Journal, November 1, 1876. This good little friend, which simultaneously prevailed over so large an extent of country, is a small white maggot, (Fig. 23, c) of the same general form of the common meat maggots or “ gentiles,” but measuring, when full grown and extended, not quite + of an inch in length. The head, with some of the anterior joints of the body, tapers and is retractile,and the jaws consist of two small hooks joined to a V-shaped, black, horny piece which, as it is retracted or extended, plays beneath the transparent skin. The hind or tail end 4 94 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT is squarely docked off, and contains two small yellowish-brow», eye- like spots, which are the principle spiracles or breathing pores. ° These small maggots are found in the locust egg-pods, either singly or in varying numbers, there sometimes being a dozen packed together in the same pod. They exhaust the juices of the eggs and leave nothing but the dry and discolored shells, and where they are not numerous enough to destroy all the eggs in the pod, their work, in breaking open a few, often causes all the others to rot. When fed to repletion this maggot contracts to a little cylindrical, yellowish-brown pupa, (Fig. 23, 6) about half the length of the out- stretched and full-grown larva, and rounded at both ends. From this pupa, in the course of a week in warm weather, and longer as the weather is colder, there issues a small, grayish, two-winged fly, (Fig. 23, a) about + of an inch long, the wings expanding about 4 of an inch, and in general appearance resembling a diminutive house-fly, except that the body is more slender and more tapering behind, and the wings relatively more ample. More carefully examined, the body is seen to be of an ash-gray color, tinged with rust-yellow, and beset with stiff bristle-like hairs, those on the thorax stoutest, and those on the abdomen smaller but more uniformly distributed. The wings are faintly smoky and iridescent. There are three dusky longitudinal stripes on the thorax, most distinct anteriorly, and another along the middle of the abdomen, most distinct in the male, which also differs from the female in the larger eyes, which meet much more closely on the top of the head than in the female, and in the face being whiter. The Winter is passed mostly in the pupa state, though doubtless in some cases also in the winged state. The flies of this genus are characterized by the shortness of the antennz, and by the attenuated abdomen. The characters given to it are, however, by no means uniform, and as the species generally bear avery close resemblance to each other, and there have been a large number described in Europe, (many of them very imperfectly ), it becomes almost an impossibility to properly determine them. As the sexes often differ materially, itis also,except where they are reared from the larva, difficult to connect them, and as the colors often become sordid and dull in the cabinet, many of the described species have no real existence. The flies frequent flowers, and often congregate and play in swarms in the air. Their eggs are white, smooth, oval, about 0.04 inch long, and are dropped near the food of the larva. In the larva state these insects mostly feed on !eguminous plants, and the carnivorous habit is exceptional. The species affecting the Cabbage, the Onion, the OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 95 Radish etc., have received different names as brassicw, ceparum, raphani, ete., but several of them doubtless constitute but one species. A comparison of those reared from the locust eggs with the descriptions of brassice and ceparum has not enabled me to discover any constant differences, and they should perhaps all be referred to radicum Linn. At all events I feel that it is safest to define the insect under consideration merely as a variety of that species, leaving the proper determination of it to the future monographer of the genus. The probabilities are that, feeding normally on the roots of various plants, it found locust eggs to its liking, and multiplied rapidly asa result of the abundance of such eggs. ANTHOMYIA RADICUM (Linn.) var. CALOPTENI—Egy—Oval, smooth, white, 0.04 inch long. Larva—Skin unarmed, 0.24 inch long when extended, of the normal form, the mandibular hooks black, quite conspicuous, and diverging at base. Prothoracic spiracles elongate. Anal spiracles minute, yellowish-brown, with the 8 fleshy sur- rounding tubercles, small. Pupa—Pale-brown, rounded at each end, with the prothoracic spiracles and lips anteriorly, and the anal spiracles and lower tubercles posteriorly, showing as minute points. Imago—Q. Average expanse 0.48 inch. General color ash-gray with a ferruginous hue, especially above, and a more or less intense metallic reflection. Face with white reflections below; eyes smooth, brown, encircled by the ground color, and this behind and on forehead bordered by a brown line; 2 similar lines at back of head from upper corners of eyes and approaching to neck; forehead dusky-brown, becoming bright yellowish-red toward base of antenne, and the brown forking at right angles around ogciput. Trophi and antennz black, the style simple and somewhat longer than the whole antennz. ‘Thorax with three dusky longitudinal lines, obsolete behind ; legs black, with cinereous hue beneath; wings faintly smoky, with brown-black veins, the discal cross-vein straight and transverse, the outer one bent and more oblique; balancers crumpled, yellowish. Abdomen with faint dusky medio-dorsal spots, broad at base, tapering and obsolescing toward end of each joint. In the o', aside from the larger eyes, stronger bristles, and narrower, less tapering abdomen with its additional joint—all characteristic of the sex—the face is whiter, and the medio-dorsal'dark mark?of abdomen continuous. Described from 25 specimens of both sexes, reared from locust-egg-feeding larve. Specimens bred from cabbage and raddish roots, and others in my cabinet taken from the burrows (made in Osage Orange in Missouri) of Crabro stirpicola Pack,; do not differ specifically. Tar Common Fiesu Fry (Sarcophaga carnaria, L.)—The red-tailed variety (sarracenie«) of this ubiquitous insect, described and figured in my 7th Report (p. 180) as preying on the locust, also attacks its eggs. It is a larger maggot than the preceding, and contracts to a darker pupa which is not similarly rounded at each end, but has the hind end truncate, and the front end tapering. It sucks the eggs, as does the Anthomyia larva, but the parent fly is probably attracted to those, principally, which are addled or injured, as the pods in which I have found it have very generally been in a fluid state of decay. From three quarts of eggs I have obtained 26 of these flies. 96 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT — —— — = — UNDETERMINED SprEcrESs.—Next to the Anthomyia Egg-parasite, in importance, is a much larger, more sluggish, yellowish grub, (Fig. 24) measuring about + an inch when ex- tended, which is found within or be- a neath the locust eggs, lying in a curved 3? position, the body being bent so that * the head and tail nearly touch each other. Itis a smooth grub, with a very small, brown, flattened head, with the joints near the head swollen and the UNDETERMINED EGG-PARASITE OF R. M. hindsend tapering, and with deep, a i ecue lucent sutures beneath the joints, which sutures show certain vinous marks and mottlings, especially along the middle of the back. It exhausts the eggs, and leaves nothing but the shrunken and discolored shells. It has not yet been reared to the perfect state, but from the structure of its mouth it is evidently Hy- menopterous, and will produce, without much doubt, some Ichneu- mon-fly. It has been found in Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri, and has destroyed about one per cent. of the eggs. The following letters refer to this species: The other day as I was strolling through the fields, I stopped to examine some egys. I found the ground in spots quite full of white grubs, worms or maggots, what- ever they may be called. Many of them were in the egg-pods, busy at work. I col- lected a few, and sent to you in a small vial by mail for yourexamination. The ground was high and dry where found.—[From 8. D. Payne, Kasota, Le Sueur county, Minn., Sept. 28, 1876. I think the silky mite has done good service in destroying eggs in one or two counties, particularly Noble. But we are getting, in addition, continual newspaper reports of white grubs destroying the eggs. I started out to see for myself, and have found a number which I send you—[From A. Whitman, St. Paul, Minn., September v5 LSiG: This grub is found of various sizes as Winter sets in, and hiber- nates without change. It will doubtless be reared to the perfect state the coming Summer, and I give a more detailed description herewith. Average length 0.50 inch. Body curved, glabrous, tapering posteriorly, swollen anteriorly. Color opaque whitish, with translucent yellowish mottlings and some vinous marks at sutures, especially along medio-dorsum. Sutures deep. A lateral row of swellings. Head small, flattened, dark-brown, in five pieces, consisting above of a frontal ovoid piece and two lateral pieces of somewhat similar form, and each bearing near tip a minute, 2-jointed palpus; beneath of two broad, sub-triangular jaws having forward and lateral motion, and each also bearing near the center, in a depression, a 2-jointed feeler. A spiracle each side in a fold between joints 2 and 3, and another on each side of the penultimate joint, 12. None otherwise perceptible. Besides the three preceding species which have been found des- troying the eggs the past year, and which, from their being generally OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 97 found within the egg-pod, may be called parasitic, though they are not strictly so; I have also found the larvae of two species of Ground-beetles (Carabidae) attacking said eggs. One pale species, (Fig. 25) evidently belonging to the genus //arpalus, is more particularly common and busy in the good work. It is an active creature, something over half an inch long, with powerful jaws anda light brown head and prothorax, and the rest of the body pale, tapering pos- teriorly and ending in a stout proleg and two articulate appendages. For : the entomological reader I append a HWIARPALUS ? LARVA THAT PREYS ON LOCUST Eees:—a, larva, from above; 0, head, more detailed description: from beneath; c, leg—enlarged. Color yellowish white; prothorax and head highly polished yellowish-brown, the jaws darker. Head broad, depressed and rugose in front; jaws broad, robust, dark, and with but one strong middle tooth; antenne 5-jointed, joints 4 and 5 scarcely equaling 3 in length; maxillze elongate, subcylindrical, with a 4-jointed outer and a 2-jointed inner palpus; mentum elongate, its base soldered with the lower head; labrum also elongate and with 2-jointed palpi; all trophi armed with stiff hair. Prothoracic joint, swollen, wider than head, twice as long as succeeding joint, horny, and with a darker anterior border, limited by a transverse stria posteriorly and marked with fine longi- tudinal striz. Legs,except coxex, dark brown and thickly beset with short, spinous bristles of the same color. Abdomen tapering to end, with no horny plates, but each joint with two transverse rows of stiff yellowish hairs, the posterior rows strongest. Anal proleg stout, the cerci 4-jointed (joints 3and 4 small and imperfectly separated) and reaching but little beyond it; eyes small, dark and just behind base of antenne. Length of largest specimens 0 58 inch. Hight specimens feeding on eggs of Caloptenus spretus. The other Ground-beetle, belonging probably to the same genus as the above, is of about the same size and has precisely the same struc- ture. It is at once distinguished, however, by a series of broad, dark- brown, horny plates along the back, by paler horny pieces along the [Fig. 26.] sides and beneath; by the _ darker, somewhat narrower &—- prothorax; by the pale legs, =~ and by the shorter anal cerci. ta I have found three specimens Harpacus ? LArvA'—B, under-side of head; h, i, 7, under- OUR A meding ee side of different joints of body. eggs, and one was sent to me as having the same habit, by Mr. Whitman, of St. Paul. Mr. G. F. Gaumer has sent me what he took to be a minute Rove-beetle E R—7 98 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT (Staphilinide) found feeding on the eggs, and they prove to be newly-hatched specimens of the above Harpalus larva. It is frobable that most of the Carabid arvee will feed on the eggs, and I introduce the figure of a larger species (Fig. 26) and its probable parent, the Pennsylvania Ground-beetle (Harpalus penn: sylvanicus De Geer, Fig. 27). Insects which destroy the active Locust.—In addition to the many animals enumerated in previous reports, which destroy this locust, the Box-turtle may be mentioned, and Mr. Gaumer has found a large burrowing spider (doubtless a Lycosa or Mygale) to feed upon it. He has also examined several specimens infested with hair-worms, one of which was 18} inches long. I have myself taken a specimen 64 inches long, which proves, upon comparison, to be our commonest species, [Fig. 27.] Gordius aquaticus. Mr. H. A. Brous, who, while in Western Kansas last Summer, made careful notes of everything he observed relating to the Rocky Mountain Locust, has sent me a number of insects found preying upon it that had not before been observed at such work. Among them are various Asilus-flies*, and several Ground-beetles and Tiger- beetles.+| More particulary noteworthy among these last is that large and most elegant dark-brown species PENNSYLVANIA : i = Grounp-Bertitr. which I herewith figure (Fig. 29), and which has been esteemed as a great rarity among Coleopterists. Mr. Brous found it much more common than it was generally supposed, and attributes its [Fig. 29.] reputed rarity to its secretive [Fig. 28.] “and nocturnal habits. It lives in holes in clayey banks, and issues in search of food only ~ = at night or early morn. Of Heteroptera, there is a Sol- dier-Lug of the genus Apio- merus and allied to crassipes ; and of Hymenoptera there are two Ichneumons~—a Com- — Erax Basranort. poplex and Hphialtes notanda Cress—that were noticed pursuing the locusts, and are possibly parasitic upon them. The Preying Mantis (J/an- AmpiycutLa cyLinprirormis. 47g Carolina, Rep. 1, p. 169) has been also ob- * Stenopogon consanguineus Loew., a species with pale yellowish hairs on head and thorax, yel- lowish-brown Wings and pale rufous legs and abdomen; Promachus apivora Fitch; Erax Bastardii; several allied species of Erax, and a species of Tolmerus. Sp + Pasimachus elongatus Lec.; P. punctulatus Hald.; Calosoma obsoletum Say; Cicindela pulchra Say; C. scutellaris Say; C. 6-guttataFabr.; C. fulgida Say; C. vulgaris Say; C. circumpicta Lat. ; Cc. formosa Say; C. punctulata Fabr. OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 99 served feeding on the locusts by Mr. H. S. King in Texas and by Mr. Brous in Kansas. EXPERIMENTS WITH THE EGGS, AND CONCLUSIONS DRAWN THEREFROM. There are many questions respecting the manner in which the eggs of this locust are affected under different conditions, which are of intense practical interest, and which are frequently discussed with no definite result being arrived at, or no positive conclusion drawn. Such are, for instance, the influence of temperature, moisture and dryness upon them; the effects of exposing them to the air, of break- ing open the pods, of harrowing or plowing them under at different depths, of tramping upon them. Everything, in short, that may tend to destroy them or prevent the young locusts hatching, is of vital im- portance. With a view of settling some of these questions, and in the hope of reaching conclusions that might prove valuable, I have carried on, during the past Winter, a series of experiments, some of which are herewith summed up. By reference to the meteorological table given further on, in considering the ‘‘ Condition of the Eggs,” the exact temperature at any of the dates mentioned can be ascer- tained. Experiments to test the Effects of alternately Freezing and Thawing. The eggs in the following series of experiments were obtained early in November, at Manhattan, Kans., under similar conditions. They were mostly in a fluid state at the time, and none but good and perfect masses were used. They were all carefully placed in the nor- mal position at the surface of the ground, in boxes that could be easily removed from place to place. The experiments commenced November 10th, 1876, and ended March 10th, 1877. During November and December the weather was severe, while during January and February it was largely mild and genial for the season. In March again there was much frost. F The temperature in my office, into which all the eggs when not exposed were brought, ranged during the day from 65° to 70° F., rarely reaching to 75°. During the night it never dropped below 40°, and averaged about 55°, Experiment 1.—Fifty egg-masses were exposed to frost from November 10th to January 10th, and then taken in-doors. In 20 days they commenced hatching, and continued to do so for 38 days thereafter. Experiment 2.—Fifty egg-masses exposed at the same time to frost. Brought in- doors on December 10th. On December 31st they commenced hatching numerously 100 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT and continued to hatch till the 10th of January, 1877, when the remainder were exposed again. The weather being subsequently mild, some hatched on each warm day until the 26th. None hatched thereafter, and upon examination, subsequently, all were found to have hatched. Experiment 3.—¥Fifty egg-masses exposed at same time. Brought in-doors Decem- ber lst. Kept there till the 22d without any of them hatching. Exposed again for three weeks, and then brought in-doors on the 12th of January. They commenced hatching two days thereafter, and continued till the 29th. Subsequent examination showed them all to have hatched. Experiment 4.—One hundred egg-pods exposed at the same time, but alternately brought in-doors and exposed again every 14 days. Some commenced hatching during the second term in-doors; others continued during the warm days of the third expo- sure, and all had hatched by the sixth day of the third term in-doors. Experiment 5.--A lot of 100 egg-masses alternately exposed and brought in-doors every week. During the first four terms of exposure they were continudusly frozen, while during the next four the weather was frequently mild enough to permit hatch- ing. They first began to hatch during the fourth term in-doors, and continued to hatch, except during the colder days when exposed, until the seventh term in-doors, during which tke last ones escaped. Experiment 6.—Many hundred egg-masses kept out-doors the whole time, first commenced hatching March 2d. Experiment 7.—Many hundred pods, kept in-doors till December 15, and hatching from November 28th up to that time, were then exposed, and have continned to hatch whenever the weather permitted, and continue to hatch up to the present time (March 10.) Experiment 8.—A lot of 100 pods that had been hatching in-doors from November 19th, were exposed to frost January 15th, and brought in-doors again January 28th, where they continued hatching till February 10th. Every one was subsequently found to have hatched, Experiment 9.—A lot of 100 under same conditions as in experiment 8, up to Janu- ary 28th. ‘They were then exposed again and brought in-doors February 16th, when they commenced hatching and continued to do so till the 27th. All were found stbse- quently to have hatched. Two important conclusions are deducible from the above experi- ment : First—The eggs are far less susceptible to alternate freezing and thawing than most of us, from analogy, have been inclined to believe. Those who have paid attention to the subject, know full well that the large proportion of insects that hibernate on or in the ground, are more ipjuriously affected by a mild, alternately freezing and thawing Winter, than by a steadily cold and severe one; and the idea has quite generally prevailed, that it was the same with regard to our locust eggs. But, if so, then it is more owing to the mechanical action which, by alternate expansion and contraction of the soil, heaves the OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 101 pods and exposes them, than to the effects of the varying tempera- tures. Second—That suspended development by frost may continue with impunity for varying periods, after the embryon is fully formed and the young insect is on the verge of hatching. Many persons, having in mind the well known fact that birds’ eggs become addledif incuba- tion ceases before completion, when once commenced, would, from analogy, come to the same conclusion with regard to the locust eggs. But analogy here is an unsafe guide. The eggs of insects hibernate in all stages of embryonic development, and many of them with the larva fully formed and complete within. The advanced development of the locust embryo, frequently noticed in the Fall, argues nothing but very early hatching as soon as Spring opens. Their vitality is unimpaired by frost. Experiments to test the Influence of Moisture upon the Eggs. The following series of experiments were made with eggs also brought from Manhattan, Kansas. They were dug up in December, and were sound, and much in the same condition as those in the pre- ceding series. The water in all but the last three, or experiments 23, 24 and 25, was kept in my office at the temperature already stated, and only changed when there was the least tendency to become foul]. In the alternate submergence and draining, the eggs were submitted to the most severe hygrometric changes ; the warm atmosphere of the room having great drying power. Experiment 10.—Ten egg-masses kept under water in-doors from December 5th to December 26th, 1876, the water becoming quite foul. They were then removed to earth and kept in a hatching temperature. ‘They commenced hatching January 11th, 1877, and continued to do so till February 5th—all having hatched. Experiment 11.—Twenty egg-masses kept under water in-doors from December 26th, 1876, till January 2d, 1877; then left dry till the 9th; then submerged again till the 16th, when they were drained again. On the 20th, 18 young hatched, and others continued hatching till the 23d, when they were submerged again. From the 26th to 30th, a few hatched under water, successfully getting rid of the post-natal pellicle, and living for some hours atterward in the water. On the 30th day they were drained again, and continued to hatch. On February 6th, they were again immersed, and con- tinued to hateh on the 7th. On the 15th, 22d, 29th, and March 7th, they were alter- nately drained and immersed ; but none hatched after February 7th, and the remainder proved upon examination to have been destroyed, most of them being quite rotten. Experiment 12.—Two egg-masses taken from the lot in Experiment 11, on Febru- ary 7th, and placed in moist earth. Every egg subsequently hatched. Experiment 13.—Two egg-masses taken from the lot in Experiment 11, on Febru- ary 22d, and placed in moist earth. All hatched. Experiment 14.—Twenty egg-masses alternately immersed and drained every two 102 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT { weeks from December 26th till March 6th. None hatched, but three-fourths of the eggs were at this date sound, the embryon full-formed and active as soon as released, but pale, and evidently too feeble to burst the egg-shell. The rest were killed and more or less decomposed. Experiment 15.—Two egg-masses, after immersion for two weeks, were placed in moist earth. They began hatching 22 days afterward, and continued to do so for 6 days. It was subsequently found that only seven out of forty-eight eggs had col- lapsed and failed to hatch. Experiment 16.—T wo egg-masses immersed for two weeks, and drained for two weeks; then placed in moist earth. Six days afterward they commenced hatching, and continued to do so for 2 days. Subsequently examined, 28 out of 54 eggs had perished. Experiment 17.—Two egg-masses alternately immersed, drained, and immersed again every two weeks, were placed in moist earth. They commenced hatching two days afterward, and continued to do so for 12 days. Upon subsequent examination, 23 out of 52 had perished. Experiment 18.—Twenty egg-masses immersed from Dec. 26, 1876, to Jan. 16, 1877; then drained till Feb. 6th, then immersed till Feb. 27th, then drained again. On Feb. 3d, while dry, they commenced hatching numerously, and a few continued for two days to hatch while immersed. An examination March 7th, showed about half of them still alive, the rest rotten. Experiment 19.—Twenty egg-masses immersed from Dec. 26, 1876, to Jan. 23, 1877; then drained till Feb. 20th, then submerged again. They commenced hatching on the 6th of Feb., and continued two days after the second submergence. On the 7th of March but about 5 per cent. had rotted. Experiment 20.—T'wo egg-masses immersed for 4 weeks; then drained for 2 weeks; then immersed for one week ; then placed in moist earth. They commenced hatching 7 days afterward, and continued to do so for 6 days. Subsequently exam- ined, one of the masses was rotten; the eggs in the other had all hatched. Experiment 21.—Twenty egg-masses kept from Dec. 26th, 1876, in earth saturated with moisture. On Feb. 23d, 1877, they commenced hatching, and continued to do so till March 7th, when all were found to have hatched, except one pod, which was rotten. Experiment 22.—Twenty egg-masses, alternately placed every five days, from Dec. 26, 1876, in earth saturated with moisture and in earth which was very dry. Com- menced hatching Feb. 14th, and continued till March 7th, when, upon examination, 9 of the pods were found rotten. Experiment 23.—Twenty egg-masses immersed and exposed out-doors Dee. 26, 1876. From that time till March 7th, the water was frozen and completely thawed at 6 different times, the vessel containing them, which was of glass and admitted the sunlight, several times breaking. The changes were as follows: Frozen till Jan, 10th; then thawed till the 12th; then frozen till the 18th; then thawed till the 20th; then frozen till the 26th; then thawed till Feb. 20th; then partly frozen till the 22d; then thawed till the 26th; then frozen till the 27th; then thawed till March 5th; then frozen. Examined on the 7th of Mareh, one pod only was found rotten; the others apparently sound. Experiment 24.—Two egg-masses under same conditions as in Expt. 23, till Feb. 9th, when they were brought in-doors and placed in earth. One was dried up on the 16th ; the other commenced hatching on the 27th, and when examined on March 7th, all the eggs in it were found to have hatched. OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 103 Experiment 25.—Two egg-masses under same conditions as in Expt. 23, till Feb. 27th, when they were placed in earth in-doors. Those examined March 7th were sound, and near the hatching point. These experiments, though not yet completed at the time this MS. goes to the printer, yet establish a few facts that were somewhat unexpected. The insect is a denizen of the high and arid regions of the Northwest, and has often been observed to prefer dry and sunny places, and to avoid wet land, for purposes of ovipositing. The belief that moisture was prejudicial to the eggs, has, for these reasons, very generally prevailed. The power which they exhibit of retaining vitality, and of hatching under water or in saturated ground, is, there- fore, very remarkable—the more so when viewed in connection with the results obtained in the succeeding experiment. That the eggs should hatch after several weeks submergence, and that the young insect should even throw off the post-natal pellicle,was, to me, quite a : surprise, and argues a most wonderful toughness and tenacity. After being dried and soaked for over’six weeks, under conditions that approach to those of Spring, I found a good proportion of the eggs to contain the full-formed and living young, which, though somewhat shrunken, and evidently too weak to have made its exit, was still capa- ble of motion. The water evidently retards hatching. An examina- tion of the submerged eggs that remained unhatched long after others had hatched, which had been under similar treatment up to a certain time, and then transferred to earth, showed the jaws and tibial spines to be still quite soft. It is, therefore, in preventing the proper hard- ening of these delivering points, that water doubtless retards the hatching, and prevents its accomplishment long before the embryon perishes. Yet, when once life has gone, the egg would seem to rot quicker in the water than in the ground. The results of Experiments 23—25 prove conclusively that water in Winter time, when subject to be frozen, is still less injurious to the eggs. Altogether, these experiments give us very little encouragement as to the use of water as a destructive agent; and we can readily understand how eggs may hatch out, as they have been known to do, in marshy soil, or soil too wet for the plow; or even from the bottom of ponds that were overflowed during the Winter and Spring. While a certain proportion of the eggs may be destroyed by alternately soak- ing and drying the soil at short-repeated intervals, it is next to impos- sible to do this in practice during the Winter season as effectually as it was done in the experiments; and the only case in which water can be profitably used is where the land can be flooded for a few days just at the period when the bulk of the eggs are hatching. 104 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT fxperiments to test the Eifects of Exposure to the Free Air. The eggs in the following series were obtained at Manhattan, Kansas, in November, and all under similar conditions. Experiment 26.—A large number of egg-masses were thoroughly broken up and the single eggs scattered over the surface of the ground out-doors early in December. By the 23d of February all had perished, and most of them had collapsed and shriveled. Experiment 27.—A large number of pods were partly broken up and exposed as in Exp. 26. On the 10th of March the outer eggs were mostly dead and shrunken, but a few of the protected ones were yet plump, the embryon well advanced and apparently sound. Experiment 28.—A large number of unbroken pods were exposed under similar conditions as in the preceding Expts. By March 10th fully three-fourths of the eggs: had perished. Expervment 29.—Fifty egg-masses were kept in-doors in an open mouthed bottle in perfectly loose and dry earth from November 6th. Fully 8 per cent. of the eggs had hatched by December 28th, when hatching ceased, and a subsequent examination showed the rest to have shrunken and perished. ‘ It is very evident from the above experiments that we can do much more to destroy the eggs by bringing into requisition the uni- versally utilizable air, than we can by the use of water. The break- ing up of the mass and exposure of the individual eggs to the desicat- ing effects of the atmosphere, effectually destroys them; and when to this is added the well known fact tha’ thus exposed they are more liable to destruction by their numerous enemies, we see at once the importance of this mode of coping with the evil. Experiments to test the Effects of burying at different Depths, and of pressing the Soil. The following series of experiments were made with eggs obtained at Manhattan, Kansas, early in November, and which were in similar condition to those in the first series. Large tin cylindrical boxes, made of different depths, and varying from 4 to 8 inches in diameter were used; and in order to hasten the result they were kept in-doors at the temperature already mentioned. The soil in all the boxes was finely comminuted and kept in uniform and moderately moist condi- tion. It was gently pressed with the fingers, so as to approach in compactness the surface soil of a well cultivated garden. In each instance the eggs were placed in the centre of the box. A large number of eggs have been buried at different depths out-doors where they are under natural conditions of soil pressure and tempera- ture, and the experiments here recorded were made to anticipate the results in the others, which will not be completed till long after this Report is published. OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 105 Experiment 30.—Ten egg-masses were placed just one inch below the surface in the centre of a box 4 inches in diameter. The young began to appear January 30th, when it was noticed that every one came up at the side of the box, between the earth and the tin, where there was more or less shrinking of the former from the latter. Upon pressing the earth more firmly around the border, the issuing of the young ceased. Upon examining the eggs March 7th, it was found that they had all hatched. . 5. ¢ssscodsk deena 125 Descriptive: .<.40) fa) thee eee ee Characters of the Young Larva............. 127 Its Habits..... 22 tens Aae ae SoCo ee 24. Eggs hitherto supposed to belong to It... 1238 Rentedies... 20... tn |e a eee 28 Its curt sare Beret Benen 5 ae ey at 26 < einereint it diflers from the Imported Species 23 u ebraska-—-Locustsiin:# occu - fasieh nice Geers 64 The Larva lives in rapid flowing streams. , 128 Nematus SALICLSDOMUMIN:= Nea ee ee 20 Where and how the Eggs are laid. eo 127 afinis 2. ee q Hemiteles nemativorus .........-.0. cece cece eee 7 boOE! " QPOSBULATi ice do acn caer ace ea How Locust Eggs arelaid.. ......0........5.. 86 e+ | grossulariaius..c\ csc, :scde ste dae 7 Fe the Colorado Potato- -beetle reveled nes 37 | a6 UMLMACULALUSY, © harsteeicicien cceteieneeitee 7 atiecte e Ese NUDESUL: 4% hae Rooter menos papnosadd 7 Price of Potatoes.. 39 ‘¢ salicispomum 20 ce «¢ Begs of the R. M. Locustare laid... 86| << —_ventricosue...--s.csecsesveceeceaceets, OL ee ** young Locust escapes from the Reg. 83 | : formed Wbark.s.. 22 2.3 steicve sinters isictaternn elon iso oer 91 O I Oi UM TPUckertes oo. chisominiolellolen ce ieleicvter erates 43. ieunenmen 2eParaaie of Liocat wee a4 Omaha Conterence on the Locust Subject! co. 2.4. 106. Sige ees ¢ Ichneunon brevipennis........... sfaleretslelsvelere lenient 55 P OG ODSOLETUST ar staste tiie clseetleleeie hire staan 55 Imported Currant Worm, The. (2.5 ..0.02..55 5. 7 : : MESCLIPULV es 5. ee ene Cane aa Dy | PER LUUIEG CVO pee rasm ote cleleleln}essiatetsicieicieleteetelaiel sissies 128. lt furnishes an interesting instance ot De- Pasimachus elongatus ...........00esseeeeeeeees 98: functionation of special Parts.......... 19 ‘ PUNCIULALUS «oes sees e vere eee ees 98 It presents a forcible example of Arreno- Eitlosophy Of the Juocust Egg-mass........... pu (ele a a ED SL CRNERE Coed Mey Ma TR Cg Hest | RUCTUSIDTOLO CLCC). ereraioraltrleyelereioeitieere i loetere ete : Its Introduction and Spread................ S| UCFNAMIS «seein cece cece ee eee eee eee eens 57 Its Natural History.. - state cee eee aes g | Pine Worm, Le Conte’s................. se seees 32. Natural Pmnemies saan ea ee een ae 17 | Plectrophanes lappontcus....,..........2--c00ees 9L Preventive Measures... 00.0.2. .s662-sccencses 13 Dotto Heoue tu cect cane ace sree aa om Remedies secon ec heen eee ee TE} | OSD dete AE oI AUDEN) Soapacon Joos oqo 50 was Indian Yerritory—Locusts in................... 78 ‘< Pest POIB On. ig ols or Mee eer See 45. Influence of Wind in determining vhe Course of Preface oe ede DED eee ee ee eee eee eee e tenes IIL MOCUBL SWARMS. \-e nines oon eee 81 Preying Mantis .. 0.0... 00... cesses seen s ee een 98 Imi Oxi OUSUIMSECtS ee) cnc. aye en nes Geet 125 | Pristiphora grossularia@. ............6eceeee 23, 26 lowa—Locusts in............... 63 ) Probable Eggs of Belostoma grandis............ 128. Pa er a oe oe PFOMACHUS AP WOT jx ce sciee see eae eee eS Prospects for Locust Injury in 1877 ............ 12] ike : : Protecting trees trom Locusts: 00.05.02... eee 110 Kansas—Locusts in...........02..2...2.008 e oon) R «« —Legislation regarding Locusts..... H25 113 e Rate at which Colorado Potato-beetle traveled, 37 f 's) «© ithe Locusis spread in W876 soe 80 radicum, ANIMOMYtA. Wy. sasheclehes sie ee eee 92 Lapland jLangspur bYatateturevelsfalevelete/store olf sysvehelnretaverarencts 90 } Remedies against the Gooseberry ‘Span- worm.. 16 MEeVontezsie ince Wire. ste cee a ee 32 ss Currant Worms). :...- 3, 13, 26 Tats. geen te oe nimeeere eesti eanae = ae G8 Pine Worms... reer ata 32 CRCTIMELVE: Seucetrnnt ge hein aoee amc eee 3¢ ce ne the Strawberry Worm....... 28 Legislation to avoid Locust Injury............. lil mE Me ** Wheat-head Army Worm 55 Leucania GlOTINED eel tans ee On eee 50 ug se ** Rocky Mountain Locust. 108 < ey ra PEA Oe ere oe | Resolutions adopted at Omaha Locust Conter- ; PRVAGMAMAICOLS) .. cc cenvevcccccscsere a) ONCE ais, ie ressiejv:istece sive nia alslorene fetes isiate orstonetetale 106 ste unipuncta a neva ojo!) sla/a duata) nc total otatereaselnacte raters Ad RIDES GUN EWM von ioe atorevictoarn eee Remeleie i eeieeteiate 2 UNRETLALONG litvs ame eae ee 32 ASS QMOSSULAT UC :5: Koc hicrimnicictere serene ea crea aerere 2 Locust, The tocky Mountain.................. 57 NC MOTIGUM Er oases tines eee Ce 2 ah Flights east of the Mississippi......... 81 OE AG TUN Tosa alolein a) sind etetcre eiaietetale re cigs islertmerete 2 oe IVABTONOLIST Os sadectenc me erceni art 59 £€< PrOstrGiaums./cis. ctejac inter ntoe ence een 2 oc ETORDECIB UMMC Tsk nae aoe menen uae 121 68) VRDTUN. cabs dice leanne bale CORO seaaieeee 2 i INDEX. IIL PAGE PAGE TRADES SANG UUNEUME Are ws erniscicislde Satilele esaleceicis aie ele Dal Strayyoerty, WOxm 5 Neier aejcra\ele sy /sie o/s crelele 2 HCE COLONEL as oem itiiat ocean ca ciat ae oo emo we 2 Descriptive ... 02... 1.02002 eee ececee weer e ee 28 ROCK yA MOUNtALIMUOCUSE: cle tnecalsjacij-ciererslclelncla ss 57 Remedies ............ prereset sees ee ceeees 28% Additional Natural Enemies..............- g] |Summary of Natural History of the Army Anthomyia Egg Parasite ..............0006 92 WOLD. Sicaciae csisaialss sis siisisteselow eine ees 49 Area in which Eggs were laid.............. 116 Condition of the Kggs................2--+-- 116 | 7 Destination of the departing Swarms of . AS Farrer yatetetnceis crore slesnie)alehersiersichs(oreia{oleisinre!sieieis 7 |Table of C Direction of Fiight..10.000000 OU icnchinaaumome ae ene Does phe Memiale lay more than one Egg- __ | Temperature of Winter of 1876-7 .............. 120 HEE IG BO Gub0 e005 00030000 SOs suSoOROCooOC COUN TeneDTtO ODSCURUSIc aii alates erase eisisiee ee eee te 43 Eastern Line reached... . 2.20. 2+ 02-2 80 OC aan. re Experiments with the Eggs ane conclusions Denmes fOuapees Roden ccc eee iccns ek eee 43 drawn therefrom .-......:0++-.00--: BGyid08 litera Meacustsid. 0c sc How the Eggs are laid...........-..+-+.+ 0. 86 | Tiger-beetles preying on Locusts............... 98 How the young Locust escapes from the ‘ Tolmerus . 98 Le ee Rap Wes DS) Gomooidc iodo gu ove nedon busnoepSdEEDaGRoCCr ‘ Influence of Freezing and Thawing on the , POMOVATUN S CRTCEUNT 1. <1 (cots «1 cinla\«)=/......0..c...scc8ds00 59 Temperature of the Winter of 18 : @SWOCUStSIM: . LEN cents ciscet stgcveie terete Bt Undetermined Enemies of the Eggs........ 96 x 8 Gelato hc Ree ook cet aan canes 20 y ORCODRAG UCONN CLs eal sito netiele accieieierereress 95 = GLO TORUET- OS Osc raisi= 5 <,eclela sje stercisiainiere rele viet siSislevcre les 19 x STU BayanVL CGR rstereroperaioree erste caste evarcte tome fefela(areieseisia/e ale « 9 Source of Locust Swarms of 1876........ ey vate InfS) || AWYeGR EOI REs bn cocoon acceuoo bod oODDopoconeoBGocES 129 Spread of the Colorado Potato-beetle.......... 34 ithasisinele-brooded wens cies sece ee 129 SLENOPOGON CONSANGUINEUS...... 1... cece eee eeeee 93 It thrives in the Latitude of St. Louis...... 129. = — ——— ; z iy P rhe ete fc * ae = VDP wee Sy es ee Rolle ce ee ere PS = a eek chOw hes Paes eR ENE ew > ne ES Sp Wed eee cee es - Sf ta Wyott GAtSiNV ts PO pige be atheay et TPs a west th ole ee ee . 2 at wet Oe ee Sr edges ae =” ae S2RESR ERRATA. Page 6, line 26 insert after ‘“‘moth” (Euphanessa mendica, Walk.) Page 15, line 3 for ‘‘ entite’’.read ‘‘ entire.” Page 50, explanation of cut, for ‘‘e”’ read * ose Page 50, line 3 trom bottom, for “‘ Hubner” read “ Huebner.”’ Page 54, last line, in, place of the comma, write Basti Page 55, line 1, for “the other ’’ read ‘‘the second.” Page 55, line 9 from bottom for ‘‘m. m”’ read ‘* mm.” Page 55, line 7 from bottom, strike out the “ on.” Page 56, line 1, for ‘‘m.m”’ read ‘‘mm.”’ Page 56, line 2, for the last ‘“‘ and ”’ read ‘‘anal.”’ Page 56, line 32, commence a new { with “‘ Chrysalis ”’ and italicize it. Page 57, for ‘‘ Spretus’ in the heading read ‘‘ spretus.”’ Page 58S, line 14, strike out ‘‘ have.” Page 89, line 13, strike out the “i” after “embryon.” Page 98, line 11 from bottom, for ‘“‘ Compoplex”’ read “ Campoplex.” Brn 4 ohn ale aio yoo ey HA at i i ry y poy Avs apa iy ni Ve iY Adu Ay : Pik nt ol it . 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