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SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
4, a ON THE
NOXIOUS. BENEFICIAL.
AND OTHER
INSECTS
OF THE
STATE OF MISSOURL
TADE bTO THE STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, PURSUANT TO AN APPROPRIATION
FOR THIS PURPOSE FROM THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE.
BY CHARLES: V. RILEY,
State Entomologist.
JEFFERSON CITY :
REGAN & CARTER, STATE PRINTERS AND BINDERS.
1875,
Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1875, by Cuarces V. Ritey, in the office of the
Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
as Se es oe
a BRA Ck
To the President and Members of the Missouri State Board of Agriculture:
GENTLEMEN: The following pages constitute my Seventh Annual Report on the
Noxious, Beneficial and other Insects of the State of Missouri.
As its contents show, the year 1874 has been remarkable for the wide-spread suf-
fering that insects injurious to Agriculture have entailed, especially in the Mississippi
Valley and the country to the West. Our own State, though not suffering so much as
some of her sister States, did not escape immense injury. Added to a severe drouth,
which shortened most crops, our farmers suffered much more than usual from the rav-
ages of the Chinch Bug; while in the western counties they also suffered from the visi-
tations of the Rocky Mountain Locust, or so-called “‘ Grasshopper,” which spread such
desolation over so large a portion of the fair West. Both these insects receive that
large share of attention in the present Report which their importance and the interest
just now attaching to themdemand. Stilla third insect, namely, the Flat-headed Apple-
tree Borer, has been unprecedentedly abundant and injurious to our fruit and shade
trees, and it gives me pleasure to lay before the people some new facts which will help
to a better mastery of it.
A law passed by the last Legislature not only changes somewhat the mode of
binding and distributing the Agricultural Report, of which this forms a part, but in-
creases the edition from six to twelve thousand, and limits the number of pages it
shall contain to 500. Finding that the articles on the noxious insects, of which this Re-
port treats, occupy more than the ordinary number of pages allotted to me, I have
deviated somewhat from previous custom, and omitted the chapters on Beneficial and
Innoxious Insects, with which its predecessors have ended. In the article on the Rocky
Mountain Locust, the reasons’are given at length why I believe that this plague will
never do serious harm beyond a certain line there indicated. It gave me no small satis-
faction to be able to allay last Fall the fears our farmers east of that line entertained of
being overrun by the pests. For some years past, Kansas, by one means and another,
and especially by a liberal policy on the part of her Legislature toward her State Hor-
ticultural Society, has done all in her power to attract immigration. Our own State
government has repeatedly refused the appeal of our State Horticultural Society for
small appropriations to enable it to exhibit the fruits and advertise the resources and
capabilities of the State ; and other measures intended to encourage immigration have
been left without support. ‘The consequence of such legislative neglect, and of
other less avoidable occurrences, was seen in the trains of emigrant wagons that during
the last two or three years have been passing through our State, bound for Kansas or
IV PREFACE.
some more western point. The locust invasion of 1874 checked the tide of emigration
to Kansas and the further West, and even turned it back again; and I have every reason
to believe that the assurance that Missouri is essentially safe from the devastations of
these locusts will have no inconsiderable influence in staying that immigration within
our borders in the future.
There yet are, and doubtless ever will be, those who—dwelling in cities, and
familiar only with such lectularious insects as cause them bodily inconvenience—have
little appreciation of Agriculture or of Entomology in its connection with it; and con-
sider the study of ‘‘ bugs,’’ as they contemptibly call everything that creeps, a fit sub-
ject for ridicule. When, however, a single insect, like the Chinch Bug, filches nineteen
million dollars, in a single year, fromthe pockets of the ‘farmers, and reduces in so
much the wealth of the State ; even such persons may be brought to admit that any
study having for object the reduction of this immense loss, is not necessarily con-
temptible, small as the objects may be with which it deals. Fortunately, such persons
are becoming fewer and fewer, and the following pages bear witness to the fact that
not only in several States in our Union, but in several countries of the ‘*‘ Old World ”—
in monarchies, empires and republics alike—the authorities have manifested a remark-
able appreciation of economic Entomology. We have, during the year, witnessed Aus-
tralia and New Zealand discussing and attempting the introduction from Europe of
Aphis parasites to check the alarming increase of those plant pests; and of bumble
bees to enable the farmers to grow their own clover seed. We have seen France in-
creasing her premium for a Phylloxera remedy to three hundred thousand franes, and
considering plans, for the destruction of the pest, of constructing an irrigation canal
to supply 60,000 acres. We have seen Massachusetts memoralizing her Legislature to
pass ‘An act for the destruction of Insects Injurious to Vegetation ;’’ while some of
our own State Legislatures have been convened in special session to consider means of
relieving the sufferers from insect ravages, and several European governments have,
with forethought and wisdom, taken such measures as seemed best to prevent future
injury from still other insect pests.
The fact that the Agriculture of the United States is of equal material importance
with all the other interests of the country combined is so often asserted and admitted
that it needs no enforcing. This industry not only feeds our own forty million mouths,
but supplies the staff of life to millions in foreign lands. Surely, then, it is most im-
portant to study and investigate those causes which affect it injuriously and arrest its
development, among which injurious insects play such an active part. When, as last
year, the prosperity of whole States is jeopardized, and the whole nation suffers most
sensibly from these depredators, national measures should be taken to investigate the
causes and endeavor to prevent the recurrence of such disasters in the future. I have
already referred to the immense loss which the Chinch Bug caused us last year, my
estimates being based on returns obtained from farmers from the different counties.
Yet, though the sum demonstrably amounts to millions, many of our legislators and
some of our journalists would laugh at me were IJ to ask for an appropriation of five or
ten thousand dollars to be expended in experiments which might result in giving us a
perfect, or at least a much better remedy for the evil than any now in our possession,
and thus save the whole or the larger part of this immense annual loss. Experiments
on a sufficiently thorough and extensive scale can never be undertaken by the few State
entomologists now employed, with salaries of two or three thousand dollars, from which
they pay theirexpenses. The means will not justify them and the time of such officers is
PREFACE. V
occupied with the study of not one or two, but of hundreds of species, many of them
local in character. In cases, as with the Locust, the Chinch Bug, the Cotton Worm,
ete., where the evils are of a national character, a national Commission, appointed for
the express purpose of their investigation, and consisting of competent entomologists,
botanists and chemists, is necessary, and should be demanded; and I am glad that pre-
liminary steps have been taken by some of our leading scientific men to memoralize
Congress to create such a Commission, the members to be chosen by the Council of the
National Academy of Science, and approved by the Secretary of the Treasury.
We have, it is true, a Department of Agriculture which, if under intelligent and
scientific control, might employ the large sums it now fritters away in the gratuitous
distribution of seeds, to better advantage in organizing and sending out such a Com-
mission ; but the people have lost all hope of getting much good out of that institution
as at present organized, or so long as the character of its head and management de-
pends on political whim or fancy.
I have referred in previous years to the binding and distribution of the Entomolo-
gical Report, and suggested that improvements might be made in the law. In some
respects the new law, already referred to, is a great improvement on the old one, and
will have a tendency to bring these reports before the farmers, in a manner in which
they have not been brought before them in past years, if we may judge from the expe-
rience of the many whose letters I partly publish in the Chinch Bug Appendix. My
6th Report was published last April, and a word or two as to its distribution may not
be out of place. At the approach of Summer it began to be rumored, and it finally be-
came manifest, that your late Corresponding Secretary, Mr. J. F. Wielandy, decided
not to publish a report. As mine is bound in by law with that of your secretary, and
I did not wish it to lay the whole year at the bindery, I took measures to have it bound
and distributed separately, and, after conferring with the Governor and Secretary of
State, and the officers of the Board, and getting the sanction of my intended course
from each individual member of the Board, it was so ordered bound and distributed.
At the request of a committee appointed by the Board of Curators of our State
University to confer with me on the subject, I agreed a year ago to prepare a collection
‘of insects for the use of the Agricultural Department of that Institution. During the
year | have devoted what little time I could spare, and all the time of an assistant, Mr.
* Lugger, not absolutely needed in other directions, to the preparation of this cabinet,
which I took to Columbia last December, and delivered to the College. It con-
sists of sixty drawers, 12 by 16 inches, with a depth of 2} inches inside, and lined
with cork and ruled paper—the drawers being of pine wood with cedar fronts, and the
cabinet itself being of oiled walnut. It contains types of the principal insects of the
State, with figures, in many instances, of their adolescent stages. These insects are all
carefully mounted and properly classified, with printed, ordinal, family, generic and
specific names attached, and where the species have been treated of in my Reports, there
are references made to the particular Report and the particular figure. The whole
forms a type collection intended for the instruction of the students, and to illustrate my
lectures before the entomological class at the University ; and in each drawer there is
room left for the addition of specimens that may be collected by the students.
In these busy, stirring days, there are few men who get time to read through a Re-
port on any specialty—even among those for whom such a report is more particularly
intended. In the work herewith submitted there will be found matter that will in-
terest the scientific as well as the practical man; and, fully appreciating the truth of
LAE PREFACE.
the aphorism, Ars longa, vita brevis est, I have endeavored to so arrange and sub-di-
vide the matter that the reader may refer at once to that which more especially inter-
ests and concerns him. Ina work intended for future reference as well as present use,
the topics are best discussed under as many sub-heads as possible.
In this,.as in the previous volumes, when the insects treated of are new, or the ex-
isting descriptions of them are imperfect, or in a foreign language, or in works out of
print or diflicult of access, I have added a full description, which is, however, always
printed in smaller type, so that it can be skipped by the non-interested reader. The
popular name of each insect is accompanied by the scientific name, and the latter is
generally printed in zéalics and mostly in parenthesis, so that it may be skipped by the prac-
tical man without interfering with the text. The Orderand 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, and the sign <j‘ wherever used, is an abbreviation
for the word “male,” the sign ¢Q for ‘‘female,’’? and the sign 8 for neuter.
Many 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, I 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 employed
than thatunder which the insect was first described, the authorship is enclosed in paren-
thesis, thus—Acrobasis nebulo (Walsh) ; except where the whole name is already in
parenthesis, when a comma will be used for the same purpose: e. g., (Acrobasis nebulo,
Walsh).
All the illustrations, except Fig. 30, 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 regret not to be able to
thank the officers of our different railroad companies for courtesies extended on their
different lines, Thestringent regulations which the roads have adopted have prevented
my obtaining the passes which in former years materially assisted in the prosecution
of my work.
Respectfully submitted,
CHARLES V. RILEY,
State Entomologist.
St. Louis, Mo., April 1st, 1875.
Perm oa eC IN PN T'S.
RUE EVACC icpacsiaesacsscvesonesscctersne sievasstee see acocnononcanncadnastndeekor foodecbodoobocadodeacqdoas soeoscougs JUL
NOXIOUS INSECTS.
THE COLORADO POTATO-BEETLE.........ccccesceseeees COOP OEE Ente Sera saabesee ee naea an ak
It reaches the Atlantic—Injuries during the Year—Alarm about it Abroad—Is it Poison-
ous ?—The Use of Paris Green and its Influence on the Plant, on the Soil and on Man—
The Beetle eats as well as the Larva—It passes the Winter in the Beetle State—New
Food-plants—New Menns of Destruction—The proper scientific Name of the Beetle.
STH) CHIINGH) DU Gisscs0) occenccceccs ces detantcsacnesscseucaesc Meeanaeesaceese eens Scopes doneceere eeaoeeeeee 19)
Appearance and Transformations of the Chinch Bug—Descriptive—Past History of the
Chinch Bug—Its past History in Missouri— Destructive Powers of the Chinch Bug—
Its Injuries in 1874—Its Injuries in Missouri in 1874—Its Food-plants—Mode of Repro-
duction and Hibernation—Where the Eggs are laid—Flight of the Chinch Bug—Its
Migration on Foot—Heavy Rains destructive to the Chinch Bug—Direct Remedies—
Preventive Measures; as invigorating the Plant by Manure; early sowing; preventing
the Migration of the Bugs from one Field to another; abstaining from the cultivation
of the Grains upon which it feeds—Importance of Winter Work—Natural Enemies—
Possible remedial and preventive Measures that need further Trial—Injurious to Stock
—Prognosticating—Unnecessary Fears—Bogus Chinch Bugs—Recapitulation—Appen-
div, giving abstracts of the Experience of Correspondents from all parts of the State.
THE FLAT-HEADED APPLE-TREE BoRER.. ....... ee eee ipa er) Me raueeetsec a ses au Sects wecceny CH
Its Natural History—Natural Enemies—Remedies.
CANKHIR= WORMS cs cssccscsscceveseccsssensts oncuseccues aueeestee eetegasetsae ocee ees Baus eth taeeeu eee ceeueaswoe - 380
Showing how two distinct Species have been confounded; how we have a Spring and a Fall
Canker-worm—Their Differences fully set forth in all Stages—Comparative Descrip-
tions of the Two—Practical Considerations growing out of the Differences in Habit—
Extracts from the original Essay on the Canker-worm by Wm. Dandridge Peck,
published in 1795.
THE GRAPE PHYLLOXERA.........- Bee ep AbeiCSCoSCHEE ee ks ihe teas Be eee Mel oeeee ce ceeicwencetes 90)
Completion of its Natural History—Different Forms presented by the Species—Specific Iden-
tity of the Root-inhabitating and Leaf-inhabiting Types—Where do the winged Fe-
males lay their Eggs?—The sexual Individuals—Injury done during the Year in
America—Range of the Insect in America—Injury during the Year in France—Spread
in Europe—Direct Remedies—Natural Enemies—Susceptibility of different Varieties—
Grafting as a Means of counteracting the Work of Phylloxera; Roots to use as Stock;
Varieties to graft—American Grape-vines Abroad—Appendix, giving a Synopsis of
American Species of the Genus Phylloxera, and the Natural History and Diagnosis.
of the American Oak Phylloxera.
VIIl TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Tore Rocky Mountain LOcuwust.......... shasaltoslees vassuecvaddaeseesccae vebwetionsees covecceaeeecosaseCeMmmedk
Its Natural History—Where the Eggs are laid by Preference—The migratory Instinct and
great destructive Power belong to but one Species west of the Mississippi—Easily
confounded with the Red-legged Locust—Descriptive—Chronological History—The
Invasion of 1873—The Invasion of 1874; each State and Territory considered sepa-
rately—Its Flight and Ravages—Food-plants—Time of Appearance—Its native Home;
it cannot thrive in the Mississippi Valley, and can never reach far into Missouri—
What Injury may be expected in Missouri in 1875—-Ravages of migratory Locusts in
the Atlantic States—Injury from other, non-migratory Locusts—Enemies and Para-
sites—Remedies—Preventive Measures—Suggestions that may prove of Value—Nomen-
clature—Appendiz, giving the Experience of a few Correspondents.
NOXIOUS INSECTS.
THE COLORADO POTATO BEETLE— Doryphora 10-lineata Say.
(Ord. COLEOPTERA; Fam. CHRYSOMELID®.)
IT REACHES THE ATLANTIC.
After narrating, in 1868,* how this insect had made its way from
the Rocky Mountains, where it originally fed on the wild Solanum
rostratum Dunal, till, in 1859, it reached a point one hundred miles
west of Omaha, Neb.; how, in 1861, it invaded Iowa, in 1862, South-
west Wisconsin, and in 1864 and 1865, crossed the Mississippi to the
western part of Illinois and eastern part of North Missouri; how, in
1866, it occupied most of the country west of a line drawn between
Chicago and St. Louis; how, in 1867, it reached Southwest Michigan
and West Indiana; and, finally, how, in 1868, it was already announced
in portions of Ohio—I showed that its average annual progress east-
ward had been upward of seventy miles, and predicted that it would
probably reach the Atlantic about A.D. 1878, or a few years earlier than
Mr. Walsh had calculated some years previously, when he first traced
its eastern progress and showed that it was traveling onward to the
Atlantic, establishing a permanent colony wherever it went. In subse-
quent reports, its progress eastward was yearly recorded, and I now
have to record that it reached the Atlantic at many points during the
year 1874, or four years in advance of the time predicted—the increased
average annual rate being due no doubt -to-the aid the beetles got in
their onward course from ships on the lakes and from the cars on our
railroads.
Karly in the summer, I received undoubted evidence of its appear-
ance on the Atlantic seabord, and it was reported during the year
*First Report, pp. 102-3.
2 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
from several parts of Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Pennsyl-
vania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.*
INJURIES DURING THE YEAR.
While the insect has been quite injurious in some of the Eastern
States more recently invaded, it has attracted less attention than
usual during the year in Missouri; for our farmers have come to con-
sider it a necessary evil, and its destruction a part of potato culture.
One rather curious circumstance in this connection relates to its in-
creased injuries in its native homein the Rocky Mountains. Itisa
fact observed by many western travelers that the potatoes in the
mountain regions of Colorado were less affected by the insect than
were those of the Mississippi Valley. This was natural enough, since
the wild food plants are common there, and the potato fields fewer
and more scattered than further east; and, moreover, tie stream which
first branched off from the wild Solanum feeders, and took to feeding
upon the cultivated potato and spreading eastward, doubtless took no
backward course. During the past summer, however, the insect did
great damage to the crops in the mountain region: yeta fact which is
suggestive to the people in the Alleghanies is worthy of mention, and
that is that while the injury reached three or four miles into the moun-
tains, or to about the middle elevations (say 8,000 feet above the sea
level,) the crop was entirely free from the insects above that altitude
and yielded abundantly. This fact was communicated to me by sev-
eral independent observers, and among others by Prof. J. H. Tice, who
spent the summer at Left Hand Canon. Some observations of Mr.G.
H. French, of Irvington, Ills., who also spent the summer in the moun-
tains, to the effect that while he often found the bodies and eggs
*The following reports are the most trustworthy (the species having been identified in each
instance) from among many others that might be given: The American Farmer, Baltimore, for July,
1874, says: ‘‘ Not only in the vicinity of Baltimore, but all over the western shore of Maryland, in
Delaware and in Virginia, these insects have appeared in great numbers, voraciously attacking the
erops.’? H. P. reports it in Connecticut (N. ¥. Weekly Tribune, July 22, 1874); E. B. M. in Cape May
county, N. J., (ibid, August 26, 1874). In June it was at Wilmington, Del., (Daily Commercial of that
place, June 1, 1874). E. T. reports it during the same month in Oneida county, N. Y., (Country Gentle-
man, June 25, 1874); C. F. at Olney, Md., (ibid, July 30, 1874). The monthly reports of the Depart-
ment of Agriculture record it in Alleghany, Cattaraugus, Delaware, Erie, Madison, Tioga, Wayne and
Wyoming counties, N. Y.; Burlington, Gloucester and Salem counties in N. J.; Kent county in Del. ;
Alleghany, Baltimore, Caroline, Cecil, Carroll, Dorchester, Frederick, Hartford, Montgomery, Prince
George and Queen Anne counties, in Md.; and Culpepper, Fauquier, Greenville, Highland, Page and
Prince William counties, in Va.
Finally, the following parties have reported its appearance to me by letter: Rey. John G. Mor-
vis, Baltimore, Md., from around that city; T. L. Harison, Secy. N. Y. State Agr. Soc., from around
Syracuse, N. Y.; W. K. Shelmire, Toughkennamon, from Chester county, Pa.; S. Lockwood, Free-
hold, N. J., from that vicinity; S$. S, Rathvon, Lancaster, Pa., spoke of its increase in Lancaster
county ; Thos. Meehan reported it swarming in June around Germantown, Pa.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 3
above that altitude, yet the eggs, or the larvee just hatched from them
were dried up and dead, will suggest the reason, which is probably due
to the very dry atmosphere in connection with the cool nights.
ALARM ABOUT IT ABROAD.
In earlier reports I have expressed the opinion that there would
be real danger of the insect finding its way to Europe when once it
reached the Atlantic seaboard; and now that it has done so, the
authorities in several of the European countries are taking active
measures to prevent such a possible calamity as the introduction of
our potato beetle might prove. The potato, to some of the European
peoples, is of more national importance than to us, and we cannot won-
dler at the alarm manifested across the water, or at the interest which
the subject creates there, as evidenced in the number of pamphlets,
both in French, German and English which have lately appeared on
the subject in Europe, and the numerous articles written for the period-
ical press.
The governments of Belgium, France, Switzerland and Germany
have already prohibited the importation of American potatoes, and
Italy, the Netherlands and Great Britain, which have been solicited to
do so, are seriously inquiring into the necessities of the case. The
British Government is naturally slow to take such stringent steps,
which would perhaps more deeply affect it than the other nations
mentioned, since Great Britain does the larger trade in American pota-
toes. In reply to Mr. Herbert, M. P. for Kerry, who recently asked
the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether Her Majesty’s government
had taken any steps to prevent the introduction of the insect, Sir M.
M. Beach sought to abate fear, rather underrated the danger, and
wisely concluded that any interference with the trade should first have
the most careful consideration. Those who have watched the insect’s
gradual spread during the past seventeen or eighteen years, from its
native Rocky Mountain home to the Atlantic, and have seen how the
lakes, instead of hindering its march into Canada, really accelerated
that march, by affording carriage on vessels, rafters and other floating
objects, can have no doubt that the danger felt by our transatlantic
friends is real.
Yet 1 must repeat the opinion expressed a year ago—and which
has been very generally coincided in by all who have any familiarity
with the insect’s economy—that if it ever gets to Kurope it will most
likely be carried there in the perfect beetle state on some vessel ply-
ing between the twocontinents. While the beetle, especially in tae
non-growing season, will live for months without food, the larva would
perish in a few days without fresh potato tops, and would, I believe,
4 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
starve to death in the midst of a barrel of potatoes, even if it could
get there without being crushed; for while it so voraciously devours
the leaves it will not touch the tubers. The eggs, which are quite soft
and easily crushed, could, of course, only be carried over on the haulm
or on the living plant; and while there is a bare possibility of the
insect’s transmission in this way, there is little probability of it since
the plants are not objects of commercial exchange, and the haulm, on
account of its liability to rot, is not, so far as I can learn, used to any
extent in packing. Besides, potatoes are mostly exported during that
part of the year when there are neither eggs, larve nor potato vines.
in existence in the United States. There is only one other possible:
way of transmission, and that is in sufficiently large lumps of earth,,
either as larva, pupa or beetle. Now, if the American dealers:
be required to carefully avoid the use of the haulm or shaw and to:
ship none but clean potatoes, as free as possible from earth, the insect’s.
transmission among the tubers will be rendered impossible ; and when:
such precautions are so easily taken, there can be no advantage in
the absolute prohibition of the traffic in American potatoes. As well
prohibit traffic in a dozen other commodities, in many of which the
insect is as likely to be taken over, as in potatoes, and in some of
which it is even more likely to be transported. The course recently
adopted by the German government in accordance with the sugges-
tion made in my last report, is much more rational and will prove a
much better safeguard: It is to furnish vessels plying between the two:
countries with cards giving illustrated descriptions of the insect in alli
stages, with the request that passengers and crew destroy any stray
specimens that may be found. Let England and Ireland, together
with the other European governments, co-operate with Germany in
this plan, and have such a card posted in the warehouses of seaport:
towns, and the meeting rooms of agricultural societies; and a possi--
ble evil will be much more likely avoided. Some of the English jour-.
nals are discussing the question as to whether, with the more moist.
and cool climate of that country, our 10-lined potato beetle would
thrive there, even if imported. ‘here cannot be much doubt that the:
insect will rather enjoy the more temperate clime; for while it thrives-
best during comparatively dry seasons, both excessive heat and drouth
as well as excessive wet are prejudicial to it.
It is argued by others that on the continent of Europe our Dory-
phora would not thrive if introduced, and in a recent letter received
from M. Oswald de Kerchove, of Gand, Belgium, author of an inter-
esting pamphlet on the insect,* that gentleman says: “Ido not think.
+ L’Ennemi de la Pomme de Terre, etc., Bruxelles, 1875.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 5
that the Doryphora, awakened by our early warm weather, could
resist the effects of the late cold which we are apt to have in these
European countries.” The idea that the climate of North America is
less extreme than that of Europe is rather novel to us of the cisat-
lantic; and from a sufficiently long residence in England, France and
Germany, | am decidedly of the opinion that they delude themselves
who suppose that Doryphora could not thrive in the greater part of
Kurope; and that to abandon all precautionary measures against its
introduction on such grounds would be the height of folly. An insect
which has spread from the high table lands of the Rocky Mountains
across the Mississippi Valley to the Atlantic, and that flourishes alike
in the States of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Connecticut, and in Mary-
land, Virginia and Texas—in fact, wherever the potato succeeds—will
not likely be discomfited in the potato-growing districts of Europe.
Some few, again, have ridiculed the very idea of the insect’s passage to
Europe in any State, arguing that it is an impossibility for any coleop-
terous insect to be thus transferred from one country to another.
Considering that half the weeds of American agriculture, and a large
proportion of her worst insect pests, including two beetles—viz: the
Asparagus Beetle (Crioccris asparagi,) and the Elm Leaf-beetle
( Galeruca calmariensis)—in the very same family as our Doryphora,
have been imported among us from Europe, there would seem poor
foundation forsuch argument. Moreover,a number of other insects—
among them some beetles—of less importance, may be included in the
number of importations ; and the Rape Butterfly (Pieris rape,) whose
progress westward has been simultaneous with the Doryphora’s east-
ward, and whose importation dates back but a few years, bears witness
to the fact that insects more delicate and with fewer chances of safe
transport than Doryphora, may succeed in getting alive from one
country to the other, and in gaining a foothold in the new home.
The ravages of the insect, bad as they are, very naturally get
exaggerated at such a distance from its native home, and the following
from the London Gardener's Chronicle, gives altogether a too gloomy
picture: ‘“ When once afield of potatoes has been attacked, all hope
of aharvest must be given up; in a few days it is changed into an arid
waste—a mere mass of dried stalks.” It should not be forgotten that °
the American farmer by means of intelligence anda little Paris Green
is pretty much master of the Doryphora.
One of the most amusing things growing out of the European
agitation about this insect that has come to my notice, occurred in
our own city of St. Louis. Our worthy Mayor Brown was importuned
by a Belgian official for information about the insect, when, instead
6 SEVENTH ANNUAL kKEPORT
of ascertaining the facts, which he might easily have done, either
from myseif or from any of his bucolic friends, he chose to display his
agrestic proficiency by publishing a reply in the daily papers. The
following extract from the reply will show that a man may be a good
mayor and yet cut a sorry figure as agriculturist or entomologist; for
every reader of these reports will notice that there is scarcely a state-
ment that is not opposed to the facts:
Treating your letter, therefore, seriously, J have to state that there never has beem
a potato bug seen flying about St. Louis or any other city in the United States or territo-
ries ; that the potato bug never has caused any alarm in any city nor in the country—only
in certain seasons that seemed to be favorable to the production of them. Lam notaware
of the potato bug attacking any other vegetable. I consider the fears of the people of
Belgium entirely groundless, evenif the ravages of the potato bug had been great in
any locality the past season (which it has not,) andis a matter of no apprehension or
comment at the present time in this country.
Mayor Brown, though he has the reputation of being extremely
versatile, has evidently not worked in a potato patch of late years!
Nor did his letter seem to inspire much confidence among the Bel-
gians, who, soon after its publication, passed an act. prohibiting the
importation of American potatoes.
Is IT POISONOUS ?
This question, which was very fully discussed, pro and con, be-
tween the years 1866 and 1870, ard settled in the affirmative, has been
revived again by Prof. T. J. Burrill, of the Illinois Industrial Univer-
sity, who published an item, which went the rounds of the agricultural
press, to the effect that the insect is not poisonous; a statement he
supported by the facts that he had rubbed the juice from the mashed
insect into a flesh cut, and had had some accidentally squirted into
his eye, without any injurious effects resulting. Now I would not go
to the extent of a certain sarcastic Chicago professor who affirms that
he could fix up a decoction from the dead beetles that would cause a
vacancy in the chair of Vegetable Physiology and Horticulture in the
I}linois Industrial University, if Prof. Burrill inhaled it, and suggests.
that there are certain animals that poison will not affect, and that.
Prof. B. may be one of them; nor to the extreme of a Philadelphia
physician who asserts that the tincture from this beetle is the most
virulent of insect poisons, and that nothing can be compared with it
except the Argas of Miana, in Persia, and the Coya in the valley
Neyba, in Popayan, South America, according to Ulloa’s Travels, Vol.
I, p. 343.* Yet there are so many authenticated cases of poisoning
* See an article in the Transactions of the Homeepathic Medical Society of the State of New York,
Vol. VIII, pp. 142-169, 1869, by E. M. Hale, M. D., of Chicago. In this article, which is mostly 2
quotation from the American Entomologist, with four poorly-colored lithographic plates made mostly
from my wood- cuts, without credit, Dr. Hale brings together several well authenticated cases of pois—
oning.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 7
by the fumes from the scalded insects, that it is surprising that Prof.
Burrill should have so stoutly assumed the negative of the question
without further research and experiment. It is as if I, who am not
affected by poison ivy or bee sting, should insist on the harmlessness
of either, in the face of their well known poisonous qualities, and
their danger to many persons. I know of physicians who persist in
disbelieving that death was ever caused by calubrine poison because
they have never known a fatal case of snake-bite in their own expe-
rience; but skepticism of that which is outside one’s own experience
usually dwells most where that experience is limited. Since my
acquaintance with the Colorado Potato-beetle, three cases of its poi-
sonous influence have been reported to me by persons in whose judg-
ment and veracity I have the utmost confidence,* and without for a
moment doubting the facts Prof. Burrill has recorded, which are valu-
able as far as they go,I wouldsimply say that they do not go far enough,
and he has not solved the whole truth of the matter. That the juices
of the mashed insects on the human skin are, as arule, harmless, is
proven by the hosts of farmers who have crushed them by hand, and
I can testify to the fact from my own experience; indeed, scarcely any
one who has had experience believes the wild stories of the poison-
ous nature of these juices. Yet the rule is not without exceptions,
and I do not doubt that, with blood in certain bad conditions, persons
have been poisoned by getting said juices into wounds or cuts. But
the cases of undoubted poisoning from this insect—cases that have in
some instances been serious and even proved fatal—are not from the
juices of the body, but from the drudsing or crushing of large masses,
especially by burning or scalding large quantities at a time. The
poison seems to be of a very volatile nature, and to produce swelling,
* Even since this was written, and just as this Report is going to press, the following letter, under
date of March 15, 1875, came to hand: ‘‘ On June Ist, 1874, I was called to see a little boy, son of Mr.
BE. H. Torgis, residing in a little village about two miles from this city. I found the child unwilling to
speak, with jactitation, quick breathing, florid condition of the skin, spitting viscid, frothy phlegm; at
times a quick. rather rapid pulse, and shortly after my arrival a peculiar spasm. The case was puzzling
to me, but that it was a case of poisoning from some source suggested itself at once. I made diligent
inquiry into the case, and eventually the father described to me the manner in which the boy would
gather his apron full of potato bugs and sit down by a flat stone and by the means of another stone
would mash them one at atime. Of course, in so doing he inhaled the volatile properties of the insects”
juices. The case was antidoted by the preper antidotes for such a case with marked results. On my
second visit made in the evening, I found the face the same in appearance, but the temperature of the
skin markedly different ; the jaws were slightly relaxed and there was high fever. I then paid some
attention to these symptoms, and after making three more visits discharged the case. Another case
came to my notice. It was that of a farmer’s wife who was in the habit of daily gathering the bugs and
scalding or burning them. She was seized with swelling in the hands, burning in the stomach and dis-
tension of the abdomen. I attributed it to the same cause, and relieved it accordingly. I also saw two
other cases somewhat similar, and from these observations am most thoroughly convinced that the insect
is poisonous. J. H. FISHBURNE, M. D.
Lock HAVEN, Pa.
8 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
pain and nausea very much as other animal poisons do, and Dr. C.
Ruden, of Joliet, Ill., who, as quoted by Dr. Hale (Joc. cit., p. 103),
experimented on himself by taking the saturated tincture internally
—increasing the dose daily from two to twenty drops—experienced
great disturbance of the bowels, swelling of the extremities, bloated
face, protruding eyes, fever, great thirst and desire for something
acid.
From the present state of the case, therefore, while there can be
little danger in the cautious killing of the insect in the field, I would
not advise recklessness in handling it in large quantities; and we
should especially guard against collecting and destroying it by scald-
ing or burning in such quantities. There is no longer any occasion
for thus collecting and destroying the insects; and since the custom
of tackling the enemy with the Paris Green mixture came into vogue,
we have heard much less of potato bug poisoning.
THE USE OF PARIS GREEN.
The question as to the safety and advisability of the use of this
mineral in counteracting the ravages of the Colorado Potato-beetle
and of other noxious insects, was revived during the year by the read-
ing of a paper before the National Academy of Science, by Dr. J. L.
LeConte, of Philadelphia, ‘On the use of mineral poisons for the pro-
tection of Agriculture.” After some introductory remarks the paper
closed with the following passages :
But in the interests of those to come after us, and for whom, rather than for our-
selves, we wish to preserve the results of our labors, [do solemnly protest against the
loose manner in which, on the recommendation of persons who have observed only the
effects of these poisons upon the insect pests to which their attention has been directed,
a most dangerous substance has been placed in the hands of a large mass of uneducated
men. You will learn from those who will supplement these remarks the fearful extent
to which the manufacture of this poison has increased upon agricultural demand. I
can say, on the authority of a friend residing in one of the great agricultural centers of
the West, that the druggists of his town order it by the ton.
The ravages of the Colorado Potato-beetle, which has been the chief agent in intro-
ducing Paris Green into agriculture. commenced in the West many years ago, and its
extension, at a regular rate, was predicted by entomologists, whose opinion was worthy
to be received.
Tne prediction has been verified almost to a year.
Now it was within the power of the Government, through a properly organized
scientific bureau for the protection of agriculture, to have ordered a commission, who
would, after thoroughly investigating the subject, reeommend proper measures to be
adopted. Iam free to say that the use of metallic poisons would not be one of them.
But human labor, properly compensated and intelligently employed to avert a national
calamity, such as has come upon us from the incursion of the insect, might, perhaps,
have been one of the agents suggested.
In a discourse before the American Association for the advancement of science, at
Portland, Maine, in August, 1873, | recommended, among other measures for the pro-
motion of economic entomology in the United States, the reorganization of the De-
partmentof Agriculture on a scientific basis for the proper protection and advancement
of agriculture.
This recommendation was made the basis for several efforts on the part of the
farmers of the Mississippi Valley. But, as is usual in cases where the emoluments of
office and the expenditure o1! public funds are at stake, the attempt at reform failed. I
now appeal—and trust to your influence to give the appeal as wide a circulation as
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 9
possible—to the whole of the intelligent community of the country to stop this indis-
eriminate use of metallic poisons on the soil until the whole subject has been investi-
gated, not by observers of the habits of insects, but by a properly constituted scientific
commission of chemists, physiologists and entomologists, who will recommend a gen-
eral system of attack upon our insect enemies without > 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. <A few require 3 years, as for
example the Round-headed Apple-tree Borer (Saperda bivittata Say)
and the White Grub which produces the May-beetle (Lachnosterna
quercina Knoch.) One species, the Thirteen-year Locust (Cicada
tredecim Riley), actually requires 13 years to pass from the egg to
the winged state; and another, the Seventeen-year Locust (Cvcada.
septemdecim Linn), the still longer period of 17 years. On the other
hand there are not a few that pass through all their three states in a
few months, or even in a few weeks; so that in one and the same
year there may be 2,3 or even 4or5 broods, one generated by the
other and one succeeding another. For example, the Hessian Fly
(Cecidomyia destructor Say), the common Slug-worm of the Pear
(Selandria cerasi Peck), the Slug-worm of the Rose (Selandria rose
Harris), the Apple-worm and a few others, produce exactly two gen-
erations in one year, and hence may be termed “ two-brooded.”
Again, the Colorado Potato-beetlein Central Missouri is three-brooded,
and not improbably in more southerly regions is four-brooded. Lastly,
the common House-fly, the Cheese-fly, the various species of Blow-
flies and Meat-flies, and the multifarious species of Plant-lice (Aphide):
- produce an indefinite number of successive broods in a single year,
sometimes amounting, in the case of the last named genus, as has
been proved by actual experiment, to as many as nine.
“ As long ago as March, 1866, I published the fact that the Chinch
Bug is two-brooded in North Illinois (Practical Entomologist, I, p.
48), and I find that it is likewise two-brooded in this State, and most
probably in all the Middle States. Yet it is quite agreeable to anal-
ogy that in the more Southern States it may be three-brooded. For
instance, the large Polyphemus Moth is single-brooded in the Northern
and Middle States, and yet two broods are sometimes produced in
this State, while in the South it is habitually two-brooded. Again, the
moth known as the Poplar Spinner (Clostera Americana Harris), is
28 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
stated by Dr. Harris and Dr. Fitch to be only single-brooded in Massa-
chusetts and New York, the insect spinning up in September or
October, passing the winter in the pupa state, and coming out in the
winged form in the following June. But Dr. Harris—no doubt on the
authority of Abbott—states that ‘in Georgia this insect breeds twice
a year;’* and I have proved that it does so breed in Missouri.”
“Tt is these two peculiarities in the habits of the Chinch Bug,
namely, first, its continuing to take food from the day of its birth to
the day of its death, and, secondly, its being either two-brooded or
many-brooded, that renders it so destructive and so difficult to com-
bat. Such as survive the autumn, when the plants on the sap of
which they feed are mostiy dried up so as to afford them little or no
nourishment, pass the winter in the usual torpid state, and always in
the perfect or winged form, under dead leaves, under sticks of wood,
under flat stones, in moss, in bunches of old dead grass or weeds or
straw, and often in cornstalks and cornshucks.
“In the winter, all kinds of insect-devouring animals, such as
birds, shrew mice, etc., are hard put to it for food, and have to search
every hole and corner for their appropriate prey. But no matter how
closely they may thin out the chinch bugs, or how generally those
insects may have been starved out by the autumnal droughts, there
will always be a few left for seed next year. Suppose that there are
only 2,000 chinch bugs remaining in the spring in a certain field, and
that each female of the 2,000, as vegetation starts, raises a family of
only 200, which is a lew calculation. Then—allowing the sexes to be
equal in number, whereas in reality the females are always far more
numerous than the males—the first or spring brood will consist of
200,000, of which number 100,000 will be females. Here, if the species
were single-brooded, the process would stop for the current year; and
200,000 chinch bugs in one field would be thought nothing of by the
Western farmer. But the species is not single-brooded, and the pro-
cess does NoT stop here. Each successive brood increases in numbers
in geometrical progression, unless there be something to check their
increase, until the second brood amounts to twenty millions, and the
third brood to two thousand millions. We may form some idea of the
meaning of two thousand millions of chinch bugs when it is stated
that that number of them, placed in a straight line head and tail
together, would just about reach from the surface of the earth to its
central point—a distance of four thousand miles.”
WHERE THE EGGS ARE LAID.
The Chinch Bug deposits its eggs occasionally above ground on
* Injurious Insects, p. 434.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 29)
the blades of grain, but far more often, and normally, underground,
upon the roots of the plants infested. These eggs are three-hundredths
of an inch Jong, elongate-oval, pale amber-colored and with one end
squarely docked off and ornamented with four little tubercles near
the centre. (Fig. 3, a.) They are deposited in little clusters, and the
young lice hatching from them are at first bright red and remain for
a considerable time underground, sucking the sap from the roots. A.
wheat plant pulled from an infested field in the spring of the year,
will generally reveal hundreds of these eggs attached to the roots,
and at a somewhat later period, the young larvz will be found clus-
tering on the same, and looking like so many moving red atoms. As
the sequence will show, it is practically quite important that we know
the whereabouts these eggs are deposited ; yet they are so small and
so difficult of detection that the wildest theories were promulgated as
to the origin and birth of chinch bugs, until the question was settled
by the entomologist with his lens and microscope. The female occu-
pies from two to three weeks in depositing her eggs; the egg requires
about two weeks to hatch, and the bug becomes full-grown and ac-
quires its wings in five or six weeks from hatching.
Individuals may be found of all sizes and ages throughout the
summer months, yet the great body of the first brood mature soon
after the ripening of spring wheat.
Insects generally lay all their eggs in single masses and in a com-
paratively brief time: in other words, the eggs in the ovaries are
almost simultaneously developed, and the female devotes the last of
her life to the single and comparatively brief act of oviposition, and
then perishes from exhaustion. In the Chinch Bug, however, as in
the Colorado Potato-beetle, Plum Curculio, etc., the ova continue to
develop tor several weeks, and the eggs are laid from day to day in
small numbers.
FLIGHT OF THE CHINCH BUG.
Though, as we have already seen, there is a dimorphous, short-
winged form, incapable of flight, and found more particularly in north-
ern latitudes, the normal, long-winged form is abundantly able to fly,
and is sometimes seen swarming in theair. This flight is most notice-
able at three periods in the year. First, during the early warm days
of Spring, when—issuing from their winter quarters—the individuals
of the second or hibernating brood perform their courtships, and the
females scatter over the wheatfields and seek the driest and most
open soil, that they may penetrate to the roots of the plants and there
consign their eggs. Secondly, in July, after wheat is harvested, and
the great body of the first brood have acquired wings and are per-
30 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
forming their courtships and scattering over cornfields and meadows.
Thirdly, during the latter sunny days of Fall, when the mature indi-
viduals of the second brood are seeking their winter quarters, and
many of them already making love preparatory thereto.
ITS MIGRATION ON FOOT.
Although the Chinch Bug is abundantly able to fly, yet as a rule
it does not take to wing readily. Indeed, between the periods of flight
mentioned above, these insects are, for the most part, unable to fly,
for the simple reason that they are in the adolescent growing stages,
and have not yet acquired wings; for no insect acquires wings until
it has attained the imago or full grown state. Thusin migrating from
a field of grain after it has been reduced and exhausted, or in passing
from a wheatfield to a cornfield, after the wheat has been cut, these
myriad sappers and miners are forced to march on foot, and they often
do so in solid columns, inches deep. In such case the few more early
matured individuals, which have wings, generally keep with the crowd
and show no inclination to use their recently acquired power of flight.
HEAVY RAINS DESTRUCTIVE TO THE CHINCH BUG.
‘* As the Chinch Bug, unlike most other true bugs, deposits its
eggs underground, and as the young larve live there for a consider-
able time, it must be manifest that heavy soaking rains will have a
tendency to drown them out. The simple fact, long ago observed and
recorded by practical men, such as Mr. B. E. Fleharty, of North
Prairie, Knox county, Ill., that this insect scrupulously avoids wet
land, proves that moisture is naturally injurious to its constitution.
Hence it was many years ago remarked that very often when spring
opens dry, chinch bugs will begin toincrease and multiply in an alarm-
ing manner; but that the very first heavy shower checks them up
immediately, and repeated heavy rains put an almost entire stop to
their operations. It is very true that nearly all insects will bear im-
mersion under water for many hours, and frequently for a whole day,
without suffering death therefrom; for although animation is appar-
ently suspended in such cases, they yet, as the phrase is, ‘ come to life
again.’ But no insect, except the few that are provided with gills
like fishes and extract the air out of the water, instead of breathing
it at first hand, can stand a prolonged immersion in water without
drowning—and it must be obvious to the meanest capacity that an
insect such as the Chinch Bug, whose natural home is the driest soil
it can find, will have its health injuriously affected by a proteus
residence in a wet soil.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. on
“Tn fact, the whole history of the Chinch Bug, from the very earli-
est records which we have of it, points unmistakably to the fact that a
wet season affects it injuriously, and often almost annihilates it. In
Carolina and Virginia, during the dry years which preceded 1840, it
had become so numerous that the total destruction of the crops was
threatened; but fortunately, unlike its predecessors, the Summer of
1810 was quite wet, and the ravages of the bug were at once arrested.
In Illinois and in this State it had increased to an alarming extent
during the latter part of the last rebellion; but the excessive wet
Summer of 1865 swept them to such an extent that it was difficult to
find any in the Fall of that year. So it was again in 1869-70, and so
it always has been and doubtless will be.”
It will be remembered that in some parts of the State we had
several generous rains in July which were most grateful after the
preceeding excessively dry weather. No one who was not in and
about the cornfields can have any idea of the almost magic effect of
those rains in destroying the chinch bugs. Of the vast swarms that
a few weeks before, had blackened and deadened the rows of corn
adjacent to harvested wheatfields, fully two-thirds in many localities
were dead and rotting, whether above the ground between the blades,
or below ground upon the roots; and these dead and drowned com-
prised bugs of all ages, and especially the larvxe and pupe.
DIRECT REMEDIES AGAINST THE CHINCH BUG.
When a field of wheat or barley or rye, is once overrun by chinch
bugs, man is, in the majority of cases, powerless before the unsavory
host, and his only hope isin timely rains. The great majority of
noxious insects may be controlled even at the last hour, but a few—
and among them is the Chinch Bug—defy our efforts when once they are
in full force upon us. There are several applications that will kill the
insect when brought in contact with it, and I have known a few rows
of corn to be saved by the copious use of simple hot water, but the
application of all such direct remedies becomes impracticable on the
scale in which they are needed in the grain fields of the West. Irri-
gation, where it can be be applied—and it can be in much of the ter-
ritory in the vicinity of the Rocky Mountains, where the insect com-
mits sad havoc; and with a little effort, in many regions in the heart
of the Mississippi Valley—is the only really available, practicable
remedy, after the bugs have commenced multiplying in the spring.
I wish to lay particular stress on this matter of irrigation, believing
as I do, that it is an effectual antidote against this pest, and that by
overflowing a grain field for a couple of days, or by saturating the
ground for as many more in the month of May, we may effectually pre-
32 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
vent its subsequent injuries. In the article on the Rocky Mountain
Locust, I may have something more to say on this matter of irriga-
tion. We cannot, at the critical moment, expect much aid from its
natural enemies, for these are few, and attack it mostly in the winter
time. We must, therefore, in our warfare with this pest, depend
mainly on preventive measures where irrigation is impossible.
PREVENTIVE MEASURES.
It has been repeatedly shown in these pages, that in no depart-
ment of science does the old proverb, “prevention is better than
cure,” apply with such force as in economic entomology; for there
are hosts of insects whose depredations may be averted with the
utmost ease, when we understand their weak points and attack them
at the proper place or time. Though we are powerless before the
Chinch Bug at the time it commits the greatest injury, and attracts
most attention, yet I shall endeavor to show that it may, for all prac-
tical purposes, be outflanked by judicious husbandry and proper pre-
cautionary steps.
Burnine—It has long been noticed that the Chinch Bug com-
mences its ravages in the Spring .from the edges of a piece of grain,
or occasionally from one or more small patches, scattered at random
in the more central portions of it, and usually dryer than the rest of
the field. From these particular parts it subsequently spreads by de-
grees over the whole field, multiplying as it goes, and finally taking
the entire crop unless checked up by seasonable rains. In newly
broken land, where the fences are new, and consequently no old stuff
has had time to accumulate along them, the Chinch Bug is seldom
heard of. These facts indicate that the mother insects must very gen-
erally pass the winter in the old dead stuff that usually gathers along
fences. Hence, by way of precaution, it is advisable, whenever possi-
ble, to burn up such stuff in the winter, or early in the spring, and
particularly to rake together and burn up the old corn stalks in the
fall of the year, instead of plowing them in, or allowing them, as is
often done, to lie littering about on some piece of waste ground.
Agriculturally speaking, this may not be the best way of enriching
the soil; but it is better to lose the manure contained in the corn
stalks than to have one’s crop destroyed by insects. Whenever such
small infected patches in a grain field are noticed early in the season,
the rest of the field may often be saved by carting dry straw on to
them, and burning the straw on the spot, Chinch Bugs, green wheat
and all; and this will be still easier to do when the bugs start along
the edge of the field. If, as frequently happens, a pieee of small
grain is found about harvest time to be so badly shrunken up by the
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 33
bug as not to be worth cutiing, the owner of it ought always to set fire
to it and burn it up along with its ill-savored inhabitants. Thus, not
only will the insect be prevented from migrating on to the adjacent
corn-fields, but its future multiplication will be considerably checked.
As was clearly shown by Dr. LeBaron, in his second report as
State Entomologist of Illinois, much of the efficacy of burning corn
stalks will depend on the manner in which it is performed and the
time of year of its performance. The approach of Winter finds the
bugs scattered everywhere over our corn-fields. But the fields them-
selves afford very little Winter shelter, and though standing corn
stalks may harbor the bugs more or less throughout the Winter, the
fact remains that the majority of the bugs leave them and seek greater
shelter and more favorable quarters. Thus, to be effectual, the stalks
should be cut and burned before Winter sets in; or what is preferable,
shocks should be made at intervals to attract the bugs. The bugs
will then congregate in these shocks and may there be burned at any
time during the winter. 1n this connection I will quote the following
inquiry from Mr. J. T. Moulton, Jr., of St. Francois county :
The most compact and destructive army of chinch bugs I ever saw, started
from sorghum bagasse, which had been used as manure. Might the insects be trapped _
to any extent worth mentioning, by exposing heaps of rubbish in conspicuous places
in August, and burning the same in November? Wouldagreat proportion of the eggs
be found in such heaps ? '
The eggs would of course not be found in such heaps, as they are
laid only on the living grain, and principally below the surface of the
ground at the crown or on the roots of the plant. But they would
nevertheless be effectually destroyed in the manner you suggest,
because each female bug sheltering under the bagasse carries within
her ovaries a number of undeveloped eggs which, as soon as Spring
opens, she is ready to consign to the roots of young grain. The plan
suggested by Mr. Moulton is therefore a capital one; and it matters
little whether bagasse, corn-stalks, or any other rubbish be used, so
Jong as the heaps are not too large and compact, and are placed and
destroyed by fire at the times mentioned.
Where the custom of allowing cattle to range during the winter
in the husked corn-fields, even the few chinch bugs which secrete in
these stalks are apt to get killed by the feeding and tramping.
Rotiine —As the mother Chinch Bug has to work her way under
ground in the spring of the year, in order to get at the roots upon
which she proposes to lay her eggs, it becomes evident at once that
the looser the soil is at this time of the year the greater the facilities
Er R—3
34 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
which are offered for the operation. Hence the great advantage of
plowing land for Spring grain in the preceding Autumn, or, if plowed
in the Spring, rolling it repeatedly with a heavy roller after seeding.
And hence the remark frequently made by farmers, that wheat har-
rowed in upon old corn ground, without any plowing at all, is far less
infested by Chinch Bug than wheat put in upon land that has been
plowed.
INVIGORATING THE PLant BY Manure: Earty Sowrnea, Etc.—It has
long been observed that Fall wheat suffers less than Spring wheat
from this insect, for the simple reason that it generally matures before
the bugs have attained their greatest power for harm. The Tappa-
hannock wheat, on account of its early ripening, is, for this reason,
one of the safest kinds to grow. There is also a strong impression
among those who have had a good deal of experience with the insect,
that it thrives best on sickly and weakly grain. While in such ques-
tions it is always somewhat difficult to distinguish between cause and
effect, the following experience of that close observer, Mr. J. R. Muhle-
man, of Woodburn, Illinois, would certainly seem to show that the
bugs do show some choice of food in a corn-field:
I had a piece of very vigorous corn opposite my neighbor’s wheat, and after if was
harvested, that corn nearest the wheat became black with bugs. Now, the small field
on which [ raised 1ay corn, is various in quality, ranging from rich to barren. My
supply of manure did not hold out to cover all the latter, so that the corn thereon
grew but slowly and remained weak. About a week after I had first noticed the bugs
on that strong fast-growing corn, as mentioned above, I passed again by it, and found
the bugs had abandoned it. ‘That corn, and that which grew on the manured portions
of the field remained free from the bugs during the remainder of the season, and L
began to think the bugs had left entirely; that corn turned out well—as well as it
promised in the forepart of the season.
At the time of cutting the corn I became undeceived, for I found all the weak corm
full of the stinkers, suggesting to me that they had thus abandoned the big heavy
stalks, because, as I suppose, the sap flowed too fast for their comfort, and they went
at the more etiolated, slowly growing corn. Upon frequent inquiry in different parts
of the county,I have found that corn growing in bottoms was comparatively free
from the bugs and made good corn, while upland corn, and especially such grown on
rather thin land, was destroyed by them.
The lesson I would therefore draw from these observations is, that early planting,
manuring, and close attention in cultivation, especially on uplands of poor soil, will
reward the tiller with a reasonable yield, as far as the Chinch Bug is concerned.
There can be no doubt as to the soundness of the lesson my friend
draws in the last paragraph, and much of the freedom from chinches
that has been noticed to follow the steeping of the seed in brine, or
the use of salt and lime on the soil, may be traced to the vigor which
the applications gave to the plants.
Mixinea SEED oR ProtTecTING ONE Pant By ANoTHER.—A strip of
Spring wheat might be sown around a field of Fall wheat, as suggested
by Mr. Carr (see Appendix), so that when the bugs have sucked it dry,
or as soon as the Fall wheat is cut, and before they have started for
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 35
other fields, tLe Spring wheat with its contents may be burned. Other
preventive measures of this character have been tried, such as the
sowing of arod or twoof Hungarian grass or millet around a wheat
field, with a view of satisfying the bugs till the desired crop is out of
danger. I have also known some to practice planting a few rows of
sorghum, which is tougher than the corn. The bugs remain on the
sorghum till ready to scatter by wing, when there is little danger to
the corn, because it is then too strong and vigorous to be much
affected by the young of the second brood.
PREVENTING THE MIGRATION OF THE Bua@s FaoM ONE FIELD To AN-
OTHER.—When, after having exhausted a field of grain, they are
marching to another; or when, after wheat is cut, they are making in
close columns for the nearest corn, they may be checked in their pro-
gress in the following manner, which I give in the words of Mr. H. J.
Everett, of Stoughton, Wisconsin, who first recommended it:
Take common fence boards, six inches or less wide, and run them around the
piece, set edgewise, and so that the bugs cannot get under them or between the joints,
and then spread either pine or coal tar on the upper edge, and they will not cross it.
The tar needs renewing until the edge gets saturated, so that it will keep wet and not
dry in any more, and either kind of tar is effectual. Then dig holes close to the board,
about like a post hole, once in four or five rods, and run a strip of tar from the top of
the board to the bottom on the outside, opposite the hole, and they will leave the board,
and in trying to get around the tarred stripe, will slide into the hole, where they will
be obliged to remain till they can be buried at leisure, and new holes opened for more
victims. Itis seldom one has to fence more than one side of the field, but wherever the
fence is it is a sure stop.
With a little care to keep the tar moist by renewal, the boards
may be dispensed with, and the tar poured out of the kettle onto the
ground. Abouta gallon is required to arod, and it should be renewed
every other day, or oftener when rains prevail, until the bugs are
destroyed in the manner before indicated. According to Dr. LeBaron,
this plan was extensively resorted to in 1871, around Bloomington,
Illinois, where the coal tar could be easily obtained, and it gave most
satisfactory results. ‘The same end may be attained by plowing a
deep furrow or two at a short distance one from the other around a
field it is intended to protect; and from the ease and cheapness with
which this plan is executed, it is likely to become the most popular.
The earth should be thrown away from the protected field, and the
furrow not allowed to settle or harden, but be kept friable or
dusty by dragging a log or a stone or a bundle of brush along it
each morning. The philosophy of the plan is that the bugs cannot
climb up the loose surface, especially on the perpendicular side. The
dragging each morning will kill many, but they should be either
a
36 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
trapped and destroyed in pits as already described, or burned by
strewing straw each morning on the invading side of the furrow, and
burning the same each evening, when achinch bug holocaust will
result. ;
IMPORTANCE OF WINTER WORK AND COMBINED ACTION.
Measures such as these last are, however, but partially preven-
tive; we destroy the enemy only after he has just committed his prin-
cipal ravages. Those, therefore, which strike at the right place and
prevent the bug from doing any injury, are by far the most important
and valuable; and I cannot lay too much stress on the importance of
Winter work in burning cornstalks, old boards and all kinds of grass,
weeds, rubbish and litter around grain fields, and even the ieaves in
the adjacent woods, in and under all of which the little pest hiber-
nates. Next to drowning out the rascals, cremation is undoubtedly
the most effectual mode of destruction. Next, let Spring wheat be
got in as early as possible, and let it be rolled. The rolling will
apply equally well to the culture of Winter wheat, though I would not
advise the early Fall planting of this last in sections where it is likely
to suffer from Hessian fly, for reasons not pertinent in this connec-
tion. Sow thickly, as the more the ground is shaded the less the
Chinch Bug likes it. If in late Winter the bugs are known to be
numerous so as to bode future injury—and the fact can easily be
ascertained by the ill-savored odor they send up from corn-shocks and
by their general presence in the wintering places mentioned—it will
be well to plant no Spring wheat or barley. In short, just in propor-
tion as we adopt an intelligent and cleanly system of culture, just in
that proportion will the Chinch Bug become harmless : it is,in a great
part, and in its more injurious aspects, a result of slovenly husbandry,
and will lose its threatening character in the more western States, as
it has in those to the east of us, just as fast as more careful and intel-
ligent husbandry becomes the fashion. Combined effort is, also, most
important in this connection, and it is by producing unity of action
in such cases that the granges can demonstrate, in no small degree,
the good that is to flow from organization. While the farmers were
uncombined they were as weak as a rope of sand in matters requiring
this combined effort, but with the powerful organization now existing
among them, they will be better able to cope with their foes of what-
ever nature.,
Every one who has traveled over our own State, must have been
struck with the manner in which some fields were rendered almost
worthless by this insect; while others in the immediate vicinity, and
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 37
sometimes not more than a quarter of a mile away, were entirely
exempt from itsinjuries. I have had no difficulty in accounting for
these circumstances in the light of what is here stated.
Much good winter work may be done also in the way of trapping
the bugs. In seeking winter quarters, they show a decided partiality
for any flat substances, such as old boards, that do not rest too closely
upon the ground. If all old boards that can be obtained are laid
around a field, in the Fall, in such manner that the larger part of the
lower surface will not quite rest on the ground—which of course it
will not do if the ground is in the least bit uneven or covered with
grass—the bugs will congregate under such traps, and during the cold
weather of Winter may be scraped from them on to dry straw and
burned.
In this connection, and to show the folly of waiting till the last
moment, I take the liberty of publishing the following letter as a
sample of many that reach me about harvest time:
Dear Sir: I once noticed in the Kansas agricultural reports an article from
your pen on noxious insects, and how to destroy them, and a few days since I read in
the St. Louis Globe of the good work you were doing. I now write to you in the hope
that you can do as good a turn fora sad lot of farmers as you did for Mr. Whittaker.
We are being eaten out by the Chinch Bug; Spring wheat and barley utterly
ruined—none left to eat; Winter wheat damaged one-half, and whole fields of corn
being laid waste. I hear of many instances where from ten to fifteen acres are gone,
and the bugs marching steadily on. A few persons are trying to stop them by spread-
ing straw in their way and burning or dragging logs; some are trying coal tar ; but
generally the bugs are marching onward.
I look from my window on a fine, large field of oats over half ruined. Many are
cutting oats in the bloom or milk to save something.
I have seen grasshoppers twice, and would prefer them of the two. If you can
tell us something about them and how to prevent their ravages, drive off or destroy
them, you will confer upon us the greatest favor and receive our heartfelt thanks.
Wishing you God-speed in your noble efforts to help our insect-cursed country,
Lam, with respect,
H. V. NEEDHAM,
Master of Grange No. 71, P. of H.
Summit, Kansas.
All such letters, when they come from citizens of Missouri, 1 make
it a point to answer, as far as other duties will permit; but from the
rather lengthy account of the Chinch Bug here given, it is obvious
that relief in all cases like that of Mr. Needham, is sought at the last
moment, when it cannot be got except through providential rains or
irrigation. Yet it is always at this last moment that the cry of dis-
tress goes up from the large body of farmers, or that any efforts are
made to avert it, except by the few who have been properly informed
and understand the habits of the enemy. That these last form but a
small (though I am happy to say constantly increasing) portion of the
agricultural community is, perhaps, to be regretted. A practicable,
38 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
everywhere available, cheap remedy, that would give relief at this
critical period, is from the nature of the case, hardly to be hoped for.
Yet it is not an impossibility ; and if I could devote to the effort my
whole time for one single year, with the means to test ona large
scale, thoroughly and effectually, the many different methods that
suggest themselves to my mind—as the use of sulphate of copper or
of iron; of carbonic acid gas or of sulphuret of carbon—something
might come out of the list of possible remedies, and thousands of dol-
lars might be cheaply expended in the attempt where cuch large
interests are involved. Regarding the use of carbonic acid gas, it is
probable that it would destroy the bugs on a hill of corn, if thrown on
to them at a distance of not more than two feet; but from experi-
ments which I made upon chinches with a Babcock extinguisher, I
am of the opinion that little can be expected from its use as thrown
from this machine. The gas escapes too rapidly to be of any great
practical service, and has no effect on the bugs when thrown in a jet
five feet long.
ABSTAINING FROM THE CULTIVATION OF THE GRAINS UPON WHICH
THE INSECT FEEDS.—On the principle that it is better to save the labor
and seed than to lose both and the harvest withal, the idea of quitting
the culture of the cereals, and especially of Spring wheat and barley,
for a year or two, as a means of preventing the breeding of the in-
sect to any injurious extent, has often been considered and discussed.
There is some reason to believe that the abandonment, for a single
year, of barley and Spring wheat culture, over a sufficiently large ex-
tent of country—as, for instance, over a whole county—would cause
a sufficient reduction in the numbers of chinch bugs in such a
county, as to insure fair crops for two or three succeeding years ; and
such a course is well worth trying. It is to be feared, however, that
it will never be carried out in concert over a sufficiently extended
breadth of country; 1st, because the farmer can never foretell the
character of the coming season, on which the increase or decrease of
the pest so largely depends, and will naturally hope for the best; 2d,
because if neither Spring nor Fall wheat, barley, oats, rye, Hungarian
grass, timothy nor corn were grown for one season in any given
county where there are wild prairie grasses, the Chinch Bug would yet
breed, though not so numerously.
NATURAL ENEMIES.
Practically we have not much to hope for from the natural enemies
of this bug; for they are neither numerous nor efficient enough to
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 39
make any material impression on the vast army of chinches which
invade our grain fields; neither are they of such a nature as to be
greatly encouraged, or artificially multiplied for man’s good, as in
wholesale measures of destruction it is impossible to separate the
sheep from the goats. Yet it will afford some satisfaction to the farmer
to be able to recognize even these few friends which assist, in their
quiet way, to keep his inveterate foe in check.
“ As long ago as 1861, Mr. Walsh, in his Lssay upon the Injurious
Insects of Illinois, published facts which tended to show that four
(Fis. 5.1 distinct species of Ladybirds preyed upon.the tig. 6)
ae, Chinch Bug.* The first of these four is the Spot- “\}gg
\ | ted Ladybird (Hippodamia maculata, DeGeer, FAD be
De Fig. 5), which also preys upon a great variety pte I
Lapyrirv. Other insects, attacking both the eggs of the Colo-7™™4?7*"™:
rado Potato-beetle and those of certain Bark lice.
“In corroboration of the fact of its preying on the Chinch Bug, I
may state, that the Rev. Chas. Peabody, of Sulphur Springs, informs
me that he has repeatedly found it so feeding on his farm. The sec-
ond species is the Trim Ladybird (Coccinella munda Say, Fig. 6),
which is distinguishable at once from a great variety of its brethren
by having no black spots upon its red wing-cases. The other two are
much smaller insects, belonging to a genus (Scymnus) of Ladybirds,
most of the species of which are quite small and of obscure brown
colors, and hard to be distinguished by the popular eve from other
beetles, the structure of which is very different, and which therefore
belong to very different groups and have very different habits.
“In the Autumn of 1864, Dr. Shimer ascertained that the Spotted
Ladybird which has been sketched above, preys extensively upon the
Chinch Bug. In a particular field of corn, which had been sown thick
for fodder, and which was swarming with chinch bugs, he found, as
he says, that this Ladybird, ‘ could be counted by hundreds upon every
square yard of ground after shaking the corn; but the chinch bugs
were so numerous that these hosts of enemies made very little per-
ceptible impression among them’
“In the same Autumn Dr. Shimer made the additional discovery,
that in the very same field of fodder-corn the chinch bugs were
preyed upon by a very common species of Lacewing-fly, which he
described in January, 1865, as the Illinois Lacewing (Chrysopa J liv-
7
*See Trans. Ill. St. Agric. Society, 1V, pp. 346-9.
+ Proc. Ent. Soc. Phil., IV, pp. 208-12.
40 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
noiensis). The description was republished, together with the sub-
stance of Mr. Shimer’s observations in the Prairie Harmer, of Chicago,
Ill., accompanied with a non-characteristic wood-cut of the larva,
cocoon andimago. At this time Mr. Shimer favored me with two
specimens of the perfect insect, and he likewise furnished Mr. Walsh
with additional specimens. From these specimens, it is evident that
the species is the same as that described long before, by Dr. Fitch, as
the Weeping Lacewing (Chrysopa plorabunda). In 1863, I found the
game species quite numerous in a wheat-field belonging to Mr. T. R.
Allen, of Allenton, where its larvae were perhaps feeding on the
chinch bugs, as they were found to do in North Illinois, by Dr. Shi-
mer. The Lacewing-flies all bear a striking resemblance to one
another, both in size, shape and color. They almost all of them, in
fly state, have a characteristic and disagreeable odor, resembling
nothing so much as human ordure. (For further details see Rep. 1,
pp. 57-8, and Rep. 6, Fig. 10).
“According to Dr. Shimer, the Weeping Lacewing-fly was not
quite as abundant as the Spotted Ladybird among the fodder-corn,
but still there were so many of them, that he thought that ‘there was
one or more of them for every stalk of that thickly sown corn.
‘Every stroke of the cutter, he adds, ‘ would raise three or four dozen
of them, presenting quite an interesting spectacle as they staggered
along in their awkward, unsteady flight.’ And he not only actually
observed the larve preying very voraciously on the chinch bugs in
the field, but he reared great numbers of them to the mature fly by
feeding them upon chinch bugs. His account of the operations of
the larva when in captivity is so interesting that I quote it in full:
I placed one of the larvee in a vial, after having captured it in the field in the very
act of devouring chinch bugs of all sizes, and subsequently introduced into the vial a
number of chinch bugs. They had hardly reached the bottom before it seized one of
the largest ones, pierced it with its long jaws, held it almost motionless for about a
minute while it was sucking the juices from the body of its victim, and then threw
down the lifeless shell. In this way, I saw it destroy in quick succession, about a dozen
bugs. Towards the last, as its appetite was becoming satiated, it spent five or more
minutes in sucking the juices trom the body of one bug. After this bountiful repast,
it remained motionless for an hour or more, as if asleep. Never for a single moment,
during the feast, did it pause in the work. When not in possession of a bug, it was on
the search for, or inthe pursuit of others. It manifested much eagerness in the pur-
suit of its prey, yet not with a lion-like boldness; for on several occasions I observed a
manifest timorousness, a halting in the attack, as if conscious of danger in its hunting
expeditions, although here there was none. Sometimes, when two or more bugs were
approaching rapidly, it would shrink back from the attack, and turning aside go in the
pursuit of others. At length, awakening, it would renew the assault as before. On
one occasion, when it was on the side of the vial, two inches up, with a large bug in
its mouth, [ jarred the vial, so that it fell to the bottom and rolled over and over across
the bottom, but holding on to its prey, it regained its footing and mounted up to its
‘former position. Occasionally the chinch bugs would hasten to escape when pursued,
as if in some degree conscious of danger.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 41
The Insidious Flower-bug (Anthocoris insidiosus,
Say, Fig. 7.) which is so often found preying on the
leaf-inhabiting form of the Grape Phylloxera, and
which is not unfrequently mistaken for the Chinch
Bug, is quite commonly found in connection with
this last, and in all probabitity preys upon it.
The Many-banded Robber [Fig. 8-]
: 2 PSs FES 8
( Harpactor cinctus, Fabr.
ig. 8.), also preys upon the
L
INSIDIOUS FLOWER-BUG. F
Chinch Bug. It is quite frequently met with |
and I have detected it in the act.
“The common Quail of tke Middle and
Western States (Ortyx Virginiana) otherwise
known as the Partridge in the Northern States, ute Shes Sy Ae
has long since been known as a most efficient destroyer of chinch
bugs, and the fact was some time ago published by myself in the
Prairie Farmer, and by othersin various agricultural journals and
Reports. We also have the corroborative testimony of Dr. Shimer,
who is a good ornithologist. In the Winter time, when hard pushed
for food, this bird must devour immense numbers of the little pests
which winter in just such situations as are frequented by the Quail 5.
and this bird should be protected from the gun of the sportsman in
every State where the Chinch Bug is known to run riot.” It is grati-
fying to know that this fact has become sufficiently recognized to have
gained for the bird legislative protection in Kansas. Prairie chickens.
are also reported as devouring it, but I do not know that any absolute
proof has been given. Mr. J, W. Clarke, of Green Lake county, Wis.,.
also reports seeing the Red-winged Blackbird feeding on it.* Finally,
Mr. B. W. Webster, of Austin, Cass county, and G. C. Brackett, Sec-
retary of the Kansas State Horticultural Society, have both written
me to the effect that ants destroy its eggs.
POSSIBLE REMEDIAL AND PREVENTIVE MEASURES THAT NEED FURTHER AND:>
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
<ounty was fully one-half of the crops of corn and sorghum, and the entire crop of
Hungarian grass and millet, which would amount to many thousands of dollars. —w.¥F.T,
Barton County.
3—Yes. Some have sown Hungarian grass between wheat and corn, for it seems
to be in the wheat-fields that the first crop is hatched. Some neighborhoods have not
sown any wheat atall. After the first crop has hatched in the wheat, they pluw around
the field or keep continually running a roller around it so as tocrush them. This seems
to keep them back for a week or two. When they get large enough to fly, they leave
the wheat-fields and scatter in all directions, where they lay tieir eggs and hatch out
the second crop. * * * -—a.a.D. No. Said Report has been seen and known com-
paratively little.—Js. 3. B. No efforts have been made to overcome its injuries. Ido
54 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
not think your Second Report is at all known or distributed among the people of this
county. To-day, [inquired at every place in town where I might expect to find it, but
could not. Nor could those most likely to know tell me anything of it.—w. H. a.
4—On account of our extreme drouth here the last season the Chinch Bug did
more than its usual amount of damage—probably $100,000 worth.—a. a. p. Any esti-
mate of said damage would be hard to make, approximating the truth, without a vast
deal of trouble. as our wheat was affected some, but chiefly because of the drouth, and
oats almost a failure from the same cause. True, both suffered some from the bug.
and as to the corn crop in our county, perhaps not one-sixth of ‘an average crop was
harvested ; one-half of which might be owing to the prevalence of the bug—that is to
say, without either bug or drouth, and with either alone three times as much could
have been raised. Our wheat crop was better than an average since ’68.—3 J.B. Can-
not estimate the damage from this source this year, as it is impossible to say how much
is attributable to the drouth and how much to the bug. Some farmers think they
would have had much better corn if it had not been for the bug, but as they raised
almost none, it is a doubtful question.—w. H. a.
Bates County.
1—The corn crop has suffered most the past season from their ravages. * * *
The first crop was not two-thirds grown at the time of wheat harvest. They com-
menced to fly July 20th and settled all through the corn-fields, but the greatest injury
was done by the second crop in the latter part of August and first of September. We
think the third crop of them was hatched the first of October, but are inclined to think
not many of them came to maturity as we find them dead on the corn-stalks now not
more than half grown. * * *—w. R. T.
2—This year for the first time farmers showed some fight. * * *—w.r.T. No
efforts have been made to overcome its injuries that have availed any thing; plowing
them under and dragging logs, ete., is all that has so far been done. Your reports, on
inquiry for them, I find have never been distributed at all among the farmers, and, im
fact, I cannot find a copy in the county.—a. B. H. The heat was so intense for severak
days during the middle of August, that by pulverizing the ground to fine dust and then
shaking them from the corn into it, they would roast in half a minute. We are con-
vinced that not more than half a dozen farmers in this county ever received a copy of
the Agricultural Report for 1869; in all probability it was more freely distributed
among lawyers, merchants and doctors, than farmers. We applied for a copy but
never received one.—a. H.
4—There was more wheat sowed this year than ever before in my circle of
acquaintance, and while some raised a little wheat many never raised a bushel; if the
county raised the seed it is all it has done. Oats were nearly destroyed. * * * The
corn crop will not average more than five or six bushels per acre, and as Iam not.
posted with regard to the number of acres in cultivation in Bates county, l am unable
to make anything of a correct estimate, but the damage would be fearful.—w. R. T-
The damage by this insect in our county this year is impossible to state as we have
almost a total failure, and the whole of it is due to Chinch Bug; nothing escaped it in
the shape of grain or grass. * * *—G.h.H. We estimate the damage done by this
insect alone in this county at not far from one million dollars.—a. H.
Benton County.
3--No efforts made. Your Second Report is not known here.—J. a. H. No syste-
matic efforts have been madeagainst them. <A little desultory plowing of furrows is all
that has been done. I have never heard of a copy of your Second Report in the county.
I desire a copy.—s. H. L. There are no systematic efforts being made to overcome its
injuries. I do not think your Second Report is very gene rally known or distributed
among the farmers of Benton county.—w. F. J. No systematic efforts have been made.
Don’t know anything about your Second Report.—g. u. M.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 55
4—The corn crop was probably damaged 45 per cent. by the bugs and 45 per cent.
by the drouth, leaving us about 10 per cent. of a good crop. Our wheat being mostly
in the timber was not badly damaged. Inferior wheat crops on the prairie were com-
pletely destroyed. Good ones escaped with littledamage. * * *—yJ. H.L. Itwould
be an impossibility to give any correct estimate of damage by its ravages, as the
Chinch Bug and dry weather together have caused almost an entire iailure in this
county.—w F J. The damage done by this single insect in our county the past season
is so great that I cannot give an estimate.—J. H. M.
Boone County.
4—-I cannot approximate the estimated damage in my county.—-J. B. D.
Buchanan County.
3—None that I know of. I have no idea that more than one-tenth of the people
in this county ever heard of the Report.—™. w. F.
4—The estimated damage would reach several thonsand dollars. Have no way
of making a correct estimate with me at the present time.—M. w. F.-
Butler County.
3—There has been no effort made for their destruction. I have no idea how far
your Report has been distributed.—a. p, None.—J. M. a. One-half the crops are
destroyed this year.—J. M. A.
Caldwell County.
2—Corn was injured worst, wheat next, oats least; Spring wheat ruined. I be-
lieve that the chinches killed new seeding of grass, especially when sowed on wheat or
oats ground,—c. L. G,
3—None. Have never seen it, and cannot tell to what extent it has been distrib-
uted.—p. w.mM. ‘There are in this county 432 sections of land. I estimate one-eighth
of the land in the county was planted in wheat and corn, which at $2.00 damage per
acre, would give about $70,000. Add to this amount nearly as much more damage,
caused by farmers being obliged to sell their hogs and cattle without fattening, (and I
am satisfied this is the actual fact): I therefore estimate the whole damage done by
chinch bugs in Caldwell county at $125,000. Iremember that one year in Wisconsin
they were so numerous that in their migration they fell into Lake Michigan, and
washed ashore in such quantities as to make a stench along the beach, If this shall be
of any use to you in your good work, [ shall be amply rewarded.—c. L. G.
Cape Girardeau County.
3—No remedies have been tried that seem to be effective.—r. H.B. No, I think not.
Some farmers are talking about burning off the stubble-fields and burning the woods
lands, but they do not agree very well about it. [hada field of heavy wheat stubble
burned by accident the past Summer, in which there were a few bugs. I shall notice
the result next year. I have practiced Fall plowing since I have been farming. and I
rather think that it keeps the bugs in check. [ bave in mind one field that was in corn
three years ago, when the bugs first appeared ; it had been plowed the Fall before. My
neighbors’ fields were troubled with bugs that year but this field was not. It was again
plowed in the Fall and put in oats in March following, and if there were any bugs in the
oats I did not discover them. ‘The oats were taken off in July, the ground immedi-
ately plowed and sowed to Hungarian grass. The grass was taken off the Ist of Sep-
tember, the ground immediately plowed, and first of October replowed and sowed to
wheat. A good crop of wheat wast taken off last June, the ground plowed in July and
again first of September and sowed to grass for neadow. Itis now green all over the field,
and if that field has ever had any chinch bugs in it [have failed to find them. On the
opposite side of a lane lies another fleld having about the same fertility (rich bottom)
56 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
and separated by a public road and fences. The latter field was sowed to barley in Sep-
tember, 1878—harvested in June last year. The crop was light—only 25 bushels per
acre, when it should have produced 40. I did not know even at harvest, that the chinch
bugs were the cause of the short crop. This barley stubble was plowed as quick as
the grain could be taken off, and on the first of July the ground was nicely planted
with sprouted corn. The corn came up quickly—the ground being rich it grew fastand
had a dark green color—but when about eight or ten inches high, I noticed that the
bugs were thick on it. It seemed to withstand the effects of the bugs until four feet
high, when it was then attacked by a kind of cut-worm of a green color, and the chineh
bugs and the worms together completely ruined it. I would like to know more about
this worm. [Probably the Fall Army-worm; see 3d Rep ] I hope you will excuse this
digression. I have stated facts—they may be of some use.—rT. 0. Your Second
Report has not been distributed in this section of the county.—r. H B. No efforts that
Tam aware of, systematic or otherwise, have been made to overcome its ravages, except
that it has perhaps induced somewhat earlier planting. Your Second Report alluded
to, has not been distributed or known among the farmers of this Guunty, except per-
haps a few that may have been distributed by the members of the Legislature.—w. C. R.
All crops considered, [ should think it would be from $30,000 to $40,000.—-H. G. w.
Carroll County
3—No systematic efforts have been made to destroy it. Your Second Report re-
ferred to, is not very generally distributed among the farmers, and very little is known
of it. Like many other similar documents, it helps to fill up the lank libraries of land-
less lawyers and impecunious country editors. A State Senator has promised me a set
of State Agricultural Reports for the library of Van Horn Grange, (now numbering 125
volumes) but I presume the promise will be forgotten.—H. s. H.
4—I have no data from which to estimate the money damage, but the wheat was
badly shrunken, and three-fourths of the corn crop entirely destroyed this year by the
chinch bugs. Dry, hot weather is favorable to its developmeni. In wet seasons if
does very little damage, * .* *.—H.S. H.
Cass County.
3—[All the correspondents agree in stating that no systematic efforts have been
made; and that little or nothing is known of my Second Report.]
4—Five hundred thousand dollars. would be a low estimate of the amount
of damage done by this pest in Cass county this year—w. H. B. It is im-
possible to even approximate an estimate of damages. They injured Spring wheat
and barley to such an extent that there has been no attempt for several years to
raise either. Winter wheat was not injured as much in 1874 as in some previous
years. Oats crop reduced at least 40 per cent. Corn (the principal crop culti-
vated) was injured to such an extent by drouth and bugs that the south half of the
county will not average over ten bu-hels per acre, aud that of very poor quality—prin-
cipally chargeable to the bugs, from the fact that occasional fields more favorably situ-
ated, (by being partly or altogether surrounded by timber, at greater distances from
fields of small grain, etc.,) made a fair average yield regardless of drouth. uae par es Se
—i. L. H. Can’t make an estimate of the amount of damage done in the county this
season. It was immense. They reduced the wheat and corn crop from one-fourth of
an average yield to an enéire failure.—p. Cc. H. ‘The damage sustained by them in Cass
county this year was fully 50 per cent.—p p. The amount of damage in this county
is enormous. Corn nearly ruined, wheat and oats badly damaged.—w. A. s.
Cedar County.
3—[All the correspondents state that plowing and ditching and dragging were
alone resorted to; and that nothing isknown of my Second Report.] I can’t say just
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. Bil
how much we were damaged by the Chinch Bug; they ate about two-thirds of our
crops clean. The farmers in this county are going to have a hard time to get through
the winter.—E. w. M. They destroyed about one-third of the wheat crop, three-fifths
of the corn crop, one-half the oats and Hungarian, and one-half the sorghum.—w. s.
Chariton County.
3—There never has been any effort made to destroy it, but I think it is high time
that we make an effort in that direction. Ido not think there is a farmer in my neigh-
borhood that ever saw your Second Report or ever knew anything about it.—R, F.
4—It is impossible for me to give anything like a correct estimate of the damages
done by this insect during the past season, because we had a protracted drouth which
commenced with the bugs and lasted through the entire growing season. Spring
wheat was totally destroyed, and none but the early Fall wheat escaped its ravages, and
I think there is scarcely a stalk of corn in all the western, northern and northeastern
portions of this county that has not suffered more or less from this pest; and owing to
the drouth and Chinch Bug combined, there was not five bushels of corn raised to the
acre, taking the county over. —R. F.
Christian County.
4—The bugs cut off our corn on an average about six toseven bushels to the acre.
S16 Ty 1g
Clark County.
3—No systematic efforts to prevent their ravages. I think your reports are not
much known in Clark county.—n. Pp. H. No efforts have been made to overcome their
injuries. You have my thanks for your Sixth Annual Report. Ihave failed to get hold
of your former reports.—D. H. L.
4—Probably $20,000 or more. Many crops of Spring wheat and barley were en-
tirely destroyed, and corn near such fields was badly injured by the bugs after leaving
the small grain, ‘They seemed also to breed in the corn in August and September, and
caused a great deal of corn to shrivel while in roasting ear.—B. P, H.
Clay County.
3—No; neither systematic or spasmodic. 1 do not think your Report of 1869 is in
the hands of one farmer in fifty, and I doubt if one in a hundred has ever seen it.—p.
c. We do not think your Second Report was known of in our county, except in our
immediate neighborhood, where it was distributed by our Missouri Valley Horticultural
Society—J. C. E.
~ 4—Corn was cut off one-third, oats nearly as much; wheat was damaged but little,
it was too early for them.—G. T. 0. Cannot give even a guess at the damage. I know
some oat-fields yielding nothing, some wheat not over one-half crop, corn-fields the
same, and thus graduating up to no injury at all—p. c.
Clinton County.
“3—None. However, a few farmers burned their wheat-fields instead of trying to
harvest them.—a-. J. M’c. ,
Cole County.
3—No systematic effort has been made, as far as I can say, to checkmate the rava-
ges of this pest. To what extent your Second Report has been distributed, [ would say,
tothe best of my belief, not very extensively ; nor dol believe such reports ever
will reach the class of men they are intended for unless other ways are devised to
distribute them more widely and with more certainty.—F. M. D.
Cooper County.
3—No systematic efforts have been made. * * * Your Second Report I do not
think is distributed to any extent among the farmers of this county. I think the wheat
and corn crop injured to at least one-fourth their value.—w. R. B.
58 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
Crawford County.
3—There has been no effort, only to sow early; this has saved the wheat crop this
year. I have not seen one of your reports in the county.—Js. a. There has been no
systematic effort made to overcome its injuries to my knowledge.—m. o. T.
4—Wheat, none; oats, one-half; corn and grass the same.—s. a. J have endeav-
ored by conversation with farmers and others in different parts of the county to obtain
something near the amount of damage done ‘by the Chinch Bug this year, but am
unable to arrive at anything definite; sufficeit to say it is thousands of dollars. * * *
—M. O. T.
Dade County.
3—No. Individual efforts, such as plowing out a trench and dragging alog init, or
burning trash init. Keeping a strip of fallow land between infested crops and those
not infested, also planting objectionable crops, such as castor beans, between wheat
and corn, has been tried, but with no very encouraging success. Your Second Annual
Report is unknown to the farmers of this neighborhood. Ihave sought for itin vain.—
As to my own experience, I find that enough chinch bugs do not winter over on my
place (two miles from timber) to seed it in the Spring. But every Spring, soon after
the earliest corn is up, they come in on the wing before the wind, and take possession
of, and lay their eggs on, every green thing that suits their purpose. At the same
time that the eggs hatched out in the wheat, they also hatched out in the early planted
corn, while there were none in the corn and Hungarian planted and sown after the
Spring invasion, until they were driven out of the wheat and oats by the harvesters. In
these Spring migrations they always come from the same direction—southwest before
a southwest wind, and apparently from a strip of timber on Horse creek, about three
miles away. According to this, trenching, ete., will do very well for late crops, but is
of no use for those crops that are up before the Spring migration, which occurred last
Spring, as nearly as I can recollect, the first week in May, and all over the county at
the same time. I believe that if we can get a good game law, absolutely prohibiting
the trapping and netting of quails and prairie chickens, and then muke the farmers see
that it is to their interest to have it enforced, we will be injured no more by the Chinch
Bug.—R. a. w.
Dallas County.
3—One of the most successful means employed is the following: As soon as you
cut a piece of wheat or oats you will find they begin to migrate the same day to the
adjoining crop, then you have your base of operation. Either haul straw, litter or
something that will afford them shade, and about 2 or 8 o’clock Pp. M. you can, by burn-
ing the straw, burn millions of them. * * *—M.L. R. =
4—Enormously ; past my calculation. Have never scena copy of your Second Re-
port. Such documents are generally sent to lawyers, politicians, officers and professional
men, who never read, much iess make practical use of the valuable knowledge con-
tained in them. I have often seen piles of such valuable books lay in our postoffice for
months addressed to such persons. * * *—G. a.H. Tam sure I will not make an
overestimate of damage by the bug in placing it at $50,000.—M. L. R.
Daviess County.
3—During the last Summer, 1874, as soon as the wheat straw became dry the
chinch bugs marched out of the wheat and into the corn; they went and blackened
every stalk of corn for fifteen rows deep and next to the wheat. When I discovered
this I took a large kettle and placed it near the Chinch Bug operations, filled it with
water and went to work on them like some of our good house wives wage war Ol
another insect that carries the same kind of odor. I thus cooked them by the millions.
This ended their work of destruction in the field; the scalding did not destroy the
*
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 59
corn, as it continued growing and produced good sound ears of corn.—s.c. None. I
do not think there are ten farmers in the county that have ever seen your Report of 1869,
or any other year. I have never had one in my possession until the last one you sent
me. Through the kindness of our then Circuit Clerk, I had the privilege of reading
your Report for 1869 in his oftice. 1 never had one to read and study as I would like to
have done and to refer to when I needed information from it. I was once in the clerk’s
office where I saw a number of volumes of the Report. [asked the deputy Clerk if
they were intended for distribution? He replied that the names of the persons whom
they were intended for were written on them by our Representative. I looked over
them and found but one farmer’s name, and he a former Representative and more poli-
tician than farmer. * * * —G.p.m’p. There have been no systematic efforts made to
overcome its injuries. Right here comes a difficulty: the majority of farmers are more
disposed to growl at their enemies than to grapple with them; it being much easier to.
wait than to work. I often wonder that such men as yourself and others, who are
doing so much to enlighten and benefit the farmers, do not become discouraged and
disheartened. Permit me to remark, however, that the better class of farmers do
appreciate their efforts. The State Agricultural Report for 1869, or any other year, has
not been distributed in this county ; if there are any copies of such reports in the county
they must be in the hands of some judge or lawyer. I should be very glad to know
how to obtain such reports.—w. w. w. No systematic efforts have ever been tried to
overcome its injuries, and your Second Report is but little known or distributed here.
A few copies of your Annual Report distributed in this county would do much good.—tL.D.
4—Owing to the drouth and the chinch bugs we have not one-tenth part of an
average crop of corn. It was the only crop seriously injured by them, though I heard
of some fields of wheat and oats entirely destroyed by them.—cG. D. M’p. Spring
wheat and sorghum totally destroyed; corn, from one-third to one-half; oats, one-
quarter; Winter wheat, one-sixth.—w. w. w. The exact amount of damage done by
this insect can not be determined, but it will probably exceed $400,000 this year.—L. D.
DeKalb County.
3—Your reports are not known in this county.—H. mw. None. Your Report
spoken of has not been distributed in this section among reading and thinking men. I
have heard of a few copies in the hands of a few political favorites of that day.—G. E. s.
No effurts have been made to counteract their ravages, and your Second Report is not
in the hands of but few, very few, of the farmers of this county.—w. T. W.
4—Destroyed three-fourths of our corn crop.—H. M. Damage to all crops about
35 per cent. this year.—G. E.s The damage has not been nearly so great in the tim-
bered lands as compared with prairie lands.—w. T. w.
Douglas County.
3—No efforts have been made. I have no idea to what extent your Second Report
was distributed among the farmers.—w. P.
4—I estimate the damage from this pest, all crops considered, at 35 per cent.—W. P.
Franklin County.
3—None.—r. w. p. Iam not aware that any systematic efforts have been made to
overcome its injuries, except in sowing such varieties of wheat as ripen early. It has
been found that early maturing wheat is almost or entirely free from its ravages. I do
not think that your Second Report has been distributed among the farmers of this
locality.—s. M.
4—Chinch bugs have damaged this county from 80 to 100,000 dollars for the year
1874.—¥. w. Pp. I believe 10 per cent. would be inside the damage done to all crops in
this county by the Chinch Bug this season.—s. M.
60 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
Gasconade County.
3—No systematic efforts have been made for their destruction. Your Report is
almost unknown in our midst ; I managed to get one gopy.
4—The estimated loss on corn and wheat occasioned by these bugs during the
year 1874 will probably reach $55,000 or $60,000. The loss on sugar cane is not known,
say $3,000 or more, as they are particularly fond of it; sometimes destroy the whole
Crops.— H. R.
Gentry County.
3—There has been no settled plan among the farmers to check the ravages of the
bug. Your Second Report has never been circulated in this county.—a. 3. c. None.
Nothing known of your Second Report.—1. L. No effort made to overcome its injuries.
Don’t know of a copy of the Agricultural Report for 1869 in the hands of a farmer.—
H. Ss. No systematic efforts have been made. Have never heard of your Report.—
Ww. H.R. No. —. It is not in this part of the county.—n. w. 3. No systematic
efforts were made. Your report is little known.—s. a. M. No. Never saw it.—5. B.
4] could not pretend to approximate the losses. ‘They were terrible.—a. J. C.
‘The damage this year has been very great; at the least value fully one-half of the corn
and nearly all the Spring wheat and a great portion of the Fall wheat was ruined.—t. L.
They have destroyed at least nine-tenths of the Spring wheat, one-sixth of the Fall
wheat and one-sixth of the corn; oats, one-tenth.—w. H.R. This year’s crops were
injured 380 per cent.—s. A.M. Cannot do it, but will inform you that all Spring wheat
was destroyed, and also one-quarter of corn.—kz. B. The past Summer they destroyed
nearly all the Spring wheat, many fields having never been cut, while many fields that
were cut did not pay for the cutting, Hungarian grass suffered in about the same ratio
as Spring wheat. Corn was badly damaged in places, slightly in others.—J. s.
Greene County.
3—None, except to plow ditches between the wheat and corn and drag a Jog in
them. Don’t know of atarmer that has one ef your Reports.—s. A. E.
4—Corn five-tenths lost; wheat but little damaged; oats and hay one-half
lost.—s. A. E.
Grundy County.
38——No systematic efforts have been made, and your Report is but little known. It
is the general practice here to put out large corn crops, cherish great expectations, and
see them devoured by these hungry pests. Spring barley is doomed to certain destruc-
tion, and no inconsiderable amount of wheat is thus annually lost. I have, indeed,
sometimes heard farmers advocate clearing fence corners and burning corn-stalks to
give them nothing to Winter under, but always concluding that as long as the rest
don’t fall in it is perfectly useless to trouble themselves about it.—v.B. No. Your
Report is little known ; say 10 copies in county.—G. H. H.
4--The average damage sustained by the corn crop was at least 60 per cent.; of
the wheat crop about 25 per cent.—v. B. $50,000,is a moderate estimate. The corn
crop was nearly ruined by them.—c. H. H.
Harrison County.
3—No. Not distributed among farmers generally.—c. H.r. No. Very little, I
think.--J. H. B. None have been made, Your Report is not known in this neighbor-
hood.—s. w’c. To my knowledge, none have been made. My idea is that if any of
your Reports of 1869 were sent to this county, they were distributed amongst the mer-
chants and mechanics, and not among those that would be benefited by getting them.
—c. F. F. None have been made, and your Report is not much known among farmers.
—wWw.R.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. . 61
4—The damage this year to all crops has been 25 per cent.—3. w. Not so bad this
year as in some other years.—J H.B. They commenced later last Summer than usu-
ally, and worked later in the Fall. ‘Chey did not damage Winter wheat very much, but
cut the corn crop fully one-half short.—s, mcc. Spring wheat, in many places, entirely
destroyed; cane damaged one-fourth, and corn, from chinch bugs and dry weather,
not half a crop. Many claim that the bugs did more damage than the dry weather.—c
F.¥. They took half the corn crop, all the Spring wheat, half the young meadows
damaged.—w. R.
Henry County.
38—I All three of the correspondents unite in the statement that no systematic efforts
have been made, and that they have seen nothing of my Second Report.]
4—The damage done by Chinch Bug and drouth cannot fall short of one million of
dollars.—p. c. m’r, It would be a difficult matter to give an estimate of the damage
caused by them here this year, as no one escaped entirely and large fields of grain were
destroyed —J. &. tr. Tuey and the dry, hot weather ruined our corn almost entirely,
and oats also, so that we have not seed of either, and the most of us think of quitting
small grain. * * * If we-have another dry season like last year we are ruined, for
there are plenty of people here now that have next to nothing to live on or to keep
their stock with.—J. J. Q.
Hickory County.
2—Corn crops suffered most from its ravages, although old bugs that lived through
last Winter, and there were legions of them that did, commenced their work in destroy-
ing the young growing wheat in early Spring, and some fields of wheat were totally
destroyed by them before the wheat got in bloom, and by the time the corn was in silk
and tassel, it was covered alive with the little devils ; and fields of corn that were near or
adjoining to wheat-fields, were killed dead by the time it was half leg high. The
weather being very hot and dry, they would destroy aeres a day. I am of the opinion
that there were at least three if not four broods of the devils in the year, the last brood,
came out in the latter part of September, and it does look to me as if the little fellows.
had nearly all died off with cold, thirst and hunger, the sap being so completely dried
up in the vegetation when they came out they could find nothing to feed on; in the
fields one could see them by the millions crawling on the ground hunting something to
feed on; one can see millions or legions of dead ones in the dry corn-stalks. I made
a close search for live ones the other day ; I only found two alive. Iam satistied with
the same pains last Winter one could have found thousands of them alive. I give it as
my opinion that if they died off everywhere else in Missouri as they have here, they
will do but little damage next season.—w. L. S.
3—No effort has been made yet. Last Fall many farmers did not sow any wheat on
account of the bugs. About yourSecond Annual Report, there may be some in the
county, but I do not know of «a single copy.—c. J. H.
[The other answers are tothe same effect. ]
4—The damage this year is more than I am able to’ estimate correctly; it is thou-
sands of dollars.—w. Lt, s, The damage this year is great, but I cannot give a correct
estimate.—J. w. Dp. ‘To give an estimate of the damage done by chinch bugs would
be impossible for me to do, I think about one-fourth the wheat crop was destroyed,
and over four-fifths of the corn crop, and one-third of oats and young timothy, * * *
My idea is, if we would plant no corn, or all early corn that would ripen before the
second trop of bugs would be hatched, there would be no bugs to Winter, and that
would run them out. C.J. H.
Holt County.
3—None. Your former reports have not cirewlated much beyond the officers of
our agricultural society. B.K.—No. Ihave the first man to find vet that ever heard
62 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
ot the Report you speak of. J. w. Cc-—Where they exist in stubble, it is found that Fall
plowing exterminates many of them. This recently has also been found to be effec-
tual in destroying grasshoppers, that is, where they are turned under pretty deep before
being hatched. Your Reports are extensively read by farmersin Northwest Missouri. The
only fault being that they are not generally distributed ; but few copies ever find their way
here only through our Representative, and they fall farshort of the demand. Many of our
newspapers, through downright ignorance of what they are writing about, speak lightly
of the results of your department, as they do also of the agricultural department. I
think that if your Reports, besides being published in bock form, could be distributed
in printed slips as fast as prepared, and published in the county papers, at least, a great
amount of good might be effected. Nearly every farmer of any intelligence might
be reached in that way. The State had better pay for the printing of such information
in the newspapers than for the publication of the laws, as very few men read the latter,
but depend solely for their interpretation upon the lawyers and others who read them.
—w. Kk.
4—My estimate of their damage in this county for 1374, is as follows, to-wit.:
To 1,000,000 bushels corn, at 50 Gents per Dushel...........cscccecsscsscsecsseeeees eicieee $500,000
Moa. OO0ibusShelSismallmorain AG ySAMEss-scs.sencscdasevecsercceusaccsstescesssectesemsemecie 20,000
Mo 2000ieardens, at PLO CAChe ch... cs..cssccesseasssonsccanseseecceucsnsssuen er Sodnces Se a0 20,000
Totalidamages, ACHIAl.;....1.cc.sdosopedececoscessseseseosesees sereeseeees cpAdatesacco 335 -» $540,000
This is a low estimate.—B. kK. You cannot get two farmers to agree about what they
were damaged. I believe my corn was damaged at least One-half, or thirty bushels to
the acre; my wheat but little— s. w. c.
Howard County.
3—None. Was not much distributed or known.—G. w. mM.
4—The corn suffered more than wheat this year; $50,000 approximate damage—
G. W. M.
Tron County.
3—No systematic efforts have been made to check them. Few, if any, copies of
your Reports have been distributed here—w. c.
4--Damage may be divided as follows: Corn, $100,000 to $125,000, (3 of the crop);
wheat, $30,000 to $45,000; oats, timothy, Hungarian and sorghum, (last destroyed),
$20,000 to $30.000. My own experience is that by sowing no Fall wheat, except what
can be sown early and well, and rye same, we might in a few years rid ourselves of this
pest. I have noticed that in a spot manured lightly with stable muck, Fall wheat never
suffers. If the ground is strong enough to give a good, healthy straw, carrying plenty.
of silica or glazing up with it, they cannot damage it much, and if stubble and trash
was more generally burned, they would not breed in it, or under it, rather. The young
broods get out here in the latter half of June, and early wheat is ready for the sickle
by the 15th or 20th. Spring wheat seems to encourage and increase them more than
anything else. I have not had the time or means to experiment, but think the best way,
after the way suggested above, to prevent them, or even better perhaps with it, would
be to sow thickly a strip of Spring wheat around the Fall wheat, and then when they
had sucked it dry, which they would as soon as the Fall wheat was out, and before they
began to move for other fodder, set it on fire after nightfall, if practicable, to prevent
their flying from the flames. A strip of sorghum sown or planted in rows would en-
tice and delay them, but would not burn unless straw or other combustible material
was strewn init. P.S.--I was hauling stock fodder for my stock the other day, and ob-
served a great many chinches that were dormant, but quickened when exposed a minute
or two to the warm sun, and it occurred to me that after this, whenever I had a corn-
field infested with Chinch Bug I would cut and shock it all up, so that when it was
hauled out in the Winter, while the bug was dormant and helpless, they would be ex-
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 63
posed, trodden in the manure and destroyed. Certain it is that where they swarm as
thickly as they have done here for three or four years, we should not adopt or practice
one plan of destroying them, but every plan. It seems peculiarly unfortunate that at
this juncture, when the productive industry of the whole country is reduced to such
straits by having borne the onus of the hot-bid system of protection to manufacturing
enterprises, that we should be compelled to contend at such a disadvantage with such
an enemy as this, and yet, “looking through 1ature up to nature’s God,” I cannot but
regard it as a blessing in disguise, for it will compel our slow, conservative clod-hoppers
to adopt betterand more careful methods of cultivation.—w. c.
Jackson County.
3—None that I have heard of. I never heard of your Second Report before.
—w.s. p. (Ihe other answers are to the same effect).
4—At least $150,000.—w. s. rp. The damage done this year was immense, especi-
ally in the western half of the county. Half my corn crop was destroyed.—J. w. G.
Impossible to give an estimate. They have almost ruined the farming interest in this
county and State.—s. a. M. Two-thirds of crops ruined.—w. J. @. I would guess
about $500,000.—-prR. J. L. G.
Jasper County.
3—There have been no efforts made to overcome the Chinch Bug, except ditching
between wheat and corn. By this means they have been kept off of corn for a time.
We plow a deep and narrow ditch ; then drag a round log back and forth in it to pulver-
ize the dirt and wallow them in the dust, and if the weather is hot they die by the hun-
dred thousand in these ditches, at noon day. especially if these ditches run north and
south ; but as soon asa sprinkle of rain comes so as to settle the dust, they cross over.
In the meantime, the old ones are flying where they please, depositing their eggs, which
soon hatch out. So you see by ditching we only save a few rows of corn from being
killed outright. I have no idea of the extent of your Second Report among the farmers
of this county.—s. mM. p. No efforts have been made to destroy them, except to plow
ditches and dragging logs in them. I have never seen your Second Report, nor can I
learn of any one that has. * * “*—r. mM’w. (The other answers are to the same
effect).
4—I cannot give approximately the damage done in this county this year by this
insect. Suffice it to say, the damage is immense. * * *—J.M.P. In 1874 corn was
not over one-fourth of acrop (if that) on account of drouth and bugs.—s. u. t. Wheat
being very early in 1874, was notinjured much, but oats was, and corn, I might say, was
destroyed by them and the dry season. * * *—r. M’w. As totheestimated damage
the chinch bugs have done the past year, [am unable to say, but will say ourcorn was
almost an entire failure, a great many not raising a bushel, and none making a full
crop; but the drouth was severe, and ail other crops were hurt by the bugs.—w. G. L. C.
Johnson County.
3—People have tried a great many remedies but have not succeeded in defeating
the bug. Your reports have never been distributed in this county to my knowledge —
w. c. Few efforts have been made to overcome their injuries. Some have tried sowing
hemp between the wheat and corn, but of no avail—as soon as they become winged
they fly over it. * * * Some years ago I manured one acre of ground in the Fall,
(there were two acres in the piece, half being manured,) and sowed it in wheat. The
next Summer the bugs worked on the wheat very bad. The acre that had no manure
they almost ruined; but the manured acre they did not hurt; it ripened right, The
other was very badly straw-fallen, and was very much shriveled. I have heard of
others doing the same thing, and having the same success. In some parts of the county
they have stopped raising wheat entirely, thiuking to starve them out in the early part
64 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
of the season, so they cannot increase before harvest, and by so doing, we will get rid
of them in afew years.—J. L. M.
4—About 50 per cent.—c. 3.c. Five hundred thousand dollars won’t cover the
damage in Johnson county last Summer. The greatest damage was done by what is
termed the second crop, depleting the corn before it matures.—J. mM. mM. I don’t thiak
that the damage done in this county this year would fall short of half a million of dol-
lars, from the fact that half the wheat and almost the entire crop of corn was destroyed
or badly injured. * * *—w.c. There is not a farmer that will make both ends meet
in all this county. Many willbe bankrupt, and all this by one little insect called the
Chinch Bug.—pr. D. ‘Thousands of acres of corn were killed as dead as if burned—not a
stalk left. They took three-fourths of the wheat crop, and about the same of the oats
In the southern part they took all the wheat and oats, and they took also nine-tenths
of the corn. There is a diversity of opinion as to the amount of damage done by them,
varying from one and a half to two millions of dollars for all crops.—-s. L. M.
Laclede County.
3—No systematic efforts have been made to overcome their injuries. They usually
make their first appearance in the wheatfields, but in every instance where the wheat
was sown sufliciently early to allow it to mature early, they have not done any serious
damage to it, but latesown wheat has pretty generally been destroyed by them. * * *
The 2d brood made their appearance promiscuously over the fields, and more especially
in meadows that were cut early enough to admit the young grass to start up, when they
soon kill it outri&ht, both root and branch. * * * —1. R.R.
4—It would be utterly impossible for me to give approximately anything like a cor-
rect estimate of the damage done in the county by the chinch bugs either in the present
or any previous year. It is ascertained that they will not depredate upon hemp, flax,
castor beans, navy or other kinds of beans.—t. R. R.
Lafayette County.
3—No effort has been made to check it. I know of but one copy of your Report—
J.B. Nosystematic efforts have been made at their extermination. Ido not think
your Report has been circulated or is much known.—J. E. G.
4—Huave no idea of the damage done ia this county.—Js. B. It is conceded by every
one with whom I have conversed on the subject, that the drouth cut off at least one-
half trom an average crop, and the bug certainly injured the remainder fully one-half.
* * * Wheat was of very fine quality, and a good yield, being only slightly injured by
the bug; the very late sowing worse than early sowing, in this part of the county. The
damage to this county by the bug will not fall short of half a million dollars.—yv. J. F.
Putting drouth and chinch bugs together, they came near causing an utter failure,
there being only about one-fifth of a crop of the grains, and that fifth of inferior quality.
—-J. E. G.
Lawrence County.
4—Cannot give the exact amount of damage done; corn is about one-half a crop.
My opinion and that of many other farmers is that $100,000 will not cover the damage
done by the bugs.—w. L. G. (Other correspondents put the loss of sorghum and oats at
fifty per cent),
Lewis County.
3—No systematic efforts have beenmade. I have never seen your Report.
4—I should think that one-tenth would be a fair estimate, corn suffering the great-
est; yet we raised a fine crop, superior to any we have had for several years.—w. B. D.
Linn County.
3—There have been no systematic efforts made to overcome the injuries of the bug
that I have any knowledge of. As to your Second Report, I have never seen it, and do
not think it is known among the farmers of our county.-—a. M.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 65
4—I think the damage by the bugs, irrespective of drouth, equal one-half of the
whole crop. The wheat crop was not damaged by the drouth, and oats but very
slightly, yet I think both damaged by the chinch bugs to the amount of one-third.—
A, M.
Mavon County.
38—No. Do not know anything about the Report referred to.--w. B. mM. About
one-fourth—all grains considered-—of the crops lost.—w. B. M.
Madison County.
38—We have found out no means to exterminate them. We, however, have burnt
stubble and in so doing have destroyed many of them.--J. mM. a. It would be safe to
say that our crops were cut short fully one-fourth this season by the bugs, except early
wheat, which matured before the insect did much damage.—J. M. A.
Maries County.
3—There have been various plans adopted to subdue the insect: one way was to
ditch and drag a log in it; another was to scald them; another was to scatter straw
under and around the corn and set fire to the straw. This latter plan seemed to prove
wu success, but only for awhile—a heavy gale from the north blowing innumerable bugs
over the cornfield. * * * Ihave heard nothing of your Second Report.—p. L, D.
4—I am not able to answer your fourth question definitely. Corn yielded about
eighty per cent. less than the average, chiefly on account of chinch,bygs and drouth ;
Oats about fifty per cent. less; wheat was about twenty-five per Wey 5 peabes L. D.
Marion County.
3—Two years ago I had wheat and corn in the same field, and when the wheat was
harvested the bugs went into the corn. I let them have about a week to get a start in
the corn, then I took a breaking plow and turned about eight rows of corn, bugs and
all under, as deep as I could, and then put a heavy roller on it and rolled it thoroughly,
and that was the last of those bugs, I think, as the corn was but little injured afterward,
I have no idea to what extent your Second Report has been distributed in the county,
but in this neighborbood there is nothing known about it.—J. kK, M,
4—By consulting a number of the best farmers, we conclude the crops have been
injured about one-fourth this year by the bugs.—s, kK. M, I should estimate the damage
done to the crops in this county alone this year to be at least $50,000.—w, R, a,
McDonald County.
3—There has been nothing of note done to prevent or destroy them. As for your
Report I do not know of a single copy in the whole county.—-w, D, P.
Mercer County.
38—No systematic effort has been made to overcome the bug or its injuries, Little
or nothing is known of your Report of 1869, as but very few copies of the Agricultural
Reports reach here.—J. H. B,
4—It would be a very difficult task to approximate the damage done by this great
pest. In this county it may be put at $100,000 to $500,000.—J. H. 3B,
Mississippi County.
3—No. Ido not know of any person that has received a copy.—s. s. s.
4—Impossible to make a truthful estimate.—s. s. s.
Monroe County.
4—It has damaged oats and corn one-half, wheat three-eights. Cannot give an
estimate in dollars and cents.—4J. P. M.
E R—)
66 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
Montgomery County.
3—Fire is being used against them this Winter very much, burning old litter of all
kinds. InSummer shallow ditches are made with the plow and logs and other weights
dragged along those ditches to keep them from going in standing crops.—p. T. M.
There have been no systematic efforts made to overcome its injuries. I do not think
your Second Report has been distributed or known among the farmers of Montgomery
county to any extent. —k. R. B.
4—From the best information I can get and from actual observation, I would say
that the corn crop of the county was injured one-fourth. "Wheat was lessinjured gen-
erally than for several years. I could not well approximate the damage in dollars and
cents.—E. R. B. .
New Madrid County.
3—No systematic efforts have ever been made to overcome its injuries. I do not
think your Second Report is extensively circulated among farmers in the county.—J. S, B.
4—It would be impossible to give, even approximately, the damage done to this
year’s crop. It was comparatively slight.—J, s, B.
Newton County.
3—I think none at all. I have not even seen your Report before, and do not think
there are many, if any at all, in the hands of farmers in this county.—J. T. No syste-
matic efforts have ever been made to overcome its injuries. If any of your reports
have ever reached this county, I have been unable to find one.—w. H. Ww.
4—It is very difficult to tell anything about the amount of damage, on account of
the great drouth, but it was many thousand dollars.—s. tr. They damaged the wheat
about one-fourth, and killed nearly all the corn.—w. H. w.
Nodaway County.
3—While I was a member of the Twenty-sixth General Assembly, I secured about
40 copies of your Second Report from various sources and distributed them amongst
our leading farmers and fruit-growers. ‘These, I think, are about all that have been
received in our county, although it has been eagerly sought for and fully appreciated
by our people.—w. B. M.H. None. I think about one farmer in fifty has your report,
and perhaps one-fourth have studied the insect’s history.—w. p. Odessa Spring wheat
is generally considered here as best standing their injuries, but has not been sufficiently
tested to speak positively in regard to its merits.—r. D. w.
4—This year it damaged oats fully 3 bushels per acre, and Spring wheat 2 bushels ;
Fall wheat, rye and barley about 1 bushel per acre. The first crop of tame hay it did
not injure, but theaftermath was cut short fully one-fourth ton per acre, and corn about
- 6 bushels per acre.—w. B. M. H. One hundred thousand dollars.—w. Pp.
Oregon County.
3—No. I have no definite idea, but believe there were very few copies distributed.
—J. R. W.
4—About ten per cent.—J. R. w.
Osage County.
3—No systematic efforts to overcome their injuries have been made to my knowl-
edge. Some have tried to keep them from spreading all over their farms by plowing
and ditching, some by sprinkling a few rows of their corn in advance of them with a
mixture of coal oil and water. It kept them from crossing for a few days, but did not
prevent them from flying over and destroying the balance of the crop. Your Second
Xeport was distributed among a limited number of farmers.—t. P.
4—The estimated damage done this year in this county by the Chinch Bug may be
put down thus: wheat, one-fourth of the crop; corn, three-fourths of the crop; hay,
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 67
one-half; oats, one-third—which would amount to several hundred thousands of
bushels of grain, and several hundreds of tons of hay without the loss of meadows,
for they have destroyed mine root and branch, besides a good many others.—t. Pp.
zark County.
3—None.—tT. J. G.
4—About one-half the crops destroyed.—tr. J. G.
Perry County.
1—We have been troubled with them for eleven or twelve years. Some years they
do but little damage, and other years, generally dry seasons, they nearly ruin our
crops, especially late corn. About five years ago the bugs were very bad and the next
year we expected to have our crops entirely destroyed by them, but they had nearly
disappeared. Last Summer they were very bad, it being a dry season, and they dam-
aged corn very much ; wheat being very early escaped their injuries.—R. M. B.
Pettis County.
o—None. Ihave never seen your Report; have tried to getit but failed.—1. nH. w.
No systematic efforts have been made to overcome its injuries. In regard to your Sec-
ond Report, I have to say that probably not twenty copies have been distributed in this
county. I never saw one, nor have I heard it mentioned by a single farmer of the
county. Permit me to suggest thatall your Entomological reports would be of vast
importance to the farmers if placed in their hands, either with or without the Agricul-
tural Reports. Ihave received two of them, and hoped to be able to secure them all as
fast as published, but have been unable to do so-—o. 4. c.
4—| think $5 per acre as the loss sustained by the corn crop alone would be a low
estimate.—L. H.w. The damage done by the Chinch Bug alone is alarming ; it cannot
be less than $300,000, including damage done to all kinds of crops.—x. c. The damage
done by them last year was great, but it is impossible to make anything like a correct
estimate, as the drouth did greater damage, and both were upon us at the same time.
In the south part of the county the oats and corn crops were entirely destroyed, while in
the northern part of the county, where the soil is deeper, not more than one-fourth of
a crop was raised.—o. A. C.
Platte County.
4—Not less than $100,000.—s. a.
Polk County.
2—But little damage was done to the wheat crop, but the oats, corn and Hungarian
grass was badly damaged’ all over the county, and a great many fields entirely de-
stroyed. * * * The farmers of this county are beginning to cut off their corn and
pull the stalks whenever they can feed them to their stock, thinking in that way to
destroy theireggs, which they think are deposited in the husks and blades, and in fact
any kind of leaves or trash about the fences seem to be where they deposit their eggs.
—J. Cc. [This is of course a fallacy. ]
3—Plowing and dragging logs are the only means reported ; and but few copies of
the Report have been seen.
4—$500,000. Do not know as these figures are near large enough; would think
$800,000 or $900,000 would be nearer the truth_—* * Ithink Iam safe in saying that
the entire grain crop of this county was damaged one-half by the bugs.—r. w. s. Wheat
crop was not damaged much; corn crop almost a total failure.—w. p. m.
Pulaski County.
3—-Nothing has yet been done to any extent to overcome its injuries. Your Sec-
ond Report has been read by the reading farmers of my county ; but a few copies have
been sent us.—c. c. There have been no systematic efforts made to overcome its ipju-
68 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
ries. I have no idea to what extent your Second Report was distributed or known
among the farmers in this county, but think there were but few distributed.—o. J. R.
4—Caused a loss to our county in corn, as near as [am able to calculate, of 132,750
bushels at fifty cents per bushel, $66,875. There is no doubt but that the hot winds
during the second week in August and the drouth during the Summer had a serious
effect upon the corn crop, but nothing to be compared to the injury of the Chinch.—c. c.
Putnam County.
3—No effort has ever been made to stay their ravages. The report of which you
speak is probably oftener to be found among the books of professional men at the
county seat than among the farmers.—a. D. T.
4—The damage by Chinch Bug this year was not, comparatively, great. It was con-
fined to late sown wheat and iate planted corn.—a. D. T.
Ralls County.
3—Nothing is known here of your Report. There are not more than three or four
copies of that Agricultural Report in the county of Ralls.—a. B. '.
4—Injured crops 25 per cent. Saw aman who lives in Sny bottom; says prairie
grass cut last year is so infested with chinch bugs the stock will not eat it, and some
mules that eat ithave died. I have seen in the last ten days any quantity of them sticking
on the prairie fences and alive. Following your advice, I burnt some weeks ago 200
acres of rubbish on my prairie place, twenty-five miles from here, and hope I scorched
some of the rascals. ‘They are worse on prairie than timber Jand.—a. E. T.
Randolph County.
3—Do not know of any systematic efforts to overcome its injuries. Have never
heard your Report mentioned in connection with it; do not know that any of the farmers
of our county have seen the Report.—w. Q.
4— Would estimate its damage, the present year, in this county, at $20,000.—w. q.
Ray County.
4—Corn, 50 per cent.; wheat, 25 per cent. * * They did not injure the
crops very much in this part of the county, but in the eastern and northern parts the
amount of damage is at least from $25,000 to to $50,000. Not one-fourth of a crop of
eorn was raised there, and people will have to suffer.—s. M. B.
Ripley County.
3—No efforts made to overcome its injuries in any shape or form, Your Sccond Re-
port went into the hands of about one farmer out of every fifty. You may justly
suspect we know but little about it.—rR. H.
4—The damage in my county [ could not approximately say less than $40,000, all
crops considered.—s. H.
St. Charles County.
3—No systematic effort made. Some tried hot water, others coal oil, and still
others tried to stop them by ditching across the field. Your Report of 1869 is dis-
tributed in the county to about the number of thirty, as near as I know.—c, w.
4—By information gathered, I can safely estimate the damage done by the bugs in
this county last year at $25,000, which is very low.—c, w,
St. Clair County.
8—Various plans tried, but without much effect. The distribution of your Report
has been very limited in this county.—s. H.L. Although seemingly every effort has
been made to subdue them, they have come out victorious—complete masters of the
situation. Between them and the dry weather we have scarcely anything left to carry
us through Winter. Many have despaired and left in disgust, others will remain and
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 693
renew the combat. The Agricultural Reports spoken of were sent to the circuit clerk
for distribution, and it is my opinion that they have generally been injudiciously dis-
tributed, finding their way to some favorite to fill up empty spaces in a book case,
rather than to the farmer for whom they were intended. But your suggestions con-
tuined therein are becoming generally known among the farmers, and will be pretty
thoroughly tested the coming season. The case has become desperate—something
must be done or all is lost.—c, a. s.
4—The damage from Chinch Bug and drouth, in my township, was $15,000. There
are twenty-four townships in the county ; all did not suffer as muchas this T, (31,) R.
(28) west, but the damage may be put down at one-half onan aggregate.—s. H. L. An
estimate of the damages done in the county of St. Clair, the past season, by these insects
alone would be hard to even approximate. Owing to a combination of causes, wheat,
oats and corn were almost an entire failure; three-fourths of which, however, might be
attributed solely to the Chich Bug crusade, and the damage resulting therefrom could
not fall short of a half million of dollars.—c. a. s.
St. Francois County.
3—Few efforts have ever been made to overcome its injuries. Some have tried to
check them, when entering a corn-field from adjoining stubble grounds, by turning
them under with a large plow; others, by letting them collect on a few of the first
rows, and burning them with torches. Neither of these plans appear to be very effec-
tual. A great many are destroyed to be sure, but enough generally escape to seriously
injure the corn crops. The Report mentioned has hada very limited circulation. I
don’t know of any one who has ever received it.—E. H. P.
[The other correspondents make similar reports].
4—I don’t know that I can give you even an approximate estimate of the damage
done in this county this year by this insect. I believe there would have been double
the corn, a fourth more wheat and oats, and, perhaps, a fourth more grass raised this
season had it not been for the Chinch Bug.—s. H. Pp. Wheat only slightly damaged ;
corn very materially damaged.—a. J. L.
Ste. Genevieve County.
3—No great effort has ever been made to overcome its injuries as yet, with the ex-
ception of pouring coal oil on them, which destroyed both bugs and crop. As to
your Second Report, there is nothing known of it here.—J. R, P.
4—This year the corn crop was injured fully one-half; wheat was affected in some
places. Other crops were lightly dealt with.—s. R. P.
Saline County.
3—There has been nothing of any consequence done to destroy them. Your Report
is received, for which I return my sincere thanks. I am sorry to say that there are
comparatively very few of them in this county, and if the knowledge contained in them
was universally known in this county, [am satisfied that it would enable us to meet
our enemies, the bugs, determined to conquer.—J. P. M’M.
4—I cannot give the required estimate in regard to the damage incurred to crops.
Suffice it to say that the chinch bugs and dry weather completely destroyed the oat crop
and damaged the corn crop to the extent that there was not more than one-third of the
amount raised as formerly.—J. P. M’M.
Scotland County.
3—Not many copies of your Second Report have reached this county.—a. N.
4—I don’t hardly know what to estimate the damage done in this county the past
season, but I think $100,000 will not fall short of it.—a. N.
Scott County.
4—Their damage in this county approximates $50,000.—uH. P. L.
70 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
Shelby County.
The crops suffering most are wheat andcorn. * * * TI have noticed when the
wheat covers well the ground (which it may be made to do by thorough manuring) in
the Spring, so as to almost exclude the rays of the sun, the chinch bugs do not gather
to raise their young there, but seek more open grain. If oats are sowed early and thick,
and make a strong, vigorous growth, I have never known the Chinch Bug to hurt.
them, but if they are thin on the ground, admitting the rays of the sun freely, then
oats are a fine crop to raise chinch bugsin. * * *,—J. B. R.
3—No systematic efforts made. Ihave not been able to hear of the first copy of
your Second Report. I suppose they were sent to the county seat and distributed
among those living near there.—J. B. R.
4—Cannot give you, with any great certainty, the damage our crops have sustained
from chinch bugs the past year, but would suppose the damage to amount to about
one-fifth of the value of the crops thus affected.—s. B. R.
Sullivan County.
3—Never saw your Second Report, or saw any person who did see it. The best
thing, in my opinion, and it is simply my opinion, is to manure the points and other
poor places and burn up the trash around the field and in the fence corners early in the
Spring. ‘They never injure a crop on rich land and growing thrifty, as they do on
poor land. You would certainly deserve the gratitude of the people of Missouri if you
could do anything to relieve them of this pest, or by studying its habits teach us to
exterminate them. * * * —s.B.
4—Impossible to estimate.—s. B.
Taney County.
3—None have been made. But very few copies of your reports have been distributed
—20 copies perhaps.—s. J. B. There have been no efforts made to overcome its injuries.
Your Second Report has been distributed over the county by the State, but not to an
extent that one-tenth of the farmers might read it.—w. R. H.
4—I cannot make anything like a close estimate of the value of the produce
destroyed, though I should judge that it would amount to $20,000 to $30,000.—s. J. B-
* * * From careful calculations, I conclude that Taney county lost over $45,000 by
this insect in 1874. These calculations are based upon the census report of 1870 and
the assessor’s report of 1874. These figures are enormous, and by some may be con-
sidered extravagant, but if any one will visit our county and see the state of affairs—
starvation staring everybody in the face, stock dying, ete., etc., the effects of dry weather
and chinch bugs—they may be convinced.—w. R. H.
Texas County.
3—Some have tried scalding on a few favorite plants; it kills the bug and does not
hurt the plant. No other systematic efforts have been made.—R. Ss. Ss.
4—I cannot give an estimate of the damage done; say one-half oats, corn and sor-
ghum.—Rr. s. s.
Vernon County.
38—None whatever. Think there are not more than two or three of the Reports
mentioned in the county.—J. A. P.
4—From all the information I have been able to gather in regard to the damage
done by this insect, I co not believe it would fall far short of half a million dollars, alk
erops considered ; and if we take into consideration the loss to farmers on account of
stock, another half million dollars might be added, as farmers were compelled to sell
their stock at a great sacrifice for the want of feed to make them ready for market, or
put them through the winter, all of which is chargeable to the Chinch Bug, for
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. Tt
although we had a very dry season, yet we would have harvested at least ninety per
cent of a corn crop, and there would have been an average yield of wheat and oats.—
M.L. M. It is impossible, at this time to closely approximate the damage in dollars and
cents sustained by them this year, but may safely place it at one-half of the entire
wheat, oats and corn crop of the county, for notwithstanding the drouth which pre-
vailed, we certainly would have harvested a full crop of wheat and oats, and one-half
of corn,—yJ. A, P.
Warren County.
4—Can’t make any estimate in figures; would say about 50 per cent. onall up-
lands; on creek and river bottom lands the damage has been small.—D. P. D.
Washington County.
3—No efforts made to overcome them; very few of your reports in this county.—w. R.
4—As to the damage done by them it is hard to determine; we raised about one-
fourth of a crop of corn and oats, and it is the opinion of our best farmers that the
bugs hurt it much more than the drouth. Wheat escaped pretty much, as it was very
forward. * * * —w.R,
Wright County.
3—There have not been any systematic effort made as yet. We know nothing
about your Report. * * *—#£.B.G.
4—Corn is damaged, I think, probably, one-third; oats the same; wheat so little I
could not estimate it. Ihave no way of getting at the amount in dollars and cents, but
itis immense. My opinion is that Fall plowing, thorough cultivation of the land, and
as early planting and seeding as possible, will in a great measure overcome their rav-
ages; such has been my experience.—k. B. G.
THE FLAT-HEADED APPLE-TREE BORER— Chrysobothris femo-
rata * (Fabr.)
(Ord. CoLEOPTERA ; Fam. BUPRESTIDZ.)
This insect, owing to the enfeebled condition of many fruit and
shade trees—a condition superinduced in part by excessive drouth,
in part by defoliation, in the country ravaged by locusts—has been
(Fig. 12.] exceedingly injurious all over the western por-
: tion of the country. Specimens and complaints
have reached me not only from many parts of
Missovri, but from Iowa, Kansas, Arkansas, Texas
and Nebraska; while the injurious work of this
borer was so apparent wherever I traveled that
I deem it advisable to publish a more extended
account than was given in the Report for 1868.
Considering the fatality of its work and the
number of valuable fruit and shade trees which
CHRYSOBOTHRIS MORATA: + s
a, larva, dorsal view; b, pupa; it attacks, few insects are more to be dreaded
c, Swollen thoracic joints of :
larva ftom beneath; d@. beetle, than this same Flat-headed Apple-tree Borer.
* Crotch in his List makes alabame Gory, 4-impressa Gory, Lesueuri Gory, fastidiosa Gory, soror
Lec., misella Lec., obscura Lec. and semisculpta Lec., varieties or synonymes of femorata. My own
experience so far as it goes in breeding this insect from different trees bears out Mr. Crotch’s opinion.
72 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
Our oak trees die from year to year. Inquire the cause: The
answer is: “O, they cannot stand the influences of civilization!”
Search for it yourself and you will find that Chrysobothris has had
more or less to do with their death. The townsman prides himself on
the thrifty growth of his soft maples or sycamore trees that are to
give him shade from the midsummer sun, adorn his lot or line the
front of his city residence. After a thrifty growth of two, three or
more years, one of the trees suddenly dies, and others soon follow.
The cause is discussed: Drouth, packed soil, poor nourishment and
a dozen seemingly plausible reasons are conjured up, and ashes, or
some other mineral or vegetable substances are placed around the
butt in the vain effort to save the remaining trees. Pull off the bark,
however, and the real cause is readily discerned, for the surface of
the hard wood is literally covered with broad, shallow channels packed
with sawdust like casting—channels which Chrysobothris, unseen and
unheard, has been making, perchance, since the tree was first set out.
Mountain Ash, Linden, Box-elder, Beech, Plum, Pear, Cherry and
Peach alike succumb to its attacks,* while the Apple is so subject to
its injuries that no man who does not understand this enemy and is
not willing to give some little time to mastering it, can hope to suc-
ceed in growing apple trees in Missouri; and in reality the time and
money spent in planting young apple orchards, especially in the west-
ern part of the State, is generally wasted for want of the necessary
precautions against this insect.
ITS NATURAL HISTORY.
The natural history of this borer is thus briefly told: The beetle,
known as the Thick-legged Buprestian, is very variable in size (my
figure at d representing a large one), and has been described under a
number of different names. It is greenish-black or bronze-colored,
with metallic reflections and the underside more coppery or brassy.
The more characteristic features are two irregular, impressed, trans-
verse marks across each wing-cover, dividing them into about three
equal lengths. This beetle, like all the species of the family ( Bupres-
tide) to which it belongs, is diurnal in habit, an1 may frequently be
found basking in the sun on the trunks of those trees which it more
particularly frequents. It begins to appear during the latter part of
May and is found all through the Summer months. The eggs, which
*I have reared the beetle from Oak, Apple, Mountain Ash, Box-elder, Peach and Pear, and
found the larve, judged to be the same after critical comparison, in the other trees mentioned.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 73
are pale yellow, and irregularly ribbed or corrugated,* are glued by
the female by preference under the loose scales or within the cracks
and crevices of the bark, several of them being not unfrequently
found together. Yet they must also be laid at times on perfectly
smooth bark, as I have found the newly hatched larva in such bark,
and under circumstances that would indicate that the beetle some-
times uses her jaws to puncture the tender bark so as to allow the
insertion of the egg. The young larve hatching from them gnaw
through the bark and feed upon the fiber, boring broad and flattened
channels, and very soon girdling the smaller trees. When its jaws
get stronger it usually bores into the more solid wood, working for
awhile upward, and when about to transform it invariably cuts a pas-
sage back again to the outside, leaving but a thin covering of bark
over the hole. It then retreats, and after packing the excrement
around it so as to form a smooth cavity, changes to the pupa state
(Fig. 12,6). The pupa at first white, by degrees exhibits the colors of
the future beetle, and in the course of about three weeks the latter
gnaws its way through the thin bark door which, as larva, it had left
closing its passage-way. Itis a singular instinct that thus teaches the
larva, which has powerful jaws, to prepare for the exit of the beetle,
which has much more feeble ones; and thisinstinct is most strikingly
illustrated when the infested tree is surrounded with some covering
like wire gauze, which is proof against even the jaws of the larva. In
such an event, even though the wire touch not the bark, the larva
will work its way through the latter, and test in every conceivable
way the resistance of the wire, and frequently succumb in the effort
to penetrate it. Yet normally this same larva would take every pre-
caution not to penetrate the bark.
Whether this borer remains in the tree nigh upon one or two
years after hatching, no one has definitely determined. The general
impression is that it acquires its full development ina single year.
Be this as it may, the larvee are found of different sizes during the late
Summer, and young ones may be noticed even in Winter. In May
they are mostly found full grown orin the pupa state. The figures
which accompany this article will sufficiently illustrate the appear-
ance of the insect in all its stages, no drawing of the pupa having
ever been made before.
NATURAL ENEMIES.
Hidden as this borer naturally is within the retreat of its own
* Eggs which I have found on apple trees, and taken for those of this insect, and which accord in
appearance with those taken from the abdomen of the female beetle, are about 0.02 inch long, ovoidal,
with one end flattened; the shell very thin, and irregularly ribbed.
74 SEVENTH ANNUAL KEPORT
making, it is nevertheless hunted and destroyed by wood-peckers, and
is not without its insect parasites. Already, in 1856, Dr. Fitch, in his
first report as State Entomologist of New York, mentioned having
received from that veteran nuseryman, Mr. P. Barry, specimens of the
larvee which had been entirely devoured, so that nothing but the
shrivelled skin remained, by a number of small dull whitish grubs,
about one-tenth of an inch long, belonging, in all probability, to the
Chalcidida, an extensive family of small, parasitic, wasp-like insects ;
and this Fall I have received what are evidently the same Chalcid lar-
ve from Mr. R. H. Titts, of Lawrence, Kansas, who gives the following
interesting account of their work:
The first time we observed these parasites here this season, one of my neighbors
remarked that he thought that there was a mistake about a beetle laying the egg that
produced the borer. In hunting borers on my own place shortly after I found some of
them were sickly or stupid and of a peculiar yellowish color, different from natural.
One of these that I had not injured I left in the cavity where found, and closed up the
bark, fastening it with wax. Afterabout ten days, on opening it again, I found the
parasites at work and the borer dead and partly eaten up; after which I found them
frequently in different stages of growth, till the borer was all consumed and the para-
sites were of the size of those sent you. Those were taken froma cavity with nothing
but a part of the skin of the borer left. I did not tind them again until about Septem-
ber Ist, after which time I think but fewif any borers escaped them. Istopped hunting
borers after September 15th, satisfied that the parasites were doing a better job than I
could. Others in this section are doing the same. I think that although the borers
were much more plenty this season than last there will be less beetles perfected to issue
than last year, on account of the parasites. In digging borers i found that if the mouth
of the hole in which they had entered the tree was opened the ants would go in and
destroy and carry the borer away in every instance, even clearing out the sawdust to
get at them.
The following letter, received from Mr. C. R. Hoag, of Sedalia, the
fore part of December, was accompanied by the same parasite:
Inclosed [I send you the larva of an insect unknown to me; it is the second lot
that I have found in a precisely similar situation. Isend them in the dust or borings
in which they were found ; they were found in an apple tree in the bed of the Flat-
headed Borer, after he had penetrated the solid wood of the tree. The borer had evi-
dently been destroyed by the small larva, as there was in this latter instance no part of
the borer to be found, and in the former but small portions of the skin partly sur-
rounded by thesmall maggots. [amin hopes that they may prove to be the larva of an in-
sect that is acommon enemy to the most destructive pest of the orchard. The ravages of
this borer during the past season, in this part of the country, have been unprecedented ;
it has been a great deal more numerous than the Saperda or Round-headed Borer, that
works near the ground. Heretofore (in my experience) they have seldom attacked a
healthy and thrifty tree, but have confined their ravages to trees that have received a
severe check in transplanting and in bad usage generally. During the past season they
have attacked the healthy as well as the unhealthy trees.
I have not succeeded in rearing the perfect fly from these small
maggot-like larva, but there can be no doubt that it will prove as
Dr. Fitch surmised, to belong to the Chalcidida, an extensive family
of small 4-winged flies of black or metallic colors, ever on the
alert for prey, and sometimes attacking the vegetable feeders at first
hand, but more often acting as secondary parasites. In the present.
instance the minute mother fly must manage to insinuate herself in
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 15
the burrow of Chrysobothris, and, having reached the borer, pierce
the skin and consign her eggs in its body.*
I have bred two other much larger parasites from this borer, both
of which belong to the large family of Ichneumons, and reach the
borer by means of a longsting or ovipositor. The first of these, which
may be called the Cherished Bracon is an undescribed four-winged
fly, with the head, thorax, antennz and legs polished black, the abdo-
men coral-red, and the wings deep smoky-brown. It expands about
0.65 inch, the body has a length of 0.35 inch and the ovipositor of 0.40
inch. The sting or ovipositor consists of a pale yellow, central tere-
[Fig. 13.] bra, and two stouter black sheaths. The
larva, after destroying its victim, spins a
yellowish-brown cocoon, flat on two sides,
and not unlike a miniture coffin, and the
perfect fly issues in Spring through the
burrow which the Chrysobothris would
have used had it been allowed to live.
This parasite is quite common, and though
I have reared it on three different occa-
sions, it was in each instance parasitic on
Chrysobothris. Specimens sent to the well
| known Hymenopterist, IK. T. Cresson, two
R years since, were pronounced new, and as
Bracon CHARUS:—Parasite of Chryso-
bothris. no American species of the genus have
since been described, I append a description :
Bracon cnarus, N. sp. (Fig. 13)—Q Length of body 0.85inch; of ovipositor 0.40
inch; expanse of wing, 0.65 inch. Colors black and deep rufous. Head, thorax, legs
and antennz polished black, the legs and sides of head and thorax with a fine grayish
pubescence ; trophi also black. Abdomen uniformly deep rufous. Terebra of oviposi—
tor pale yellow, the sheaths black and very faintly pubescent, Wings deep fuliginous
with a faint zig-zag, clearline across the middle from the stigma.
Described from 7 Q’s, all breed from Chrysobothris femorata.
The other Ichneumon-fly is somewhat larger, and may be called
the Useful Labena. It is the Cryptus grallator of Say, subsequently
described as Mesochorus fuscipennis by Brullé, and belongs to the
modern genus Zabena Cresson. Its body is half an inch long, but the
ovipositor has only alength of 0.30 inch. The general color of the
body is honey-yellow inclining to brownish, and the wings, which ex-
pand nearly an inch, are clouded each with two broad, smoky-brown
* As this Report is going through the press, my friend, A. S. Fuller, of Ridgewood, N. J.,
sends me a number of these Chalcid maggots that have preyed on the Chrysobothris larva, and which»
he received from Prairie City, Mo.
76 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
patches, the light parts being hyaline. The antennex are reddish-
brown, yellow beyond the middle and dark brown toward tips; the
Ovipositor has the terebra dark and the sheaths yellow with dark
brown extremities. Full descriptions of the species under the name
of Labena grallator have been putlished by Mr. Cresson* and by
Mr. Walsh,+ who bred it from hickory wood infested with the larva of
Cerasphorus cinetus, alongicorn beetle. This fact shows that the
Useful Labena is not confined in its attacks to the larva of Chryso-
bothris, as the other species seems to be. I bred this fly from aChry-
sobothris larva infesting an apple tree. It was handed to me by Mr.
W. W. Tipton, of Burlington, Kansas, just as it was spinning a delicate
transparent cocoon, and Mr. T. felt sure that he had made a grand dis-
covery, and that entomologists had all been wrong in not stating that
the flat-headed apple tree borer makes a cocoon. Persons unfamiliar
with parasitism in the insect world are apt to jump to such hasty con-
clusions; and it is only necessary in this connection to say that the
Chrysobothris never does make a silken cocoon, and that whenever
such is found in its burrow, its contents should not be crushed, but
allowed to mature and escape.
Where the Chrysobothris breeds in felled oak logs or in stumps, it
is often destroyed by ants, and they doubtless frequently reach it
even in growing trees, especially when the entrance is exposed, as
just described by Mr. Titts.
REMEDIES.
In treating of the means to be employed against this H'lat-headed
borer, one important fact should be borne in mind. The natural
breeding place of the insect is undoubtedly in the old decaying oaks
of our woods, and I have known it to swarm in old post-oak stumps
from which the tops had been felled for a number of years. In fact
it prefers partially dead or injured trees to those which are thrifty and
vigorous, and partly for this reason, and partly because rough, cracked
bark forms a better nidus for the female to lay her eggs, the species
is most abundantly found on the southwest side of young apple trees
where they are most apt to get injured bysunscald. Sicklinessin the
tree, injury from the whiffletree or other cause, therefore, predispose
to its attacks. It is for this reason that transplanted trees, checked as
they are in their growth, usually fare badly. But there is yet one
other predisposing cause which few people suspect, and that is reck-
*Proc. Phil. Ent. Soc. III, pp. 400-1.
t+ Trans. Ac. Sc. of St. Louis, III, pp. 162-3.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. vir4
less and careless pruning, especially of the larger branches. Many a
fine orchard tree, and many more city shade trees receive their death
shock from the reckless sawing oft of limbs without effort being made
to heal the wounds by coating with grafting wax, clay or other protect-
ing substances. Around such an unprotected sawed limb, as around
the frustum of a felled tree, the rain and other atmospheric influences
soon begin their work of causing decay between the bark and the
solid wood ; and this is but the forerunner of greater injury by insects
which are attracted to the spot, and which, though hidden meanwhile
from view, soon carry the destruction from the injured to the non-
injured parts. Among the insects thus attracted, Chrysobothris plays
no mean part, where, had the wounded limb been properly protected,
its presence would never have been known. It thus becomes of the
first importance, in treating this insect, to keep the young trees vig-
orous and healthy, and the bark as smooth and as free from injury as
possible. Thus in planting a young orchard in this part of the coun-
try, where the sun (whether indirectly or directly is for the vegetable
pathologist to determine) is apt to injure the bark on the southwest
side, it will prove labor well spent to protect them on that side by
old paling or lath. Young trees are far more liable to be attacked
than old ones, and consequently require greater care.
A healthy and vigorous tree is not chosen by the female, in depo-
siting, if unhealthy or injured trees are at hand; and when eggs are
deposited in trees of the former character, the young borers more
often perish—are drowned out. Yet it must not be supposed, on this
account, that the insect cannot livein a healthy tree, for he who should
act on this principle and take no other precautions against its attacks.
than good cultivation, would too often discover his mistake. That the
insect is seldom if ever found in healthy trees is a necessary truism
which often deludes into belief that it cannot attack such. As soon
as the borer is at work the tree ceases to be healthy; and while care-
ful culture and protection from other injury are excellent preventives
against its attacks, they are not infallible.
As apreventive against the insect’s attacks there is nothing better
than coating the trunks and larger branches with soap at least twice
a year, once toward the end of May and againin July or August. The
soap is not only obnoxious to the beetle, but it tends to keep the bark
clean and smooth, so as to offer no attraction to the female, and is,
withal, beneficial to the tree.
Mr. Henry Shaw, who has had a good deal of trouble from the
work of this borer on the young trees in Tower Grove Park, St. Louis,
78 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
has finally painted them with a mixture of soap, lime and a small
proportion of Paris Green. The Green might, I think, be dispensed
with, but the lime gives consistency as well as persistency to the
soap, and in many of the trees thus treated the larvz have actually
worked their way out only to fall to the ground and perish. A small
proportion of glue dissolved in the mixture would add still more to
its persistency, and, being gradually dissolved by the rains, not injure
the tree.
Other substances have been applied to trees as preventives of the
attacks of this insect, and right here the question is naturaly asked,
“does it hurt trees to grease them?’ The question has been dis-
cussed for many years by horticultural bodies, and the individual
experience is always conflicting. Indeed,it only admits of a condi-
tional answer, as so much depends on the quality of the grease and
the time of yearin which it is applied. All greasy substances of such
consistence that they will effectually preclude the air for any length
of time must necessarily be injurious, whereas, if they soon evapo-
rate or crack open they may be applied so as to produce no injurious
effects. Kerosene and axle grease have been used by several promi-
nent Kansas fruit-growers, without injury to the tree, and with satis-
factory results in keeping off both borers and rabbits. Coal tar has
also been used for the same purposes, and with satisfaction, by many,
and is now being extensively tried in the college orchards at Man-
hattan, and by H. E. Van Deman of Geneva, and others; while pitch
tar applied direct to the tree is generally injurious.
From what has already been said we see the importance of keep-
ing the bark smooth, whether by the use of soap or by scraping. The
former mode of keeping the bark smooth is altogether preferable, not
only because it is more obnoxious to the beetle, but because it is less
hurtful tothe tree. Jor it is a fact, exemplified in the experience of
Mr. Wm. R. Randall, of Washtenaw county, Michigan, as communi-
cated to the Vew York Tribune, that in scraping trees or in using a
knife to cut off the loose bark, the fresh bark is often abraded and
bruised so as to form just the nidus needed by the beetle. And Mr.
Randall found that the very parts which he had left exposed in this
manner by Summer scraping were afterwards well supplied with
borers. Scraping, therefore—if it has to be done—should be done
early in Spring, before the beetle appears, so that any unavoidable
bruising may have time to heal before Chrysobothris is seeking to
deposit her eggs.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 79
In Chicago, since the great fire of 1871, a large business has been
done in transplanting from the woods immense shade trees, some of
them over a foot through. The Flat-headed Borer is playing havoc
with many of them, and in despair some of my friends have been at
the trouble and expense of wrapping the entire trunk and the larger
branches in wire gauze, through which the beetle cannot penetrate.
This gauze,if so hung that no part of it touched the bark. would
undoubtedly prove a perfect protection ; but as it is tacked on, it does
not necessarily prevent the female beetle from consigning her eggs
to the bark, however much it may prevent the insects already in the
tree from issuing; while the cell growth of a single year is very apt
to burst it in many places.
But whatever preventive measures be taken, trees should be care-
fully examined latein the Fall. At this season, or even in the Winter
time, the young borers which have just commenced work, are easily
detected and destroyed by a knife before they have done much harm.
Trees presenting those conditions which I have already stated to be
attractive to the insect should be especially watched, and any tree
that is suddenly checked in growth should be attended to, as it will
probably be found to contain the borer, though the outward signs of
its presence may not at first be so manifest. There is a very general
impression, also, among orchardists, that this insect is more injurious
on low lands than on high lands, and orchards on low land should be
more particularly watched.
The presence of the young borer is usually indicated by a discol-
ored spot, a cracking of the bark, or the presence of saw-dust like
excrement. It will pay to look over the trees even before Fall, for as
early as the latter part of June, in the latitude of St. Louis, the newly
hatched worm may sometimes be found just entering, when its pres-
ence is frequently indicated by an exuding drop of moisture on the
bark, and when it may be destroyed by cleanly cutting outa small slice
of bark. Indeed, I would earnestly commend the following advice of
Mr. A. A. Briggs, of LeRoy, Barton county, who, after informing me
that he has taken out as many as a hundred borers from one small tree,
says:
It is best for those having trees subject to attacks, to look over them every week
if possible, or every two weeks at least, from the first of June to Fall, for exudation of
sap from the bark, which is a sure indication of their presence. Carelessness in this
respect the past season has cost me more than 300 trees, all young.
It is useless to spend time in trying to reach such borers as have
already penetrated into the solid wood. They are with difficulty
attained, and have already accomplished their principal damage.
80 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
CANKER-WORMS.
In further illustration of the remarks made last year on the two
species of Canker-worm which have very generally been considered
mere varieties of one species, and about which there has been no little
confusion,* I have prepared figures of each, which, in connection with
a few explanatory remarks, will enable their ready distinction.
Loa en Tne SprinG CaNnkER-WorM (Anisopleryx vernata,
ali i
uy fact that the great bulk of the moths issue from
az the ground in early spring, may be distinguished
\
i
i
i A Peck, Figs. 14,16. This species, which, from the
ul
from the other by the popular name here given,
SprinG Canker-worm :—a, fullis the true Canker-worm originally described;
grown larva ; 0, egg, enlar ged,
the natural size shown in the / Lg iA
small mass atside;c, an enlarged as Phalena vernata by We D. Peck in 1795.
t, sid does back rycen: oe
soit, ie ing ike makings This is undoubtedly the species for the most
part spoken of in the agricultural journals of the country, and the
species best known in the Mississippi Valley.t This Spring Canker-worm
is distinguished, in the light of recent careful discriminations, by the
characters indicated last year, viz.: by each of the first seven joints of
the abdomen in both sexes bearing two transverse rows of stiff, red,
or reddish-brown, posteriorly directed spines ; by the front wings in
the male having three transverse, dusky lines, and a somewhat broader,
Jagged, pale submarginal line; and by the whole body i in the female,
* This confusion is in part due to the fact that Harris, in fe Ww ork! on Injurions Insects, in treating
of THe Canker-worm moth, describes at length, not the species first called the Canker-worm by Peck,
but the larger species (pometaria). He then uses the following language: ‘‘ Specimens of a rather
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. Perhaps they constitute a different species
from that of the true Canker-worm moth. Should this be the case, the latter may be called Anisopterya
pometaria.’? Theterm ‘‘ true Canker-worm’’ is here misleading, as, while it should evidently apply
to the insect originally described by Peck, Harris really applies it to the other species, for which he sug-
gests the name pometaria, It is this ambiguity which originally led Mr. Mann to confound the two
species, and which led me to make the remarks in the first paragraph on page 29 of my last Report,
which—founded on a misunderstanding of Harris’s meaning—should be cancelled. As I have already
stated, the descriptions in my Second Report are of vernata, but the poor figures, which are copied,
represent neither species properly, though those of the moths are of vernata and those of the eggs
pometaria. Harris’s descriptions of the moths and eggs are of pometaria, but those of the larva, and
probably of the chrysalis, are of vernaia.
+ There is in fact no evidence that the other species pometaria occurs at all either in Hlinois or Mis-
souri, since an examination of the specimens in Dr. LeBaron’s cabinet and in my own, proves them
all to be the true or Spring species. Indeed, until I received specimens of pometaria from Mr. H. K.
Morrison and Mr. B. P. Mann, I had neyer seen the species—the male specimens which I mistook for it
in former years being in reality specimens of vernata which approach it in the markings of the front
wings. That it occurs in the Southwest is, however, proved by the fact that Dr. Packard informs me
that he hasa fine typical specimen from Dallas, Texas, collected by Mr. Boll.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 81
as also the legs and antenne, being pubescent with pale and dusky
hairs—the color being rabbit-gray, or speckled black and white, the
abdomen having a medio-dorsal black stripe. The dusky stripes on
the front wings of the male, except at costa, and the black stripe on the
abdomen, except at each end, are usually more or less obsolete, and
Ua so data indeed the ornamentation of the
; wings is extremely variable. In
many specimens the middle portion
S of the front wings, within the three
dusky lines, is quite pale and mottled
a
SPRING CANKER-WorM :—a, male moth ; b, fe- With grayish-green, while the basal
male do.—natural size ; c, joints of herantenne ; d,
ee ae a nbeer nee s6'REr ovi-and terminal portions are marked
with brown, thus making the contrast greater. Others again are abso-
lutely without marks whatever, even when fresh from the crysalis;
while captured specimens always have the marks more or less effaced
on account of the looseness of the scales. The moths rise from the
ground for the most part early in Spring, and only rarely the previous
Fall. They are crepuscular in habit, and are most active soon after
dark in the evening. The female by meansof a horny and extensile
ovipositor thrusts her eggs, to the number of from 50 to 150, under the
loose scales of bark or in any crevice or sheltered place, and is very
fond of availing herself for this purpose, of the empty cases of the
Rascal Leaf-crumpler* (Rep. 4, Fig. 18.) The eggs are but slightly
glued together, and have the form of a rather elongate hen’s egg, the
shell being very delicate and smooth, though often appearing rough-
ened by transverse and longitudinal, irregular depressions. The larva
has but four prolegs, is variable in color, and one of its distinguishing
characters is the mottled head (Fig. 15.), and two pale narrow lines
along the middle of the back, the space between them usually dark
and occupied on the anterior edge and middle of joints 5,6, 7 and 11
[Fig. 16.] by black marks somewhat in form of X ; these marks
CT ae being represented by dots on the other joints. There are
two rather prominent tubercles on top of the eleventh
joint, preceded by two white spots. The chrysalis, so
WS
%><4~\ far as my comparisons have enabled me to judge, does
Enlarged head of NOt differ materially from that of the other species, so
Spring Canker-
Worm frontview, that the two species could hardly be distinguished in this
*Senator Elmer Baldwin, an Hlinois orchardist of large experience, as quoted by Dr. LeBaron (2d
Ill. Rep. ys. 106), found these cases so generally used for this purpose that he considered the gathering
and burning of the cases one of the best means of destroying the Canker-worms. I can testify , from
My own experience, ae frequency with which the cases are used as a nidi.
EK R—
82 SEVENTH ANNUAL KEPORT
state. This is the species treated of in my second Report, and which
so injuriously affects our apple orchards.
The following descriptions of the immature stages will serve to
compare with those presently given of what I call the Fall Canker-
worm:
ANISOPTERYX VERNATA, Peck.—Egg—Elliptic-ovoid; 0.03 inch long; not quite
half as thick, appearing sometimes faintly shagreened, and with irregular, longitudi-
nal depressions ; reflecting prismatic colors ; shell thin and delicate and quite smooth
under the microscope. Deposited in various sized masses in sheltered situations.
Larva—When first hatched of a dark olive-green or brown hue, with a shiny
black head and thoracic legs, with a whitish lateral and dorsal band, the latter having
a darker central line along it. [These pale stripes are broad, and the dorsal one almost
white on the anterior part of each joint, so that the dorsum often appears spotted,]
After the first moult, the head becomes lighter and mottled, and the light bands less
conspicuous. After the second moult, the bands are almost obliterated and the body
becomes more uniformly mottled and speckled with livid-brown; the head becomes
still lighter and the prolegs being now large, spread out at almost a level with the
venter. After the third (and I believe last) moult, the appearance changes but little.
The full-grown larva averages 0.90 inch in length, with an average diameter of 0.10
inch, being broadest on joint 11. It varies from light fleshy-gray to almost black.
Head mottled as in figure 16. Ends of body somewhat darker than middle. Joint 1
with a yellowish dorsal shield, the hinder margin in form of a rounded W. Viewed
under a lens, the body has a series of eight fine light yellowish, irregular, somewhat
broken lines running the whole length of the body, each one relieved by a darker shade
each side of it. The two along middle of dorsum are close together, with the space
between them usually dark, and occupied at anterior edge and middle of joints 5, 6, 7
and 11 by black marks somewhat in form of x, or of a trefoil; these marks being repre-
sented by simple black dots on the other joints. Space between these dorsal lines and the
next lowest, lighter, and containing four black piliferous spots to each joint, the posterior
ones rather further apart than the anterior ones which on joint 11 form two larger ele-
vated shiny black spots, [often with white spots in front of them.] Space between lines
2 and 3 darker than any other part of the body. That between lines 3 and 4 lighter than
any other part of body, and containing the stigmata which are perfectly round and
black with a light center, with a small piliferous spot anteriorly above and below them,
and another behind them, this last becoming large on joints 5, 6, 7 and 8. Venter dark
and livid at borders, with a pale greenish band along the middle, which has a pinkish
patch in it on joints 5, 6,7 and 8. Legs greenish at base; color of body at extremity.
he markings are most distinct on the light specimens.—[Second Report.
Chrysalis—Pale grayish-brown, with a dark green tinge on the wing-sheaths.
Remarkable for its robustness and for the large size and prominence of the palpi, A
single bifurcate thorn at extremity. Length 0.35 inch; diameter across thorax 0.12
inch. (From the fact that in this description of the chrysalis, made six years ago, no
reference is made in my notes toany sexual distinction,and that over a dozen chrysalis
shells examined all show the wing-sheaths, I infer that the female chrysalis has wing-
sheaths, as in pometarza, and that it otherwise, in this state, resembles this last.)
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 83
Boe ia) ; Tue Fart CANKER-WoRM (Anzsop-
WV tery pometaria Harr., Figs. 17, 183)
+ —This insect is easily distinguished
from the preceding, when critically
examined. It is, on the average,
somewhat larger and more glossy;
g the front wings of the male have a
FALL CANKER-WORM:—a, b, egg, side and top distinct white spot on the front edge,
views; ¢, d, joints of larva, side and top views,
showing markings—enlarged; e, batch of eggs; ]
ifs full-grown larva; 9; female chrysalis—natu- and are crossed by two pale, jagged
ral size; h, t i f anal tubercle of chrysa- : -
ivan =O «6Chands, along the sides of which there
are several blackish dots. The hind wings also have a pale, curved
line, more or less distinct, across their middle. The female is uni-
formly dark ash-gray above, paler beneath, with the antennz naked,
and the legs and abdomen smooth and glistening, and with no exten-
sile ovipositor. Thus it lacks the characteristic spines of vernata, the
dusky marks across the front wings, and the pubescence in the female;
and there are many other minor differences, which are mentioned in
the tabular and comparative description of the two insects further on.
The moths rise mostly late in the Fall, but also during the warm
weather of Winter, ever. to Spring. The eggs are tough, with a flat-
tened crown of apurplish color, and having a dimple in the center
and a brown ring near the edge: they are not secreted or;hidden
under scales, but are laid in regular and compact batches, of from 100
to upwards of 200, on the surface of twigs or of the trunk, being fast-
ened by a strong glue, and covered with a slight coating of grayish
varnish. The larva is distinguished from that of the Spring Canker-
worm by having a dark brown back, and three conspicuous broad, pale
yellow lines each side, as well as
' by having a third pair of prolegs,
shorter than the others, on the 8th
joint. It develops very rapidly, en-
tering the ground, with favorable
h; b, female o * LE
do.--natural size; c, joints of her antenne; d, weather, within three weeks after
joint of her abdomen—enlarged, : :
: zits ny hatching; and, singularly enough,
suffers but two molts, exclusive of that which takes place under-
ground in transforming to the chrysalis. It is found principally on
the Elm, and has not yet. been reported from the Mississippi Valley.
The female chrysalis is stout and has a little, decurved, bifid thorn on
the tip of the body superiorly. It has} perfect wing-sheaths, though
84 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
the moth is wingless. The coloris light brown with darker wing-sheaths.
ANISOPTERYX POMETARIA Harris—Egg—Length, 0.025 inch; average diameter
3 the length ; flattened at top where it is somewhat larger than at base. Color of
crown purplish-gray, the surface slightly corrugated, with a central dimple and a
brown circle just within the border; sides smooth and more silvery, and generally
somewhat compressed by pressure of adjacent eggs. Laid in exposed situations, in
patches or strips, attached in regular rows, and fastened to the bark in a slightly
slanting position so that one edge of the crown is a little above, the other a little below
the general level.
Larva—Color pale brownish, marked with dark brown and yellow as follows :
The dorsum uniformly dark brown; the sides with three pale narrow lines, more or
less irregular and mottled, but always well relieved, the two superior ones white, the
lower most yellowish; the subdorsal space between the upper two of these lines,
pale; the stigmatal between the lower two darker, especially in middle of the
joint around stigmata; the thoracic joints dark with the pale lines somewhat nar-
rower and running up to the head. On joint 11 these lines are constricted or entirely
broken, so as to leave a dark band across the middle of the joint. The head is dark
brown above and at sides, but paler in frovt. Cervical shield also dark with the yellow
lines running through it. Venter olivaceous, the legs more reddish, there being three
pairs of prolegs, the pair on joint 8 only half as long as those on 9, but with perfect
hooklets; the thoracic legs quite hirsute and terminating generally in two thorns.
Piliferous spots obsolete and with a very few scarcely distinguishable pale hairs, except
on anal shield and legs, where they are stouter. Anal shieid and legs with brown pilif-
erous dots. The newly hatched larva is pale olive-green with a large pale yellowish
head and pale legs. The light lines of the mature larva are, at this early stage, faintly
indicated and the piliferous spots give forth short, fleshy, pale hairs. The third pair
of prolegs is distinctly visible, but is not used in locomotion. After the first molt the
head and thoracic legs become somewhat browner, and the olivaceous green more blu-
ish. After the second molt, the dark colors show much more distinctly.
Described from numerous full grown specimens received from Mr. B. P. Mann,
others received from Dr. A. S. Packard, Jr., and a larger number of all ages reared by
myself from the egg.
It varies somewhat in intensity of color, and in some the light and dark browns
are not so sharply separated, but the dorsum is generally uniform and the three lat-
eral yellow lines distinct. Up to the second or last molt, the general color is, with rare
exceptions, greenish ; but in the last stage, the dark-brown or black predominates, and
is sometimes so general that there is but the faintest trace of the superior yellow
lines. Occasional specimens, even when young, show in the subdorsal dark space,
one, and in the dorsal dark space, two, very fine and faint pale lines. Differs entirely
from vernata in lacking most of the characteristic spots in front of the head of that
species, and the two pale transverse marks; in having the dorsum darker instead of
lighter than the rest of the body ; in lacking the medio-dorsal pale lines and the char-
acteristic x-like marks; in the broader, more conspicuous pale lateral lines, and in the
subdorsal space being darker than the stigmatal; and lastly in the additional, though
atrophied, abdominal prolegs. It is a smoother larva.
Chrysalrs—Color light brown, with the wing-sheaths, a medio-dorsal shade,
sutures and stigmata darker. Length 0.30—0.35 inch ; stout, with the wing-sheaths and
their veins distinct in the female; a dorsal, bifid, decurved tubercle near the tip of
anal joint.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 85
PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS.
+ The practical man may consider the illustration of these differ-
- ences as unimportant and trivial, however much they may interest
the entomologist. Yet it is of much practical importance to know
how to distinguish between these two insects. From present knowl-
edge of the subject, it is highly probable that, just as the moths of
the one species appear mostly in early Spring, and of the other mostly
late in the Fall, so each is, in a general sense, confined to particular
plants—the Spring species preferring our fruit trees, and the Fall
species preferring the Elm. Thus the time to put forth our efforts to
catch and destroy the wingless moths will vary according to the
nature of the tree to be protected and the insect to be dealt with.
In the case of the Spring species, the scraping of loose bark from
the tree and otherwise cleansing it of dead leaves, cocoons, larva-
cases, etc., ashort time before the hatching of the worms, or before
the buds of the tree commence to open, will prove an effectual pre-
ventive measure; as thereby many of the eggs will be destroyed.
Moreover, a tree kept clean of loose bark will be less subject to its
attacks. The same argument will not apply to the Fallspecies, which
attaches its eggsin any exposed position. It would seem, also, that
the mode of trapping the moths will have to be somewhat modified,
according to the species to be dealt with; for while Dr. LeBaron
found the tin and rope trap described last vear so effectual with the
Spring Canker-worm, it does not appear to afford any barrier to the
Fall species, judging from the fullowing notes, kindly furnished by
Mr. Mann:
Nov. 8, 1873. Warm last night, with rain, which still continues. Found 25 9 and
one & pometaria. Found 4 of the 2 above the LeBaron zine band.
Nov. 9. Found 2 3, 87 9 pometaria; 2 2 above the zine band.
Nov. 12. Snow last night, followed by cold sleet. Found $ 9 pometaria, 1 above
the zine.
Nov. 15. Only 6 Q pometaria; none above the band. Last three days freezing
cold, but not stormy.
Nov. 18. Several days of rain and snow. 1 Q pometaria.
Nov. 22. 6 9,2 & pometaria.
Dee. 4. Yesterday thawing, to-day also. The weather since Nov. 22 has been
cold, with occasional snow, and the ground has been frozen, and I have failed to find
any Anisopteryx pometaria; but to-day I caught 11 g, 102 9,2 2 above the zine band.
T have no doubt that thesmallness of the number of 2 found above the bands of zinc is
due to my promptness and diligence in detecting and destroying them before they have
had time to mount the tree ; because, according to the theory on which the experiment
was tried, the 2 ought to be found on the outside of the strips, if their ascent has been
prevented by them; while in fact, (excluding those found on the house or fence, etc.,)
the majority of the Q have been caught before they reached the bands; further, be-
cause I tried the experiment with 3 or 4 Q, and found that as soon as they reached the
top of the band, they climbed over it, and began to ascend the tree. Being satisfied by
this positive evidence, which would outweigh any amount of negative evidence from
those who have not seen it, I put printers’ ink on the outside of the zine strips. (I
86 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
found that the ink was more quickly chilled or dried by being on the zinc, so last Win-
ter I pulled it off and inked paper bands applied closely to the trunk).
Dec. 5. Colder. 25, 71 2 pometaria. The greater proportion of the 3 than
formerly is explained by considering that most of them were stuck to the ink ; whereas
formerly they could hide away by day. It is to be noticed that although some imagos
appeared before the frost, they only swarmed after it, justifying the farmers’ saying
that you must have a frost to bring the Canker-grubs out.
Moreover, it is quite important that the orchardist be able to dis-
tinguish.these Canker-worms from a number of other looping worms
which greatly resemble them, but which produce moths which are
winged in both sexes. ‘For if he mistakes some other span-worm
which produces winged females as well as winged males, for the
genuine Canker-worm which is apterous in the female moth state, it
becomes very obvious that all his efforts to try and prevent the rava-
ges of the spurious Canker-worm by the most approved and well-
tried methods, will not only fail most absolutely, but he will lose all
faith in such remedies, and may perchance, if he is given to the use
of the quill, vent his wrath and disappointment by sending to some
one of the horticultural journals of the land, a pithy article ‘based
upon Facts |?] and EXPERIENCE, showing up the utter worthlessness of
the Canker-worm remedies!
“It is from such lack of true knowledge that the City Fathers of
Baltimore, Maryland, went to the useless expense of furnishing oil
troughs for all their large elm trees which were being defoliated, under
the delusive idea that the insect committing the ravage was the Can-
ker-worm; whereas it turned out to be the larva of a little imported
Beetle ( Galeruca calmariensis, Fabr.), the female of which has ample
wings, and can fly as readily as a bird from tree to tree.”—[2nd Rep.,
p. 95.
I will now give more detailed comparative descriptions of these
two insects in their different stages, those of the moths being but
slightly altered from the original comparisons drawn up by Mr. Mann,
to whom I am under obligations for specimens of pometaria in all
stages, and for the use of his notes. ;
ANISOPTERYX VERNATA, ANISOPTERYX POMETARIA.
Egq.
Elliptic-ovoid, the shell of delicate tex- Squarely docked at top, with a central
ture and quite yieiding ; generally appear- puncture and a brown circle near the bor-
ing shagreened or irregularly impressed ; der ; of firm texture, and laid side by side
nacreous, and laid in irregular masses in in regular rows and compact batches,
secreted places.
Larva.
No prolegs on joint 8. With a pair of short prolegs on joint 8.
Head distinctly mottled and spotted, the Head very indistinctly spotted and dark
top pale, and two pale transverse lines in on top.
front.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 87
Body with eight superior, narrow, pale,
Jongitudinal lines barely discernible, the
two lowermost much farther apart than
the others.
Dorsum pale, with median black spots ;
subdorsal region dark; stigmatal region
quite pale,
Piliferous 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 dark olive-green
or brown, with black shiny head and cer-
vical shield.
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.
Piliferous spots subobsolete.
When newly hatched pale olive-green,
with very pale head and cervical shield.
Chrysalis.
Same as pometaria, so far as known.
Stout, the female with wing-sheaths,
and a small decurved horn, bifid at ex-
tremity near tip of abdomen, superiorly.
Imago.
The tirst seven joints of the abdomen
of both sexes bear each upon the back
two transverse rows of stiff, red spines,
pointing toward the end of the body.
Front wings of male, on upper surface
ash-colored or brownish gray; the whit-
ish spot found on the front wings of A.
pometaria is wanting.
The whitish bands found on the front
wings of A. pometaria are wanting, but
there is a jagged, subterminal white band
in most specimens, running out to the
apex, where it is lined externally with
dark brown.
There are three interrupted, dusky lines
across the front wings, instead of two pale
lines, as in A. pometaria. Sometimes these
lines are only indicated by dark spots on
the costa and by blackish dashes on the
median nervure ; rarely are they very dis-
tinct throughout their whole extent.
There is an oblique, blackish dash near
the tip of the front wings, crossing a ner-
vure ; and there is a distinctly interrupted,
or nearly uniform, continuous line of
blackish along the outer margin, close
to the fringe.
The hind wings are pale ash-colored, or
very light gray, with a faint blackish dot
near the middle.
The white band found on the hind wings
of A. pometariais wanting.
The first seven joints of the abdomen of
both sexes with no spines upon the back.
Front wings of male on upper surface
ash-colored with a faint purplish reflec-
tion, and with a distinct whitish spot on
the front edge near the tip.
[Front wings] crossed by two jagged
whitish bands; the outermost band has an
angle near the front edge. The white
bands are often entirely wanting, in which
case only the whitish spot near the tip
remains.
Along the sides of the whitish bands
there are several blackish dots, each on a
nervure, and all generally connected to-
gether by a dusky band, which includes
them, and runs on that side of each whit-
ish band which is towards the other.
These bands remain visible when the
whitish bands are wanting.
Within the angle of the outermost whit-
ish band, near the costa, there is a short,
faint, blackish line, following a nervure ;
and there is a row of black dots along the
outer margin, close to the fringe.
The hind wings are pale ash-colored, or
light gray, with a faint blackish dot near
the middle.
In most specimens a curved white band
is plainly visible on the hind wings, about
half way between the middle and the end
88 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
On the costa, opposite the beginning
of the outermost dark band of the upper
surface, and on the edge of the disk,
are dusky spots on the lower surface of
the wings. Along the median nervure
beneath is a dark line. These marks
are sometimes indistinct.
Antenne of female pubescent with the
joints constricted in middle.
Abdomen terminating in a retractile ovi-
positor; rather acutely tapering behind.
Whole body and legs of the female
pubescent, clothed witn whitish and
brown or black dentate scales or hairs ;
general coloration not uniform. A black
band along the middle of the back
The outermost pale band of the front
wings, with its angulation, and the band
cf the hind wings are also visible on
the under side of the wings. Within the
angulation is a brown or blackish spot
on the costa.
Antennzx of male more serrate and
hairy ; the serrations darker.
Antenne of the female naked, with
the joints only half as long as in ver-
nata, and uniform in diameter.
Abdomen not terminating in an ovipo-
sitor; rather bluntly tapering behind.
Whole body and legs of the female
smooth, clothed with glistening brown
and white truneate seales intermixed,
giving it an appearance of uniform shiny
dark ash-color above and gray beneath.
of the abdomen, often interrupted on the
second to seventh joints ; with a whitish
patch each side of its front end; the
spines frequently giving a reddish ap-
pearance to the part they occupy.
Crest of prothorax and mesothorax
black.
Of a rather smaller size than pometaria,
the wings of the male expanding from
0.86—1.30 inches, and the female measur-
ing 0.20—0.35 inch in length.
The wings of the male expand from
1.05-1.35 inches ; and the female measures.
0.25 to 0.40 inch.
CONCLUSION.
We thus have two distinct species of canker-worms, differing not
only in habit, but differing so much structurally in all states (except,
perhaps, the chrysalis state) that they may at once be distinguished
from each other. In contrast with the soft delicate ovoid eggs secreted
in irregular masses, the 10-legged larva, and the spined and hairy
moths of vernata; we have the tough, flower-pot-shaped eggs, laid in
exposed regular masses, the 12-legged larva and the spineless, smooth
moths of pometaria; and the specific structural differences are still
apparent when we come to examine the genital armature of the males.
It is really remarkable that these differences have remained so long
unnoticed, especially in those parts of the country where pometaria
abounds. Asa fitting conclusion to what I have written on this subject,
it gives me pleasure to be able to reproduce, through the courtesy of
Mr. Mann, who copied them for me, portions of the original premium
essay on the Canker-worm, by Mr. Peck, not only because of the value
and accuracy of the observations, but because they show so conclu-
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 89
sively that it was the true or Spring species upon which the essay
was based.
Extracts from the original Essay on the Canker-worm, by William Dandridge Peck, pub-
lished in 1795,
To cultivate a knowledge of insects, merely for their splendid plumage or gorgeous
colors, is indeed a contemptible employment; but to inquire into the purposes of their
being and the part they are destined to perform in the economy of Nature, is to study
the wisdom of that Omniscient Being whose mandates they execute with the greatest
exactness. = "5 us es
These insects (the Canker-worm) appear in the Spring earlier than any other of
the moth tribe —about the middle of March. Their rise, however, from the earth will
be delayed or hastened according to the temperature of the atmosphere and state of
the soil. They are found under a double form, the males being furnished with, and
the females being destitute of, wings. This circumstance necessitates the females to:
ascend the tree by its trunk in order to deposit their eggs upon the branches, The
males by their wings resort to them, and are found in the evenings hovering round
the trees. In three or four days after they begin to rise, they are found sub-copula,
This office is performed in eleven or twelve days after their first appearance, The
males die and disappear. In thirteen days the females deposit their eggs. These they
place in the crannies of the bark in the forks of small branches; and where there are
spots of moss upon the smaller limbs they seem most fond of insinuating themselves.
into the cavities between its leaves. For this purpose the females are furnished with a
tube through which the egg is passed, with which she investigates the appertures in
the bark or moss, and ascertains their depth. * * x Each female lays at
a medium an hundred eggs. The ultimate purpose of their being thus performed,
they die.
The egg is elliptic, 1-30 of an inch in length, of a pearl color, witha yellowish cast.
As the included animal advances in ripeness the egg assumes a brownish hue; in
twenty days is of a lead color, and with a moderate magnifier the larva may be seen to
move in the shell. On the twenty-first day the larva breaks from its prison, is one line
in length, and furnished with ten feet—six anterior and four posterior, uy os
They are commonly hatched about the time that the ved currant is in blossom, and the
apple-tree puts forth its tender leaves, a te 0
On the twenty-sixth day from their quitting the egg they begin to cease from feed-
ing and descend by the trunk of the tree; when arrived at its foot they with great la-
bor penetrate the earth near it to different depths ; and this appears to depend in part
on the quality of the soil and in part on the vigor of the animal. In grass land they
are found from one to four inches beneath the surface, and when the trees stand in
plowed land, if the soil be loose, they penetrate to the depth of seven or eight. * * *
It has been observed above that they descend by the trunk of the tree; all which
descend in this manner enter the earth nearit. hisis their natural and regular course,
and hence the greatest number of them is found within a circle, whose radius extends
four feet from the trunk. But some will always be found ata greater distance, accord-
ing to the area which the tree covers ; for if dislodged by wind or accident at the time
when they are about to seek the earth, they cover themselves near the spot they fall
on. In recurring to the structure of the female insect we see at once the reason why
they are naturally confined to a small circle.
The larva or catterpillar is, when full grown, about nine lines long; the head pale,
90 . SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
,
marked on each side with two transverse blackish stripes ; the back ash-colored, marked
lengthwise with small, interrupted dusky lines; the sides blackish, with a pale line
along the length of the body; there are two white spots on the last segment of the
body; the abdomen or underside is ash-colored. * * *
The chrysalis state comes on in twenty-four hours after the larva has penetrated the
earth; and it appears that the insect is soon perfect, since a course of warm weather
has been found to raise some of them from the earth in the month of November.
While they are in chrysalis they are uninjured by frost. Their natural and regular
time of rising is about the middle of March, but happens sometimes as early as the
twelfth, and is sometimes retarded to the twenty-fourth, according to the warmth or
coldness of the season. They continue to rise for a longer or shorter time, according
to the greater or less depth at which they lie, and the extrication of the frost from the
earth—commonly from twenty to thirty days. * * * Like others of the moth kind,
they are active only in the night, and in the day time sit close to the bark of the tree,
whose color is so similar to theirs that they are not seen without near inspection. * * *
The principal check provided by Nature, upon the too greatinecrease of this insect
is the Ampelis garrulus ot Linnzeus, called by Mr. Catesby, the Chatterer of Carolina,
and in the Rev. Doctor Belknap’s History of New Hampshire, Cherry-bird. This bird
destroys great numbers of them while in the larva state. Another check is a disease
which may be called Deliquium, and is probably occasioned by a fermentation of their
food. In this disease the whole internal structure is dissolved into a liquid, and noth-
ing is entire but the exterior cuticle, which breaks on being touched.
The Canker-worm is said to have been observed first in the Southern States, where
it is probably a native. It is certain it must be spread by some means independent of
itself, since the female, by the privation of wings, is forbidden to range.
It may have been introduced into New England by the importation of trees from
the Southern States, on which the eggs were deposited ; or disseminated in the larva
state, in all populous parts of the United States, by falling from trees upon carriages
and travelers passing under them.
This conjecture is rendered probable by its being found in all places which have
intercourse with such parts as are infected with it, and by its being unknown in new
Settlements.
THE GRAPE PHYLLOXERA.
The following notes on this insect are intended to supplement
the article in the Sixth Report, and should be read in connection with
said article. It is my desire to give a record of observations and dis-
coveries, in the matter of Phylloxera, with as little repetition of what
has previously appeared in these reports, as is consistent with intelli-
gibility.
COMPLETION OF ITS NATURAL HISTORY.
During the year the natural history of the species has been all
but completed; as I predicted it would be, after Balbiani had paved
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 91
the way by his remarkable biological studies of the Kuropean Oak
Phylloxera, made a vear ago. It turns out, as was expected, that the
Grape Phylloxera agrees with its oak congener in producing wingless
and mouthless males and females; and the problematic winged indi-
viduals, with short bodies and relatively long wings and members,
which individuals were looked upon by myself and others as the
possible males, must necessarily be abnormal females.* The sexual
individuals have now been traced in the Oak and Grape species (quer-
cus and vastatrix) in Europe by Balbiani; and I have traced them
in three species ( R2ley?. vastatriz and what is probably caryecaulis)
in this country.
The life-history of the Grape Phylloxera may be thus epitomized :
{t hibernates mostly as a young larva(Rep.6, Fig.5,) torpidly attached
to the roots, and so deepened in color as generally to be of a dull
brassy-brown, and, therefore, with difficulty perceived, as the roots are
often of the same color. With the renewal of vine-growth in the
Spring, this larva molts, rapidly increases in size, and soon commences
laying eggs. These eggs in due time give birth to young, which soon
become virginal, egg-laying mothers, like the first; and, like them,
always remain wingless. Five or six generations of these partheno-
genetic, egg-bearing, apterous mothers follow each other; when—
about the middle of July, in this latitude—some of the individuals
begin to acquire wings+ These are all females, and, like the wingless
mothers, they are parthenogenetic. Having issued from the ground,
while in the pupa state, they rise in the air and spread to new vine-
yards, where they deliver themselves of their issue in the form of
eggst or egg-like bodies—usually two or three in number, and not
*Balbiani (Comptes Rendus Ac. d. Sc., Paris, September 21, 1874,) after a careful examination of
these individuals, says that they play no special physiological réle in the phenomena of reproduction ;
but that they have all the characters of the normal winged females, with, however, the generative
organs atrophied; and may, in part, be compared to the neuters among bees and ants.
+ During this virginal reproduction a gradual reduction in vitality and prolificacy is observable
from generation to generation. Around the first virginal mother the eggs may accumulate by the hun-
dred; but they decrease in number in succeeding generations until the individuals which—whether
winged or wingless—lay the sexnal eggs, give birth in no instance, yet recorded, to more than eight.
From the true female again, or at the end of the cycle, only a solitary egg is born.
tIt has been a question whether the egg-like bodies from these winged females, or from the wing-
less mothers which produce them, can properly be called eggs, and M. Lichtenstein has proposed to call
them pup, because they give birth, not toa larva but a perfect insect. The term ‘‘pupa’’ is, how-
ever, manifestly incorrect as applied to these bodies, because, when first laid, they are transparent
with a homogeneous content; while the sexual individual develops within the covering very much as
the embryonic larva develops within the egg. In fxct we have here, not, as in Hippobosca, a larva
hatching and nourished in the @ abdomen until full grown and contracting to a pupa before delivered;
but an insect hatching and undergoing its entire development within the egg-covering after the egg is
delivered. Vhus while the covering might more properly be called a sac just before the male or female
ereeps out of it, it is more truly an egg when first delivered; and so it is best to call it.
92 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
exceeding eight—and then perish. These eggs are of two sizes, the
larger about 0.02 inch long and the smaller about three-fifths of that
length. In the course of a fortnight they produce the sexual indi-
viduals, the larger ones giving birth to females, the smaller to males.
These sexual individuals are born for no other purpose than the re-
production of their kind, and are without means of flight, or of taking
food, or excreting. They are quite active and couple readily; one
male being capable, no doubt, of serving several females, as Balbi-
ani found to be the case with the European guercus. The abdomen
of the female, after impregnation, enlarges somewhat, and she is
soon delivered of a solitary egg, which differs from the ordinary eggs
of the parthenogenetic mother only in becoming somewhat darker.
This impregnated egg gives birth to a young louse which becomes a
virginal, egg-bearing, wingless mother, and thus recommences the
cycle of the species’ evolution. But one of the most important dis-
coveries of Balbiani is that, during the latter part of the season,
many of the wingless, hypogean mothers perform the very same func-
tion as the winged ones; 7. ¢., they lay a few eggs which are of two
sizes, and which produce males and females, organized and con-
structed precisely as those born of the winged females, and, like
them, producing the solitary impregnated egg. Thus, the interesting
fact is established that even the winged form, is by no means essen-
tial to the perpetuation of the species; but that, if all sach winged
individuals were destroyed as fast as they issue from the ground, the
species could still go on multiplying in a vineyard from year to year.
We have, therefore, the spectacle of an underground insect posses-
sing the power of continued existence, even when confined to its
subterranean retreats. It spreads in the wingless state from vine to
vine and from vineyard to vineyard, when these are adjacent, either
through passages in the ground itself, or over the surface. At the
same time it is able, in the winged condition, to migrate to much more
distant points. The winged females, as before stated, begin to appear
in July, and continue to issue from the ground until vine growth
ceases in the Fall. Yet they are much more abundant in August than
during any other month, and on certain days may be said to literally
swarm. Every piece of root a few inches long, and having rootlets,
taken from an infested vine at this season, will present a goodly pro-
portion of pups; and an ordinary quart preserve jar, filled with such
roots and tightly closed, will furnish daily, for two or three weeks, a
dozen or more of the winged females, which gather on the sides of
the jar toward the light. We may get some idea, from this fact, of the
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 93
immense numbers that disperse through the air to new fields, from a
single acre of infected vines, in the course of the late Summer and Fall
months.
If to the above account we add that occasionally individuals aban-
don their normal underground habit, and form galls upon the leaves
of certain varieties of grape-vine, we have, in a general way, the
whole natural history of the species.
DIFFERENT FORMS PRESENTED BY THE SPECIES.
The differences in form and habit which the species presents will
be best appreciated by recapitulating them in tabulated form:
1—The gall-inhabiting type (gallicola--Sixth Rep., Fig. 4,) forming galls on the leaves,
and presenting :
a—The ordinary egg (ibid, Fig. 4, c,) with which the gall is crowded :
b—The ordinary larva (ibid, Fig. 4, a, b):
e—The swollen, parthenogenetic mother, without tubercles (ibid, Fig. 4,
fr g,h):
2—The root-inhabiting type (radicicola, Sixth Rep., Fig. 5,) forming knots on the roots,
and presenting :
aa—The ordinary egg, differing in nothing from a, except in its slightly larger
average size:
66—The ordinary larva, also differing in no respect from 6 :
d—The parthenogenetic, wingless mother, the analogue of c, but cov-
ered with tubercles (ibid, Fig. 5, f, g):
e—The more oval form, destined to become winged (ibid, Fig. 5, e) :
f—The pupa, presenting two different appearances (ibid, Fig. 6, e, f,
and Fig. 8, a):
g—The winged, parthenogenetic female, also presenting two different
appearances (ibid, Fig. 6, 9, h, and Fig. 8, 6):
4—The sexual egg or sac deposited by g, being of two sizes, and giving birth
to the true males and females :
i-—The male:
j—The true female:
k—The solitary impregnated egg deposited by j; :
bbb—The larva hatched from 4, which, so far as known, does not differ
from the ordinary larva, except in its greater prolificacy :
i—The hibernating larva (ibid, Fig. 5 6), which differs only from 6 in
being rougher and darker.
Thus the insect is found in at least a dozen distinct forms, exclu-
ding the variation that. some of these forms are subject to; while, in
addition to what we already know of its power to change its habit, I
will add that Balbiani reports having succeeded, by gradually accus-
toming the species to new conditions, in making the progeny of the
root-louse live above ground, where, singularly enough, they did not
94 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
form galls, but dwelt on the under side of the leaves like the Oak
species. This change of habit was brought about after the third gene-
ration; and while it may probably never occur in nature, and finds
its parallel in the well-known instances of rearing several generations
on a thick piece of root in tubes and bottles, yet it forcibly illustrates
the power of adaptation and change which the species possesses. It
may be also stated in this connection, that Dr. L. Réssler, of Kloster-
neuburg, Austria, has found the insect, of all sizes, above ground,
under the loose bark near the base of the vine—a position which is
quite exceptional for it to assume.
SPECIFIC IDENTITY OF THE GALL-INHABITING AND LEAF-INHABITING TYPES¢
The reader of these reports will scarcely need to be told that the
two types above mentioned are identical; but as the fact has been
called in question by a few of our prominent grape-growers, I repeat.
here what I wrote on the subject not long since for the New York
Tribune:
In the October number of the monthly report from the Depart-
ment of Agriculture at Washington, there is the record of an experi-
ment by Townend Glover, Entomologist to the Department, the object
of which is, in Mr. Glover’s language, “ to prove the identity of the
Pemphygus [Pemphigus] vitifolize or leaf-gall-louse, of Fitch, with the
Phylloxera vastatrix, or root-gall-louse,* so injurious at present to the
vineyards in France, and in parts of this country also.” This is the
experiment referred to in the 7rzbune of the first week of March last,
and the item detailing it, shows, as I had anticipated, that no galls
were produced. It also shows that “ we cannot give the names of the
vines [experimented with] as accidentally the labels were thrown
away by the laborer when he removed the dead vines,” and, though
closing with a confession that the experiment decides little or nothing,
it nevertheless appears to strengthen the belief held by many, that
the leaf louse and root-louse are not specifically identical.
The item has been very generally copied in our agricultural
papers, and has been widely disseminated over the country, through
the monthly report, in which it first appeared. The average editor
and the average reader of our agricultural and horticyltural journals
have not, nor can they be expected to have, nor do they pretend to
have, profound knowledge in every specialty; and for these reasons
items of this kind, coming from the fountain head, have a great in-
* This term, which is original with Mr. Glover, should be discountenanced, as the term ‘‘ gall,’
strictly speaking, applies only to abnormal vegetable growths, caused by insects dwelling within them;
and not to mere swellings induced by insects which always live exposed.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 95.
fluence in shaping popular opinion. It is all the more necessary,
therefore, that information coming from such a source be trustworthy.
The ostensible object of the experiment described, was to prove
the identity of the Phylloxera which forms galls on the leaves of the
Grape-vine, with that which causes the swelling and rotting of the
roots of the same plant. The inference from the attempt is, that the
two forms had not so far been proved specifically identical. Yet the
question had long since been settled by eminent observers, whose care
and thoroughness have won for them respect and authority. Already
in 1868, that eminent entomologist, J. O. Westwood, of England, who.
examined both types, announced that he could not perceive in them
specific difference, and in the Fall of 1870, the specific identity of the
two types was proved by myself, by obtaining root-lice (radicicola)
direct from gall-lice (gallicola), and by showing that the young of the
latter as they are carried to the ground by the fall of the leaf, creep.
on to the roots to hibernate, and there assume the characters of the
root-inhabiting type. But anterior to my own experiments, the specific
identity of the two types was thoroughly proved by three different and
independent observers in France, and their observations are on record
in different numbers of the Wessager du Midi. Since then the identity
of the two types has been confirmed in the most conclusive and em-
phatic manner by several observers, Maxime Cornu, more especially,
having recorded in detail, in the Comptes Pendus of the Paris Academy
of Science, his thorough and painstaking experiments, in which he not
only institutes the most careful and anatomital comparisons, but.
records having actually watched the process of change from the one
to the other. These articles, though originally appearing in the
Comptes Rendus, have been copied in more popular works, while the
facts have been recorded in this country. Finally, the specific inter-
relation of the two types was still more firmly established last Winter
by the production of an abortive gall from a root-louse.*
Indeed, the question has for some time been considered definitely
settled by all who are well informed on thesubject. Yet while further
proof of the identity of the two types was scarcely necessary, all en-
deavors by experiment to obtain gall-lice from root-lice are praise-
worthy and interesting, if they are carefully made. But the value of
experiments like those made at Washington, where no intelligent
choice is made of the particular varieties of vine employed, and where
not even the names of the varieties are known, will appear from the
following facts, which are well understood by all who have kept av
*See Sixth Mo. Rep., p. 41,
96 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
courant of the Phylloxera question: The gall-inhabiting type of the
Grape Phylloxera is but a dimorphic, agamous and apterous female
form, never becoming winged, never producing any males, and not at
all necessary to the perpetuation of the species. It can only flourish
on a few varieties of vine, and on the others it makes abortive attempts
or no attempts at all to found galls. In short, there are but few among
the many cultivated varieties of the Grape-vine upon the leaves of
which the Grape Phylloxera—under conditions which we shall prob-
ably never understand—can form galls; while on the large majority
of our varieties, such as Norton’s, Catawba, Goethe, Diana, Cunning-
ham, Iona, Isabella, Martha, Maxatawney, Ives, North Carolina, etc.,
we may justly conclude that the insect cannot form galls, since galls
are never found upon them. The attempt, therefore, to make the in-
sect produce galls upon such vines must necessarily prove futile, and
in the light of present. knowledge, the first requisite in any experiment
having such object, should be an intelligent choice of varieties.
Even where those vines are employed—as Clinton and varieties of
Riparia and Cordifolia—upon which galls can be most readily pro-
duced, the experiment of producing galls upon them from root lice,
will not be likely to succeed, and the failure to thus produce galls
must count for little or nothing against the results already obtained.
The gall-louse is but a transient form, by no means essential to
the existence of the species, and its existence depends not alone on
the nature of the vine, but, as already stated, on other yet unknown
conditions, which cause it to be abundant.on a vine one year and per-
haps entirely absent the year following. Now, these conditions may
not obtain in one out of a hundred experiments, and the number of
fruitless efforts properly and intelligently made to obtain these galls,
both in Europe and this country, attest the difficulty here encountered.
I have even found the greatest difficulty in producing galls from the
progeny of the gall insects themselves, in my experiments in-doors.
Loose experiments, especially when, as in this instance, they con-
vey wrong impressions, do more harm than good. I hope, therefore,
that the facts here stated will serve to offset the article in the Depart-
ment Reports.
WHERE DO THE WINGED FEMALES LAY THEIR EGGS °
Last Fall I was not a little surprised by a letter from my friend
Lichtenstein, of Montpellier, France, under date of September 6th, an-
nouncing the fact that he had just discovered that the winged Grape
Phylloxerz congregate in immense numbers on the leaves of the
Chermes Oak (Quercus coccifera), a small shrubby tree growing on
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 97
the higher lands of that country: further, that they make a nidus of
this tree, to the leaves of which they consign the few eggs in their
abdomen. Notwithstanding my high appreciation of his knowledge
regarding the different species of Phylloxera, I immediately wrote to
my friend that he must be wrong, as we have no Chermes Oak in
America, and I had never found the winged Grape Phylloxera upon
any of our oaks, though I had frequently beaten it in August from
vines. From an examination of specimens which accompanied the
- letter, I suggested that he had mistaken the Kuropean Oak species
(quercus Fonsc.) for the Grape species (vastatrixz). Subsequent care-
ful studies by Balbiani and others, proved this suggestion to be cor-
rect. Yet M. Lichtenstein still believes that he not only found the
winged females of two species that infest the Oak there, but that
among them there were some of the Grape-vine species. In that
event, the following conclusions are inevitable: Ist, as the Chermes
Oak does not occur here, the winged Grape Phylloxera in America,
and in all countries outside the range of that oak, must make a nidus
of some other tree; 2d, the young (progeny of the sexual individ-
uals) brought forth on such trees when they are far away from vine-
yards, must inevitably perish ; because they are not winged, and have
feeble power of locomotion. From the fact that I have beaten from
our Post Oak, a large winged Phylloxera answering to the descrip-
tion of Pd. caryecaulis Fitch, which makes a large, irregular,
smooth gall on the leaf-stalk of the Bitternut Hickory, and which
certainly does not inhabit oak trees, 1 am the more disposed to be-
lieve that chance individuals of the Grape species may also be found
on oaks,* and am thus forced to the following conclusions: The
winged females of Phylloxera (and the same will hold true of two
allied genera—Pemphigus and Eriosoma) are not drawn by instinct
to any particular plant, but are wafted about and will lay their eggs,
or, in other words, deliver themselves of their issue, wherever they
happen to settle. If this is upon their proper food-plant, well and
good ; the young live and propagate: if not, they perish. We should
thus have the spectacle of the species wasting itself to a greater or
*« This hap-hazard, wandering habit is well known to belong to several closely allied Aphidians,
and the winged female of Pemphigus vagabundus Walsh, which forms a large coxcomb-like gall on the
Cottonwood, and can breed on no other tree, is often found in the Fall of the year soabundantly on all
kinds of trees and shrubs—as every entomologist in the habit of ‘‘ beating ’’ is aware—that it was
named in consequence of this wandering habit. I have reason to believe that in Pemphigus as in Phyl-
lovera, the winged females give birth in the Autumn, after leaving their galls, to wingless sexual indi-
viduals whose issue must naturally perish on all trees except Cottonwoods.
kR—7
98 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
less extent,just as most plants annually produce a superabundance of
seed, the larger proportion of which is destined to perish. From a
large number of facts that have come to my knowledge in insect-life
I actually believe this to be the case; and, if so, it adds one more
weighty reason to those I have already given why the insect is so in-
jurious in France, and explains its rapid multiplication in the thickly
planted vine districts of that country. There, few winged insects
would fail to settle where their issue could survive; while in our
country there must be, on this hypothesis, an immense number an-
nually perishing in the large tracts of other vegetation between our
scattering vineyards.
_ The particular part of the vine chosen by these winged mothers,
when they settle in a vineyard, for the deposition of their eggs, has
not yet been definitely ascertained. ‘In confinament I have had such
eggs deposited both on the leaves and on the buds, and from the pre-
ference which, in ovipositing, these aerial mothers showed for little
balls of cotton placed in the corners of their cages, I infer that the
more tomentose portions of the vine, such as the bud, or the base of
a leaf-stem, furnish the most appropriate and desirable nzdz. On this
hypothesis it is quite possible for the insect to be introduced from
vineyard to vineyard, or from country to country, as well upon cut-
tings as upon roots.”—[6th Rep. p. 46. So I wrote a year ago; but
while these eggs may frequently be laid upon the vine itself, lam now
disposed to believe that they are more often laid in the minute cracks.
and interstices on the surface of the ground, especially near the base
of the vine; for where I have had the females confined in tubes or
bottles half filled with moist earth, they have often deposited in the
interstices at the sides of the vessel, and, as Balbiani has remarked,
the constant elongation of the abdomen, and tentative motion of the
tip from side to side, which is common to these winged mothers, rather
indicate search for some such positions.
THE SEXUAL INDIVIDUALS.
We have seen that the winged females abound, especially during:
August, and that they deliver themselves freely of their egg-like con-
tents. They are quite active during the warmer parts of the day and
are comparatively short-lived, at least in confinement, where they
usually die along side their eggs. These eggs are twice as long as.
wide, the larger ones, which produce females, about 0.025 inch and the
smaller 0.018 inch long. They are quite pale and translucent and soon
begin to show the reddish eyes of the embryon within. They hatch,
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 99
however, with great difficulty in confinement; and though [ have had
several hundreds under my care at one and the same time, in tubes
and in jars, with and without moist earth, yet I have succeeded in
getting but two females to hatch; though many of them if mounted
in balsam before life departs and they become discolored, will show
the characters of the enclosed animal with tolerable distinctness.
Balbiani found the same difficulty in hatching these sexual eggs from
- the winged females ; but had better luck with those from the wingless
underground individuals, which seemed to hatch more readily.
These sexual individuals are, as already stated, entirely destitute
of mouth-parts, and have simply, in their stead, a little tubercle where
the proboscis of the other individuals originates. The male is readily
[Fig. 19.] distinguished by the penis which extends from
the tip of the abdomen, and is bulbous at base,
but terminates ina sharp point. The female is
_ distinguished by the pedunculated third joint of
"her antennee, but except in these striking charac-
ters, they bear a close resemblance to the ordi-
nary larva. I introduce in illustration of the male,
a dorsal figure of the male of a larger species
(probably caryecaulis Fitch*) the mounted spe-
cimen of which is a better subject to figure
Mate Puyttoxera: thedot tan those from vastatrix; and in connection
within circle showing natural + ith the ventral view given further on of the
male of the American Oak Phylloxera, will convey a sufficiently ex-
act impression. —
INJURY DONE DURING THE YEAR IN AMERICA,
The Phylloxera was less numerous and did less injury in 1874 than
in any of the three previous years. This was owing principally to the
fact that there was a good deal of wet weather in the Spring, though
it was unusually dry in most parts of the State later in the season.
The grape crop was unusually good, the character of the wine also supe-
rior. Yet, notwithstanding the excellence of the average crop of the
* This was obtained from some large winged females, beaten, the latter part of September, from some
small Post Oaks. Fromacomparison with the described N. A. species, I take it to be the Ph. caryecaulis
Fitch, which forms galls on the petiole of the leaf of the Carya glabra (see Synopsis, further on). The
winged 2 is more than twice as large as vastatriz, with much blacker mesothoracic band, duskier
shades on the head, and duskier wings and members. The male is quite pale in color, 0.02 inch long,
with the claws and digituli rather small ; but agreeing very closely in structure with the male of Rileyi,
except in the conspicuousness of the nerves which show through the transparent skin in the manner in-
dicated in the figure,
100 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
State—notwithstanding the fact that the Catawba and many other of
the more susceptible vines did better than usual; the injury from Phyl-
loxera was often quite apparent in the Fall, and I know of a four-year
old Goethe vineyard in St. Louis county which gave great promise a
year ago but which had about succumbed in September; half the vines
being at the point of death, and most of them showing the acute
symptoms, with the finer roots all wasted away and the larger ones
covered with the lice, as completely as is usual with European vines.
Such facts serve to show that the insectis by no means destroyed even
where, as in 1874, it is with difficulty found in early Spring. Here,
therefore, let me reiterate, what cannot too often be repeated, that
while only very careful search will detect the insect at the awakening
of Spring, and its presence is best indicated by the swollen and rotting
roots wherever it has been at work; yet it multiplies so rapidly that
in midsummer and Autumnia casual examination will generally reveal
it in great numbers on infested vines. I wish to impress this fact for
the simple reason that in several instances where correspondents re-
ported no trace of Phylloxera on their vines last Spring, Isubsequently
showed them abundant evidence of its presence, evidence which at
once dispelled their skepticism. While my observations were con-
fined for the most part to our own State, and more especially to St.
Louis county, the following valuable letter of experience will show
that intelligent grape-growers are recognizing its work in other States:
My Drar Sir: I beg you will pardon my tardy acknowledgment of your polite
attention in sending me your very interesting, and, I may say, almost exhaustive
report upon the Grape Phylloxera. Although I have been, ina casual way, observing
the leaf-infesting form of this Aphid since 1861, [ find much that is new to me in your
paper; but [am obliged to say, so far as my observations have extended, that they
accord almost identically with yours. I did not then even suspect the presence of the
root-louse; not indeed until I had seen some account of your investigations. * * *
From the increase of its insect-enemies, or from some other cause, the gall-louse has
entirely disappeared from this section, and vines formerly infested are now wholly
exempt. I wish I could say as much for the root-louse. I hardly think the latter
increasing, but he certainly seems to ‘‘ hold his own.”’ I have one vine, a seedling from
Concord, which I eall ** Lady,” a white variety, which, so far, has been entirely exempt
from its attacks. From its parentage, I should expect it successfully to resist serious
injury, but not to enjoy exemption. Either from some native hardiness, or because it
is not entirely to its taste, [ have found Concord not injured much even when infested,
and only the small, fibrous roots attacked. To a considerable extent, Hartford, Ives,
Telegraph, and this class of vines seem able to resist and overcome the attacks of the
root-louse, when the various kinds known «as ‘‘hybrids” succumb, as well as Iona,
Catawba, and others of that class. [am well satisfied this root-louse is the most serious
of all the enemies the grape-grower has to contend with, and I believe it has been thy
cause of many failures which seemed unaccountable. As a matter of curiosity, I wil
send you copy of a letter to the V. ¥. Tribune in 1863.
Truly yours,
GEO. W. CAMPBELL.
DELAWARE, OnI0, December 23, 1874.
The letter to the V. Y. Zrabune, referred to by Mr. Campbell, and
written in 1863, gives an interesting account of the gall-inhabiting
type, and its effect on the leaves.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 101
In addition to the foregoing in illustration of the insect’s injuries
in America even during a most favorable year fur vine growth, our
horticultural literature has given further evidence of the same char-
acter. Mr. F. R. Elliott, for instance, one of our most prominent hor-
ticultural writers, and ex-Secretary of the American Pomological
Society, has had much to say during the y2ar about the acknowl-
edged feebleness and failure of many varieties, and among them the
Kumelan, Wilder, Catawba and Isabella. But he attributes the trouble
to injudicicus methods of propagation, and lays the blame to the door
of the nurserymen, whg, he asserts, in their avidity for gain, have sent
out wood that was immature and lacked vitality. His ideas have been
very generally, and, I think, successfully repudiated ; and, in fact, his
argument ought to apply to all varieties—those which succeed as well
as those which fail; and while in some few instances there may be
foundation for them, I cannot help thinking that the work of Phyl-
loxera has had much more to do with the general feebleness and fail-
ure of such varieties.
It must not be forgotten that the character of the soil has very much
to do in furthering or impeding the injury from Phylloxera, and that
the successful growth of susceptible varieties—as of the Delaware
around Warrensburg—may often be accounted for by the sandy nature
of the soil; for the insect cannot multiply in such a soil, to the extent
it can in one less yielding and more apt to form fissures, crevices and
passage-ways'*
RANGE OF THE INSECT IN AMERICA.
Under this head, after showing that the insect is indigenous to the
United States east of the Rocky Mountains, I wrote, last year, as fol-
lows: “I have myself found it in Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri,
Michigan, Ontario, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Mary-
land, and have good evidence of its occurrence in Connecticut, Dis-
trict of Columbia, North Carolina, Texas, and as far south as Florida.
It doubtless occurs in all the intermediate States.” Its occurrence in
Connecticut can now be affirmed ; for I found it around Hartford, and
upon being informed by Mr. H. T. Bassett, of Waterbury, that he had
certain vines which were sickly, I repaired thither with him, and the
very first roots obtained revealed the enemy and its work. Yet
— a ae
* As bearing on this point, in addition to what I have said in previous years, Mr. Chas. Teubner,
of Hermann, who, in a communication read at the last annual meeting of our State Horticultural
Society, reports most grapes as doing well, and insects less injurious than usual, remarks that ‘‘in
locations where the soil was sandy, grapes did best in every respect, and it is my opinion that to use
sand freely in a vineyard (where it can be got) will materially aid in diminishing disease, and bringing
the vines into a flourishing condition. ’’
102 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
it certainty does not occur in many parts of Georgia and South Caro-
lina, as is plainly indicated by the following letters which I give
entire, because they show how thorough were the observations, and
describe the character of the soils in which said observations were
made. YetI have such faith in the general distribution of the insect
in the country east of the Rocky Mountains that I fully expect that
it will yet be found even in Georgia and South Carolina; and I half
suspect that the failure of Messrs. Ravenel and Berckmans to find it,
is owing perhaps more to an exceptional season, unfavorable to its
development, than to its non-existence there. However, suspecting is
not knowing, and here are the facts, as they are given:
Dear Sir: I amin receipt of yours of 25th inst., requesting me to give you the
result of my various examinations for Phylloxera.
Having been appointed by the American Pomological Society at the Boston meet-
ing last year, one of a committee to examine and report in regard to the matter, I have
made this season as careful and comprehensive an examination as I could well do.
What I had to say on the subject has been already sent on to one of the committee to
be embodied in the report. As it consists simply of the results of my examination, a
statement of the facts which came under my observation, I will very cheerfully repeat
them here. I confess to a surprise at not finding a Phylloxera, but yet I feel perfectly
satisfied that my examinations were as careful and thorough as it was possible. I offer
no opinion, but give simply a statement of facts taken from my notes made at the time.
June 15, 1874—Examined to-day 4 Isabella and 1 Black July vine, and also 1 War-
ren, (Herbemont,) in my garden; all old vines. I could find no trace
of insect life, neither eggs nor young lice upon the young rootlets, nor
the effects of former ravages on the older roots.
June 17, 1874—Examined the following in vineyard of Rev. T. H. Cornish, and with his
assistance, viz.: 5 Chasselas de Fontainbleaux, 1 Muscat of Alexandria,
2 Catawba, 1 Pauline and 1 [sabella.
These vines are from twelve to fifteen years old, generally quite
healthy and the fruit, up to a few days ago, free of rot; now more rot
on the Warren. No trace of insect lifeon the young, or on older roots,
or on any of them.
July 24, 1874—Examined 2 Isabella and 1 Warren in my own garden; and in Mr. Cor-
nish’s vineyard, 1 Chasselas, 1 Muscat of Alexandria, 1 Catawba and 3
Warren. Found nothing.
Aug. 22, 1874—Examined 2 Isabellas in my own garden; found nothing.
Sept. 9, 1874—Went over to Mr. Berckmans’ Fruitland Nursery, near Augusta, Georgia,
and made an examination of vines in various parts of his grounds, of
several different varieties and under different modes of cultivation. I
had the benefit of Mr. de Hardy’s assistance in all my examinations, as
he had seen the Phylloxera in France and was familiar with its appear-
ance, and the effects of its ravages. In each case the whole vine was
dug up carefully and the roots subjected to a close and scrutinizing
examimation. We found no trace whatever of the insects, nor the effect
of any ravages in previous years upon the older roots. We took speci-
mens from 7 different vineyards, some under cultivation and others
thrown out for a year or two.
Israella, 7 years old, uncultivated for one year.
Clinton, 12 years old, uncultivated for one year.
Clinton, 3 years old, under cultivation.
Catawba, 15 years old, out of cultivation two years.
Golden Clinton, 4 years old, }
Concord, 3 years old,
Wilder, 3 years old,
Northern Muscatine, 8 years old,
White Riesling, 3 years old,
Taylor, 4 years old, cultivated.
Alvey, 6 years old, uncultivated for one year. |
The above is simply a transcript from my notes, and is at your disposal. I feel
satisfied that had the Phylloxera been present, it could not have escaped my observa-
- Under cultivation.
ee
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 103
tions, and I can safely say, that it was not infesting the vines which came under my
“examination,
Very truly yours, H. W. RAVENEL.
AIKEN, S. C., November 30, 1874.
In yours of the 5th inst., received yesterday, you inquire about the character of
the soils in which I examined grape vines, There were three localities :
First. My own lot in Aiken, into which [ moved a year ago, and found there
vines growing. This is a light (extremely light) sandy soil, clay from eight to ten feet
‘beneath. Weare just on the border of the ‘Sandhill’? region, a belt of four sand
hills, running about 100 miles parallel with the sea coast, about ten to fifteen miles
wide, and extending from North Carolina, through South Carolina into Georgia.
Second. Rev. Mr. Cornish’s vineyard has more clay, but could not be called a clay
soil, perhaps only a good admixture.
Third. Berckmans’ “Fruitland,” four miles west of Augusta, is a red, or rather
brownish soil, with just clay enough to make a freable loam, made darker of course by
manurings, and containing a vast quantity of rounded pebbles, intermixed, from one to
two or three inches in diameter. I think that these three soils represent the soils most
vecommonly in cultivation, * -* *
Yours, cordially, H, W. RAVENEL.
AIKEN, 8. C., December 11, 1874.
Dear Str: Iam glad Mr. Ravenel gave youa detailed account of his observations.
Last September he spent some days with me, and we visited several localities, and care-
‘fnlly investigated many vines from ] to 15 years old. Since then I have examined vines
in Atlanta, some 15 varieties, 4istivalesand Labruscas, but no signs of Phylloxera. Soil
there quite compact; a clayey loam. On my place the soil is of mixed character. The
whole tract is underlaid with a red clay subsoil, except in my low lands, which are
alluvial. A portion, 300 acres, is what is termed here “ Mulatto Jand,’”’ a rich loam of
about 18 to 24 inches deep. Another portion is mixed with gravel and red clay sub-
soil, and a small portion is more sandy. All my land is what is called here red land, in
-contradistinetion to the sandy region, which is called grey land. One mile from my
house is a creek. On my side the subsoil is red clay; on the opposite it is white clay
-and sand, and a little higher up on the ridge no clay whatever is found, even to adepth
of 200 feet, as was shown where a well was sunk of that depth. In making our obser-
vations last Summer in every variety of soil of this region, I have kept a memorandum
of each variety examined, and the class of soil wherein it was planted. From your
‘statements I anticipated fully to find the insect, but so far I am safe in saying that your
predictions as to our section being infected with the Phylloxera is, happily for us, not
‘fulfilled so far. é
Yours truly,
P. J. BERCKMANS.
AuGuSTA, GaA., Dec. 10, 1874.
Regarding its introduction into California around Sonoma, Mr. G.
iL. Wratten wrote, under date of July 9, 1874, that he is quite sure they
have it, but that the grape-growers there are quite excited about the
matter, and wish to hush the fact.
INJURY DONE DURING 'THE YEAR IN FRANCE.
So much of the wealth and prosperity of France depends on her
grape crop, and the result of the grape harvest is looked forward to
with so much anxiety, that the Phylloxera continues to occupy the
lively attention of that nation. The investigators have been active
and numerous, and each week this little insect occupies no inconsid-
erable portion of the time of the French Academy. The government
has increased the amount of the reward for a simple, available remedy,
from sixty thousand to three hundred thousand francs; while several
104 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
societies have offered minor sums for the same purpose, and to enable
the proper experiments and observations to be carried on.
The decrease which the Phylloxera had caused in the grape pro-
duct for the past few years has, however, been made up by an excel-
lent average yield in 1874. Notwithstanding injurious late frosts, a
severe hail storm and the Phylloxera in some of the southern depart-
ments, the yield in the country at large, both in quantity and quality,
has been above the average, and her 2,000,000 hectares (nearly five
million acres) of vines, giving employment to 7,000,000 laborers, pro-
duced, according to the Heenomiste Francais, as much as 70,000,000:
hectolitres (over 1,850,000,000 gallons) of wine. Indeed, the vintage
was so unusually good in the non-infested districts, that there was
an insufficiency of casks; while in some of the ravaged districts it
was so poor that the wine makers were glad to sell their casks, for
which they had no use, to their more fortunate countrymen.
M. L. Bazille, of Montpellier, in a recent letter says:
The Phylloxera continues to cominit great ravages in our vineyards. We are on
the eve of losing them entirely. Those who can submer ge do so and with success.
They are convinced of its beneficial effects. The eflorts and sacrifices made to organ-
ize and employ this method attest its value. Several persons have built large engines
to elevate the water, and others have been at very large expense to obtain and control
water. Butit is only the few who can afford such outlay s, and the mass of our grape-
growers, in view of the poor success attending other remedies, fall back on the use of
‘American vines, through which they hope to be relieved of embarrassment.
SPREAD OF PHYLLOXERA IN EUROPE.
It would be out of place in this report to give a detailed account
of the spread of the insect-in Europe, and it suffices to say that it con-
tinues to widen its territory in France, and that several neighboring
European governments have taken stringent measures to prevent the
importation of vines from the infested districts of Europe and from
America. Just as its presence at Klosterneuburg, near Vienna, Aus-
tria, discovered in 1872, was easily traced to American vines which
had been introduced there; or as its appearance in Portugal during
the same year was referable to the same cause; so at each new point
where it has been Ciscovered, its presence has been easily explained,
either by gradual spreading from infested districts or by importation
on infested vines. Thus its discovery during the year at Pregny, near
Geneva, Switzerland, seemed at first to baffle explanation. ‘The fatal-
ists contended that it must have passed from Lyons, France—the
nearest infested region—and‘ declared that it was useless to contend
against an enemy which could pass over a hundred miles in a season.
M. Dumas, perpetual Secretary of the French Academy, conceiving
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 105.
the importance of having the problem studied and elucidated, com-
missioned Max. Cornu to make the proper investigations, the result
of which was to prove that the only way in which the insect passed
the Jura and reached Pregny without leaving its tracks on the way,
was by rail, and carefully packed in boxes. In fact it was traced to
a grapery belonging to Baron Rothschild, in which were cultivated a
number of varieties, and, among others, some obtained from an Eng-
lish grapery, and received as young plants in pots. The insect has
for many years existed in graperies in England and Ireland, and the
particular vines in question were found to be badly infested. All the
infested vines have been condemned to destruction by the Swiss Gov-
ernment.
The insect has, also, recently been found in small quantities on
American vines at Bonn, in Prussia, and the German Government has.
prohibited the importation of American vines.*
DIRECT REMEDIES.
There is little to add to what was said on this subject in my last
report. Very elaborate experiments have been carried on in France
and as elaborately recorded; yet the fact remains that, as we have
already seen, submersion, from the practical standpoint, is the only
remedy which is being extensively employed. ‘The use of sand, espe-
cially when mixed with cinders and guano is highly spoken of, and
the methods of invigorating the vine by fertilizers rich in potassic
salts continue to gainin favor. M. Mouillefert, who has experimented
at Cognac with sulpho-carbonate of potassium—generating and con-
veying it in different ways—and M. Balbiani, who has persevered at
Montpellier in the use of coal tar, have proved that both these sub-
stances may be employed with good effect to destroy the Phylloxera;
but it remains to be seen whether their methods will fulfill the require-
ments by coming into general use. The sulpho-carbonate, which was
employed at the suggestion of M. Dumas, is placed at the rate of four
ounces in a hole at the foot of a vine. By decomposition the sulphuret
of carbon, spoken of last year, is generated and kills the lice without
* Since this was written, I have received the following note from Dr. G. Blankenhorn, of Carlsruhe,.
referring to the discovery of the insect in other localities :
Your excellent work on the Phylloxera I have copied in my ‘‘ Annalen der Mnologie,’’ and it has
done much to help us in Germany to understand this insect. The subject grows more and more impor-
tant for us Germans since our viticulture is threatened. You probably have already read that it has
been discovered during the last few weeks in three different localities in Germany, (in Annaberg, by.
Kornike and Kreusler; in Carlsruhe, by myself and D, Moritz, and in Worms), and without exception
only upen American grape-vines.’?
106 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
affecting the vine. The instrument used for introducing the liquids
intended to generate the destructive gases, is an augur with a hollow
shank, perforated just above the cutting portions. The liquid is
poured into the hollow portion of the augur from above the handles.
NATURAL ENEMIES.
It appears pretty certain that the mite I described last year as
preying on Phylloxera, is likewise found in Europe; or at leasta
species that cannot well be distinguished from it. Thus during the.
year, M. A. Fumouze, an authority on these minute animals, has pub-
lished some notes showing that he has found this same Tyroglyph on
roots affected with Phylloxera in France, and that it is apparently the
T. echinopus described by himself and Ch. Robin in the Journal de
Lv Anatomie et dela Physiologie, in 1868. Prof. L. Reesler, of Klos-
terneuburg, Austria, also announced to me by letter that he has found
and studied both the Phylloxera Mite and the Mussel-shaped Mite
(Hoplophora arctata) on the infested vines of that place. He has
also observed, in addition, the larva of a Lace-wing (Chrysopa) and
the Myriapodous Pollyxerus cagurus preying on Phylloxera under-
ground.
In addition to the Weeping Lace-wing mentioned last year, I have
this year reared the Consumptive Lace-wing (Chrysopa tabida Fitch)
from larvee preying on the gall-lice.
In reference to the heteramorphism of these mites M. Méguin
states* that Hypopus, Homopus and Trichodactylus are but hetero-
morphous pupe of different species of Sarcoptides, and among them
of Tyroglyphus. He proves that, as Claparéde observed in the aquatic
Atawz, anew individual is formed under each skin, and all the parts
are developed anew, and not simply drawn out of their old envelopes,
as was formerly supposed.
SUSCEPTIBILITY OF DIFFERENT VARIETIES.
In addition to that already published under this head, I have sim-
ply to add that M. Eugene Morel, of Ridgeway, N. C., sent me last
August leaves of the Scuppernoug ( Vulpina) covered with the Phyl-
loxera galls, so that this species can no longer be considered exempt
from the attacks of the gall-making type, though the more injurious
root-inhabiting type has not yet been found upon it. The “ Tele-
graph” should be taken from the list of Summer grapes (estivalis)
and placed with the Northern Fox (Zabrusca); and the DeJaware
* Comples Rendus del’ Ac. des Sc., Paris June 8, 1878.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 107
should be removed from Piparza, also to Labrusca. Though the exact
position of the Delaware in the classification of the genus Vetzs has
been a mooted question, and some have even supposed it hada
European origin; yet those who have most studied the subject now
concur in the opinion, years ago expressed by Fuller in his Grape
Culturist, that it belongs to Zabrusca—an opinion substantiated by
the facts that its seedlings almost invariably show true, undoubted
Labruscan characters, and that other undoubted varieties of Labrusca
(as Shepherd’s Delaware, raised from seed of Catawba) bear a similar
pale fruit and delicate leaf, and otherwise very closely resemble it.
The seed characters bear out this opinion, though they also indicate
that the variety may contain a slight strain of the European vinifera.
It is not improbable, therefore, that the Delaware owes its characters
to hybridization, by insect agency, between ZLabrusca and vinifera
(the Labrusca strain predominating), and this view would be greatly
strengthened if it could be proved—as was doubtless the case—that
European vines were cultivated at Frenchtown, N. J., where Mr. Pre-
vost first found the Delaware. ‘This origin and nature of the Dela-
ware, by the way, throws a flood of light on its susceptibility to Phyl-
loxera.
The nature of the “ Jaques,” which successfully resists Phylloxera
in the vineyards of Mr. Laliman at Bordeaux, in France, and of which
I have stated (Fifth Rep. p. 66,) “I do not know this variety unless it
be asynonym of the Ohio,” has been fully discussed by Prof. Plan-
chon,* and by Mr. Bush in his new Descriptive Catalouge.t I repro-
duce what is said of it in this last little work, which is a most valuable
manual, and reflects great credit on the firm that issues it. From this
extract it will be seen that Mr. Bush is strongly inclined to the opinion
that the vine so prized in France, under the name of Jacques, is in
reality the Lenoir.
On10. Syn. Sraar-Box, LoNGwortuH’s Onr0, BLAcK-SPaNIsH ALABAMA; iS NOW
understood to be identical with the ‘** Jaques” or ‘‘ Jack,” introduced and cultivated
near Natchez, Mississippi, by an old Spaniard of the name of Jaques. It used to be
grown in Ohio, where the stock originated from a few cuttings left in a segar box, by
some unknown person, at the residence of Mr. Longworth, of Cincinnati, Ohio. * * *.
Downing (Fruit and F. trees of Am.) said ‘it is most likely a foreign sort, and except
in a few localities, a sandy soil anda mild climate, it is not likely to succeed.” But
Geo. W. Campbell, whom we have to thank for valuable information on this and many
other varieties, says: ‘I always considered the Ohio or Segar-Box, from its fruit, habit
of growth and foliage, as of the same family as Herbemont, Lenoir, Elsinburgh, and
that class of small, black, southern grapes.”? * * *. A few vines sent years ago,
under the names of ‘‘ Jaques”’ or ‘‘ Ohio,” to France, by P. J. Berckmans, of Georgia,
proved very fine and valuable, perfectly resisting Phylloxera, having remained healthy
in the midst of vineyards destroyed by the root louse. This attracted great attention
* Les Vignes Americaines; leur Culture; leur Résistance au Phylloxera, Paris, 1875.
t Bushberg Illustrated Catalogue, 1875.
108 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
and gave importance to this variety. But when Mr. Berckmans was asked for more of
these vines, he stated that he had none, and that their culture had been entirely aban-
doned. The above descriptions by our most experienced and reliable horticulturists,
make it more than doubttul whether the vines, succeeding so well in the vineyards of
Mr. Borty, at Roquemare, and of Mr. Laliman, near Bordeaux, are the “Ohio” or ** Ja-
ques.’’? After considerable research, we find that Mr. G. Onderdonk, the pioneer fruit-
grower of Western ‘'exas, describes the Lenoir (original stock of which he had obtained
from Berckmans) as follows: *‘ Bunches large, long, loose; berries small, black, round ;
no pulp; vinous and much coloring matter ; leaves lobed ; a fine bearer and wine grape.
And we would add that the leaf and habit exactly resemble those of the Black Spanish.
We have never planted a variety that grew off better than this variety has done during:
the two years we have haditin cultivation. In 1873 we gathered fruit from this variety
that had been ripe seventy days on the vine.’? From these facts we strongly incline
to believe that this Lenoir is the variety our friends in France are looking for, and have
received under the name of Jaques.
GRAFTING AS A MEANS OF COUNTERACTING THE WORK OF PHYLLOXERA.
The advantages of grafting are two well recognized to need enforc-
ing. By its means, healthy, vigorous vines, which do not fruit well,
may soon be made abundant bearers; new varieties and seedlings be
quickly tested, and a less desirable variety replaced by one more de-
sirable. Our knowledge of the Grape Phylloxera has of late pointed
out other cogent advantages that may be derived from grafting, and
it is in view of the renewed interest which [ have found manifested
in it among grape growers, that I venture a few remarks on a subject
with which I have had little personal experience, but to which I have
given some attention through observation and study of the experi-
ence of others.
Having shown that certain varieties of our grape vines havea far
greater power of resisting the Phylloxera than have others, and that
they represent all degrees of susceptibility, from those which invari-
ably succumb in the course of two or three years, to those which are
seldom affected, and never materially; { took occasion to urge judi-
cious grafting as one of the most available means of coping with the
disease; and also to request of those grape-growers who have the
advancement of their calling at heart, and who are so circumstanced
that they can make the trials, to institute experiments in grafting
some of the most susceptible varieties. (See Rep. 6, pp 49, and 78-81.)
As the report mentioned was not distributed till it was too late in
the year for my request to be complied with, and as only the few of
whom I made the request, through other means, have begun to carry
out the suggestion, I take this opportunity of renewing it, and of
offering a few remarks for guidance.
One important fact should always be borne in mind in this con-
nection, and that is, that the Grape vine, having a very thin inner bark
or liber, does not graft with the same ease as do the more common of
our fruit trees, such as apple, pear, etc.: more care is, therefore, neces-
sary in the operation.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 109
Cleft grafting is the more ordinary mode employed, and it is usu-
ally done by digging away the earth, and inserting the graft very early
-in the Spring, two or three inches, or at the first smooth place below
the surface. <A horizontal cut of the stock is generally made, but a
sloping one is, perhaps, preferable, from the fact that it enables all
the gummy matter and excessive moisture which oozes from the cut,
to run down, and not accumulate to the injury of the cion. Fuller
recommends grafting in the Fal], and while this method is not deemed
so advisable in Missouri, where there is such continued alternation of
freezing and thawing, which is apt to lift the cion and separate it from
the stock; yet I give his method in his own words, as recently pub-
lished in the New York 7ribune:
Select cions of the present year’s growth, and from canes a quarter to three-eighths
of an inch in diameter, and cut into lengths of three inches, with a bud near the upper
end. ‘he lower end should be made into along, slender wedge. Remove the earth
about the stock four to six inches, if the main branching roots will permit of this depth.
Then cut off the vine afew inches below the surface and square across ; then split it
with a chisel or knife, making as smooth a cleft as possible for the reception of the
wedge-shaped cion. If the stock is an inch or more in diameter, two cions may be
needed, one on each side of the cleft.
The outer edge of the wood of the cion should be placed even with the outer edge
of the wood of the stock, no attention being paid to the uniting of the two, because
one will be very thick and the other thin. A nice fit of the two is essential, and in
«erooked-grained, gnarly stocks, a smooth, even cleft can only be made by cutting out
the wood with a sharp instrument. But it does not matter how itis done if it is well
done. After fitting the cions to stock, wind a strong cord about the two, in order to
hold the former firm in place; then pack grafting clay or common soil about the stock,
entirely covering the wound made and the lower half of the cion, but leaving the bud
uncovered. No grafting wax should be employed in grafting grape vines. After the
cions have been inserted as directed, invert a flower-pot or small hox over the cion ;
upon this place a quantity of leaves, straw or hay; then cover all with earth, rounding
it up in order to keep the water from settling around the grafted stock as well as to
prevent too severe freezing.
Early in Spring remove the covering, and if the operation has been properly per-
formed, the cion will be firmly united, and will push into growth as the season.
advances. I have had Delaware, Iona and similar varieties make a growth of from
forty to sixty feet of vine from a single bud in one season, set in strong stocks in the
manner described. Grafting in the Spring may be performed in the same manner,
omitting the covering, but it should be done very early or after the leaves have started
and growth begun. The cions, however, should be cut early and kept dormant in some
cool place until wanted for use.
But valuable above all other experience for our own people, will
be that of Mr. George Husmann, and as he has said little on the sub-
ject in his well known work, “Grapes and Wine,” I take pleasure in
giving that experience, as he has kindly communicated it to me:
Dear Sir: As you wished to have my views of grafting the vine, especially with
the object of grafting some of our varieties most subject to the ravages of the Phyl-
loxera upon roots of varieties which resist it, I will cheerfully add my mite to the
researches which have already thrown so much light upon the history and the failure
of so many of our otherwise most valuable varieties. My first attempt at grafting the
vine were made in the Spring of 1852, nearly twenty-three years since, and were made
by grafting the then rare varieties of Norton’s Virginia and Herbemont upon five years
old Isabella roots. [found in the first edition of A. J, Downing’s ‘‘ Fruits and Fruit
‘Trees of America,” a few remarks on the practicability of grafting the grape below the
ground, which led me, then a novice in horticulture, to try it, and with eminent suc-
110 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
cess. I took the ground away from the crown of the vine until I came to a smooth
place, then cut off the stock, split it with a grafting chisel and inserted from one to
two cions, according to size of stock, cut to a long wedge with shoulders on each side.
I used no bandages, as the stocks were strong enough to hold the cions firmly, and
only pressed moist earth on the cut to cover the wound. This was done on the 22d
and 28d of March, and the cion covered and shaded to the top bud. About three-
fourths of the grafts grew vigorously and fruited the next year. They have produced
heavy crops ever since, and when at Hermann, a week ago, [ still found them vigorous
and healthy, while the Catawbas around them have ‘* passed away” several years ago.
I have practiced various methods since, with more or less success, and still think this
the best and most practicable, though it is neither an easy nor a pleasant task, as it
must be performed when the ground is still cold and moist, and requires a good deal of
stooping. The inner bark or liber of the vine is very thin, while the outer bark is very
thick on a large old stock. ‘he success of the operation depends entirely on a good
junction of the liber of stock and cion, and therefore requires a steady hand and a good
eye to push the cion to its place. My friends, the venerable Fr. Muench and Samuel
Miller, practice about the same method, and are both almost invariably successful,
The cions should, if possible, be cut in Fall and kept on the north side of a building or
fence, so as to remain dormant. Should the stock not be strong enough to hold the
cion firmly, it should be tied with basswood bark, or an oblique cut be made instead of
asplit. This is preferable in small vines any way, as by so doing, the fibres of stock
and cions are both cut obliquely, and therefore make a closer fit.
There are other different methods. Another, which I will mention here, has been
practiced at Hermann with very good success, though I have not been very successful
with it. It has the advantage of saving the vine, provided the graft does not take. It
is done by simply making an oblique cut into the stock below the surface or crown,
and inserting the cion, cut to a rather blunt wedge, by bending the stock to one side,
and thereby opening the cut. If the cion takes, the stock is cut off above it. Another
method is grafting under the bark later in the season, when the sap flows freely and the
bark peels readily ; a long, slanting cut is made on one side of the cion, the stock cut
off square, the bark lifted with a knife, and the cion pushed down under it. Every one
who has practiced budding will readily perform this operation. ‘The stock is then tied
with basswood bark. 1 have followed this plan with varied success later in the season,
but prefer the first method. I think grafting above ground impracticable in our cli-
mate, on account of the high winds and drying influence of our Summer sun.
As to the advantages to be gained by grafting, they are manifold. They may be
summed up as follows:
1. The facility it gives us to try and fruit new and rare kinds by grafting them on
strong stocks of healthy varieties, where they will often make wood strong enough for
fruiting the next season, and give us abundance of propagating wood, thus gaining
more than a year.
2. Nearly every vineyard contains some worthless varieties, which are, however,
strong and healthy growers. These can, by grafting, be changed into the most valu-
able varieties.
8. The facility by which varieties which are very difficult to propagate may be
increased and multiplied, as nearly every variety will graft readily.
4. Last, but not least, it gives us a means of successfully combating the Phyllox-
era, as your experiments have so conclusively proven. If the Catawba and many of our
other most valuable varieties, have deteriorated because this little insect has been to work
on their roots, and the roots of other varieties are comparatively exempt from its rava-
ges, the remedy would indeed be a very simple one. By planting such varieties as pro-
pagate readily, and also graft with ease, they could be changed by grafting the second
Spring. I know, from experience, that slow growing varieties can be made to grow
much more vigorously by grafting on stocks of strong and healthy growers. ‘The most
vigorous and productive Delaware I know around Hermann, was grafted ona Norton’s
Virginia, and produced an abundance of fine fruit, when Delawares on their own roots,
in the same vineyard, dropped their leaves, and did not ripen their fruit. It is cer-
tainly of the utmost importance that experiments of this kind should be made, and I
would advise all lovers of the Catawba and Delaware to try it.
But now the question arises, what stock shall we choose? The Clinton, though
easy of growth, is a poor stock, as it suckers inveterately, and, besides, has not the
affinity to most of our valuable varieties which makes them take readily onit. In fact,
I do not consider any of the Riparia or Cordifolia class as good stocks, for Labrusca
and its hybrids, or istivalis. But the Concord seems to me eminently the stock to
graft upon. Easy of propagation, within the reach of every one, with the adaptability
to any soil it possesses, and as nearly every variety will unite readily with it, it seems
as if hardly a better one could be found. But were I to plant it for this purpose, I
would take good, strong plants, say at least one foot long from the cutting to the
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 11f
crown, plant them with their roots one foot below the surface, and trim off the surface
roots clean, only leaying the roots on the two lowerjoints. Then cultivate well for one
year, and graft as near the surface as practicable to insure the life of the cion. Should
the plants make roots above the junction, I would cut them smoothly close to the graft
every Spring, and thus establish the plant entirely upon Concord roots.
This may seem very troublesome to our friends who plant vineyards entirely
upon the easy plan, and let them take care of themselves. But I think that their days
are numbered. This slovenly culture, or rather no culture at all, will never make us a
wine producing country worthy of the name; andif we had not a single one of that
stamp left among us, I believe we would be infinitely better off than we are now. If
France can import millions over millions of our American varieties to regenerate her
devastated vineyards, we can certainly afford to use the means ready at hand. Our
American wines have a glorious future, «nd we have the material for the grandest re--
sults already. Last August I sent two boxes of assorted wines, fifteen varieties, made
by Messrs. Poeschel & Scherer, at Hermann, to my French correspondent, Messrs.
Douysset Fils, at Montpellier. I quote from a letter just received, the tollowing: ‘We
have duly received the wines of Mr. Husmann, and they were exhibited by us before
the International Congress of Viticulture, just held at Montpellier, and tested by a com--
mittee of thirty members, officially appointed for that purpose. They were about the
best connoisseurs of France. Norton’s Virginia and Cynthiana, as red wines, Martha,
Geethe, and above all, Hermann and Rulander, as white wines, were highly praised ;.
and the general opinion is, that after we have restocked our vineyards with American
vines, we will not regret the loss of ourownvery much. As to Concord, Ives, Wilder,
North Carolina, Clinton, Herbemont and Cunningham, they will very likely be gen-
erally planted in our black soils, and much used for stocks for our Aramons.”’
This was accompanied by an order for a million of Concord and all the Herbe--
mont cuttings I could yet secure, as well as smaller orders for other varieties. When
our products are thus appreciated in the greatest wine produeing country we should
throw sloth and sluggishness aside and go to work in good earnest and with all avail-
able means. Let none follow or commence grape growing in the future who are not
willing to do their best. We want brains and skill, as well as muscle. We want close
observation, indefatigable exertion and intelligent labor in the vineyard as well as in
the wine cellar. It is my belief that the darkest days of American grape culture are
oven, and that the future will not fail to bring us glorious results if we labor for it.
aithfully.
Your labors have done a great deal to post us in regard to our insect enemies and
friends, and should be gratefully appreciated by every grape grower, while all should:
do their part in sending you specimens and observing their habits.
GEO. HUSMANN.
SEDALIA, Mo., December 20, 1874.
‘
It will be noticed that the above experience and directions refer
solely to grafting underground. Both Fuller and Husmann deem
grafting above ground impracticable in our climate, principally on
account of our winds; and their advice has been so very generally
followed that little attention has been given to this mode of grafting
the grape vine. The consequence is that we have the most conflict-.
ing experience as to the results of grafting; for, by the underground
methods, the graft will make its own roots in the course of a few
years, unless very great pains are taken to prevent such an occurrence 3.
that it has done so in the majority of cases of grafting in this country
in the past, admits, I think, of little doubt. Yet,in grafting as ameans.
of counteracting the Phylloxera, the first requisite is to prevent
the graft from making any roots of its own; for it must be remem-
bered that we are dealing with a root malady purely, and that the
object is to grow those varieties whose roots succumb more or less to.
the attacks of the insect, by using the roots of those which resist;,
112 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
this object is necessarily frustrated in proportion as the graft forms
roots of its own.
There are two methods of grafting above ground, which I have
every reason to believe may be made more successful than grape
growers have hitherto been led tosuppose. The first is by temporarily
making a false surface and grafting in the ordinary manner just de-
scribed, 2. ¢., instead of digging away the earth and inserting the cion
two or three inches below ground, it should be inserted two or three
inches above ground and the earth thrown up around it, to be removed
only after the graft is thoroughly and permanently joined. There will
then be no danger of the graft forming its own roots; and it is cer-
tainly as easy to throw the earth around the vine as to dig it away,
while the mechanical work can be much more conveniently and agree-
ably performed above than beneath the surface. No doubt this mode
of grafting needs greater care to make it successful, especially in a
very dry season, as the mound is more apt to dry out than the level
ground. Yet there is not lacking evidence that this method will work
well in our soil and climate. Mr. Jno. Vallet, of New Haven, a grape-
grower of much experience, has had eminent success in thus grafting
above ground, employing flax twine and paw-paw bark for bandaging.
He considers that the vine grows more vigorously and that there is less
danger of separating the graft when once formed, as there is no neces-
sity for going below ground to destroy the suckers, the doing of which
sometimes loosens the graft.*
The second method is by inarching. This system of grafting does
not seem to have been much practiced in this country, yet while it
requires great care, and success may not as often crown the effort as
in the former methods, I hope more attention willin future be given
to it.
The operation is comparatively simple: A slice two or three
inches long is cut from one side of the vine to be grafted, and a simi-
lar slice from the vine which is to serve as stock, as near the base or
butt as possible. The two cut portions are then brought face to face,
so as to fit as neatly as possible, and are then bound together with
cord, basswood bark or other grafting bandage, which should be kept
*Mr. Vallet informs me that in 1861 he grafted above ground for Emile Mallinckrodt, in St. Louis
county, a number of Catawhbas on Isabella stock; that they did admirably, and subsequently produced
from 60 to 80 bunches to each vine. He also, in the same manner, in the years 1862 and 1863, grafted
Delaware onto Isabella, 12 miles from St. Louis in Mr. Layton’s vineyard on the Olive street plank
road. The grafts did splendidly, and subsequently gave fine crops. By contrast to this experience, and
interesting from the Phylloxera standpoint, he grafted for Miller & Bates, of New Haven, Virginia
Seedling on Catawba, (1500 in 1866 and 1500 in 1867,) and no grapes resulted, only five per cent. of
the grafts growing.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. os
moist with moss. In the course of a fortnight partial unison takes
place, when the bandage should be somewhat loosened to admit the
expansion. In six or eight weeks, if the operation is successful, the
stock and cion are firmly united, when the bandage may be removed.
The graft immediately below the union and the stock immediately
above it should then be partially severed, and in a week or so more,
entirely cut loose.
While, as already stated, this mode has not been much practiced
in America, sufficiently successful results have been obtained to
encourage further trial; and, as an example, I will mention one in-
structive instance communicated by my friend Isidor Bush. One of
his customers, Eugene Cambre, of Nauvoo, Ills., has for some time
furnished him with a superior quality of Delaware wine; and being
anxious to know how Mr. Cambre succeeded so well with the Dela-
ware, when so many others in the same neighborhood failed with it,
Mr. Bush inquired as to the reason, and found that it was Mr. Cambre’s
custom in planting a Delaware vineyard to plant alternately with a
Delaware, a wild vine from the woods, and to subsequently transfer
the Delaware onto the roots of the wildling, by this system of inarch-
ing.
The Delaware, as may be seen by the tabular statement in my
last report, is among those which suffer materially from the Phyllox-
era, and several other cases of its successful growth when grafted
onto wild vines, where on its own roots it failed, were elicited at the
recent meeting of the Illinois State Horticultural Society, held at
Peoria.
Mr. Cambre has very kindly communicated to me his method, but
the following description of it, from the Grape Manual of Messrs.
Bush & Son & Meissner, so well covers the ground that I give it in full:
For this method it is desirable that two plants, one each of the variety which is to
form the stock, and one of the scion, be planted close together, say about one foot
apart. In June, (tne first year, if the plants make a sufficiently strong growth, if not,
the second year,) or as soon as the young shoots become sufficiently hard and woody
to bear the knife, a shoot is taken froia both the stock and the scion vine, and at a con-
venient place, where they may be brougtit in contact, a shaving is taken out from each
of these, on the side next to the other, for a length of 2 to3 inches. This must be
done with a smooth cut of a sharp knife, a little deeper than the inner bark, so as to
obtain on each a flat surface. They are then fitted snugly together, so that the inner
bark joins as much as possible, and wrapped securely with some old calico torn in strips,
or soft bass strings. Besides this, it is well to place one tie a little below, and one above
the grafted point, and also to tie the united canes to a stake or trellis to insure against
all chances of loosening by the swaying of the wind. ‘The rapid swelling of the young
growth at this period of the year makes it desirable that the grafts be looked over after
a few weeks, replacing such ties which may have burst, and loosening others which
may bind so as to cut into the wood. A union will generally be made in the course of
two or three weeks, which will be further consolidated in the course of 6 to 8 weeks,
when the bandages may be removed and the grafted portion left exposed to the sun, to
E R—8
114 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
thoroughly harden and ripen it. ‘The shoots themselves are to be left to grow undis-
turbed for the rest of the season. In the Fall, ifa good union has taken place, the cane
forming the scion is cut close below its union with the stock cane, which in its turn is cut
close above the connnection. Supposing the stock to have been a Concord and thescion
a Delaware, we now have a vine of the latter entirely on the strong, vigorous root of
the former. Of course constant vigilance must be exercised to prevent suckers from
starting out of thestock. It is well to protect the grafted joint the first few winters by
a slight covering of straw or soil to prevent the frost from splitting it apart.
Mr. Cambre in giving his experience writes: “J have positively
abandoned cleft grafting; it is too much trouble and too uncer-
tain, and the graft often makes its own roots. I assure you that from
a long experience in inarching, I am of the opinion that not alone the
Delaware but most of our cultivated varieties will do better on native
wild roots than on their own. I have 14 acres of vines mostly grafted
in this manner on wild stocks, and I have not lost one of such grafts.
It is preferable to graft at from 10 to 15 inches from the ground.”
Another mode of grafting above ground is thus given in “The
Cultivation of the Grape,” by W. C. Strong:
In The Gardeners’ Monthly, Vol. Il, p. 347, isa description of a mode practised
with success by Mr. Cornelius, which we copy. not merely asit is interesting in itself,
but also because it illustrates many other modifications in grafting :
[Fig. 20.] ‘** After the first four or five leaves are formed, and the sap is flowing,
you choose the place on the vine where youintend to graft. At that point
wrap tightly a twine several times around the vine. This will, in a meas-
ure, prevent the return sap.
‘* Below the ligature make a sloping cut down, as shown at Figure 20,
a; also, a similar reversed one above the ligature, as at 6, about one inch in
length. In selecting a scion prefer one that has naturally a bend. Cut it
so that it shall be wedge shaped at both ends, and a little longer than the
distance between the cuts in the vine at a and. Insert the scion, taking
care to have the barks in direct contact, securing it witha string, c, bound
round both scion and vine sufficiently tight to force the scion ends into
their places. If the work is done well, no tie will be required at a and 4,
but the joints should be covered with grafting wax. Ina short time, the
bud at d will commence its growth, after which you can by degrees remove
all the growing shoots not belonging to the scion, and in course of the
Summer you may cut: off the wood above 6, andin the Fall remove all
above a on thestock, and abovec on the scion.
Still another mode of grafting which has, I believe, sel-
dom, if ever, been attempted in this part of the country,
but which has been employed with much satisfaction the
Ag “ past year by a few vine growers in France, and especially
HA \ i by M. H. Bouschet, of Montpellier, remains to be mentioned.
It is the Winter grafting of a cutting of such variety as is desired to
grow, upon another which is to be used as stock, the combined cut-
tings being planted in the usual manner in Spring, leaving only the
buds on the graft proper out of ground. This is very similar to our
ordinary mode of making apple grafts; and while we have little or
no experience in this country on which to base anticipations, the
method is worthy of trial, and is illustrated at figure 21.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 115
Fig. 21.] But not to weary with details, I here reaffirm my
| belief, strengthened by each further observation, and
|) by every additional experience of the past year, that
| just as the working of the root-louse is the primal cause
of failure of some of our choicest varieties of the Grape
vine, so in judicious grafting we have the most avail-
able means of counteracting its work, and of thus grow-
ing successfully many of those kinds which cannot be
grown in this latitude with any profit or success on their
own roots. '
The recommendation to use our most resistant vari-
eties as stocks for the French vines in the districts rav-
‘7 aged by the Phylloxera have already been followed by
|] large demands for such varieties by the people of those
districts, and while we yet scarcely know how our vines
will act under the new conditions in which they are
placed, the uncertainty as to the results of judicious
grafting here at home, scarcely presents itself, for everything augurs
‘favorably.
I have not, in the foregoing paper, entered into the discussion of
‘the special influence of the graft on the character of the root, and vice
versa ; because I believe that, while the one doubtless does manifest a
certain special influence on the other; yet, for practical purposes, we
know that it isso slight as hardly to be worth considering in this con-
nection. The influences of the one on the other are almost entirely due
to the abundance or lack of nutrition in the root, and present in the
graft no other changes than those of greater or less development in
the different parts of its growth; and not in the specific character or
quality of the fruit. Geo. Gallesio, in his work on the Orange Family, in
which he fully considers the influence of grafting, lays stress on these
facts.
In conclusion, [again appeal to those of my grape-growing readers
who have the opportunity, to make experiments in grafting the more
susceptible on to the roots of the more resistant varieties, and, as a
guide, I repeat the following list of varieties that it is desirous to test
.as stocks and as grafts:
ROOTS TO USE AS STOCK.
1. Concord. 5. Norton’s Virginia.
2. Clinton. 6. Rentz.
3. Herbem ont. 7. Cynthiana.
4. Cunningham. 8. Taylor.
116 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
VARIETIES TO GRAFT ON TO ANY OR ALL OF THE ABOVE.
Of First Importance.
1. Catawba. 4, Wilder.
2. Tona. 5. Goethe.
3. Delaware. 6. Any European vine.
Of Secondary Importance.
7. Ives. 8. Hartford Prolific.
9. Maxatawney.
This list is given wholly from the Phylloxera standpoint, and with
a view to discover the real influence of the resisting on the nonresist-
ingkinds. There are many grape-growers who will agree with Mr
Husmann, who has so high an opinion of the Cynthiana, that to graft
even the Catawba upon it would, as he has remarked to me, “ appear
like sacrilege.” Others again will not think the Hartford and Ives,
for instance, worth saving, since they do not deem them worth plant-
ing. But any of the experiments indicated—no matter what the qual-
ity of the fruit—will prove valuable as showing the influence of a root
that is proof against Phylloxera on a vine which on its own roots suf-
fers from it. Experience is not wanting to show that several of the
susceptible Zabruscas, and many hybrids with vinifera grow with ex-
cellent success on the vigorous roots of westzvalis ; but let us increase
the experience on this point inevery direction possible. If the reader
can make but one or two of these experiments, I shall consider it a
favor to have him do so, and inform me precisely as to the number and
varieties grafted, the method employed, the character of the soil and
all other details of interest. My object is to have these experiments
made on different soils and in different latitudes; and, in the course
of two or three years, I hope to gather the results from all quarters,
and we may thus be enabled to draw conclusions of much importance
to grape-growers.
AMERIUAN GRAPE-VINES ABROAD.
Having already referred (pp. 104,114) to the large demand that has
been made for some of our American vines to be used as stocks in the
blighted districts of France,* it is only necessary to add that experience
over there with such vines is by no means discouraging; and that it
is not at all improbable that some of our varieties will be eventually
grown there not owly as stocks for the European winzfera but for their
Own grapes, just as they are to-day, on account of greater hardiness
and vigor, superceding the European vines in some parts of Australia,
* Mr. Husmann estimates in the Rural World for January 9, 1875, that the importation of American
cuttings into France, during the Winter of 1874-5 will amount to ten millions.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. ala iy
Of the varieties which have thus far given most satisfaction, may be
mentioned the Herbemont, Cunningham, Clinton, Concord, and espe-
cially the variety called Jaques, and which, as we have already seen,
is probably Lenoir.
APPENDIX.
SYNOPSIS OF THE AMERICAN SPECIES OF THE GENUS
PHYLLOXERA, Fonscolombe.
[On account of the interest attaching to the Grape Phylloxera, or, as it is now
very generally called, rHr Phylloxera, I have prepared the following Synopsis of the
N. A. species of the genus, and give it as it at first appeared in the Comptes Rendus of
the Paris Academy of Science for December 14, 1874. ]
1. P. VASTATRIX Planchon. Pemphigus vitifolie Fitch. Peritymbia vitisana Westwood.
Forming galls on the leaves, and swellings on the roots of Vitis. Intro-
duced into Europe and well known as the Grape Phylloxera.
2. P. Riteyi Lichtn. Mo. Ent. Rep. V, p. 66, note; ibid. VI, pp. 64 and 86. Livingon
the underside of the leaves, and hibernating on the stems of Quercus alba,
obtusiloba and bicolor.
3. P.CARYEFOLLE Fitch. N. Y. Ent. Rep. IIL, 2? 166. Forming conical galls, which
open at the summit, on the upper side of the leaves of Carya alba.
4. P. caryacauLts (Fitch) Pemphigus caryecaulis Fitch, ibid. 3163. Daktylosphera
subellipticum Shimer, Trans. Am. Ent. Soe. II, p. 889. Dak. caryee-magnum
Shimer, ibid. p. 391. Forming elongate, rather irregular, but generally
ellipsoid smooth, green swellings of large size, on the petiole ot the leaf
of Carya glabra and amara; the gall subsequently cracking open and
becoming black and contracted.
5. P. CARYHVEN (Fitch). Pemphigus ? caryevene Fitch. N. Y. Ent. Rep. II, 2
164. Forming plaits in the veins of the leaves of Carya alba, which plaits
project up from the surface in an abruptly elevated keel upon the upper
surface of the leaf, and with a mouth opening on the underside, the lips of
which are wooly.
6. P. CARY-SEMEN (Walsh). Xerophylla carye-semen Walsh, Proc. Ent. Soc. Phil., VI,
p- 283. Daktylosphera carye-semen Walsh, 1st Ann. Rep. as acting State
Entomologist of Illinois, p. 23, note 1. Dak. globosum Shimer, Trans. Am.
Ent. Soe., II, p. 891. Forming fuscous, minute, subglobular, seed-like
galls on leaves of Carya glabra, the galls opening in a small nipple on the
underside.
. P. CARY4-GLOBULI Walsh, Proc. Ent. Soc. Phil. I, p. 309. Daktylosphera hema-
sphericum Shimer, Trans. Am. Ent. Soc. I, p. 387. Forming hemispherical
galls about 0.25 inch diameter on the upper surface of the leaves of Carya
glabra and alba, the galls rather flat below, where they open in a slit.
4]
118 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
8. P. spinosa (Shimer). Dak. spinosum Shimer, Trans. Am. Ent. Soc. II, p. 397-
Forming large, irregular galls, covered with spines, on the petiole of the
leaf of Carya umara, the galls opening beneath in an irregular, sinuate slit.
*9, P. CARY#H-SEPTA (Shimer). Dak. carye-septum, ibid. p. 389. Forming flattened
galls with a septum on the leaves of Carya alba, the galls opening both
above and below. Probably only an abnormal form of No.7.
10. P. rorcatTa (Shimer). Dak. forcatum Shimer, ibid., p. 395. Forming galls much
like those of No. 6, but larger.
11. P. peprEssA (Shimer). Dak. depressum Shimer, ibid., p. 390. Forming depressed
galls on leaves of Carya alba, the gall opening below with a constricted
mouth fringed with filaments. Dak. coniferum Shimer is, in all proba-
bility, the same.
*12. P. conica (Shimer). Dak. conicum Shimer, ibid., p. 390. Forming galls similar
to No. 11, but without the fringe. Probably the same.
*13. P. CaSTANE® (Haldeman). Fitch N. Y. Ent. Rep. II, 3200. Referred to Chermes
by Haldeman, but undoubtedly a Phyllowera.
Those with a star (*) 1 am not personally familiar with, but I have no doubt they
are good species. The others I am well acquainted with. We have also some undes-
cribed species, the three following of which are so characteristic that I will briefly
describe their galls:
14. P. carym-GumMosa N. sp. Forming pedunculated, ovoid or globular galls on
underside of Carya alba; the gall white, pubescent, and gummy or sticky,
opening below in a fibrous point. The eggs are almost spherical, pale and
translucent. Larva, mother-louse and pupa quite pale, the red eyes and
eyelets strongly contrasting. The winged insects with difficulty distin-
guished from some of the other species, a difficulty made all the greater
from the fact that other species get caught in the sticky surface of the gall.
15. P. cARY.£-REN N. sp. Forming numerous, more or less confluent, mostly reniforns
galls on the petiole and leaf stems of Carya glabra; the galls varying from
0.2 to 0.7 inch in diameter, pale green and densely pubescent, and opening
in a slit the whole of their length, transversely with the axis of the petiole.
16. P. CARYH-FALLAX N. sp.. Forming conical galls thickly crowded on the upper
surface of the leaves of the Caryaalba. Strongly resembling No. 3 (carye-
folie) but the hight one-third greater than the basal diameter, and open-
ing below, instead of above, in a circular fuzzy mouth. This is the species
briefly referred to under the same name by Walsh, First Ann. Rep. ete., p-
23, note.
Thus we have at least sixteen good, undoubted species inhabiting the United States.
Most of them are more easily distinguished, as is often the case with Cynipide in Hy-
menoptera, and Cecidomyide, in Diptera, by their habits and the peculiar galls they
form, than by colorational or structural differences. In factall the species, except, per
haps, Nos. 1 and 2, yet need more careful and discriminating study and descriptions, in
all stages from the living material.
THE AMERICAN OAK PHYLLOXERA—Phyllovera Rileyi Lichtn.
Through the kind assistance of Miss Mary E. Murtfeldt, who, at my request,
watched this species most closely and assiduously from its awakening to activity in the
Spring till its dormancy in the Fall, and was thus enabled to supplement my own ob-
servations which were unavoidably interrupted by other duties, [ have been able to add
many positive facts to what was previously known of its natural history—facts which
are interesting and valuable in this connection as throwing light on the natural history
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 119
of the congeneric Grape species. Undergoing all its changes above ground, the evolu-
tion of the Oak Phylloxera is much more easily studied than is that of the Grape Phyl-
loxera; and I have had better fortune in obtaining the sexual individuals from the
winged females, though the few specimens mounted so as to be of any value for descrip-
tion, are all males. These beings are so excessively minute that their study is attended
with many difficulties, unless one can devote more time to it than has beenat my dis-
posal; yet, with the exception of the description of the true female, its natural history
may now be considered complete; while the thorough observations of Balbiani on the
closely allied European Phylloxera quercus* Fonsc., will supply inferentially the miss-
ing data. We saw last year that the American Oak Phylloxera hibernates in the larva
state attached to the twigs. ‘As the leaves begin to put forth, our young Oak Phyl-
loxera cast off their Winter skin, and their lethargy with it. They niay then be seen
crawling up and down the twigs, but do not settle on the leaves. Attaining, in a few
days, full growth, they begin a virginal reproduction by covering the twigs with eggs
CD?
which hatch in just about a week if the weather is warm and propitious. Thus the
[Fig. 22.] hibernating lice acquire their growth, and give birth to the first
generation, in the short space intervening between the opening of
the buds and the full growth of the first leaves.”-—[€th Report,
p- 65. This first generation, which is sufticiently numerous,
as the hibernating mothers are very prolific, disperses over the
leaves,fand one generation of parthenogenetic wingless females,
follows another till the fifth or sixth, when, from the middle to
the end of July, the winged females begin to appear. There is the
same diminution in fecundity, until the appearance of the winged
individuals that has been observed by Balbianiin the European
quercus ; and the winged females, just as in the other species, bear
only afew eggs of two sizes, which give birth to the sexual indi-
Male Phyloxera Rileyi,
showing genital organ
(6) and tarsus (c) ; theyiduals. These pair and the female lays the solitary egg, which
dot at side showing nat- ore
ural size. gives birth tothe normal parthenogenetic mother, which hiber-
nates as a larva. The variation to which the species is subject; or rather the different
forms which it presents, will be appreciated by the scientific reader from the following
specific diagnosis :
SPECIFIC DIAGNOSIS OF PHYLLOXERA RILEYI Lichtn.
Apterous, agamous © ; normal form (a) :—
Length, 0.016 inch, or rather more than 1-3 as large as vastatriv, with which it agrees in
color. Proportionally more slender, with the abdomen more tapering. Body insected and
covered with tubercles very much as in wingless radicicola form of vastatrix, but with an addi-
tional pair on the head, and those on the seventh abdominal joint Always distinct. These
tubercles concolorous with the body, fleshy, more or less elongate—from 1-12—1-6 the width of
middle body—and surmounted at tip with a short, dark hair. The anterior tubercles longest ;
the lateral outlme showing a series of thirty-six such tubercles, nearly equidistant, springing
at about right angles from surface. The intermediate dark points, on thoracic insections, also
as in vastatriv. Antenne precisely as in vastatriz. Legs with the ends of tibiz more swollen,
and the claws more prominent. Venter, with a dusty tubercle just inside each coxa.
* There is some confusion as to what should really be considered the quercus of Fonscolombe, and
Signoret, Balbiani and Lichtenstein have each in turn recently endeavored to define the European spe-
eies. Signoret would reduce them all to three (Comptes Rendus, Dec. 7, 1874), as follows: 1. Ph.
quercus Fonse.—Balbianii Lichtn.=coccinea Balb. 2. Ph. coccinea Kalt.=quercus (Sign.)=coccinea
Hayden. 3. Ph. corticalis Kalt.=Lichtensteinii Balb.—Rileyi Lichtn. Lichtenstein, on the contrary,
makes four species (ibid, Feb. 8, 1875), as follows: 1. Ph. quercus Fonse.=coccinea Hayden. 2. Ph.
Rileyi Lichtn.=corticalis Kollar.—Lichtensteinit Balb. 3. Ph. Balbianii Licht. 4. Ph. acanthochermes
Kollar.=scutifera Sign. In either event the genus is much more poorly represented there than in America.
I would remark here also that I very much doubt whether our American Oak species occurs in Europe,
however closely the corticalis, which differs in habit, may resemble it in appearance.
120 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
Deep yellow Form, with longer, roughened Tubercles (b) :—
As frequent as a in July, and differing in the deeper color, inclining to brown, and in
the greater length, irregularity, and darker color of tubercles : these tubercles are generally
longest on middle body, and appear quite dark under a pocket lense ; under the microscope
they appear quite roughened with fleshy points from the sides toward the swollen base, and
around the somewhat blunt, and sometimes slightly swollen tip.
Black Form, with very long Tubercles (c) :—
With the body dark brown and the tubercles almost black; the dorsal ones, especially in
middle of body, very long—half the diameter of body—slender, gradually tapering to tip,
the lateral ones and some of the dorsal ones, less tapering and half aslong. Antennz with
the third joint quite long and slender.
Pupa, normal Form (d) :—
With the tubercles prominent, and the pale, mesothoracic portion occupying more of the
body than in vastatriz.
Smooth Form (e) :—
More elongate, paler, without tubercles. Only occasionally met with.
Winged, agamous ¢ (f):—
With the dark, mesothoracie band much as in vasfatrixz; the wings more slender, and some-
what more fuliginous, with the costal angle more produced and blunt, and the hook larger on
secondaries; the antennz with the third joint and the horny parts proportionally longer.
Also presenting two forms of body and wings as in vastatriz.
Afale (g) :—
Not much larger than the newly-hatched larva; without tubercles, having but a few faint,
hair-like points in their stead: the two tarsal claws distinct, but the basal joint of tarsus obso-
lete: the antennz simple (at least there is, 1f anything, but the faintest trace of a small plate
at tip): no sign of mouth-parts; the venter sometimes shows two opaque spots about middle,
and the penis is quite conspicuous, the external parts seeming to consist of a tubercle which is
bulbous at base, but pointed at tip, and of two dusky, apparently horny processes which run
down each side as if to protect it.*
(The eight specimens obtained from winged ¢, which I have mounted, all seem fo be of one
sex, unfortunately, and no ¢ is among them.)
Newly-hatched Larva (h) :—
Nearly smooth, with dark limbs and eyes, the tubercles indicated by slight swellings, which
are, however, surmounted with a Jonger fleshy hair. The proboscis reaching beyond tip of
abdomen.
Hibernating Larva (i) :—
With the tubercles quite large, smooth, and surmounted at tip with a single spinous hair.
The true female yet remains to be described. Most entomologists would consider
the forms ¢ and e as specifically distinct from Rileyi—so abdormal do they appear : but
a careful Summer’s study of our Oak Phylloxera leads me to the conelusion that they
are but forms of one and the only species occurring on the Oak in America. In fact,
the polymorphism of these insects is not yet sufficiently appreciated even among
entomologists ; and lam strongly inclined to believe that the discussion about the dif-
ferent species occurring on Oak in Europe, is based, in great part, on the variations of a
single species. The tubercles in Riley: vary somewhat with each molt, and I have
come to look upon the paleness or intensity of color as of little specific value,
At least five generations intervene from the mothers which hibernate to the winged
form appearing first in July; and, from having eaclosed some of the first winged
females in muslin bags covering Jeaves that were carefully freed of all insect life; and
having subsequently found such leaves infested with the ordinary agamous female
with her progeny in all stages, there is reason to believe that the winged mothers may
* These males are so very minute, that the generative organ is not easily resolved, and presents a
different appearance, according to position on the slide; but in most cases I could discern these dusky
processes with suflicient distinctness.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 121
be produced twice a year; 7. e. there are two full cycles of development annually. It
is quite evident to me, however, that there is no great regularity as to the time of
the appearance of either the winged or sexual individuals; or even as to the number of
generations intervening between two generations of winged mothers: so much depends
on conditions, and the species is so easily influenced in its development by the
character of the weather and food conditions. ‘Thus, the winged mothers are much
more abundant on young trees with tender succulent foliage than on the tougher
leaves of the larger trees; and Iam pretty confident that itis no particular generation
that hibernates; but that it may be either the first, second, third, etc., from the
impregnated egg, according as we have early or late cold weather. From August the
insects continue to grow and multiply, with decreasing rapidity however, until the
leaves commence to turn. The mothers then gradually perish and the young forsake
the leaves and crowd around the stems; this happening in 1874, from the middle to the
end of October.
Whether with this species, as in the case of the Grape, and the European Oak
species, some of the wingless, agamous females also lay the sexual eggs precisely as do
the winged females, I have not yet ascertained; though I bave no reason to doubt that
such will prove to be the case.
THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN LOCUST—Caloptenus spretus Thomas.*
(Ord., ORTHOPTERA; Fam., ACRIDID2.+ )
This insect is a fit subject for the close of that portion of the
present Report which comes under the head of “ Noxious Insects.”
Few, indeed, are there more noxious than this plague of the West,
which in 1874 proved anational calamity, reducing untold thousands
to misery and distress. Feeling the importance of the subject, I spent
come time in the ravaged districts of Kansas, and carefully studied
the hahits of the pest as it poured into our western counties.
ITS NATURAL HISTORY.
The life-history of this insect is essentially the same as that of the
more common locusts that are with us every year. The female, when
about to lay her eggs, forces a hole in the ground by means of the
two pairs of horny valves which open and shut at the tip of her abdo-
men, and which, from their peculiar structure, are admirably fitted
*The species was named in MS. by Mr. P. R. Uhler, of Baltimore, Md., but never by him
described. Mr. B.D. Walsh subsequently (Pract. Ent. II, p. 1) adopted Mr. Uhler’s name in connee-
tion with a partial description; but Mr. Thomas first fully defined the species, as here distinguished and
neferred to by me. The question as to the validity of the species will be discussed in the proper place.
} Locustide of Westwood.
122 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
[Fig. 23.] for the purpose. (See Fig.
: 24, where 0, ¢ show the
structure of one of each of
- the upper and lower valves»
~ With the valves closed she
“= pushes the tips in the
— ground, and by a series of
muscular efforts and the
continued opening and
- shutting of the valves, she:
drills a hole until, in a few
minutes (the time varying
Rocky Mountain Locust:—a, a, a, female in different : y
positions, ovipositing; 0, egg-pod extracted from ground, with the nature of the soil)
with the end broken open, showing how the eggs are arranged;
c, afew eggs lying loose on the ground; d, e, shows the earth j .
partially removed, to illustrate an egg-mass already in place, the whole abdomen is bu
poe Dae placed; f, shows where such a mass has been ried, the tips reaching an
inch or more below the surface, by means of great distention. Now,,
with hind legs hoisted straight above the back, and the shanks hug-
ging more or less closely the thighs, she commences ovipositing,
the eggs being voided in a pale, glistening and glutinous fluid which
holds them together and binds them into a long cylindrical pod, covered
with particles of earth which adhere to it. When fresh the whole.
mass is soft and moist, but it soon acquires a firmer consistency. It.
is often as long as the abdomen, and usually lies in a curved or slant-
ing position. It is never placed much more than an inch below the
surface, except where some vegetable root has been followed down
and devoured, and the insect leaves her eggs before emerging; in this.
way the mass is sometimes placed a foot below thesurface. The eggs.
which compose this mass are laid side by side to the number of from
30 to 100, according to size of mass. They are 0.15 to 0.20 inch long,
one-fourth as wide, slightly curved, of a pale yellow [Fig. 24.]
color, and rather larger at the anterior than the pos-
terior end. As the hatching period approaches, they |
become more plump and pale, and the embryo, with gid Is
its dark eyes, is visible through the shell which is Ui! af Wa ar,
now somewhat transparent. The opening to this egg- ,,,,@0Ck% Mountain
F ters of female, showing:
mass is covered up by the mother, but the newly horny valves’
hatched insect has no difficulty in escaping. When first hatched the
little hopper is quite pale, but soon becomes mottled with gray and
brown. In escaping from the egg it is at first covered with a delicate.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 128:
[Fig. 25.] white pellicle which has to be cast off
before there can be freedom of motion ;.
so that the insect may be said to molt as
soon as itis born. Except in having a
narrower pro-thorax, sloping roof-fashion
»\. to a median ridge, and in lacking wings,
2S eA eee ea ee ad the norfoot
pupa. a ae iture from its parent; and the perfect
winged form is gradually assumed through a series of four molts, du-
ring the first three of which the wing-pads become larger, and during
the last, from the pupa (Fig. 25, ¢,) to the perfect state, the thorax
becomes flattened, the wings are acquired and the insect ceases to
grow and is ready to procreate. The time required from hatching till
the wings are obtained averages about two months. The high and
long flights characteristic to the species after the wings are acquired,
are seldom indulged, except when there is a fair wind.
Just as the mature insects fly, as a rule,in a southeasterly direc-
tion, so the young, soon after they hatch, manifest the same desire to
move toward the coutheast. They are most active in the heat of the
day, but are perhaps more ravenous at night. They migrate short.
distances every clear day, but do not like to cross a stream unless
they can jumpit. If driven into water, however, they kick about,.
making considerable progress, and do not easily drown. Such at least
are the habits of the young hatched in the Mississippi Valley, though
it is very probable that in their native table lands of the mountain
region the migrating habit is not developed till they have acquired
wings, and are forced from hunger to seek new quarters.
>
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:
‘<The first year of my abiding there it pleased God to send one of the plagues of
Egypt to that country, which was of Locusts, which I had never seen till then. They
were after the manner of our Grasshoppers, but somewhat bigger, which did fly about
in numbers so thick and infinite that they did truly cover the face of the sun, and hin-
der the shining forth of the beams of that bright planet. Where they lighted, either
upon trees or standing corn, there was nothing expected but ruin, destruction and bar-
renness; for the corn they devoured, the fruits of trees they ate and consumed, and
hung so thick upon the branches that with their weight they tore them from the body..
The highways were so covered with them that they startled the traveling mules with
their fluttering about their heads and feet. My eyes were often struck with their wings.
as I rode along ; and much ado I had to see my way, what with a montero wherewith
I was fain to cover my face, what with the flight of them which were still before my
eyes. Where they lighted in the mountains and highways, there they left behind
them their young ones, which were found creeping upon the ground, ready to threaten
such a second year’s plague, if not prevented; wherefore all the towns were called,
with spades, mattocks and shovels, to dig long trenches and therein to bury the young
ones.
The early Jesuit missionaries of California have left numerous
records of their injuries on the Pacific Coast. Father Michael del
Barco records their visitations in California in 1722, 1746 and the three
succeeding years; also in 1753, 1754, and 1765. Clavigero,in his His-
tory of California, also gives a very full description of these pests.
In 1827, 1828 and 1834, they destroyed all the crops in the ranche-
ros and missions, and in 1838 and 1846, again did great damage in upper
California. “For more than half a century they have troubled the:
Argentine Republic in South America. In a latitude corresponding.
with Louisiana and Texas, but in the southern hemisphere thev have-
made agriculture worthless, and rendered the settlement of that mag-
nificent country between the Andes and the Atlantic Ocean, by a
dense population, impossible.”* Dr. B. A. Gould gives a graphic ac-
count of a swarm of locusts in 1873 that devastated Cordoba, aswarm
at least twenty miles in length and six miles in breadth, extending
for an altitude of 5° like a thick, black trail of smoke.+ Of the rav-
ages of locusts in the Atlantic States, I shall speak more particularly
in a future chapter: We have records of great injury from locusts in
New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Vermont, atseveral periods during
the latter part of the last century.
Coming now to the chronological history of the particular Rocky
Mountain species in question, anything like substantial records fail
us, and in order to give the following summary of its devastations.
during the present century, I have had to ransack the files of hun-
*Rev. Edw. Fontaine, in New Orleans Times, March, 1866.
t+ Amer, Journ. of Sc. Dec. 1873.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 135
dreds of periodicals, and to depend on a number of fugitive articles
published during the last twenty years.
In 1818 and 1819, according to Neill’s History of Minnesota, vast
hordes of grasshoppers appeared in Minnesota, eating everything in
their course ; in some cases the ground being covered three or four
inches thick. In the same years they were extremely injurious in the
Red River country in Manitoba. In 1820, or the succeeding year, we
hear of them falling upon the western counties of Missouri, as des-
cribed in the following items:
‘¢We were informed by old residents of West Missouri and some of the Indians,
that long ago, I think it was in 1820, there was just such a visitation of grasshoppers
as is now afilicting us. They came in the Autumn by millions, devouring every green
thing, but too late todo much harm. They literally filled the earth with their eggs,
and then died. The next Spring they hatched ‘out, but did but little harm, and when
full-fledged left for parts unknown. Other districts of country have been visited by
them, but so far as I could learn, they have done but little harm after the first year.”’°—
[S. T. Kelsey, Ottawa, (now of Hutchinson,) Kansas, in Prairie Farmer, June lo,
1867, p. 395.
A Missouri paper publishes a statement by an old settler, that great numbers of
grasshoppers appeared in September, 1820, doing much damage. The next Spring
they hatched out, destroying the cotton, flax, hemp, wheat and tobacco crops ; but the corn
escaped uninjured, About the middle of June they all disappeared, flying off in a
southeast direction.— Western Rural, 1867.
It is reasonable to suppose that these 1820 swarms also ravaged
Kansas and the country to the northwest, very much as they did in
1874, though no records of the fact are to be found, for the simple
reason that the western country was unsettled by farmers. We know
that the crops were destroyed in many parts of Manitoba during the
same and the previous year, and the migrations of 1819 and 1820 must
have been very similar to those of 1873 and 1874.
In 1845 and again in 1849, we have accounts, from various sources,
of their swarming in Texas. In 1855 there was another very general
irruption all over the western part of the continent. Says Mr. Taylor,
in the Smithsonian Report already alluded to: “Up to the 11th of
October, 1855,and commencing about the middle of May, theseinsects
extended themselves over a space of the earth’s surface much greater
than has ever before been noted. They covered the entire Territories
of Washington and Oregon, and every valley of the State of Califor-
nia, ranging from the Pacific Ocean to the eastern base of the Sierra
Nevada; theentire Territories of Utah and New Mexico; the immense
grassy prairies lying on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains ;
the dry mountain valleys of the republic of Mexico, and the countries
of Lower California and Central America; and also, those portions of
the State of Texas which resemble, in physical charactertstics, Utah
and California. The records prove that the locusts extended them-
selves, in one year, over a surface comprised within thirty-eight de-
136 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
‘\
grees of latitude, and, in the broadest part, eighteen degrees of longi-
tude.
“On several days in June, July and August, of 1855, the grasshop-
pers (or langostas of the Spaniards) were seen in such incredible
numbers in the valley of Sacramento, in California; in the valley of
Colima, in Southwest Mexico; in the valley of the Great Salt Lake;
in Western Texas, and in certain valleys of Central America, that they
filled the air like flakes of snow on a winter’s day, and attacked every-
thing green or succulent with a voracity and despatch destructive to
the hopes of the agriculturalists.”
They are described as reducing the Mormons of Salt Lake, during
that year, toa simpler diet than that of John the Baptist, for the
people had to fall back on the locusts without the honey; and they
causeda good deal of suffering in the then Territories of Kansas, Ne-
braska and Minnesota. The Summer of 1855, like that of 1874, was
exceedingly dry—the driest in fact that had been known for ten years.
In 1856 they again made their appearance in parts of Utah, Cali-
fornia and Texas, but in diminished numbers. In Minnesota, how-
ever,* and in West and Northwest lowa theirravages during this year
seem to have been greater.
In 1857 we hear of them again in various parts of the Northwest +
and around the Assiniboine settlement in Manitoba,{and they destroyed
the entire crop of a region of country extending from the base of the
third plateau to the Gulf of Mexico, 150 miles in length, and about 80
in breadth, including the entire valley of the Gaudaloupe, and much
of the territory watered by the Colorado and San Antonio rivers.
Throughout this whole area of 12,000 square miles every green thing
cultivated by man was consumed, and how much further northwest
the ravages extended is not known.|| They reached as far East as
Central Iowa. §
It is probable that part of the injury reported in 1856 and 1857
east of the Rocky Mountains was caused by the progeny from the
immense swarms that swept over the country in 1855; and it is quite
likely that some of them reached Missouri, for Mr. H. B. Palmer, of
Hartville, has related to me how, about 1857, these insects passed
through a portion of Wright county, from N. toS., stripping everything
on their way.
* Rep. of Dept. of Agr. 1863, p. 36.
TWalsh’s Ills. Ent. Rep. pp. 92-3: Prairie Farmer, April 25, 1868.
t Canada Farmer Aug. 15, 1874.
|| Rev. E, Fontaine, loc. cit.
§ Prairie Farmer. April 25, 1868.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 137
In 1860, as several Kansans have informed me, these locusts came
and did much damage around Topeka, remaining a few days and leav-
ing the last of August. This must have been a limited and rather
local swarm.
In 1864 we again hear of locust invasions into Manitoba, Minne-
sota, and around Sioux City, lowa, and their eggs hatched and the
young did much damage the following year, 1865. In Colorado one of
the most destructive visitations ever known there come in 1864 from
the northwest, doing much damage, as did the progeny in 1865.
The year 1866 was another marked locust year, and the first, since
that of 1855,in which the damage was sufficiently great and wide-
spread to attract national attention. The insects swarmed over the
Northwest and did great damage in Kansas, Nebraska, and North-
eastern 'exas, and invaded the western counties of Missouri very
much as they did the past year. They came, however, about a month
later than in 1874. They were often so thick that trains were seriously
delayed on account of the immense numbers crushed on the track.
Mr. Walsh has published a full record of this invasion in the Report
already cited.*
In 1867 the progeny of those which fell upon the country the pre-
vious year did more or less damage, which was extensively reported
during the early part of the growing season. Later in the season,
however, fresh swarms came from the Rocky Mountain region and
fell upon the fertile plains of the Mississippi Valley. Thus there
were two fresh invasions, the one following the other, in the years
1866 and 1867; an occurrence which is quite exceptional, and to
which the immense damage done during the latter year is, in great
part, attributable. Mr. Walsh (oc. cit.) has given us, at great pains,
a pretty full record of the doings of locusts in 1867, and from said
record he makes it quite clear that the invasion of 1866 was followed
in 1867 by a fresh, though less extensive one, direct from the Rocky
Mountain region. I may add that a number of scraps and records of
the insect’s doings during those two years, other than those he has
brought together, bear out his deductions. The locusts also fell upon
Utah in immense swarms in 1867.
During the subsequent years of 1868 and 1869 we hear more or
less of the remnants of these two vast swarms from the mountain re-
gion, and of their injury in the Mississippi Valley ; but their numbers
are always diminishing and their enemies increasing, so that during
the latter year not a healthy individual was to be found, and in 1870
*First Annual Rep. as Acting State Ent. of Ils., pp. 83-4 (1868).
138 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
the race had about vanished from the invaded country—at least from
its more eastern portions. I shall here bring together a few items and
communications that will serve to continue the chronological history
of the pest during these two years; confining the extracts to those
cases where I have,in each instance, been able to verify, by speci-
mens, the species referred to, as the genuine spretus.
In passing over into Kansas, the corn for a few miles was of a splendid appearance
and rapidly maturing, but we soon came into the grasshopper country, where corn, by
the thousands of acres, was stripped as clean as a field of bean poles, and entirely cov-
ered. ‘The gardens had been completely denuded of all vegetables, and all that were
used west of Fort Riley were carried from Leavenworth and further east. In returning
through Northern Missouri, we found better prospects for all the crops; at Cameron
Station we were shown stalks of corn sixteen feet high, heavily eared, as a sample ot
many fields.—[H. D. Emery, in Prairie Farmer, Fall of 1868.
On Saturday, the 8th of August, the grasshoppers returned. During the night of
the 7th, a strong wind commenced blowing from the northwest, which steadily con-
tinued during the next day. As early as nine o’clock a. M., large numbers of grass-
hoppers could be seen flying very high up; at about three o’clock p. m., the wind
ceased to blow so strong although a good breeze was kept up. The grasshoppers com—
menced lighting, which they did in fearful numbers, in many places bending the tops
of the corn-stalks on which they settled, and commenced their work of destruction.
They are yet with us, and have already injured the corn crop, in many fields, much.
All the early corn is too far advanced to receive any damage from them; but much of
the corn crop is late because of the work of the grasshoppers hatched out here last
Spring. This late crop will be much injured from the fact that it is just tasseling and
shooting, and the pesky things appear to have a great liking for the tender silks and
shucks on the ends of the just forming ears. With the silk eaten off, and the tassel
much injured, fears are entertained that inferior ears will be formed. wo a8 ee
—[S. H. K., Page county, Iowa, ibid, Aug. 10, 1868.
On Saturday, the 7th, in the afternoon, the “red-legged ’’ locusts began “to pour
into” this region of country, and they have been as industrious as ** circumstances
would permit.’”? The cabbage, potato-vines, beets, onion-tops, and other vegetables
were ‘‘ pressed into service ’’ in a short space of time. Some of my peaches are stripped
of leaves ; other trees only in part. The apple trees and Kirtland raspberry canes were
denuded of their foliage ; they even devoured the leaves of the walnut and other forest
trees. Many of the weeds indigeneous to the country shared the same fate as the ten-
der vegetables. The cherry and some seedlings of the wild cherry tree of Pennsylva-
nia are exempt from their attacks. The foliage of the hickory appears to be a favorite
dish with them.
The grape vine leaves have not escaped entirely, but Concord, Rebecca, Diana an@
some other varieties appear to be preferred to Clinton, Franklin and that more excel-
lent Isabella, together with some other kinds. My young pears have been so far
uninjured, but the trouble is that the ground in certain spots is literally covered with
them. On Sunday, there were millions of them that made an effort to leave, but a
Southeasterly wind prevented them, and they lit on the ground again.
They have, as yet, done very little damage to the blackberry plants. The rare
kinds of this region that [ am testing, such as the Missouri Mammoth, Wilson and
Kittatiny, I covered with prairie hay, which being old they will not eat while there is
anything green and tender. They do not appear to be devotedly attached to the Doo-
little raspberry, as but few canes are yet leafless. On Sunday night we had aheavy rain,
accompanied with thunder and lightning, which will prevent them from starting in
large numbers this morning. They are evidently bound for the south. A great many
left this forenoon for that direction. Many would rise a few rods in the air, but again
return, They have denuded thousands of acres of corn in this region, but the extent of
damage done at a distance from here I have not yet learned.—_[A. M. Burns, Riley
county, Kansas, ibid, Aug. 22, 1868,
We have many grasshoppers. When they are small they seem most destructive.
Early in the season they stripped oats and wheat indiscriminately ; now they work on
the wheat principally. Some wheat-fields are entirely destroyed by them, and on
other fields they are eating off all the blades and youngest shoots. They have com-
menced on the corn, Some few are now getting their wings. Enclosed I send you
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 139
specimens. A great many were hatched out last week, and millions were killed al}
along by heavy rains and some few by birds, etc.—[ Extract from a private letter from
Uriah Bruner, Omaha, Nebraska, June 8, 1868.
Enclosed find grasshoppers. The two with strings attached have parasites on
their wings, and it is asserted by many that thousands have been killed by those lice.
The grasshoppers are leaving about as fast as they can fly, and some are coming from
other parts. We have less now than we had some time ago. Wheat and some or most
kinds of garden vegetables the grasshoppers devour as fast as they can, while prairie
grass, oats, etc., though they are just as plenty on, they seem to eat a great deal less of,
probably not more than is necessary to subsist them.—[Letter extract from same, June
19, 1868.
The histor? of these grasshoppers, as far as it relates to this part of the country,
is as follows: About the last of September, 1866, they made their appearance for the
first time, so far as I know, in this part of the country. They came in millions from
the south, southwest and west, and were so numerous as to almost darken the sun: in
other words, the heavens seemed from about ten in the morning till three in the after-
noon to be filled with them. They lit, ate up cabbages, Fall wheat and nearly destroyed
many meadows. They cohabited, and shortly after deposited their eggs in the ground
in countless millions. In the Spring the eggs hatched, and after they had obtained the
full size they rose in the air and were carried away to other parts.
In 1867 they came again and deposited their eggs in the Fall, and the specimens I
send are from them. The number of eggs deposited last Fall was not as great as in the
Fall of 1866.
The grasshoppers hatched here injure our Spring crops and then leave, to be fol-
lowed in the Fall by others from the far West to prey upon our fall vegetation and de-
posit their eggs for another crop. One farmer told me a few days ago that the damage
which he sustained from them last year could not have been less than $1,500. Last
Fall I put in some Fall wheat which was entirely consumed by them. * * *
Iam of the opinion that stirring the ground in the Fall exposed the eggs to the
action of the frost and destroyed many of them, as but few were seen there this Spring.
The hogs in the Spring root the ground over for their eggs and destroy many of them.
* * * —/Letter extract from Stephen Blanchard, Oregon, Holt county, Missouri,
July 13, 1868.
* %* This morning and some portion of yesterday the wind was in the east, but
this morning soon changed to the west, and we thought about 10 o’clock that it would
rain, but about noon, or perhaps a little before, the wind changed to the north, and
about 2 o’clock the grasshoppers began to fall about as fast as the flakes of snow fall,
until the ground was literally covered with them.—([Letter extract from same, Aug.
10, 1868.
My corn has been quite badly injured by the “ Western Locust.” I have a small
orchard of about 200 trees that have been greatly injured.
My trees set out this Spring (about 50) are as naked of leaves as they should bein
February next. The trees set out a year ago are badly injured, and so are those set
out three years ago. If you will send me by mail a little of the article which you.
recommend I will most gladly try it, and will give you the results. ‘hey have been
- coupling for increase for several days past. They are not now as numerous as they
have been, and if they leave before they deposit their eggs in the ground for Spring
hatching we may get rid of them.
It may be also that as it is so much earlier than heretofore when they came, that
their eggs might hatch this Fall. In this case they will not do us much injury in the
Spring tor the reason that the Winter would kill them.—T[Letter extract from same,
Aug. 24, 1868.
Isend you herewith, specimens of the Red-legged Locust, which frequently over-
runs our extreme western regions, but appeared ere for the first time last Fall. They
- are quite as ruinous to us as Yankee carpet-baggers and scallawags! I will give you. a
briet sketch of them also—the insect Locusts. not the others !—[Extract from a private
letter from the late Thos. Affleck, Brenham, Washington county, Texas, July 20, 1868.
Those hatched from eggs which were deposited after migrating to this country,
so distant from their natural habitat, do not copulate before their departure hence. That
you may record as a fact, general, I think, if not universal.—[Letter extract from same,
Aug, 22, 1868.
In the Appendix will be found a letter from Mr. Affleck giving a
more full and interesting account of his experience with this pest
140 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
during 1868. That the insect was more or less injurious, in 1868,
throughout the region invaded the two previous years is proved from
various records of their hatching out, and their injuries around Salt
Lake City, Utah, and by the fact that the Red River settlement ap-
pealed to the Canadian Government for aid, on account of their de-
vastations during that year. They are reported as having been quite
numerous in Andrew, Cedar, Clinton, Daviess, Gentry, Jackson, Nod-
away in our own State, by the different correspondents.who replied to
my circular. They also attracted some attention in Kansas during
the fore part of August, and during the preceding month in Jowa and
Minnesota.*
In 1869 there were still some remnants left of the 1867 invasion.
I received some from Leavenworth, Kansas, sent in a tin box, and in
reaching me there was but one left, which, having eaten up the others,
was master of the situation. They hatched out in countless numbers
from the 20th to 24th of March, in Holt county, Mo.,+ and were destruc-
tive east of Nemaha county, Kansas; but the following items from the
Prairie Harmer “ Record of the Season,” will indicate how more and
more impotent they became :
Great numbers of the ‘‘Red-Legged Locust ’—grasshoppers—have hatched out
this Spring, but have done very little harm thus far, their ravages being almost wholly
confined to the more tender garden vegetables.—[c. w. D., Saline county, Kansas, June
22, 1869.
The “hateful grasshoppers’? are very bad in sandy districts, and, when full
fledged, they will visit every farmer, and take their portion.—[c., Denver, Col., July
6, 1869.
Grasshoppers all left as soon as they could fly, and there has no new crop come in
since. Apples were not injured here; peaches were, to some extent, but there will be
afair yield. Wild fruits of all kinds are abundant.—[J. w. 0., Brown county, Kansas,
August 16, 1869.
The grasshoppers hatched out here last Spring, but did very little damage; they
-all left as soon as they could fly, and I hope it will be long before they pay us another
visit. here is not much fruit raised here yet, but what there is is pretty good.—[w. s.
‘S., Page county, Iowa, September 4, 1869.
The following letter, communicated to me, August 27, 1869, by S.
K. Faulkner, M. D., of Whitesville, Andrew county, Missouri, will
show that they were also lingering in our own State:
I did not answer your letter requesting more specimens of the Colorado Grass-
hoppers with parasites, because they had left us, and now there is not one to be found.
We had quite a stock of grasshopper eggs left us last Fall, which hatched, and in the
timbered section and where the ground was smooth and hard, as “ sod’ or prairie that
was plowed in the previous June, and not afterward plowed, they destroyed most of the
Wheat. But deep plowing in the Spring or late in Autumn puts them down, at least
delayed them, and I think they never hatch.
*Am. Entomologist I, p.74.
tW.L., in Journal of Agr., St. Touis, Apr. 17, 1869.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 141)
Our own stock was bad enough, but on the 18th of June we received a large addi-—
tion of flying ones from the South, which in some places took half of the corn, although
they left on the 23d of June, staying less than five days. They came with a strong
south wind, and while here the north wind blew, and if they were disturbed they
would work a little South; but on the 23d, at 11 a. M., the south wind blew, and they
rose simultaneously, and most of them left us; but our original stock not being able to
fly, remained.
My experience is, that they like vegetables, in about the following order: Cabbage,
turnips, dog fennel and burdock, tender apple and pear leaves, especially if close to the
ground, as on young grafts. There are few nurserymen here who will set apple grafts if
we have eggsin the ground. Then wheat, corn, oats—if hard, preferred; but they do-
most damage to oats by dropping the grain on the ground in cutting it off. They
relish grapes about the same as oats; but the hydrocyanic acid in peach leaves is too-
much for them, and I have not seen one touched.
As Lam glad to see you doing so good a work so well, if I can furnish you any
information it will give me pleasure.
During this year, 1869, and the two following years, as will be
seen from what is said further on under the head of “injuries by other
non-migratory species,” many of the common locusts of the country
were unusually numerous and destructive; and the reports of their
injuries must not be confounded with those of the Rocky Mountain
species. Mr. Cyrus Thomas (Am. nt. II, p. 82,) reports finding this
species, in June, 1869, around St. Joseph, Mo. He says: “ We arrived
very early in the morning, and then they appeared to be somewhat
torpid ; yet when those in the grass were disturbed by the hogs, which
were feeding upon them, they hopped about quite briskly. Swarms.
of them, as I was informed, had been flying over that section for a
week previous to our arrival.”
In 1870, what was probably this last species, swept down upon the
country around Algona, Iowa, and in 1871 the progeny “hatched by
myriads till after the first of June,” and left about the first of July.*
In parts of Utah and Colorado their injuries were also reported during
this year.
In 1872 again they did some harm in parts of Kansas, for Mr. Albert
Cooper, of Beloit, Kans., wrote me (September 1, 1872): “They came
down upon us a few days ago, and are now eating up everything
green.” Mr.J.D. Putnam, who spent the Summer of 1872 in the Rocky
Mountains, also wrote me “that spretws was quite numerous in the
valley of the Troublesome River.”
THE INVASION OF 1873.
During the years of 1873 and 1874, we have had a repetition, in a
great measure, of the years 1866 and 1867. The invasion of 1873 was.
pretty general over a strip of country running from the northern parts.
of Colorado and southern parts of Wyoming, through Nebraska and
Dakota, to the southwestern counties of Minnesota, and northwestern
* Western Rural, Chicago, September 26, 1874.
SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
142
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OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 143
counties of Iowa—the injury being most felt in the last two more
thickly settled States. The insects poured in upon this country during
the Summer and laid their eggs in all the more eastern portions
reached. The cry of distress that went up from the afilicted people
of Minnesota in the Fall of that year is still fresh in mind, and the
pioneers of West Iowa had to suffer, in addition to the locust devasta-
tions, severe damage froma terrific tornado. Great ravages were also
committed by locusts in Southern California during the same year.
THE INVASION OF 1874.
We now come to the Locust visitation of 1874, which will long be
remembered as more disastrous, and as causing more distress and
destitution than any of its predecessors. The calamity was national
in its character, and the suffering in the ravaged districts would have
been great, and death and famine the consequence, had it not been
for the sympathy of the whole country and the energetic measures
taken to relieve the afflicted people—a sympathy begetting a gene-
rosity which proved equal to the occasion, as it did in the case of the
great Chicago fire, and which will ever redound to the glory of our
free Republic, and of our Union.
From a very large number of data, culled from every available
source, I have prepared the accompanying map, which will at a glance
illustrate the country liable to be overrun by this Rocky Mountain
scourge, and more especially the territory in the United States east of
the mountains, visited in 1874. This last will be seen to embrace the
entire States of Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas, and portions of Wyo-
ming, Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, New Mexico, Indian Terri-
tory and Texas. The heavy, dark lines indicate the area over which
the greatest injury was done; the dotted lines the area which suffered
less, because more sparsely inhabited ; and the fine lines the area
which was more or less overrun by them. The insects were doubtless
as numerous in the northwestern parts of Wyoming and Dakota, and
in Montana, for, in fact, they breed there; but the country is for the
most part so barren and so thinly settled that the reports are very
meagre. The damage inflicted in this territory cannot fall far short
of fifty millions dollars. That much of the damage resulted from
the progeny of the swarms of 1873, which, hatching in the country
already indicated, as invaded during that year, ravaged the crops of
the country where they hatched, and eventually spread to the south-
east, the records abundantly prove; but there was likewise a fresh
invasion direct from the mountain region, which added to that of 1873,
rendered the year 1874 so memorable.
144 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
In order to present a more intelligible account of this 1874 inva-
sion, it will be best to treat it briefly in connection with each State
and Territory which suffered from it.
From New Mexico, Texas and Indian Territory the reports that
have come to my notice are meagre; yet they are sufficient, in con-
nection with those published by the Department of Agriculture, to
show that the territory indicated in my map was more or less visited.
In Texas, they were more particularly injurious in Cooke, Belknap,
Blanco, Blandera, DeWitt, Palo Pinto, Gillespie, Medina, Kendall,
and San Sabo counties.
Missourri—Fully aware of the importance of a complete and
reliable record of the Locust invasion of our own State, not only asa
matter of history, but as a guide for the future, I have taken some
pains to make the record as complete as possible. In order to do so,
I sent out the following questions to correspondents in each county—
the same, in fact, to whom I addressed the Chinch Bug circular:
1. Did the Locust appear at allin your locality or in your county the past Sum-
mer or Fall ?
2. If so, give the exact date at which they first appeared, and, as near as may be,,.
the direction from which they came, and the direction and force of the wind at the
time.
3. State, as near as may be, the prevailing direction in which they flew or trav-
eled, and whether the direction was much altered or influenced by the winds. Also,.
whether different swarms came at different times from different directions.
4. How long did they stay ?
5. What plants or crops were most injured by them ?
6. What plants or crops more particularly escaped their ravages ?
7. Did the locusts lay eggs; and if so, what positions did they prefer, as sward,,.
stubble, roadways, ploughed, high or low ground, etc. ?
8. Were any of the eggs noticed to hatch during the protracted and mild Fall
weather ?
9. What are your recollections of former visitations, with reference to these ques—
tions? And what has been the damage resulting the succeeding year of such visita-
tions, from the young hatched on the ground?
10. Give an estimate of the amount of damage caused by them in your county.
11. What means have been adopted to prevent their injuries or to destroy them *
12. State more particularly, if locusts invaded your county, the precise eastern
limit which they reached.
Being firmly of the opinion that these insects would never do any
serious damage east of a line drawn, at a rough estimate, along 17°
west from Washington, and knowing that we could only judge of the
—— — R
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LOCUST INVASION¢'1874
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C.V. RILEY, MA.PhD.
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OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 145
future by the past, I drew particular attention to the last question, as
one not answerable from my own individual observation, as most of
the others are. The replies to the above questions have been very
full, for which fact I must again thank the gentlemen mentioned on
pp. 51-2, ante. From these detailed reports, I have constructed the
accompanying map* which indicates, Ist, the counties invaded in 1866,
marked with a small cross (+); 2nd, those invaded in 1874, and the
eastern limit reached, marked by ruled lines; 3d, the general direc-
tion from which the insects came, marked by the direction of the lines
and by arrows. The answers to the different questions have been prop-
erly filed and arranged by counties, and will be preserved. They are
too voluminous to publish, and it is sufficient here to give a summary
of them, numbered to correspond with the questions.
1—This question is sufficiently answered on the map, from which
it will be seen that 35 of our western counties were invaded, and that
they reached farthest into the State in Benton and Pettis.
2—The general direction from which they came was from the
northwest, the reports showing remarkable agreement in this respect.
The greatest deviation from this course occurred in the more eastern
or last counties visited, when the army became pretty well thinned
out and demoralized, and flew about witb less uniformity, being more
governed by the wind. The dates at which they are reported from
the different counties are interesting, and show that the insects ad-
vanced at an average rate of not more than three miles a day. That
they travel at a far greater speed, every one who has witnessed their
migrations is aware, and this low average rate is due to the fact that
they fly only during the heat of the day and on certain days when the
wind and weather are favorable, and to the further fact that the insects
were no longer as vigorous and numerous as they had been in
the country to the west. Another interesting fact is deducible
from the returns, viz.: that the rate of advance was greater in
the counties first invaded than those last reached—a fact indicating
that the insects were getting more and more exhausted and less
desirous of flight the farther east they came. They reached Holt
county on the 8th of August, and all the counties on the same line,
north and south, from Worth to McDonald, were reached during the
latter part of the same month. They then continued to make short
flights, and finally reached their extreme eastern limit toward the
last of September.
_ 3—The correspondents do not agree as to whether the wind has
* Where the map does not accompany this page it will be found in front of the Volume.
E R—10
146 _ SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
much influence on their flight; but the majority of the reports show
that, as is the nature of the insect in other States, it only flew in
dense swarms when the wind was from the northwest.
4—In most of the counties invaded, the locusts stayed till frost;
i. e., from their first appearance till frost, swarms came and left, so
that there were almost always some of them about. In some of the
last counties invaded, they were observed for only a few days, and in
all, their numbers diminished more and more through nataral or un-
natural death, until Jack Frost vetoed the hopping and kicking of the
very last stragglers.
5—On account of the long continued drouth, and the ravages of
the Chinch Bug, but little green food was left.for the locusts to de-
stroy. This, however, they took, showing nomercy. Corn was already
too hard in most of the invaded counties to be damaged; but they
stripped every green blade, and often the husks, when not already
killed by the Chich Bug. Fall wheat and rye were eaten as fast as
they came out of the ground, and the sowing of these grains was
delayed on that account. Oats were taken, but as a rule only after
wheat andrye. Clover and timothy shared the same fate, and, in fact
all the grasses suffered. Most garden vegetables were destroyed. The
tops of peanuts, buckwheat and beans were also to their taste, and
they were particularly partial to hemp. Apple, pear and peach
leaves were not amiss, and the green peaches were devoured, with the
exception of the stones which were left hanging to the trees. Green
apples were refused. Grapes were cut off from the vines, but not
eaten. Tobacco was eaten in many instances, but they did not seem
to enjoy it.
6—It is well known that these omnivorous creatures will devour
almost anything when pushed from hunger; yet they have their likes
and dislikes, and their conduct in Missouri, so far as regards the latter,
as condensed from the reports, may be thus stated: Plants belong-
ing to the Nightshade Family (Solanacew) generally escaped their
ravages; the tops of potatoes and tomatoes were not eaten. Sweet
potatoes, parsnips, castor-beans, butter-beans, carrots, celery and the
tops of beets were not molested. They did no damage to broom-corn
or sorghum. Tobacco was in most cases not eaten, and if eaten, it is
reported as killing the locusts. Prairie grass, wild weeds and the
leaves of most forest trees were left uninjured. Plants growing in
wet places, or in the shade of trees, hills, etc., mostly escaped injury.
7—In most of the counties invaded, the insects are reported as
having laid eggs; andin some localities the eggs were so numerous
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 147
as to whiten the surface wherever the ground was ploughed and they
were exposed to the bleaching and cleansing effects of sun and rain.
All the reports agree that low and moist ground was avoided.
8—In most counties, even in the northern ones, some of the ear-
lier eggs hatched, especially those laid on hill-sides and other high
ground exposed to the rays of the sun. The young hoppers attained
a size of + to4of aninch, and were active during the middle of the
day, even into December. These young hoppers disappear and seek
Winter shelter; but it is doubtful whether many, if any, survive the
Winter.
9—From the accounts received in answer to this question, it ap-
pears that in 1866 the locusts invaded pretty much the same counties,
the farthest point reached to the eastward being the western portion
of Benton county. As the map indicates, they reached somewhat
further east in the northern part of the State than in 1874, but not so
far in the southern counties, there being none recorded in Polk and
Lawrence. Yet imaginary lines, indicating the average eastern limits
of their advance in either year would run a little to the east of War-
rensburg and Clinton in Johnson and Henry counties, and not more
than a dozen miles apart. They came a month later in 1873 than in
1874, and were moving from about the first of September to the end
of October. The direction of their flight and progress was precisely
as the past year, i. e., from the northwest. They deposited large num-
bers of eggs which—for the most part—hatched in the Spring of 1867.
The young hoppers did much damage in many localities in the Spring
of this year, destroying the wheat, corn, grasses and vegetables by
stripping off the leaves and leaving only the bare stalk standing.
They also attacked the oats, biting the stalks and causing the grain
to drop. They fed in large bodies, traveling together, and thus devas-
tating the crops in strips and sections, leaving the intermediate fields
untouched. But taking the reports of all the counties, comparatively
little damage was done by these young hoppers—much less than was
anticipated and seemingly warranted by the large numbers which
hatched. They were attacked by parasites and diminished rapidly in
numbers; and those which acquired wings, in the early part of July,
generally left their place of birth, flying in all directions, but princi-
pally in the opposite direction to that in which they had come the
previous Fall. They laid no eggs and were gradually lost sight of the
latter part of the growing season.
10—The insects came too late last year to do very great injury.
Everything green had about disappeared on account of the continued
drouth and Chinch Bug. Wheat had been harvested and was there-
148 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
fore uninjured; corn was toodry and hard to suit their taste. The
damage was chiefly done to the young wheat, which they made a clean
sweep of in many localities—chiefly in the southern counties, where
it was already sown. Pastures were injured so as to oblige very early
feeding of stock. The principal damage was done to garden truck,
and tender trees and shrubs; and compared to the injury of the Chinch
Bug the aggregate damage by locusts was slight; while some of my
correspondents considered these last a benefit on account of the abun-
dant and fattening food they supplied to poultry and hogs.
11—With the exception of Fall plowing and collecting and feeding
the insects to hogs, no remedies or attempts to destroy the pests are
reported.
12—The answers to this question are summed up on the map.
Kansas—While the injuries caused by the invasion of 1874 was
comparitively slight in Missouri it was very great in Kansas. The
locusts swept down upon that State in overwhelming hordes from the
plains of Colorado on the west, and the fields of Nebraska on the
north, in many instances clearing off all traces of vegetation in a few
hours. The corn crop, not being as advanced as it was in our own
State upon their advent, was ruined by them. I have newspaper and
private reports of the appearance of the insects in all the counties,
except Clarke, Comanche, Gove, Doniphan, Graham, Greenwood, Har-
per, Hodgeman, Kiowa, Neosho, Ness, Pratt, Sumner, Stafford, Trego
and Wallace. Most of these counties are yet unorganized and do not
exist, except upon the maps, the population being very limited and of a
transient character. They were undoubtedly overrun like the rest, for
Mr. Chas. S. Davis, of Junction City, who sent out postal-card queries
over the State, informs me that he has reports from Doniphan, Co-
manche, Greenwood, Neosho and Sumner; and Mr. Alfred Gray, who
has publisbed full returns in his excellent report for 1874, as Secretary
of the State Board of Agriculture, informs me that no county was free
from visitation. He writes: “I have consulted with several reliable
gentleinen concerning the appearance in the unorganized portion of
the State, and find that the visitation was general. The representa-
tive from Ford county, Mr. Wright, says that south of his locality, in
the Indian Territory, they appeared in immense clouds and would dip
down at long intervals, and would as suddenly leave.”
From the monthly returns published by Mr. Gray, it appears that 34
counties reported products enough to enable them to bridge over the
Winter. Thirty counties reported 1,842 families, aggregating 9,154 per-
sons reduced to destitution. The press of the country has been full
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. — 149
of accounts of the destitution and suffering which this visitation en-
tailed on the people of our sister State, and the agents of relief socie-
ties have appealed with effect to the generosity of the people through-
out the land. The accounts of the suffering and distress have been
very conflicting, and the truth doubtless lies between the heart-rend-
ing, sensational compositions, and those which, prompted by State
pride or real estate interest, go to the other extreme, and underate the
real distress. The following from Mr. Gray’s Report, undoubtedly
gives a calm and truthful statement:
About the 25th of July one of those periodical, calamitous visitations to which
the trans-Mississippi States are liable once in from eight to ten years, made its appear-
ance in northern and northwestern Kansas—the Grasshopper or Locust. The air was
filled and the fields and trees were completely covered with these voracious trespassers.
At one time the total destruction of every green thing seemed imminent, Their course
was in a southerly and southeasterly direction, and before the close of August the
swarming hosts were enveloping the whole State. ‘The visitation was so sudden that
the people of the State became panic-stricken. In the western counties—where immi-
gration for the last two years had been very heavy, and where the chief dependence
of new settlers was corn, potatoes and garden vegetables—the calamity fell with terri-
dle force. Starvation or emigration seemed inevitable unless aid should be furnished.
Again, Gov. Osborne says in his message to the Leglslature, con-
vened in extra session by special proclamation to take action regard-
ing the suffering:
Since issuing my proclamation convening the Legislature, an extensive corres-
pondence has been carried on with the people, especially in the western counties, and
every effort has been made by the executive office, as well as by the officers of the State
Board of Agriculture, to obtain reiiable statistics in regard to the condition of the peo-
ple. The result of this inquiry shows that while Kansas as a State has an abundance
of breadstuffs—much more than is needed to feed all her people—that that portion of
the State which has been almost entirely populated during the past eighteen months,
will suffer for want of the necessities of life unless provision is made for its relief.
From information now in my possession, it appears that the sections of the State
for which relief should be provided by legislation are confined to the counties west of
the sixth principal meridian. The counties most seriously affected, and for which the
needed relief cannot be afforded by the local authorities, are Norton, Rooks, Ellis,
Russell, Osborne, Phillips, Smith, McPherson, Rice, Barton, Reno, Barbour, Edwards
and Pawnee; while the counties of Harvey, Jewell, Ellsworth, Sedgwick, Sumner, and
possibly some others, may require more or less assistance. Of these, the greatest des-
titution seems to prevail in the extreme northwest, embracing Norton, Phillips, Rooks,
‘Osborne and Smith counties, and the unorganized counties lying west, where immedi-
ate aid scems necessary.
At the special session, townships in the destitute counties were
authorized to issue bonds to the amount of $50,000, but the act was
subsequently declared unconstitutional by the Attorney-General, so
that no bonds can be sold. This source of relief was therefore of no
avail, and the regular Legislature was subsequently strongly petitioned
and urged to afford relief by direct appropriation. Its action will ever
redound to its discredit and to that of the State. After the whole
country had, by sanction of its authorities, been canvassed and impor-
tuned for aid and relief, it was still evident asSpring approached that
much assistance was needed in the frontier counties, and that, with-
150 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
out such assistance, the farmers in many counties would be unable to:
obtain seed to put in their crops or to carry on their legitimate farm
operations. Yetin face of the constant appeals from thousands of
sufferers, supplemented by two special messages from the Governor,
in one of which he says: “I tremble to anticipate the judgment of
mankind upon a commonwealth which, having encouraged appeals to
the charity of the people of the whole country, steadfastly refuses to
relieve asingle want at the expense of its own treasury ”—the Legis-
lature finally adjourned without making any appropriation whatever.
Yet there was abundant means in the treasury and the appropriations
made for other purposes exceed half a million dollars. The ill repute
which this neglect of her Legislature in the hour of need will bring
upon the State will stick to her like the shirt of Nessus.
The following extracts from my private correspondence will indi-
cate the periods at which the insects reached different parts of the
State:
My interest in the cause in which you labor is my excuse for addressing you at
this time. By virtue of your office you are public property, and the people of Kansas
feel as if you belonged to us as well as Missouri. The main subject upon which I wish
to write you is the ‘‘ grasshoppers.’ Swarms of ‘grasshoppers have been appearing
in different parts of the State since the 15th of July. It is only within ten days that
they have appeared in this immediate vicinity, and from what observation I have been
able to make I cannot see that they have laid any eggs yet. They eat as voraciously as
any I ever heard of. But for this fact, I would think they might be a brood hatched
somewhere on the plains between here and the mountains, and that they will not breed.
I understand that the only method of determining the difference between the barren
brood hatched in the low lands and the swarms from the mountains is in the time they
make their flight. In the Spring of 1869, when I came to this place, I watched the
Spring brood hatch, and they all left as early as the middle of June. * * *—[Robert
Milliken, Emporia, Lyon county, Kansas, Aug. 10, 1874.
I send you by mail a specimen of the devouring host. On Sunday evening, July
26th, they came down upon us by millions and soon cleaned our corn-fields and or-
chards, and then stripped the trees of their foliage. One week agothe bulk of these
left, and we felt relieved of our fears that they would interfere with wheat sowing; but
yesterday the sky was darkened with a new installment. There is no corn left even
for seed in this county, and they are ruining the orchards. I send you some twigs.
Often the trunk is girdled when they are é inches through. Nothing comes amiss to
them, though they seem to have some preference for food. Box Elder does not
seem to be palatable to them, or Black Walnut, still they will eat them, and large trees
are stripped of leaves. Tobacco they seem to like, and you can see bunches big as
your fist fighting and struggling to get a taste of some old quid that has been thrown
intheroad. To attempt to give any idea of the destruction of these plagues is useless,.
for the general public will not believe one-half the truth, but set us down as liars.—[H.
L. Jones, Salina, Saline county, Kansas, Aug. 13, 1874,
I send you a few specimens of our ‘‘hoppers.’? They have destroyed the entire
corn crops of Central and Western Kansas and left thousands of people in absolute
destitution. They have tarried with us longer this year than usual, having been de-
tained by adverse winds from making their usual annual southerly migration. They
do not usually trouble us unless stopped in their course south by currents counter to
the direction of their flight.—[N. B. Truland, Cawker City, Mitchell county, Kans.,
Aug. 11, 1874.
On Saturday the grasshoppers came down upon us here at Ottawa. They had
been for some days to the north and east of us, and on Saturday a north wind brought
them. They are in and upon everything, thick as bees in swarming time. I send you
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. _ 151
some specimens. Are they Caloptenus spretus? I presume they are, without doubt.
Yet I notice that many of them have the wing covers much less than 4 longer than the
abdomen ; but I believe all males have the little notch in the ventral segment. Will
they probably remain here and deposit their eggs, or may we expect to see them move
off? I have not seen any pairing yet—[Wm. Wheeler, Ottawa, Franklin county, Kan-
sas, Aug. 24, 1874.
As there prevails a belief that Kansas will suffer permanently
from locust devastations; and as many people are deterred from
migrating thither from fear of these insects, the following answer to
an inquiry which I published in the New York Tribune, last October,
may serve to measurably allay this fear.
Does the science of Entomology offer a solution to the Grasshopper question, that scourge of the
trans-Missouri? I have made my arrangements to settle in Kansas or at some point inthe ‘‘ Far West’?
for the purpose of making a home, but do not relish the idea of being menaced by famine.—[Z. F. Hop-
kins, Jackson Co., Ill.
Just now the people of Kansas are, in many sections of that unfortunate State,
greatly discouraged, and there is quite an exodus from her extensive and fertilé plains,
especially of the more receut settlers. Nor is the outlook encouraging, for the locusts
very generally fell upon whatever in the way of food and forage had braved an unu-
sual drouth. Yet much unnecessary alarm is manifested, and the desolation has been
greatly magnified. The authorities have fully canvassed the position and find no need
to ask assistance from sister States, and we may rest assured that while many of her
farmers must suffer deprivation the coming Winter there will be nothing heard of the
predicted famine. We should not forget that eight years ago Kansas suffered from
such a locust invasion, yet the eight intervening years between the invasion of 1866 and
that of the present year have been among the most propitious in her history.
The story of the Locust (Caloptenus spretus) is a long one, but without going into
details, I can seeno good reason why any one should hesitate to settle in Kansas on
account of these insects. If [ had any intention of settling in that State, I should
choose this time of all others todo so: first, because so many of her citizens have become
alarmed and are willing to sell fine homesteads at a great sacrifice ; secondly, because,
from the past history of these invasions, her people may reasonably expect exemption
from them for a period of eight, ten, twelve or more years. Two invasions are not
likely to succed each other within two years in the same territory, and this is so well
understood among the Mormons, who are apt to suffer from such devastating hosts,
that they are in the habit of laying in atwo years’ supply of provisions—never fear-
ing that there will be any need of a three years’ supply. The people in Montana,
Idaho and Nevada, expect to suffer from them about once in every seven years. The
same argument, also, which would deter people from settling in Kansas would deter
them from settling in the western part of lowa, in Colorado, Nebraska, ‘Texas, Minne-
sota, in short, in any of the country 500 to 550 miles east of the Rocky Mountains,
from British America to Mexico; for all this vast extent of country is more or
less subject to locust invasions. here are, indeed, few parts of the country not sub-
ject to periodic misfortune, cither from meteorological or entomological excesses.
Nerpraska.—Next to Kansas, this State suffered most, having been
entirely overrun, as the following extract from a letter from Gov. R.
W. Furnas will show: “The whole of our State, from a point, say thirty
miles from the Missouri river west, has been more or less affected by
‘grasshoppers.’ The extreme western portion of the State was entirely
devastated.” They camein legions from the north and northwest, and
the following extracts from correspondence will sufficiently indicate
the time of appearance, which was during the last of July:
This region was visited by these grasshoppers on July 21st, and after a sojourn of
ten days they departed, and with them went our corn crop for 1874. For ten long days
the pests fed and fattened on our immense corn crops, and the last three or four days
of their stay they deposited their eggs by the million all over the plowed ground and
152 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
new breaking. In some places a small fly, and also the common black ant, have been
- destroying the eggs. But for every one destroyed there are probably a thousand left.
It was fortunate for us that they came no sooner, as the small grain here was all ripe
and they did no damage to it.—[J. W. D., Fillmore, Neb., Aug. 5, 1874.
The locusts visited us about three weeks ago from the South, and stopped about
ten or twelve days with us, doing a great deal of damage to corn, garden stuffs, etc.;
but I think we shall get about a one-fourth crop of corn. Don’t they like onions! You
could see them stand upon their heads eating into these vegetables, and they left
nothing but a skin outside. I noticed upon new breaking thousands of them pairing,
but I think the bulk le{t before depositing eggs. The wheat crop and all small grain
has been good; but I believe that up the Republican Valley, in the Southwest of the
State, the new settlers will have a very hard Winter, on account of the locusts.—[J.
W.C. White, Lincoln, Dodge county, Nebraska, August 14, 1874.
The locusts made their appearance here about the last of July, and left on the 7th
of August. The wind was blowing from the Southwest at the time of their arrival,
but I think there was an upper current of wind from the North, which carried the
greater part of them past, not more than one in ten (apparently) coming down. The
day after their arrival the wind blew from the Northeast, and at about 10 a. mM. they
began to leave, a few at a time, until about 12 a. m., when they arose in acloud, and for
some hours the air was full of them, some going and some coming. After they had
been here for a few days, they gathered in great numbers on the new breaking for the
purpose of breeding. The result of their visit to this part of Nebraska may be summed
up as follows: Corn damaged to someextent; vegetables of all kinds, except potatoes,
completely destroyed ; appleand pear trees stripped of foliage, and the stems of the
fruit eaten, so that most of it has fallen off. Insome places they have eaten the peaches
entirely, nothing being left on the tree but the pit.—[Wm. Dunn, Emerson, Otoe Co.,
Nebraska, August 20, 1874.
The locusts came more than a month ago, and after flying backward and forward
for a couple of weeks, they settled down, apparently determined to stay.—[Jno. Byfield,
Red Willow, Nebraska, August 21, 1874.
A “ Nebraska Relief and Aid Society ” was organized to provide
for the destitution caused by the visitation, and through its exertions
and through legislative aid all suffering was avoided. Gov. Furnas in
his message to the Legislative Assembly gives the following summary
of doings, after stating that the receipts by the Aid Society amounted,
up to that time, to $68,080:
Our own State, like most other portions of the country at large, especially the
West, has been afflicted the past season with short crops, by reason of drouth and
grasshopper devastation. While the injury has been greater than from any and ail
causes heretofore in the history of the Territory and State, and cannot be otherwise
than discouraging, particularly to the agriculturists, there is no disposition manifested
to abandon any portion of the State * * * The visitation falls on the frontier
counties with particular force. They must be aided or quit the country. Aided until
another year’s crop is produced, the foundation is laid for a prosperous future. Aside
from a natural and general principle of humanity, other good and sufficient reasons
exist why these people should be aided liberally and promptly. A very large propor-
tion of those now on our extreme borders and in need, are ex-soldiers; those who
responded promptly to their country’s call in the late hour of peril. os os mS
Our own people in the older portion of the State, not seriously affected, have
contributed liberally and promptly. both in money and in kind. All the railroads in
the State, as well as those leading into it, have, with commendable liberality, extended
free transportation to the State Society in aid of those in need. Generals Ord, Brisbin,
Dudley and Grover, of the regular army, have rendered incalculable aid and assistance,
entering with a will and zeal into the work of relief. Through the instrumentality of
General Ord, the Secretary of War ordered the issue of clothing to those in need.
Many portions of the older States, hearing of our misfortunes, came nobly and promptly
to the relief, and very liberally. The Nebraska Patrons of Husbandry have organized
a State association for purposes of relief, and not only in this, but in other States, are
accomplishing very much in the matter of aid. Through the efforts of our delegation
OF THE STATR ENTOMOLOGIST. _ 153
in Congress, acts for the relief of our people have passed that body. Extension of
time has been given homesteaders, and a cash appropriation of $30,000 has been made
with which to purchase seeds the coming Spring.
Iowa—As already stated in the chronological chapter, the Rocky
Mountain Locust* invaded the northwestern counties of lowa in the
Suwmer of 1873, and much of the injury in 1874 resulted from their
progeny. Fresh swarms came, however, in 1874, and the western
counties of Algona, Calhoun, Cherokee, Clay, Dickinson, Emmett,
Harrison, Humboldt, Jasper, Kossuth, Lyon, O’Brien, Osceola, Palo
Alto, Pocahontas, Plymouth, Sioux, Winnebago and Woodbury, suf-
fered more or less. East of the line indicated in my map, lowa suf-
fered nothing from these pests, and as the drouth was less severe than
in other parts of the country, and the crops good, the distress in the
ravaged counties was easily relieved.
A committee appointed to investigate the extent of devastation
and of suffering in 1874, made the following cheering report to the
Governor:
We have heard, in the northwestern counties, of only a single report of eggs laid
by the grasshoppers, and the pests left us too early for egg deposits ; and we trust and
believe they have left us for many years if not forever. The vast majority of those
whom the benevolence of the people aided last year, and kept upon their farms and
homesteads, have raised good crops, and with good farms and smiling faces they speak
of the kind hearts who aided them in their hour of need. Now, this year, we want
more aid, and must have it, to assist the settlers in Kossuth, Emmett and other sections
of counties. It will take a large amount of supplies to preserve homes and make
homes happy and comfortable there. Let the people with their magnificent crops and
great hearts, pour out of all their abundance, and save the little farms of those who
are striving to keep their little homesteads for themselves, their wives and chiidren.
Minnesota—As in the case of Iowa, Minnesota was visited along
her western border by these insects in 1873, and she had consequently
to suffer from the young of that invasion in addition to the fresh
swarms that overspread very much the same territory in 1874. The
counties ravaged in 1873 were thinly settled, mostly by homesteaders
with little means, and the consequent suffering was therefore very
great. The value of the crops destroyed in 1873 was estimated
Officially :
VVC ALE Seocescccect socccvessecssesconsses Ree selesceccaecee cesdeceessvecescaste Saneeeees $2,000,000
OH SPaerceseataceoceseccesccscenesees Rie cc Cec aa Baaacc eto aussscescsessospeacs 528,000
WOnTiescscesccusses sos aokscrcos soeeewere HaebeEded Sacsececnacccicdssceecsscacceseceeses 256,000
Other crops........ Bron abonesccnONDsEcee cdichoadboaccueododeacoc00s 6 becnapadboo .- 250,000
BRO ta aresctcoasaecse sse sess tees ested stectacenee teas cesses SoeeeeboNe Wascqcad $3,034,000
* My friend, J. M. Shaffer, in his Report for 1873, as Secretary of the State Agricul tural Society,
states (p. 25) that the insect was the common Red-legged species (femur-rubrum); but specimens of
this 1873 invasion, which he kindly sent me, are spretus, sure enough; and other specimens collected in
1874, and sent me by Professors Bessey and McAfee, of the Iowa Agricultural College, tell the same
tale.
154 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
The young from the 1873 invasion destroyed most of the small
grain and acquired wings, and began to leave the country in June.
During the month of July, and more particularly during the first half,
new clouds came from Dakota and British America and swept over
very much the same counties overrun the previous year, reaching a
little farther east. The clouds which came in 1874 are described as.
reaching 100 miles east and west and 200 miles north and south.
The Commissioner of Statistics,in his report for 1874, says that
the locusts destroyed more than 50 per cent. of the crops that year in
the counties of Brown, Clay, Cottonwood, Jackson, Lacquiparle,
Lincoln, Lyon, Martin, Murray, Nobles, Redwood, Renville, Rock,
Watonwan and Yellow Medicine; and asmaller percentage in Blue
Earth, Chippewa, Faribault, Grant, Nicollet, Otter Tail, Sibley, Ste-
vens, Swift and Wilkins.
Gov. C. K. Davis wrote to the Secretary of the War Department,
about the middle of July, as follows:
The locusts have devoured every kind of crop in the northwestern part of Minne-
sota. (They did the same thing last year in the same area). Many thousands are now
suffering for food, and Iam using every public and private source to send immediate
supplies of food. This State is entitled to two years quota of arms, estimated at $8,160.
I respectfully request to turn over to me, instead of arms, a quantity of rations, equiv-
alent in value.
-CoLtorADo—The whole of Colorado east of the mountains was
more or less overrun by this insect in 1874, and great damage was re-
ported from Conejos, El Paso, Larimer, Weld, Cache a la Poudre, from
Denver to Middle Park, and in the Ralston and Clear Creek regions.
In the Platte Valley they did less harm. Mr. J. D. Putnam, one of
my correspondents, wrote:
The grasshoppers (Caloptenus spretus) have been quite destructive in this territory
this year. They put in their first appearance at Valmont, Boulder county, on July 11,
though 1 saw them on Gold Hill (in the Mts.) on July 8. The first lot remained several
days and went off, but it was soon followed by another lot, and so they seemed to keep
on coming. The wheat was nearly ready for harvest when they first came, conse-
quently there is not the destitution among the farmers that there is in Nebraska.
Mr. O. A. Whittemore, Secretary of the Colorado Industrial Asso-
ciation, wrote: .
Our visitation this year came from the North and West. ‘The first invasion crossed
the mountains much to the north of us and coming down along the base of the moun-
tains, and after doing much damage, leaving for the South. A late swarm came
across the mountains directly west of us, and when leaving, seemed to be going South.
As this insect breeds in most of the western, mountainous part of
Colorado, this State suffers more or less from its injuries every year.
The insect is, in fact, the greatest pest to Colorado agriculture. Yet
it is only when fresh swarms sweep through the mountain passes and
canyons in darkening clouds, or when they bear dewn in multitudes.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. - 155.
from the plains to the northwest as they did last year, that they are
considered an unavoidable calamity. As arule these fresh accretions.
come so early in the season as to pass on to the south or southwest
without laying eggs; but very often they come late enough to lay
their eggs—the progeny from which is much more to be dreaded than
with us, because it is more healthful and vigorous and does much
more damage.
Daxota.—This Territory was also overrun in 1873 as well as 1874.
From the meagre data at my disposal, the settled portions were
almost completely ravaged, and in the southeastern half scarcely a
wheat-field escaped destruction. The late lamented M. L. Dunlap, in
his “ Rural” correspondence to the Chicago Zribune, gives the fol-
lowing picture of affairs in D. T.:
The Grasshopper has proven a burden, and the sound of the grinding is low, and
the emigrant wagon with its white cover is traveling East instead of West. A letter
before me from Dakota says: ‘If the grasshoppers scourge us another year, Dakota
will become desolate, and be remanded to her ancient solitude. This is the fourth year
of bad crops, and almost every farmer has a mortgage on his goods and chattels, to-
tide them over the past. Many have left, not to return, and others are to come back in
the Spring. At the best, the outlook is blue with despair.’? This will turn back an
army of laborers; for all those people, when they turn back, will need work, and this
they should have, if possible. These people are returning from an immense belt of
country, and the vanguard is already here, with the main army to follow. A little
marauding insect, born of the mountains, has driven them back, and may hold the
country for along time. The pleasant dreams of the homesteader have been brought
toa close, and unpleasant images have usurped the place. Even without the grasshop-
pers, pioneer life is a great struggle that none can fully appreciate until they have
passed its exacting ordeal.
From Montana and Wyoming, where these insects are at home,.
and where, from the nature of the country, settlements are very
sparse and agriculture scarcely has an existence, the reports of injury
are meagre.
Maniropa.—Their injuries in 1874 were severely felt in Manitoba.
The shores of Manitoba Lake were reported as at one time strewn
three feet thick with their dead carcasses, where they had been driven
into the lake and cast ashore; while in the South, from Pembina to
Stinking River, at Palestine, Boyne Settlement, Portage la Prairie,
Rat Creek, Rockwood and Winnepeg, they were reported as utterly
destroying oats, barley and other crops. From Mr. Geo. M. Dawson,
of McGill College, Montreal, who, as Geologist and Naturalist of the
N. A. Boundary Commission, has been collecting information as to
the limits of the insect in this province, I learn that the usual eastern
limit is formed by the edge of the wooded country, which crosses the
forty-ninth parallel about lon. 96° 30’, and runs thence to the south
end of Lake Winnepeg. A line drawn from Fort Garry to the forks.
of the Saskatchewan river; thence to Fort Edmonton, and thence to:
156 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
the intersection of the Rocky Mountains and forty-ninth parallel;
gives approximately the limit of the open prairie country. Over
the whole area to the south of this line, the Locust is, he believes,
frequently found in swarms. Mr. Dawson also informs me that they
have been known to reach, in years past, a number of miles into the
wooded country, as far east as the Lake of the Woods; or in other
words, to about the same limit line that they reach in Missouri.
ITS FLIGHT AND RAVAGES.
[Fig. 32.]
A swarm of Locusts falling upon and devouring a wheat-field.
The voracity of these insects can hardly be imagined by those
who have not witnessed them, in solid phalanx, falling upon a corn-
field and converting, in a few hours, the green and promising acres
into a desolate stretch of bare, spindling stalks and stubs. Covering
each hill by hundreds; scrambling from row to row like a lot of
young famished pigs let out to their trough; insignificant individ-
ually, but mighty collectively—they sweep clean a field quicker than
would a whole herd of hungry steers. Imagine hundreds of square
miles covered with such aravenous horde, and you can get some reali-
zation of the picture presented last year in many parts of Kansas.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. — 15%
Their flight may be likened to an immense snow storm, extending
from the ground to a height at which our visual organs perceive them
only as minute, darting scintillations—leaving the imagination to pic-
ture them indefinite distances beyond. ‘ When on the highest peaks
of the snowy range, fourteen or fifteen thousand feet above the sea,
I have seen them filling the air as much higher as they could be
distinguished with a good field glass.”* It is a vast cloud of animated
specks, glittering against the sun. On the horizon they often appear
as a dust tornado, riding up on the wind like an ominous hail storm,
eddying and whirling about like the wild dead leaves in an Autumn
storm, and finally sweeping up to and past you, with a power that is
irresistible. They move mainly with the wind and when there is no
wind they whirl about in the air like swarming bees. Ifa passing
swarm suddenly meets with a change in the atmosphere, “ such as the
approach of a thunder-storm, or gale of wind, they come down pre-
cipitately, seeming to fold their wings, and fall by the force of
gravity, thousands being killed by the fall, if it is upon stone or other
hard surface.”+ In alighting, they circle in myriads about you, beating
against everything animate or inanimate; driving into open doors
and windows; heaping about your feet and around your buildings;
their jaws constantly at work biting and testing all things in seeking
what they can devour. In the midst of the incessant buzz and noise
which such a flight produces; in face of the unavoidable destruction.
everywhere going on, one is bewildered and awed at the collective
power of the ravaging host, which calls to mind so forcibly the
plagues of Egypt.
The noise their myriad jaws make when engaged in their work of
destruction, can be realized by any one who has “ fought” a prairie
fire, or heard the flames passing along before a brisk wind: the low
crackling and rasping—the general effect of the two sounds, are very
similar. Southy,in his Thalaba,{ most graphically pictures this noise
produced by the flight and approach of locusts :
** Onward they come, a dark, continuous cloud
Of, congregated myriads numberless,
The rushing of Whose wings was as the sound
Of a broad river headlong in its course
Plunged from a mountain summit, or the roar
Of a wild ocean in the Autumn storm,
Shattering its billows on a shore of rocks !”’
Nothing, however, can surpass the prophet Joel’s account of the
*Wm. N. Byers, Am. Entomologist, I. p. 94.
+ Wm. N. Byers, Hayden’s Geol. Sury., 1870, p. 282.
tI., 169.
158 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
appearance and ravages of these insects. Omitting the figurative
parts, it is accurate and graphic beyond measure:
“ A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of
thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains; a great
people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall
be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. A fire
devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth; the land
is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate
wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them. The appearance of
them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they
run. Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they
leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as
a strong people set in battle array. Before their face the people shall
be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness. They shall run
like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and
they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break
their ranks. x otk eee They shall run to and fro in the city ;
they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses;
they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.”
Those who suffered from and witnessed the vast army that cast a
blight over so large a portion of our Western country last year; or
who passed by rail, during the better part of two days, through a per-
fect storm of these insects, which frequently impeded or stopped the
train by their crushed bodies reducing the traction—will concede
that Joel’s picture is not overdrawn, and that, though written over
2,500 years ago, it might have been inspired from many parts of North
America in the year 1874. The illustration (Fig. 32) which I give
herewith, is reduced from one published last August in the Sezen-
tific American, and, though not accurate in structural detail, con-
veys a very good idea of theappearanceof aswarm invading a wheat-
field.
FOOD PLANTS.
The Rocky Mountain Locust may be said to be almost omnivo-
rous. Scarcely anything comes amiss to the ravenous hosts when
famished. They will feed upon the dry bark of trees or the dry lint
of seasoned fence planks; and upon dry leaves, paper, cotton and
woolen fabrics. They have been seen literally covering the backs of
sheep, eating the wool; and whenever one of their own kind is weak
or disabled, from cause whatsoever, they go for him or her with can-
nibalistic ferocity, and soon finish the struggling and kicking unfortu-
nate. They do not refuse even dead animals, but have been seen feast-
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 159
ing on dead batsand birds. Few things, therefore, come amiss to them.
Yet where food is abundant they are fastidious and much prefer acid,
bitter or peppery food to that which is sweet. The following resume
of my notes and observations may prove interesting: Vegetables and
cereals are their main stay. Turnips, rutabagas, carrots, cabbage,
kohlrabi and radishes are all devoured with avidity; beets and pota-
toes with less relish, though frequently nothing but a few stalk-stubs
of the latter are left, and sometimes, the tubers in the ground do not
escape. Onions they are very partial to, seldom leaving anything but
the outer rind. Of leguminous plants the pods are preferred to the
leaves, which are often passed by. COucurbitaceous plants also suffer
most in the fruit. In the matter of tobacco their tastes are cultivated
and they seem torelish an old quid or an old cigar more than the
green leaf. Tomatoes and sweet potatoes are not touched so long as
other food is to mouth.
Of cereals, corn is their favorite; if young and tender, everything
is devoured to the ground; if older and drier, the stalks are mostly
left; the silk is, however, the first part to go. All other cereals are to
their taste, except sorghum and broom-corn, which are often left un-
touched. They are fond of buckwheat and flax, but seldom touch
castor beans.
Next to vegetables and cereals, they relish the leaves of fruit
trees; they strip apple and sweet cherry trees, leaving nothing but
the fruit hanging on the baretwigs. The leaves of the peach are gen-
erally left untouched, but the flesh of the unripe fruit is eaten to the
stone. Pear trees, as Mr. Gale informs me, suffered less than any
other kind of orchard tree at the Experimental farm at Manhattan,
Kansas. The tender bark of twig and branch and trunk of all these
trees is gnawed and girdled, and these girdled trees present a sad
picture as one passes through the ravaged country during the subse-
quent Winter. Sour cherry, apricot and plum trees are less affected
by them, while ripe fruit is seldom touched.
Of berries, strawberries and blackberries are devoured where
raspberries are frequently unmolested. Flowering shrubs very gen-
erally suffer, and they are particularly fond of Rose and Lilac. Of
herbaceous plants, Helianthus, Amaranthus and Xanthium are eaten
with especial avidity. Grape vines suffer more from the girdling of
the fruit stems than from defoliation. Forest and shade trees suffer in
different degrees, and some, when young, are not unfrequently killed
outright.
Last year, Honey Locust, Red Cedar, Box Elder, Osage Orange,
160 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
Elm and Oak, were either untouched or but little injured, while the
following trees were preferred in the order of their naming: Ash,
Willow, Cottonwood, Balm of Gilead, Silver-leaved and Lombardy
poplars, Black Ash, Black Locust, Black Walnut, Hickory, Ailanthus,
Maple, Sumach and Evergeens.
_ In every case they show a marked preference for plants that are
unhealthy or wilted.
TIME OF APPEARANCE.
In endeavoring to deduce some general conclusions respecting
the time of year that the 1874 swarms reached different parts of the
country, great difficulty is experienced in sifting those accounts which
refer to the progeny of the 1873 invasion, and the new comers which
hatched within the insect’s native range. Yet we shall find, as a rule,
that the insects which hatch outside the native habitat—i. e., in Min-
nesota, Iowa, Missouri, and the larger part of Nebraska and Kansas—
acquire wings and leave before the new swarms appear. In the more
northerly of the States, as in Minnesota, the insects hatched on the
ground acquire wings in June, and earlier in proportion as we go
south, until in Texas they become fledged in April. The time of
appearance of the new swarms is in inverse ratio; i. e., earlier in the
more northern, later in the more southern States. Thus, while on the
confines of the insect’s native habitat, it is almost if not quite impos-
sible to distinguish between the old and the new comers, in respect
to the time of their acquiring wings; the difference in this respect
becomes greater the farther south and east we go. The 1874 swarms
appeared during June in Southern Dakota, during July in Colorado,
Nebraska and Minnesota; during the latter part of this month in
Iowa and Western Kansas. During August, they came into Southeast
Kansas and Missouri; and by the middle of October they reached
Dallas, in Texas.
One noticeable feature of the invasion was the greater rapidity
with which the insects spread in the earlier part of the season, while
in fullest vigor, and the reduction in the average rate of progress the
farther east and south they went. The length of their stay depends
much on circumstances. Early in the Summer, when they first began
to pour down on the more fertile country, they seldom remained more
than two or three days, whereas, later in the season, they stayed much
longer. In speaking of the advent and departure of these insects, I
use relative language only. The first comers, when—after having
devoured everything palatable—they take wing away, almost always
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 161
leave a scattering rear-guard behind, and are generally followed by
new swarms; and a country once visited presents for weeks the spec-
tacle of the insects gradually rising in the air between the hours of
9or104.m.and 3p.M.,and being carried away by the wind, while
others are constantly dropping.
ITS NATIVE HOME: IT CANNOT THRIVE IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY, AND CAN
NEVER REACH FAR INTO MISSOURI.
A full month before a single specimen of the Rocky Mountain
Locust reached Missouri in 1874, I prophesied that it would come into
our western counties too late to do any very serious damage, and that
it would not reach beyond a givenline.* To the many anxious corre-
spondents who, fearing that the State was to be overrun, as Kan-
sas was being overrun, wrote for my opinion and advice, I replied:
“ Judging of the future by the past, the farmers of Missouri, east
of the extreme western tier of counties need fear nothing from Locust
invasions. They may plant their Fall grain without hesitation, and
console themselves with the reflection that they are secure from the
unwelcome visitants which occasionally make their way into the
counties mentioned, and especially of the northwest corner of the
State. The same holds true of the farmers of Illinois and of all the .
country east of a line drawn, at a rough estimate, along longitude 17°
West from Washington.”
The detailed account already given (p. 144) of the countiesin Mis-
souri invaded in 1874, will show how subsequent events bore out my
prophesy, and how the insect reached just about the limit I had given
it. But, it will be asked, “ Upon what do you base this conclusion,
and what security have we, that at some future time the country east
of the line you have indicated may not be ravaged by these plagues
from the mountains?” I answer that during the whole history of the
species as I have attempted to trace it in the chronological account
already given, the insect never has done any damage east of the line
indicated, and there is no reason to suppose that it ever will do so for
the future. There must of course be some limit to its flight, as no one
would be foolish enough to argue that it could, in one season, fly to
England or France, or even to the Atlantic ocean; and asits flight is by
law limited to one season—for the term of life allotted to it is bounded
by the Spring and Autumn frosts—so its power of flight is limited.
And as the historical record proves that it never has done any dam-
* St. Lowis Globe, July 20, 1x74.
ER—1l1
162 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
age east of the line indicated, it is but logical to infer that it never
will. ‘“ Because an insect can fly 550 miles, it would be ridiculous to
argue that, therefore, it can fly 700 miles. We might as well claim
that because a man can jump a ditch twenty feet wide, therefore he
can jump another ditch which is thirty feet wide; or because a man
can easily carry a young calf upon his back, therefore, if he practices
dailv, he will be able to carry the same animal upon his back when it
has grown to be a cow.”*
My late friend, B. D. Walsh, who, from a number of data which
he accumulated, first laid stress on this fact that the insect would in
all likelihood never reach the Mississippi river, gives his reasons in
the following concluding paragraph of his report as acting State En-
tomologist of Illinois:
Every man—except, perhaps, some crazy Millerite—believes firmly that, in all
human probability, the sun will rise in Illinois every morning for hundreds of years to
come. Yet he has no other kind of evidence to justify such a belief, than I have to
justify the truth of my theory, namely, that in all human probability we shall
never for hundreds of years to come, be afflicted with the Hateful Grasshopper in Illi-
nois. Both the inorganic and organic worlds are governed by certain fixed laws; and
whether it be a vast fiery globe of liquid larva, revolving slowly upon its axis in the
midst of the attendant worlds that have been circling around it, each in its own pecu-
liarly prescribed path, for indefinite ages, or whether it be some infinitesimally minute
insect, winging its way from the alpine heights of the Rocky Mountains over the
Desert Plains of the West; we have but to ascertain by what laws each of them is
governed, in order to be able to predict, in the case of each of them, what is and what
is not morally certain to happen in the future.
“But why,” it will again be asked, “will not the young from the
eggs laid along the eastern limit you have indicated, hatch and spread
further to the eastward?” Here, again, historical record serves us,
and there are, in addition, certain physical facts which help to answer
the question.
There is some diflerence of opinion as to the precise natural habi-
tat and breeding place of these insects, but the facts all indicate
that it is by nature a denizen of high altitudes, breeding in the val-
leys, parks and plateaus of the Rocky Mountain region of Colorado,
and especially of Montana, Wyoming and British America. Prof.
Cyrus Thomas, who has had an excellent opportunity of studying it—
through his connection with Hayden’s geological survey of the Terri-
tories—reports it as occurring from Texas to British America and from
the Mississippi (more correctly speaking the line I have indicated)
westward to the Sierra Nevada range. But in all this vast extent of
country, and especially in the more southern latitudes, there is every
reason to believe that it breeds only on the higher mountain eleva-
tions, where the atmosphere is very dry and attenuated, and the soil
tAm. Ent. {, p. 75.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. _ 163
seldom, if ever, gets soaked with moisture. Prof. Thomas found it
most numerous in all stages of growth along the higher valleys and
canyons of Colorado, tracing it up above the perennial snows, where
the insect must have hatched, as it was found in the adolescent stage.
In crossing the mountains in Colorado it often gets chilled in passing
the snows, and thus perishes in immense numbers, when bears delight
to feast upon it.
My own belief is that the insect is at home in the higher altitudes
of Utah, Idaho, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Northwest Dakota and
British America. It breeds in all this region, but particularly on the
vast hot and dry plains and plateaus of the last named Territories and
on the plains west of the mountains; its range being bounded, perhaps,
on the Kast by that of the Buffalo grass. Mr. Wm.N. Byers, of Denver,
Colorado, shows that they hatch in immense quantities in the valleys of
the three forks of the Missouri river and along the Yellow Stone, and
how they move on from there, when fledged, in a southeast direction
at about 10 miles per day. The swarms of 1867 were traced, as he
states, from their hatching grounds in West Dakota and Montana,
along the east flank of the Rocky Mountains, in the valleys and plains
of the Black Hills, and between them and the main Rocky Mountain
range.*
In all this immense stretch of country, as is well known, there are
immense tracts of barren, almost desert land, while other tracts for
hundreds of miles bear only a scanty vegetation, the short buffalo
grass of the more fertile prairies giving way, now to a more luxurious
vegetation along the water courses, now to the sage bush anda few
cacti. Another physical peculiarity is found in the fact that while
the Spring on these immense plains often opens as early, even away
up into British America, as it does with us in the latitude of St. Louis,
yet the vegetation is often dried and actually burned out before
the first of July, so that not a green thing is to be found. Our Rocky
Mountain Locust, therefore, hatching out in untold myriads in the
hot sandy plains, five or six thousand feet above the sea level, will
often perish in immense numbers if the scant vegetation of its native
home dries up before it acquires wings; but if the season is propi-
tious and the insect becomes fledged before its food supply is ex-
hausted, the newly acquired wings prove its salvation. It may also
become periodically so prodigiously multiplied in its native breeding
place that, even in favorable seasons, everything green is devoured
by the time it becomes winged.
*See Hayden’s Geol. Survey of the Territories, 1870, pp. 282-3.
164 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
In either case, prompted by that most exigent law of hunger—
spurred on for very life—it rises in immense clouds in the air to seek
for fresh pastures where it may stay its ravenous appetite. Borne
along by the prevailing winds that sweep over these immense treeless.
plains from the northwest, often at the rate of 50 or 60 miles an hour,.
the darkening locust clouds are soon carried into the more moist and
fertile country to the southeast, where, with sharpened appetites,
they fall upon the crops like a plague and a blight. Many of the
more feeble or of the more recently fledged perish, no doubt, on the
way; but the main army succeeds, with favorable wind, in bridging
over the parched country which offers no nourishment. The hotter
and drier the season, and the greater the extent of the dronth, the
earlier will they be prompted to migrate, and the farther will they
push on to the Kast and South.
The comparatively sudden change from the attenuated and dry
atmosphere of five to eight thousand feet or more above the sea level,
to the more humid and dense atmosphere of one thousand feet above
that level, does not agree with them. The first generation hatched in
this low country is unhealthy, and the few that attain maturity do not
breed, but become intestate and go to the dogs. At least such is the
case in our own State and in the whole of the Mississippi Valley
proper. As we go West or Northwest and approach nearer and nearer
the insect’s native home, the power to propagate itself and become
localized, becomes, of course, greater and greater, until at last we
reach the country where it is found perpetually. Thus in the westerm
parts of Kansas and Nebraska the progeny from the mountain swarms
may multiply to the second or even third generation, and wing their
way in more local and feeble bevies to the country east and south.
Yet eventually they vanish from off the face of the earth, unless for-
tunate enough to be carried back by favorable winds to the high and
dry country where they flourish. That they often instinctively seek
to return to their native haunts is proven by the fact that they are
often seen flying early in the season in a northwesterly direction.* As.
a rule, however, the winds which saved the first comers from starva-
tion by bearing them away from their native home, keep them and
*Mr. Affleck, in the letter published in the Appendix, shows that they frequently take this direction
in leaving Texas. Mr. 8S. T. Kelsey also writes me: Inthe Spring of 1874, I think late in May, they
passed over the same country (between Hutchinson and Dodge counties in Kansas) going north, flying:
high as before, and none of them alighting so far as I could see or learn. They were observed by many
persons besides myself, but as they did no harm there was little said abont them, Mr. G. M. Dodge, of
Glencoe, Dodge county, Neb., (Prairie Farmer, September 19, 1874,) also records their passing over
that place in a northerly direction during the last of May—a date indicating that they must have been
born in more Southern latitudes. See also Mr, Faulknev’s letter, on page 141 of this Report.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 165
their issue to the east and south, and thus, in the end, prove their
destruction. Forin the Mississippi Valley they are doomed, sooner
or later.
There is nothing more certain than that the insect is not autoch-
thonous in West Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, or even Minnesota,
and that when forced to migrate from its native home, from the causes
already mentioned, it no longer thrives in this country.
That the native home of the species is sub-Alpine, is proved by
the fact of its abounding to such an extent in British America, and of
its breeding in the higher mountain elevations, even up to the peren-
nial snows. In fact, so high up does it breed that it often hatches so
late in the season as to be overtaken by the cold of the succeeding
Winter before acquiring growth, when of course it perishes without
begetting. The truly Alpine country cannot, therefore, be its native
home; and those found breeding at such a height must be the prog-
eny of others which flew from the plains, either east or west of the
mountains. Physical barriers on the high mountain summits put a
limit to the insect’s extension and propagation, just as they do in the
Mississippi Valley.
Such are my opinions, based upon my own observations in Mis-
souri, Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado; on those of a large number
of correspondents, and especially upon the experience of men like
Mr. Byers and Prof. Thomas, who have given the subject particular
attention. In treating of the native home of the species, I have con-
fined myself, as in all other cases in speaking of the insect, as much
as possible, to the country east of the Rocky Mountain Range: I
leave to others to trace its history beyond the mountains.
Beyond the boundary line indicated in my map (Fig. 32), they did
not reach in 1874, and beyond that line I do not believe they will ever
‘do any damage. Not that they may not extend to some extent be-
yond that line, in years to come, or that the young, hatching in 1875,
will not push beyond it; for I have numerous records to show that
they have occurred as far as the western point of Lake Superior, and
that they have even reached the Mississippi in parts of Lowa: but in
all such instances they appeared in scattering numbers only, and did
no material damage. They were the last remnants of the mighty
armies from the mountains, moving and blowing about, diseased, para-
‘sitised, intestate and wasting away.
Well is it for the people of Missouri; well is it for the people of
the Mississippi Valley, generally, that this insect cannot go on multi-
plying indefinitely in their fertile fields! Else, did it go on multiply-
166 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
ing and thriving as the Colorado Potato-beetle has done, this whole
valley would soon become a desert waste. A wise Providence has
decreed that thus far it shall go, and no further.
It will surely be a source of satisfaction to the farmers east of the
line indicated to feel assured against any future invasion by, or any
serious injury from, an army of insects so prodigiously numerous as
actually to obscure the light of the sun, and so ruinously destructive
as to devour almost every green thing that grows!
WHAT INJURY MAY BE EXPECTED IN MISSOURI IN 18752
The subject we have just been considering, brings us very natu-
rally to the question propounded in the above heading. It is also a
question of vital importance to the farmers in our western counties,
and one that will be repeatedly asked this coming Spring ; and as there
prevails an erroneous impression that I have given it as my opinion
that no damage can possibly result from the young hatching out in
1875, I will here repeat what I actually said on the subject last Autumn.
Setting aside possible but not probable injury from a new inva-
sion, we may consider the probable injury that will result in 1875
from the progeny of those which came in 1874. The eggs which are
deposited on southerly hill-sides often hatch before cold weather sets
in, if the Fall is warm and protracted, while many hatch soon after the
frost is out of the ground in the Spring. Yet the great bulk of them
will not hatch till into April. That most of the eggs will hatch may
be taken for granted unless we have very abnormal climatic condi-
tions, and unprecedentedly wet and cold weather following a mild and
thawing spell. The young issuing from these eggs will also, in all
probability, do much damage, as they did in the Spring and Summer
of 1867. But the actual damage cannot be foretold, as so much
depends on circumstances. In 1867,in many counties of Kansas and
Missouri, where the ground had been filled with eggs the previous.
Fall, little harm was done in the Spring—so small a percentage of the
eggs came to anything and so unmercifully were the young destroyed
by natural enemies. A severe frost kills the young after they have
hatched, where a moderate frost does not affect them. In Missouri, if
we have no weather that proves fatal to either eggs or young, consid-
erable damage may be expected, but not as much as in the country to
the West; for, as already stated, we received the more scattering
remains of the vast army, and the eggs are neither as numerous, nor
will they hatch as early in our territory as farther West. Following a
rather mild February the March of ’67 was a very severe one, the
thermometer frequently indicating 18 degrees below zero,.and accord-
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 167
ing to Mr. W.F. Goble, of Pleasant Ridge, Kansas, who wrote an
excellent account of the insect,* this severe weather caused many of
the eggs to perish; and he expresses the opinion that “ judging from the
voraciousness of those that did appear, I doubt not Kansas would
have been made a perfect desert if all had lived.”
If after the young hoppers hatch we have much cold wet weather,
great numbers of them will congregate in sheltered places and perish
before doing serious harm; but if, on the contrary, our Spring and
early Summer prove dry and hot (which is hardly to be expected after
the several dry seasons lately experienced) much damage will result,
from these young locusts, where no effort is made to prevent it. They
will ruin most garden truck, do much injury to grain, and affect plants
very much in the order previously indicated under the head of ‘ Food-
plants.” They will become more and more injurious as they get older,
until, in about two months from the time of hatching, or about the
middle of June, they will begin to acquire wings, become restless,
and in all probability leave the locality where they were born, either
wending their way further South or returning in the direction whence
their parents came the previous year. Some bevies may even pass
to the eastward of the limit line reached in 1874, and fall upon some
of the counties bordering that line; but they will lay no eggs, and
will in time run their course and perish from debility, disease and
parasites. In 1876 the Rocky Mountain Locust will scarcely be heard
of within our borders; a few remnants from Kansas or Nebraska, or
from the country to the southwest, may make their presence mani-
fest, if the year should be exceptionally favorable to their develop-
ment; but, whether delayed till 1876, or even till 1877, the last one
will eventually vanish from Missouri soil, and their race will no more
be known among us till—perhaps within the next six or eight years;
perhaps not within the next twenty—a fresh swarm wings its way
to our borders from the plains along the mountain regions. There
is, therefore, no danger of their overrunning the State to the east of
the limit line; nor of their doing permanent injury in the counties
they now occupy.
RAVAGES OF MIGRATORY LOCUSTS IN THE ATLANTIC STATES.
We have already seen how the true Rocky Mountain Locust,
which rarely reaches the Mississippi, may be distinguished from the
Red-legged species, which often mixes with it and is common to a much
larger extent of country, and reaches to the Atlantic. We have also
* Monthly Reports, Dept. Agr. 1867 p. 290.
168 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
seen that the ravages of migratory locusts between the Mississippi
and the Rocky Mountains, and probably to the Pacific, are confined to
the one, long-winged species, (spretus). ‘“ How then,” will naturally
be asked, “do you account for the ravages of migratory locusts in the
Atlantic States, since swarms have been known in those States to fly
over the country and commit sad havoe, and since vou tell us that the
Red-legged species is incapable of such migrations?” This question,
which has never been properly answered, I will now proceed to eluci-
date.
First, as to migrating locusts doing great damage in some of the
Hastern States during certain years, there can be no doubt of the
fact. Harris,in his Treatise, gives an account extracted from the
Travels of President Dwight, wherein they are recored as being most
destructive in Vermont in 1797 and 1798, and as collecting in clouds,
rising in the air and taking extensive flights—even covering persons
employed in raising a church steeple, who, in such position, still saw
the insects flying far above their heads. Healso quotes from William-
son’s History of Maine, that in 1749 and 1754 they were very numer-
ous and voracious; that “in 1743 and 1756 they covered the whole
country and threatened to devour everything green.” Among the
communications which I received last Fall was the following, descrip-
tive of locust ravages in New Hampshire:
Dear Sir: Iseea note in the New York Tribune requesting those from the Lo-
cust regions to send you specimens of the variety. 1 send you a vial of them to-day
by mail. They have been quite plenty in the Merrimack Valley on some farms. They
have eaten all of our garden vegetables; in others they left us a small share. The
small ones are the most plenty and the ones that have done the most mischief. I should
like to know if they are of the same variety that infested the West.
Yours truly,
LEWIS COLBY.
BOscAWEN, Merrimack Co., N. H., September 17, 1874.
The following account by Dr. U. T. True of the appearance of
these insects in Cumberland county, Maine, in 1821, is so circumstan-
tial that I give it in full, as quoted by Mr. S. H. Scudder :*
During the haying season the weather was dry and hot, and these hungry locusts
stripped the leaves from the clover and herds-grass, leaving nothing but the naked
stems. In consequence, the hay-crop was seriously diminished in value. So ravenous
had they become that they would attack clover, eating it into shreds. Rake and pitch-
fork handles, made of white ash and worn to a glossy smoothness by use, would be
found nibbled over by them if left within their reach.
As soon as the hay was cut and they had eaten every living thing, they removed
to the adjacent crops of grain, completely stripping the leaves; climbing the naked
stalks they would eat off the stems of wheat and rye just below the head, and leave
them to drop to the ground, I well remember assisting in sweeping a large cord over
the heads of wheat after dark, causing the insects to drop to the ground, where most
of them would remain during the night. During harvest time it was my painful duty,
* Hayden’s Report on the Geological Survey of Nebraska; and ‘‘ The Distribution of Insects in
orn
New Hampshire,’’ p. 375.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. — 169
with a younger brother, to pick up the fallen wheat heads for threshing ; they amounted
to several bushels.
Their next attack was upon the Indian corn and potatoes. They stripped the
leaves and ate out the silk from the corn, so that it was rare to harvest a full ear.
Among forty or fifty bushels of corn spread out in the corn-room, not an ear could be
found not mottled with detached kernels.
While these insects were more than usually abundant in the town generally, it was
~ in the field I have described that they appeared in the greatest intensity. After they
had stripped everything from the field, they began to emigrate in countless numbers.
They crossed the highway and attacked the vegetable garden. I remember the curious
appearance of a large, flourishing bed of red onions, whose tops they first literally ate
up, and not content with that, devoured the interior of the bulbs, leaving the dry ex-
ternal covering in place. The provident care of my mother, who covered the bed with
chaff from the stable floor, did not save them, while she was complimented the next
vear for so successfully sowing the garden down to grass. The leaves were stripped
from the apple trees. They entered the house in swarms, reminding one of the locusts
ot Heypt, and, as we walked, they would rise in countless numbers and fly away in
clouds.
As the nights grew cooler they collected on the spruce and hemlock stumps and log
fences, completely covering them, eating the moss and decomposed surface of the wood,
and leaving the surface cleanand new. They would perch onthe west side of a stump,
where they could feel the warmth of the sun, and work around to the east side in the
morning as the sun reappeared. The foot-paths in the fields were literally covered
with their excrements.
During the latter part of August and the first of September, when the air was still
dry, and for several days in succession a high wind prevailed from the northwest, the
lcecusts frequently rose in the air to animmense hight. By looking up at the sky in the
middle of « clear day, as nearly as possible in the direction of the sun, one may desery
a locust at a great hight. These insects could thus be seen in swarms, appearing like
so many thistle-blows, as they expanded their wings and were borne along toward the
sea before the wind ; myriads of them were drowned in Casco bay, and I remember
hearing that they’ frequently dropped on the decks of coasting vessels. Cart loads of
dead bodies remained in the fields, forming in spots a tolerable coating of manure.
Mr. J. S. Smith says that he has seen “hackmatack trees almost
covered with them, and entirely stripped of their leaves.”*
All these accounts agree in referring the injury to the common
Red-legged Locust; but as I am fully persuaded that this species, as
found in Illinois and Missouri, is incapable of any extended flight,+ I
could not help feeling that some other species had been confounded
with it, and had played the part of migratory locust in the White
Mountain regions of Maine and New Hampshire. It was with satis-
faction therefore that, upon examining the locusts sent me by Mr
Colby, I found them to belong to a new and different species, smaller
than either the Rocky Mountain or the Red-legged species, but in
structure and relative length of wing much more nearly resembling
the former than the latter; in other words, its relative length of wing
enables it to fly with almost the same facility as its Rocky Mountain
congener. This species may be called the Atlantic Migratory Locust,
and is described below, in comparison with its close allies:
CaLorrenvus ATLANIS N. sp.—Length to tip of abdomen 0.70—0.85 inch ; to tip
of closed wings 0.92—1.05 inches. At once distinguished from femur-rubrum by the
* Rep. Connecticut State Bd. of Agr. 1872, p. 363.
+1 do not mean by this that it is incapable of rising in the air; but I am quite sure that as found in
St. Louis county it is incapabte of any such flights as spretus takes. In the higher parts of the country,
whether east or west, the power of flight may be greater.
170 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
notched character of the anal abdominal joint in the male and by the shorter, less
tapering cerci; also by the greater relative length of wings which extend, on an aver-
age, nearly one-third their length beyond the tip of the abdomen in the dried speci-
mens ; also by the larger and more distinct spots on the wings—in all which characters
it much more closely resembles spretus than femur-rubrum. From spretus, again, it is
at once distinguished by the smaller size, the more distinct separation of the dark mark
running from the eyes on the prothorax and of the pale line from base of wings to hind
thigh; also by the anal joint in the <@, tapering more suddenly and by the two lobes
forming the notch being less marked. From both species it is distinguished not only
by its smaller size but by the deeper, more livid color of the dark parts, and the paler
yellow of the light parts—the colors thus more strongly contrasting.
6 3’s, 7 9’s from New Hampshire, Just as the typical femur-rubrum is at once
distinguished from the typical spretws by the characters indicated ; so Atlanis, though
structurally nearer to spretus, is distinguished from it at a glance by its much smaller
size and darker, more marbled coloring. ‘lhe contrast is all the greater in the living
specimens, and I have seen no specimens of spretus that at all approach it in these
respects.
Whether this is the femur-rubrum as defined by DeGeer or by Harris, it is
almost impossible to decide, though Harris’s figure of femur-rubrum better represents
it than the true femur-rubrum, as subsequently defined by Thomas, and as found in
Hlinois and Missouri,
It has always been a question among orthopterists, as to whether
spretus should really be considered specifically distinct from femur-
rubrum, and Mr. Uhler has himself expressed to me his doubts as to
the two being distinct. This indecision, which I myself very freely
shared, may be attributed principally to the fact that the species just.
described (Atlanis) has very generally been mistaken for femur-
rubrum, and that the accounts of this latter rising into the air in
swarms have in reality had reference to the former species. The only
reference to this longer-winged species, in the East, that I am ac-
quainted with, is that by Dr. A. S. Packard, jr., whose reference to the
occurrence of spretus in Maine and Massachusetts, as exhibited by
specimens in the museum of the Peabody Academy of Science,*
doubtless applies to A¢lanis.
Whether these three insects, as here defined, are really distinct.
species, or only races of one and the same, is a question that each in-
dividual entomologist will decide for himself, according to his idea of
what constitutes a species. As ordinary distinctions go, however,
there can be no doubt as to their specific distinctness, notwithstand-
ing my own conviction that they merge into each other through ex-
ceptional intermediate individuals. That they will cross with each
other and produce fertile progeny, I have little doubt, and that femu7-
rubrum mixes more or less with the other two, is probable; yet spre-
tus and Atlanis can never thus cross, for they are effectually sepa-
*Am. Naturalist, VIIL., p. 502. Since the above was written, Dr. Packard has submitted «
rather poor and discolored specimen to me, and it is, as I inferred, what [here call Atlanis.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST, ~ 17?
rated by the Mississippi Valley—a fact proved alike by spretus’ dying
out on the limit line I have mapped, and by its perishing when arti-
ficially transported in the egg and hatched in the Atlantic States.*
It isin this, as it is in almost every other instance where large ma-
terial from widely different parts of the country is examined; the
lines which are easily drawn between species characterized from single
individuals, break down, and continually remind us of the arbitrary
nature of specific definitions, and of the fact that most of the species,
as defined among lower animals and plants, have no real exis-
tence in nature. There are races of femur-rubrum which approach
even the larger diferentialis as much as they approach spretus. In
short, without speculating on the common origin, in the past, of all
these species—and, indeed, of all species composing present genera—
we behold, in a broad sense, a short-winged species (femur-rubrum)
common to the whole country between the Rocky Mountains and the
Atlantic, giving way, in the higher altitudes alike of the Rocky
Mountain and the White Mountain, and probably of the Alleghany
regions, to a longer-winged one; and the reason why the western
long-winged species is more disastrous than that of the East, is doubt-
less due to its larger size and to the larger extent of table land in.
which it breeds, as well as to the fact that the western climate is more
subject to excessive drouths, which cut off the supply of nourish-
ment at a time when the insects are acquiring wings, and thus.
oblige them to migrate—such conditions occurring much more rarely
in the home of the eastern species. The future orthopterist, as he
studies material from all parts of the country, will very likely write =
Caloptenus femur-rubrum, DeGeer., var. spretws Thomas, var. Atlanis:
Riley; but the broad fact will remain that these three forms—call
them races, varieties, species, or what we will—are separable, and
that they each have their own peculiar habits and destiny.
INJURY FROM OTHER NON-MIGRATORY LOCUSTS.
Almost every year, insome part or other of the country, we hear
reports of injury by locusts. In 1868, for instance, while the Rocky
Mountain species was attracting attention, as I have already stated,
(p. 1387), in many parts of the West, other non-migratory species were
extremely injurious in the Mississippi Valley, and in the Hastern
States. In Ohio they appeared in countless myriads during that year,
and at the meeting of the Cincinnati Wine Growers’ Society it was
stated that they invaded the vineyards, destroying entire rows, defoli-
* See an observation by Mr. S. S. Rathvon, of Lancaster, Pa., who concludes, from experiment,
that the climate there is ‘‘ unwholesome’’ to the species. (Am. Entomologist, I1., p. 88.)
172 SEVENTH ANNUAL KEPORT
ating the vines and sucking out the juices of the berries. In the same
year Isaw them in countless millions in many parts of Illinois and
Missouri. They actually stripped many corn-fields in these States, and
had not the crops been unusually abundant, would have caused some
suffering. They were very destructive to flower and vegetable gardens.
In 1869, they were. if anything, worse than in 1868. I remember
that in the vicinity of St. Louis, in addition to their ordinary injuries,
they stripped the tops of Norway Spruce, Balsam Fir and European
Larch ; took the blossoms off Lima beans; severed grape stems, and
ate numerous holes into apples and peaches, thereby causing them to
rot. They were indeed abundant all over Illinois, Missouri, lowa and
even Kentucky; but attracted no attention Kast.
In 1871 they were again very bad, especially East,as the follow-
‘ing items will show:
The grasshoppers (locusts) have been more numerous and destructive this year in
Maine than perhaps ever before. This was partly owing to the dry weather, and with
the advent of the rainy season we hope their career will be somewhat checked. In
this county they are thick, but in some of the central portions of the State they literally
swarm, devouring nearly every green thing before them. They did much injury to the
-grass-fields, and now that is cut, they have betaken themselves to the cultivated crops.
Jn some cases whole fields of corn and beans have been completely stripped. Even the
perioes have not been spared.—[ Country Gentleman, Aug. 10, 1871, speaking of Insects
in Maine.
Grasshoppers are reported to have very seriously injured the corn, grass and grain
-crops (and in some cases orchards and nurseries) of the counties of Androscoggin,
Franklin, Knox, Kennebec, Lincoln, Oxford, Piscataquis, Penobscot, Waldo and Som-
-erset,in Maine. Soserious has been the damage that the subject was made a topic at the
recent State Agricultural Convention in that State. In Androscoggin county, they in-
_jured pastures greatly and affected the condition and price of stock. Some grain-fields
were protected by drawing a rope across the heads at sunset, thus brushing off the
insects and preventing feeding. In Franklin county a field of twelve acres of sweet
corn was only saved by keeping a man in it continually to drive out the grasshoppers.
One man in York county stopped their passage to his fields by building a brush fence
-around them.—[ American Agriculturist, 1871.
These pests (the locusts) have been numerous and destructive during the past month
in some portions of the Eastern States. In Sagadahoe county, Maine, the crops and
pastures were injured by them very much; alsoin Hancock county. In Franklin many
fields of grain were cut to save the crops from them and for feeding. In Oxford oats
were *‘ eaten entirely down, as clean as though fed upon by sheep.’’? In some portions
of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, they are reported to have eaten everything green.
In Caledonia county, Vermont, they have been very destructive. All through Windsor
they have been ‘‘a terrible scourge.’’ In Orleans they are reported abnndant, and in
Windham they have done ‘‘much injury to some of the crops,’’? In Wayne county,
Pennsylvania, also, they are reported to have done much damage.—[Monthly Report
Dep. of Agr. for August and September, 1871.
In 1872 they were again injurious Kast :
The grasshoppers are making great havoc on the grass, grain and corn. For a
‘space of about one and a half miles square they are destroying almost everything.
Clover is trimmed up all but the head ; oats-fields look like fields of rushes coming up
to the hight of 16 to 18 inches without leat or head. The leaves of wheat and their
‘kernels are eaten out. These hoppers move back and forth two or three times a day,
and whole sections are almost alive with them.—[ Mirror and Farmer, (New Hampshire)
August 10, 1872.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 173:
Even in 1874 much injury by them was reported in the Mississippi
Valley and eastward, and a few extracts will suffice to indicate how
numerous they often were:
The grasshoppers destroyed four acres of my wheat last Fall; ate and destroyed my
timothy twice; sowed the ground again this Spring, but as there are still plenty of
hoppers there is not much hope for astand.—[Letter extract from G. Pauls, Eureka,
Mo., Nov. 10, 1874.
Some of our good friends in Suffolk county, Virginia, were unduly excited this-
Summer over the idea that the Western destructive grasshopper, Caloptenus spretus of
Uhler, had found its way to the *‘ sacred soil of Virginia.” There was no denying the
fact that myriads of grasshoppers were devouring nearly ‘‘every green thing,”? even
settling on the trunks and limbs of trees, and gnawing the bark in a most unkind man-
ner; and as it appeared to be something altogether foreign to the locality, of course,
it must be the western pest. Specimens were forwarded to us, however, and a glance
was sufficient to show us there was no need for alarm, as it was quite a common species
in this part of the United States, and though rather too plentiful in this particular
locality, would not spread or become the terror that its western distant relative has
proved. The insect is known as the Acridiuwm Americanum, and is of large size, often
measuring over two and a half inches in length.—[C. R. Dodge, in Rural Carolinian,.
November, 1874.
In short, during hot and dry years, which are favorable to the
multiplication of crickets and locusts, more or less injury is done, in.
all parts of the country by species indigenous to the different locali-
ties, but which in ordinary seasons do not attract any special atten-
tion. In every case, however, except in the mountain regions where
the Eastern and the Western long-winged species are at home, or the:
country to which they migrate; the injury is caused by non-migra-
ting species.
The principal depredator in such cases, in the Mississippi Valley,
is the wide-spread Red-legged Locust, already described and illustra-
ted, (p. 125) and so often confounded with the true migrating Rocky
Mountain species. The next most injurious is the Differential Locust:
(Caloptenus’ differentialis, Walk., Fig. 33), a species at once distin-
(Fig. 33.) guished, in the more typ-
> 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-
<ff \ proaching toward their tips, when
ENGR ss All these species belong
™“S;, to the same genus as our Rocky
TWO-STRIPED LOCUST. Mountain Locust, and, except in
being unable to sustain flight agree with it in habit.
There are several locusts belonging to other genera which are
common over large areas from the Atlantic to the Mississippi; and
some of them, belonging to the genera Acridium and (dipoda have
relatively longer wings than the common Red-legged Locust, and con-
sequently greater power of flight. Yet they are seldom as injurious as
the short-winged Calopteni just enumerated, and the swarming of
Acridium Americanum (our largest species), as described in the para-
graph from the Rural Carolinian is quite exceptional.
ENEMIES AND PARASITES.
It is fortunate for man that, asin the case of most noxious insects,
this locust is not without its numerous enemies. Chickens, turkeys
and hogs devour immense quantities, and are happy during years of
locust invasion, or whenever these insects abound. Prairie chickens
and quails devour them with avidity, and even hunt for their eggs ;
swallows and blackbirds pursue them unrelentingly ; the little snow
birds devour great quantities of eggs when these are brought to the
surface by the freezing and thawing of the ground; and the same
may be said of almost all birds inhabiting the Western country in
Winter; for in the crops of warblers, plovers, snipe and other birds
killed by the telegraph wiresin the vicinity of Lawrence, Kansas,
my friend, G. F. Gaumer, found these eggs last Winter. The Shrike, or
Butcher-bird, impales them on to thorns and other pointed substances ;
and a number of other birds, as well as reptiles, e. g. toads, frogs and
snakes, feast upon them. But by far the most effective helps in weak-
ening the vast armies of locusts, are the parasitic insects, albeit their
work is perhaps less noticeable and less appreciated. Passing over
the few, like certain species of Digger Wasps, belonging to the genus
Scolia, which occasionally bury a few specimens as provision for their
young; the ferocious Asilus-flies, which occasionally pounce upon a
specimen and suck out its juices, and the omnivorous ant, which is
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. — 175
reported as feeding on the eggs and on the weak, sickly and disabled
hoppers—it will be well to treat more fully of those parasitic species
which render effective service to man in destroying this locust. These
consist principally of two mites (class Arachnida,) which are exter-
nal feeders, and two Dipterous flies belonging to the family J/uscida,
which are internal feeders.*
Tue Sitxy Mite (Zrombidium sericeum Say, Fig. 35)—Last May,
Prof. C. E. Bessey sent me a pale red mite with an account of its attack-
ing the eggs of the Rocky Mountain Locust in northwestern Iowa, and
numerous accounts were published of the efficient work of this little
animal in destroying said eggs, wherever these had been deposited in
Iowa and Minnesota. The following may be quoted as a sample:
A discovery has been made of great interest. A small red bug, or spider, about
‘the size of a small kernel of wheat, is found in great numbers, creeping into the holes
to the grasshopper eggs and eating the contents of the eggs voraciously. Great num-
‘bers were found in the act of eating the eggs, with empty egg-shells in the same nest.
The extent of the little friends is not limited, but they have been seen in many localities
in different directions in this place. Mr. J. D. Johnston, Autrim, proved conclusively
that these red bugs are making sure work among the eggs.—[Madelia (Minn.) Times.
This mite belongs to the genus Zrombidium, only two N. A. spe-
cies of which have been described, viz., the scabrwm Say, and the
sericeum Say. The descriptions in both instances are very brief, and it
is difficult to say whether the species in question, and which is here-
with figured (Fig. 35) belongs to either. It answers to sericewm how-
Big 5 31 ever, so far as the description goes, and I prefer to so
® refer it rather than describe it asnew. The specimens
y which I have examined have not been full grown, and
zy the pale red color which they possessed would doubt-
less have intensified with age. Every European is
‘familiar with the Scarlet Mite (7. holosericeum, L),
which is common in the soil of gardens in Spring and
ee sacs ane Preys upon young larvie of various descriptions. In
natural size shown at 4 oor gilkiness and habit it greatly resembles our spe-
cies and may indeed be identical. All the species of this genus are
highly colored and the Zrombidium tinctorium found in Guinea and
Surinam is employed as a dye.
* The only other internal parasite affecting locusts in this country is a small, undescribed Chalcid-
fly which Mr. Scudder refers to as having bred from the eggs of G:dipoda Carolina (Proc. Bost. Soc.
Nat. Hist., XII, p. 99). He has kindly furnished me with female specimens. They are about 0.20 Inch
long, pitchy black, the head and thorax very deeply pitted and roughened, and the abdomen which is
flattened and quite tapering also deeply marked with irregular, longitudinal depressions. The antennae
have the scape as long as the flagellum, which is curved and enlarges to tip, which is suddenly docked.
The scape, basal joint of flagellum and legs are honey-yellow 3; the wings hyaline.
176 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
THe Locust Mite (Astoma gryllaria LeBaron, Fig. 36).—This,
though a smaller mite, is even a more efficient enemy than the pre-
ceding. Almost every one who has paid any attention to the locusts
is 61 must have noticed that they are often more or less cov-
“2 > 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. <A locust
infested with this parasite is more languid than it otherwise would be;.
yet it seldom dies till the maggots have left. Often in pulling off the
wings of such as were hopping about, the bodies have presented the
appearance of a mere shell, filled with maggots; and so efficient is
this parasite that the ground in parts of the western States is often
covered with the Rocky Mountain Locust dead and dying from this
cause.
Tae Common Fiess-Fty (Sarcophaga carnaria, Linn.)— This fly,
which is at once distinguished from the Tachina-fly by the style of the
[Fig. 39. antenna being hairy (Fig. 39, 2.) instead .
\ 2 yw of smooth, is also a great enemy of
4. 4 the Rocky Mountain Locust, thoughI
think it must be looked upon more as.
ascavenger than an active parasite,.
and that itis attracted more especially
to those specimens which are feeble
SARCOPHAGA SARRACENILE.—a, larva, b, , :
pupa, c, fly, the hair lines showing average OF already dead. I have received it
natural lengths; d, enlarged head and first ‘ 3
joint of larva, showing curved hooks, lower AMON’ the Tachina parasites sent by
lip (g), and prothoracic spiracles; e, end of
body of same, showing stigmata (f) and pro- Mr, Shattuck from Colorado, and from:
legs and vent; h, tarsal claws of fly with pro- ‘ ’
tecting pads; 7, antenna of same—enlarged. Professor C. E. Bessey, of Ames, Iowa,.
who bred it from the Differential Locust, and published the following:
description of its work:
A COMMENDABLE Fry.—During the Summer I noticed that many of the large
yellow grasshoppers (Caloptenus differentialis) were infested by the maggot of a species
of fly very nearly resembling, if not identical with the common Flesh-fly (Sarcophaga
carinaria). Many of the grasshoppers were almost completely eaten out when found,
retaining just sutlicient strength to hop feebly over the ground. LIestimate that this
particular species of grasshopper was diminished in numbers at least one-tenth, possibly
one-eight, by these new friends, It isto be hoped that these new parasites will increase
rapidly. Professor C. V. Riley informs me that the Migratory Locust (Caloptenus:
spretus) is also infested by a similar one; thus far, however, I have failed to detect any
in the specimens collected in this vicinity.
I have also bred it from a number of our native Locusts whose
carcasses—forsaken by the sarcophagous larve—may quite frequently
be seen fastened to the upright stems of different plants, in the Fall
of the year. I have also bred it from the common Carolina Mantis*,
* On the Isth of October, 1868, at South Pass, Ills., I found fastened to a tree, a large female:
Mantis, still alive, but with the abdomen hanging down, partially decomposed, and filled with Sarco-
phaga larve. These remained in the larva state in the ground till the next July, but gave forth the flies
at the end of that month. ‘The flies marked in my cabinet Sarcophaga carnaria, yar. mantivora, differ:
in no respect from the common carnaria, except in size, seven not averaging more than 0.20 inch in.
length.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. | 181
which it attacked while living; and have known it to infest the com-
mon Walking-stick (Spectrum femoratum). Indeed, the species is
a most widely-spread and general scavenger, occurring in most civil-
‘ized countries, and feeding as a rule on dead and decaying animal
matter, and only exceptionally on living insects. By way of illustra-
ting its transformations, I introduce a figure of the Sarracenia Flesh-fly
(Sarcophaga sarracenie Riley) which feeds on the dead insects
caught in those curious traps, the trumpet-leaves (Sarracenia), and
which so closely resembles the common Flesh-fly in question, that it
is probably only a variety.* These flies deposit living larvee, which
are distinguished from those of the Tachina-flies by being more con-
cave and truncated at the posterior end. (See Fig. 39, a.) The Tachina
larva is rounded posteriorly, with a small spiracular cavity, easily
‘closed, and having a smooth rim: it contracts to a pupa which is
quite uniformly rounded at each end. The Sarcophaga larva is more
truncate behind, with fleshy warts on-the rim of the spiracular cavity,
and with a more tapering head: it contracts to a pupa, which is also
truncate behind, and more tapering in front, where the prothoracic
spiracles show as they never do in Tachina.
REMEDIES : HOW BEST TO PREVENT LOCUST INJURIES.
In considering this subject, it will be advisable to classify the
agencies to be employed by the husbandman in protecting himself
from Locust injuries. We shall then find that they may be classed
under four heads: Ist, natural agencies ; 2d, artificial means of de-
stroying the eggs; 3d, such means of destroying the unfledged young ;
4th, remedies against the mature and winged insects.
ist—The natural agencies, which I have just enumerated, should
be encouraged as far asitis possible to encourage them; and it is
very gratifying to know that the last Kansas Legislature had a suffi-
client appreciation of this matter to pass a law prohibiting the destruc-
tion of prairie chickens and quails.
2d—In the destruction of the eggs, man can accomplish most in
his wartare with the insect. This fact has long been recognized in all
European and Asiatic countries that suffer from locust depredations;
and in France, Italy and several other countries, a reward of so much
* The flies bred from Caloptenus have the tip of the abdomen reddish, as in Sarcophaga sarrace-
ni@, and indeed are undistinguishable from the smaller specimens of this last. The larva differs, how-
ever, in having the surface more coarsely granulated, it being regularly and uniformly covered with
minute papille ; in the less conspicuous prothoracic spiracle ; in the smaller but deeper anal cavity ;
and in the rim of this cavity having the twelve tubercles more conspicuous. The pupa also has the anal
cavity smaller, more closed, but deeper ; and the prothoracic spiracles less prominent. In these
respects it agrees more closely with the typical carnaria, as deseribed by Packard, and I have little
«doubt but all these differences are simply varietal.
182 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
per kilogram, or other measure, is always offered by the government
whenever agriculturists suffer from invasions. When we consider the
number of persons rendered destitute in Kansas, Minnesota and Ne-
braska, by the invasions of 1874, and the danger of immense damage:
in 1875, from the issue from the eggs which in many places fill the
ground, it is surprising that the Legislatures of those States did not.
give the inhabitants of the ravaged counties at once the means of
warding off misery and suffering, and guarding against future destruc-
tion, by offering a liberal price per bushel for locust eggs. Let us
hope that, whenever such a calamity befalls those States again, some-
thing of this kind will be done. |
Wherever the eggs were laid last Fall, I advised our farmers,
where it was practicable, to plow deeply, so as to turn them under
and bury them as far as possible. This destroys them either entirely
or in great part, and if a few survive, the young hatch so late the
next season, that their power for harm is much lessened; and the
horses, also, in the ravaged districts, are in much better condition to:
plow in the Fall than they are likely to be in the following Spring.
Care should be had not to bring the eggs turned under in Autum, to.
the surface again, by plowing the same land the following Spring; for.,
thus brought to the surface, the eggs would undoubtedly hatch.
When irrigation is practicable, as it is in some of the ravaged
parts of Colorado, let the ground be thoroughly inundated for a few
days, and the eggs will all lose vitality and rot. I have already shown
that the eggs are laid, by preference, on the high and dry knolls and
ridges, and never in low, moist ground; and experiments prove how
soon they succumb to excess of moisture.
Just as excessive moisture is fatal to the eggs, so is excessive dry-
ness, or direct exposure to the atmosphere, so that they receive alter-
nately the direct rays of the sun and the rains and dews. VConse-
quently, harrowing the ground where these eggs are laid, so as to
break up the glutinous masses and expose the eggs to the influences
mentioned, and to the more easy detection of birds, is to be recom-
mended. Of course none of these measures, except the first, or col-
lecting the eggs, are applicable on a large scale, except where the:
country is thickly settled and cultivated fields are abundant.
Wherever hogs and cattle can be turned into fields where the eggs.
abound, most of these will be destroyed by the rooting and tramping.
3d—Next to the destruction of the eggs, the destruction of the
young, wingless locusts, is most within man’s power. Thus, much.
good can be accomplished by the use of a heavy roller, when the
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. - 183
young hoppers first hatch in Spring, or late in the Fall, as they excep-
tionally do when that season is prolonged and warm. In meadows
and prairies they may be destroyed by fire started in a circle around
them; or they may be driven into windrows of straw or hay, and then
destroyed by fire; for when these young are traveling they can be
driven almost as easily as a herd of sheep. Mr. N. OC. Meeker, of
Greeley, Col., states that in this way the farmers there manage to save
50 acres of grain at a cost not exceeding $20. Their course can also
be governed by beating with brush until the advance guard is turned,
when the balance follow the leaders. Wherever there are running
ditches on a farm, the young can be driven into these and then caught
and killed in sieves or coarse sacks. This method is quite commonly
employed in those parts of the West where irrigating ditches and ca-
nals abound. In locust countries it is also a quite common practice
to drive the young into a heap against any converging barrier, and
then to destroy them by bagging or crushing.
The attempts to protect the plants by sundry applications, such
as strong salt water, air-slacked lime, carbolic acid, etc., have proved
unsatisfactory ; and from the collective experience of a number of
intelligent farmers in Colorado, which I made it a point of obtaining
in 1873, I feel that nothing is to be hoped for from such substances.
In 1868 and 1869, I sent two large cans of cresylic acid soap to Mr.
Stephen Blanchard, of Oregon, Holt county, to be tested as a means
of protecting his vegetables; but he in the end concluded that noth-
ing would avail. Paris Green, as used for the Doryphora, will doubt-
less kill such locusts as partake of it; but its general use on al) the
plants which these omnivorous creatures relish, is out of the question.
However, there is yet room here for experiment, though, considering
that in all historical times, the resources of many nations have been
employed against Locusts without furnishing anything that will pro-
tect plants on a large scale—little hope can be entertained of discov-
ering such a substance. ‘T'urnips of which they are especially fond,
kohlrabi, carrots, and the like, may be saved when the insects come
late; by cutting off the tops and covering the roots with earth—the
tops making excellent food for milch cows. The earth should be re-
moved again as soon as possible to prevent the rotting of the roots.
Where the means already suggested cannot be employed, there
are yet two methods of destroying these young, namely: by catching
them in hand-nets, such as entomologists use, and as were described
in my 5th Report; and crushing them with broad wooden shovels at-
tached at an oblique angle to some kind of handle.
Finally, as Mr. Snyder well shows, in his letter which I publish in
184 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
the Appendix, most cultivated plants may be protected from the rava-
ges of these young by good cultivation and a constant stirring of the
soil. The young have an antipathy to a louse and friable surface,
which incommodes them and hinders their progress; and they will
always leave such a surface for one more hard and firm. I say, there-
fore, to those in the districts where the locusts hatch out: get your
crops in early; employ some one or all of the means here indicated ;
get your neighbors to do the same; but by all means cultivate thor-
oughly. Let the local granges take the matter in hand, and by reso-
lution oblige united action among themselves, at least, by establish-
ing a fine or some other penalty, to be paid by any recusant and neg-
lectful members. If the means here enumerated are adopted in con-
cert over the more thickly settled portions of the threatened country,
as in our own western counties, prospective injury may be averted,
and the enemy be rendered comparatively harmless until the danger
is passed. ‘I'wo or three month’s energetic work will suffice. Determi-
nation perseverence and united action must be the watch-words:
With these, the people in the stricken counties will accomplish more
good than would have been accomplished by the $50,000 which the
Legislature refused them last winter. In the less thickly settled
parts no human agency is likely to affect the pest, and we can only
hope that Providence, by the different natural agencies known to be
fatal to it, may act where man is impotent.
4th—The destruction of the winged insects when they swoop
down upon a country in prodigious swarms, is impossible. Man is
powerless before the mighty host. Special plants, or small tracts of
vegetation may be saved by perseveringly driving the insects off, or
keeping them off by means of smudges, as the locusts avoid smoke.
Great numbers may be caught and destroyed bv bagging and crush-
ing as recommended for the new- fledged; but as arulethe vast swarms
from the west will have everything theirown way. Mr. Kelsey suc-
ceeded in saving many of his young forest trees in Kansas by
perseveringly smudging and smoking them.
He gives his experience in the following words in the Aansas
Farmer, Aug. 26, 1874:
At first we tried building fires on the ground, but it was not successful. The
smoke would not go where we wanted it to. We then tried taking a bunch of hay and
holding it between sticks, would fire it, and then, passing through the field on the
windward side, would hold it so that the smoke would strike the grasshoppers. We
would soon have a cloud of hoppers on the wing, and by following it up would, ina
short time, clear the field. We have thus far saved everything that was not destroyed
when we commenced fighting them, and while I do not give this as an infallible rem-
edy, not having tried it sufficiently, yet it does seem to me, from what I have seen of
it, that one good active man who would attend right to it could protect a twenty acre
field or a large orchard. But to be successful one must attend right to the business .
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. — 185
Smoke and scare, and keep it up until the hoppers leave, and if they attempt to come
again, be after them with your smoke. Give them no peace from morning till night.
Sweetened water will measurably protect plants when the insects
are not too ravenous, The same is true of old hay which was exten-
sively used to cover and protect favorite garden plants. One of the
few effectual means employed against the winged insects last year in
grain fields was to “rope” the fields. This was done by hitching each
end of a longrope to a horse and then causing it to be dragged over
the grain, thus disturbing the insects and causing them either to fall
to the ground or fly off. If continued the locusts get disgusted and
leave. While this, and all other methods, are futile as against the
vast swarms which continue to drop down upon a country for days,
it will prove useful against local swarms when they become fledged,
or small swarms which may suddenly alight in restricted localities.
They should be driven off as much as possible towards evening, be-
cause they then use their wings reluctantly, and they do great injury
during the night.
SUGGESTIONS THAT MAY BE OF SERVICE.
In addition to the foregoing remedial and preventive measures to
be taken in dealing with locusts, a few other suggestions occur which
may be of advantage. The plants that can be grown which are unmo-
lested by the pests and which will not, in all likelihood, suffer, have
already been enumerated: those which are cultivated are principally
peas and other leguminous species, castor beans, sorghum, broom-
corn, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, etc. The locusts, are, as already
stated, particularly fond of tansy, cocklebur, and Amaranthus, and
especially of turnips: why, therefore, should these not be sown
around a grain-field, and periodically sprinkled with Paris Green
water, so as to kill large numbers of the young insects? These last
will also congregate on timothy in preference to other grasses or
grain, and a strip of timothy around a corn or wheat-field, to be
poisoned in the same way, might save the latter. It is also cur-
rently supposed that the common lJarkspur (Delphinium) is poison-
ous to these insects, but how much truth there is in the statement
I am unable to tell. In going through an oats-field the winged
insects drop a great deal of the grain, which, when ripe enough, might
at once be harrowed in so as to furnish a good growth of fodder that
can be cut and cured for Winter use. The lesson of 1873 and 1874
should also not go unheeded. The former vear was one of plenty,
and corn was so cheap and abundant that it was burned for fuel in
many sections where in 1874 there were empty cribs and the farmers
wished they had been more provident.
186 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
Nothing, however, will so surely insure those States subject to
them, against the ravages of this insect, as irrigation. With water at
command, the farmer in all this locust area is measurably master of
his two greatest insect plagues, and full master of the young locusts;
and if there were no other reasons to be urged in its favor, these are
sufficient to warrant those States included in said area, in using all
means in their power in having schemes for irrigation perfected and
carried out as far as the topography, soil, and other peculiarities of
the country will admit.
Finally, in cases where, as in some parts of Kansas and Nebraska
last Autumn, famine stares the people in the face, why should not
these insects be made use of as food? Though the question will very
generally cause the reader to smile, and the idea will seem repugnant
enough to the tastes of most,I ask it in all seriousness. It is to be
hoped that none of the people of this grand and productive country
will ever be reduced to the diet of John the Baptist; but it should not
be forgotten that the locusts may be made use of as food; that they
are quite nutritious, and are, indeed, highly esteemed by many peo-
ples. Ido not intend in this connection to write an essay on edible
insects, though a very curious and startling one might be written on
the subject; but I wish to insist on the fact that in many parts of
Asia and Africa subject to locust plagues, these insects form one of
the most common articles of food. Our own Snake and Digger Indi-
ans industriously collect them and store them for future use.
Deprived of wings and legs, they are esteemed a great delicacy fried
in oil, or they are formed into cakes and dried in the sun—sometimes
pounded into flour, with which a kind of bread is made.
Love or dislike of certain animals for food are very much matters
of habit, or fashion; for we esteem many things to-day which our fore-
fathers either considered poisonous or repulsive. There is nothing
very attractive about such cold-blooded animals as turtles. frogs, oys-
ters, clams, crabs, lobsters, prawns, periwinkles, snails, shrimps, mus-
sels, quahaughs or scallops, until we have become accustomed to them ;
and what is there about a dish of locusts, well served up, more repul-
sive than a lot of shrimps: they feed on green vegetation and are
more cleanly than pigs or chickens. Who can doubt but that the
French during the late investment of Paris would have looked upona
swarm of these locusts as a manna-like blessing from heaven, and
would have much preferred them to stewed rat? And why should
the people of the West, when rendered destitute and foodless by these
insects, not make the best of the circumstances, and guard against.
famine, by collecting, roasting and grinding them to flour? Surely,
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. ~ 187
with modern cookery they can improve on the Digger Indians in
making a locust dish that shall be attractive and palatable even to:
those not predisposed from sharpened appetites, to judge favorably;
and in any event it would pay under such circumstances to roast and.
preserve them as food for poultry and hogs.
NOMENCLATURE.
Regarding the popular name of our insect there is great lack of
uniformity in the terms by which it is designated, and many of the
readers of this Report who have been accustomed to hearing these in-
sects very generally called “ grasshoppers,” will doubtless wonder why
Ihave not followed common usage. The term “Grasshopper” is very
generally employed for these insects in America, but should be aban-
doned for that of “ Locust,” which is applied tu similar species in all
other parts of the world, the “locusts ” of Scripture being very closely
allied species. As I have already said, (6th Rep. p. 153, note) :
It is to be regretted that American entomolgical writers do not more strictly fol
low Harris in conforming to the English custom of calling these insects—with short
antenne and stridulating by means of the stout hind legs—by the popular term of
*‘ locusts,’? which is in the keeping with ancient usage. The term ‘‘ grasshopper ”
would then be confined to the long-horned and long-legged, green group, stridulating
solely with the wings, in which the species are more solitary and never congregate in
swarms, and in which the female is invariably provided with a sword or cimiter-shaped
ovipositor ; while the term Katydid could be used to designate the few larger, tree-in-
habiting species of the group, so designated by Harris. Where the habit of calling the
Cicada “ Locust,’’ and the ‘‘Locust” of ancient usage ‘* Grasshopper,”’ is as inveter-
ate as in this country, it is not easy to change it; but it seems to me that the change is
desirable, and if popular authors would only continue the example of Harris, the:
change would come about with the greater dissemination of entomological information.
Almost every entomological author has been under the necessity,.
at one time or another, of insisting that the “Grasshopper” of this.
(Fig. 49.) Country is the “ Locust ” of Europe and of antiquity ; or of
endeavoring to clear up the confusion which results from
the popular application of this last term to the Periodical
Cicada or Harvest-fly—an insect (Fig. 40) which dwells, in
its early life, under ground, and feeds by sucking the sap.
4 of trees,and which is no more capable, like the true locust,,
- of devastating our grain-fields than a calf is of killing and,
4 devouring our sheep. Yet the ceaseless preaching about
¥Y/ the popular misapplication of these terms in America will
avail nothing so long as the popular error is encouraged:
Crcapa, or by the preachers themselves adopting the misapplication.
miscalled lo-
cust: with one The popular names of a country should be respected as:
wing removed,
soastoshowthe mych as possible, especially for objects peculiar to the
beak and vi-
PeeNeR country, and I would be the last to try and change them
188 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT ©
for trivial reasons; but when, as in this instance, the name used for
centuries in the older countries, and become familiar as household
words through the widely disseminated Scriptures, is substituted by
a new one, and transferred to an entirely different insect, there is no
xcuse for perpetuating the popular error.
We may talk of shipping a car-load, and of the sun’s rising, from
now till doomsday ; and, though, to the intelligent and hypercritical
mind the expressions will ever savor of incorrectness; no one is fool-
ish enough to try and reform them, because they are universal, wherever
the English language is spoken. Change in universal and long estab-
lished customs is neither possible, as arule, nor advisable; and it is
doubtful if any reform could be brought about in our present Grego-
rian calendar, for instance, even if the advantage of regulating the
divisions of the year by the astronomical conditions of the earth’s
orbit could be fully established. But in a case like that between the
use of the terms Locust and GRraAssHorpER, the former, as applied to
our Rocky Mountain plague and its allies, has every claim to favor,
not only because of having been longer used, and of its now being more
universally used than the latter; but because it has a definite mean-
ing and agrees with the old systematic name of the family to which
the species belongs; while the term ‘‘ grasshopper” is most loosely
applied to almost every field insect that hops. The term locust is, in
fact, supposed to be derived from the Latin words locus ustus, which
mean a burnt place, and have reference to the desolation, as if by fire,
which these insects cause.
The trivial terms * Colorado,” ** Red-legged,” and “ Hateful” have
been applied to thespecies by various writers; but the name “ Rocky
Mountain Locust,’ which I have employed, is expressive of the in-
sect’s habitat and least open to objection.
Regarding the scientific name of our insect, it is only necessary to
add in addition to what has already been said, that it belongs to
the modern genus Melanoplus of Stal; but just as this author’s subdi-
visions of certain genera in Coleoptera are not accepted or recognized
by many of our best coleopterists, so Melanoplus is not considered
as of generic value by some of our best orthopterists; for which
reason I have used the better known and well established genus
Caloptenus. The specific name spretus (meaning despised) indicates
that, as a species, it was so long overlooked by entomologists, and con-
founded with femur-rubrum.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. ~ 189
PRAIRIE FIRES ys. THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN LOCUST.
The notion has got into the heads of a good many people, that
there is some connection between prairie fires and the Locust visita-.
tions. Having already discussed the subject in the columns of the
New York 7Zribune, I will here repeat what I there said:
The Kansas Farmer tor September 23d last, contained a lengthy and hortatory article-
on the effects of prairie fires. ‘The burden of the article was to prove that all misfor-
tune that had befallen the fair State of Kansas was in one way or another attributable
to the custom of burning over the prairies. In the words of the writer: ‘*'The un-
broken succession of curses that have afflicted this and neighboring counties * * all
spring from the one first grand cause, the burning of the prairie grasses,’’ and he then
goes on to demonstrate, as he believes, that burning the grasses from the face of the
earth had been the one great cause of drouth, hot winds, locusts and short crops. The
drouth, hot winds, and grasshopper raids of 1860 are attributed to the universal
burning of grass in 1859. The short crops of 1864, the locust invasion of 1866, and the
bad years of °68 and’70 similarly find their explanation in said article,in the burning
of the grass, now attributed to Indians desirous of driving their buffalo herds west-
ward, and of putting between them and the troublesome frontier hunters a “ wide,,.
black and impassable waste’’—now to the Texan cattle traders who, on their way home:
from Abeline, tired the prairies on all sides, so that it was burned off ‘from the North
pole to the Gulf of Mexico.” The disasters of 1874 were confessedly not preceded by
such general conflagrations, but the reduced snow-fall in the mountains is made respon-
sible for that portion of the 1874 disaster which prairie fires did not produce.
The writer then goes on to state some well-known principles of radiation and to-
explain that all simoons or hot scorching winds have their origin in desert countries,.
and that ‘‘it matters not whether the country isan original desert or whether it is made
so by the action of our Western prairie fires. For all present purposes the two are
reduced to a common level, and produce a common result—drouth, hot winds, and
locusts.”? Having thus traced the cause of drouth to prairie fires, the article goes on
to show how the locusts are a consequence of drouth. ‘he author first asserts that the
State has never been ‘‘ visited by these destructive locusts except during seasons of
drouth and hot winds,” basing his assertion partly on the fact that Kansas never suf--
fered from these insects during fruitful years. [cannot say how well founded is the
assertion, but the latter statement is a simple truism not necessarily proving the asser-
tion. When we remember also the number of drouthy years that have not been
succeeded by locust invasions the assertion loses much of its force. As a single in-
stance, let us recall the unprecedented drouth of 1871. This was not preceded, that I
am aware of, by any unusual number of prairie fires ; but it was the indirect cause or
most remarkable and destructive conflagrations all over the Western country during
the Fall of the same year. Nor was it succeeded by locust invasions, as it should have
been were the position of the writer in the Kansas Farmer well taken.
The reason given why the locusts can only come in drouthy seasons, is, that they
cannot fly ina moist atmosphere, and the facts that they do not readily fly early in the-
morning, and that the farther east you go, or, in other words, the more moist the
atmosphere becomes, the insects diminish in number and consequent power for harm..
In further support of this view, it is asserted that at Kansas City, ‘‘ where two rivers
connect with their wide belts of timber shade, with an old settled country surrounding
them, so that prairie fires cannot exist, we find no locusts.”” The author having proved,
in this manner, and to his own satisfaction, the connection between burning grass and
locusts, closes with a graphic picture of what might have been had misfortune not
frowned upon the people, and an earnest appeal to the former—not in one township or
section, but over the whole State—to cease burning the prairie, as the only radical cure
for all these evils. Now, if he has reasoned well, it is of the utmost importance for the
people of Kansas to follow his advice, and the subject is, consequently, well worth a
little attention. I will, therefore, give my reasons for believing that while some partial
truths have been stated in his thesis, the general conclusions are false and misleading:
1.—It is by no means proved that the simoons which occasionally sweep over our
Western States and ‘lerritories have their origin inany part of that vast prairie country,
Some of the more local of these hot, dry winds may originate or acquire their peculiarly
high temperature on the mauvaises terres of Wyoming or the table lands of Arizona
and Mexico; but the more general simoons most probably have their origin at a lar
greater distance from us, viz., in the tropics. These simoons in Missouri always blow
from the southwest, in Kansas from south, southwest, and in Kastern Colorado south,.
190 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
or a few points east of south; and their injurious and scorching effects are not unfre-
‘quently felt before the frost in Kansas and the country to the west is fairly out of the
ground. 2.—Itis well known that the buffalo grass ranges over a vast extent of our
Western plains, and that it does not furnish a very dense or thorough covering, even
when unburned. 3.—My own observations for the past fourteen years in this Western
prairie country lead me to the conclusion that fires more often succeed than precede
drouth, and that they may more justly be looked upon asa result than as a cause of
excessive dry weather; and the prevailing belief that large conflagrations or extensive
fires are conducive to rain, bears on this point. 4,—Whenever grass is burned during
the growing season, the old and drier blade is soon succeeded by a green and succulent
one, which has far greater power to attract and retain moisture; while if burned in
Winter time the evaporation from the soil can be thereby but slightly affected, because
of the weakened power of the sun, and the snows which usually cover and protect.
-5,—Drouths are by no means confined to that portion of the country subject to the
locust invasions. 6.—T'he reason why locusts are more sluggish and less inclined to fly
at morn than at noon is not so much a question of the comparative density of the atmos-
phere as of the difference in temperature. All diurnal insects are sluggish in the cool
of the morning, and their activity increases with the rising of the thermometer ; and
flight, whether of bird or insect, is, I conceive, easier, ceteris paribus, in a dense thanin
4n attenuated atmosphere. 7.—The reason why the Rocky Mountain Locust does no
damage in the Eastern States, and never reaches beyond a line drawn at a rough esti-
mate along longitude 17° west from Washington, is, I take it, rather because, first, there
is a definite limit to its power of migration from its native home in a single season ;
second, because the new conditions which it meets with in the lower country forming
the eastern limit, injuriously affect it and kill it off in the course of one or two years.
-8.—The statement about the Kansas City region is simply incorrect, as the locusts were
thick around that city the present year. 9.—As the Rocky Mountain Locust multiplies
only in the Rocky Mountain region, its descent into the plains to the East where it ean-
not thrive, cannot well be affected by the burning of the grass on those plains.
Having thus given some facts which militate against the conclusions arrived at in
the Kansas Farmer article, let us now consider, as a still farther offset against those
conclusions, the benefit resulting from the burning of prairies. Fearful as are the
ravages of locusts, they are only periodically as general and widespread as they were
the present year, and if we consider the annual damage done to the crops of Kansis by
any one insect, the Chinch Bug must, I think, be set down as a greater enemy to the
Kansas farmer than the Hateful Locust. Even this year, in the eastern portion
of that State, the chinch bugs, aided by the excessive dry weather, had so depleted, by
their myriad pumping beaks, the later ripening cereals, that these would have made
but a yery poor return for the labor spent upon them, even had the locusts not made
their advent. Now there are no better preventive measures against the injuries of the
Chinch Bug than the burning of the grass on our prairies and around our cultivated
‘tields, and the destruction, by the same means, of weeds, leaves, corn-stalks and all
other litter and rubbish around such fields, and as far as possible within the woods.
_For the Chinch Bug hibernates under just such shelter as this litter affords, and the
proper season to attack it is in the Winter time, and not at or just before harvest, when
it, in great measure, baffles human control.
‘his statement might be substantiated by a long list of facts in the insect’s econ-
omy, which it is unnecessary to mention here, and I will simply add in testimony that
in Ilinois, before the country was as thickly settled as now, and when immense fires
annually swept over her prairies, the ravages of the Chinch Bug were scarely known.
It is therefore very patent that the judicious burning of the dead grasses, especially in
the vicinity of cultivated fields, will reduce the ravages of this worst of the farmer’s
pests, and the same will hold true of the False Chich Bug (Nysiuws destructor), which
_iffects our garden vegetables and other tender-leaved plants in the same way as the
genuine Chinch Bug affects our cereals. It is also true of many other destructive
insects which shelter under dead grass and herbage during the Winter. But, most
important of all, it is also true of the young locusts and of locust eggs, immense num-
bers of which undoubtedly get destroyed by such fires. A strong impression also pre-
vails among farmers, and it is not without foundation, that the burning of our prairies
is beneficial in that it returns at once the potash of the plant to the soil, instead of
through the slower process of decomposition. From these premises I think we may
safely draw the following conclusions :
1.—That the non-burning of the prairies will not prove a cure for all the ills that
Kansas is subject to. 2.—That, on the contrary, the judicious burning of such prairies
will prove a measurable cure for some of her most serious ills. Indeed, there is only
one way in which there can be any real connection between the burning of prairies and
the ravages of the Rocky Mountain Locust, and that connection is through the remote
past, and altogether beyond our present control. In the report of the Chief Signal
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. — 191
Officer to the War Department for 1872, will be found an interesting account of the
great fires of 1871in the Northwest, by Prof. J. A. Lapham, of Milwaukee, Wis., in which
my learned friend maintains that our extensive Western prairies and plains owe their
existence and origin to the agency of fire. These fires, encouraged by drouth, and
either kindled by accident or intention, have swept over the country for ages, and
while they leave the roots of the grass uninjured, they destroy the germs of most other
plants, including forest trees; and Mr. Lapham pictures to himself a long-past struggle
between forest and prairie, in which the latter, by the assistance of the Fire King, has
gained and held the vantage ground.
While I do not agree with Prof. Lapham that the remote cause of our prairies
can be attributed to fire, yet no one can doubt its agency at the present time in main-
taining these prairies and preventing timber growth in the more humid portions of the
great prairie region. But on this hypothesis there would naturally be a connection in
the past between fires and locusts; for if without fires this whole prairie region had
been timbered, the locusts, which are essentially insects of the plains and prairies,
could never have become so prodigiously abundant and injurious. On such a hypothe-
sis alone can I see any possible connection between prairie fires and locust invasions,
and, however much truth there may be in the hypothesis, the fact remains that there is
no present connection between the two phenomena.
APPENDIX
TO THE
ARTICLE ON THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN LOCUST.
The length which this Report has already attained precludes the publishing of any
of the many answers to my circular from the different counties of Missouri. There is
so much valuable experience, however, in the following letters, by three valued and
intelligent correspondents, from Texas and Kansas, that I feel constrained to publish
them entire, as a fitting sequel to what I have said on the Rocky Mountain Locust:
Letter from the late Thos. Affleck, of Brenham, Texas, written in 1868.
About the first week of November, 1867, locusts appeared here, but were announced
towards the northwest of us as being on the way some weeks before. They came down
from a considerable height in showers about like a fall of snow—their silvery wings
contributing to the resemblance. On looking toward the sun, they could be perceived
in vast clouds, at a great height, and all steering to the southeast.
They were busily engaged devastating the crops about Union Hill, five miles to
the west, for a week before they made their appearance here, and were nearly two
weeks longer in reaching Brenham, seven and a half miles to the south-by-east. They
were very few in number to the south and east of that town. |
Immediately on alighting, they began to devour every green thing, possessing
ravenous appetites ; and also copulated in great numbers, after which the males gradu-
192 SEVENTH ANNUAL KEPORT
ally disappeared. As food failed them, they would occasionally take to wing in small
bodies and go off; but generally “ took it afoot’? in search of fresh pastures. Every-
thing green in the gardens, turnip patches, wheat-fields, etc., was devoured ; and much
of the Winter or Prickly Mesquit Grass (Stipa setigera) so as greatly to lessen the
weight of pasturage, and stint the stock.
When I reached home, about the first of December, they were busy depositing
their eggs, and had been so for some two or more weeks before. ‘The female selected
high and dry spots, and especially little ridges of hard ground on paths, roads and
beaten yards, formed by the washing of water.
They were preyed upon by birds, animals, and other insects. What few hogs were
hereabouts, devoured them greedily, as did poultry: they gradually disappeared with-
out being able to say how.
We had some very bad freezes for this latitude, the ground being frozen toa depth
considerably below the nests of eggs; and this more than once freezing and thawing
during the Winter. We were in hopes that this would have destroyed them, and in
rich, black, prairie soil, many thus perished. But enough were left to produce untold
myriads of the pests. They began to hatch early in February; when first seen, they
were about the size of a big flea ; but a few continued to appear for six weeks or more.
I perceive, from my ‘‘ Jottings on the Farm,” in the Houston Telegraph, that on the 28th
of March they began to move—having hitherto fed about close by where they were
hatched—though only about five-eighths of an inch in length, and without wings.
I quote from these jottings: ‘‘My garden is located on rich, stiffish valley land,
and, by the way, is in a very promising condition. Until yesterday there was nota
Locust within the twenty acre lot, of which my garden now forms a small part. But
two days ago, the varmints began to move, on their ‘ nor’-west coorse,’ and accumula-
ted in fearful numbers along the east and south lines of the fence. Strange enough, how-
ever, they did not seem inelined to cross over, which they could easily have done by
hopping through between the rails. After a day or two of hesitation, they made a
fresh start yesterday morning, and poured in on mein myriads, By night, I should
say, at arough guess, that about one hundred bushels. more or less, if carefully meas-
ured up, were within the limits of these twenty acres! They took a line diagonally
across, hopping along at arate that would take them over the ground about a mile per
day. They present a very singular appearance indeed ; not one diverging from ‘ the
way they should go,’ or are impelled by their instinct to go. The advance soon
struck the north line of the fence; vast numbers, still behind, made no movement
beyond a certain strip of prairie sod, left as an intended carriage drive. But, instead
of crossing it, they followed it down; clipping the leaves partially from a nice young
hedge of Marietta rose, and threatening the potato patch. I could not stand ¢hat. So,
taking a branch in each hand, I hurried them up, at the same time fending them off
from the potatoes. They submitted to be driven quite as readily as a flock of sheep, so
that I still hope to save my garden.”
“April 8. ‘These locusts have taken possession of a young orchard of Peach and
Almond, and of a lot of fine dwarfed Pear trees (of many varieties, and about eight
feet in height, full of blossom) which were very promising. ‘They voost on the trees at
night; breakfast on the leaves and young fruit, before lunching and dining on the
grass and buds. Yesterday I could not drive them, and to-day the ground is so wet,.
they won’t be driven. And, worst of all, the bulk of them are to the southeast of my
vegetable gwarden.”’
“April 11. Still keeping up the fight with the locusts. I fought with fire; drove
them into the stream of water, and in every way in my power, helped them on their
way or destroyed them. A large flock of blackbirds came to my assistance, and did
great service. They are now nearly gone, and I hope will soon take flight.
“ April 18. Ihave been consoled to-day with the assurance that there are more
locusts in this valley (Glenblythe) than anywhere else in the county.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. reg
*“ April 23. Vast numbers of the Jocusts have gone off, leaving only those of ten-
der age, but possessing wonderful appetites. Some of them got off by flight, but the
bulk kept on,.on foot, towards the northwest, followed and preyed upon by hundreds
of Black Hawks, or rather Buzzards, I think the Falco Harlani.
“April 29, Still a few left, but no more than the poultry and I ean manage.
‘I saved about two-thirds of my garden; but by constant toil.
‘None copulated before leaving, and of course no eges were left to perpetuate the
¢urse, and it may be many years before they again visit this now sufficiently oppressed
country.
Letter from Mr. S. T. Kelsey, Hutchinson, Kans., Forester to the Atchison, Topeka and
Santa Fe R. R. Co.; written August 5, 1874.
The migratory grasshoppers (Culoptenus spretus) have again appeared in Kansas,
and [ hereby send you a report of their operations as I had promised. I first saw
them at Hutchinson, on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, where they
appeared on Sunday, July 26, at about 6 o’clock p.m. ‘They were so thick in the air
that they appeared like a heavy snow storm; those high in the air forming apparently
light fleecy clouds, while those dropping to the earth resembled flakes of falling snow.
Next morning, Monday, the 27th, at daylight, the country was literally covered with
grasshoppers. Soon after sunrise, they collected on the growing crops, young trees,
ete., and commenced eating, and before night had eaten the leaves from almost every
green thing. All that I know of their leaving unhurt is sorghum, eastor beans and
honey locust trees. They did but little harm in most places to the cottonwood, box
elder, Osage orange, elm, black walnut and oak, and such prairie weeds and grasses as
were a little dried. They have worked some upon every tree that I have, except the
honey locust. In some places, they have eaten the leaves, bark, and even the wood of -
the one and two year growths. On Tuesday morning, the 28th, I went west on the
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, and found that the grasshoppers reached the
Arkansas Valley, as far west as Larned, on Sunday evening; on Monday, they appeared
as far west as Pierceville; on Tuesday, as far as Aubrey; and on Wednesday, at 2 P. M.,
they appeared in force at Granada, Col,, the terminus of the Atchison, Topeka and
Santa Fe Railroad. I am told by persons who have come down the Kansas Pacific
Railway that they extend on that line from Junction City, Kans., to Denver, Col.—a
distance in direct line of about 450 miles. I have not been able to learn whether they
extend west of Denver. They seem to be moving a little west of south—the first of the
column occupying, as near as I can learn, nearly a straight line, at about right angles
with the direction they are moving. The wind appears to change their course a little,
but, [ think, not very much.
They strip the country as they go, except the old, tough grasses and some things
noticed before, and then rise and fly—probably to the front of the column. I am not
able yet to ascertain certainly how wide the column is, but it must be 200 to 300 miles
in width. They are doubtless the same that have been destroying the crops of West-
ern Iowa and Minnesota, and from the notes that I get from the north, I expect they
have, in their course, destroyed all the growing crops of Central and Western Ne-
braska, as well as Kansas. They have not commenced to copulate yet, aud will likely
pass down into Texas or New Mexico to deposit their eggs.
I was told yesterday, by parties just from the north, that another column was
moving down farther east, and taking a more easterly course, and would, if they kept
on, strike through Eastern Kansas; however, I do not believe the story. “Will post
you if they docome. I learn from reports, and from parties who have traveled in Brit-
ish America, that they breed far up into that country, and as far south as Mexico.
Thus it appears that nearly one-half of all the territory of the United States, excepting
Alaska, is subject at intervals to the devastation of this migratory grasshopper, and it
E R—13
194 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT
seems of great importance to the people of the West and the whole country that we
should get all possible information respecting them, and the best means for destroying
them or preventing their ravages, Iam looking the matter up, and any further infor—
" mation that you may desire will be cheerfully given, so far as possible.
Iam told that some fields of corn have been saved by building fires so that the
smoke would pass over the field, and the grasshoppers would get up and leave on short
notice.
Letter from Mr. E. Snyder, Nurseryman of large Experience at Highland, Kansas, written:
January 11, 1875,
The first appearance of the Rocky Mountain Locust, more commonly known here:
as Red-legged or Army Grasshopper, in this section of country, was about the 10th of
September, 1866.
People who have lived here forty years, say this was the first time these grasshop-~
pers made their appearance to their knowledge.
At our place they commenced coming down about 1 o’clock in the afternoon, at
first only one at a time, here and there, looking a little like flakes of snow, but acting
more like the advance skirmishers of an advancing army ; soon they commenced com-
ing thicker and faster, and they again were followed by vast columns, or bodies looking
almost like clouds in the atmosphere. They came rattling and pattering on the houses,
and against the windows, falling in the fields, on the prairies and in the waters—every-
where and on everything.
By about 4 o’clock in the afternoon, every tree and bush, buildings, fences, fields,
roads, and everything, except animated beings, was completely covered with grasshop-
pers. When they first alighted, they seemed exhausted, but it did not require much time
for them to recover and become familiar with their new surroundings; they almost
immediately commenced devouring and destroying plants with a voraciousness and
rapidity truly astonishing to one not acquainted with them.
After about 4 o’clock few could be seen flying, except when disturbed, or making
short trips probably in quest of food. They seemed to be inclined towards dry, warm.
places for the night, and all such places were packed and crowded by the time the sun
went down.
They commenced depositing eggs almost as soon as they arrived, and the earth in,
many places presented the appearance of honey-comb, being caused by the boring or
perforating process of these insects, preparatory, to the depositing of the eggs. In this
they showed a decided preference for hard, warm, dry places, such as roads, new break-
ing of prairie sod, etc., often selecting places so hard that it was difficult to penetrate
the ground with a spade or sharp pointed stick; shady, moist places were partially
avoided, although almost every spot of ground secured some.
The grasshoppers remained, and continued depositing eggs until after hard frosts,
but became less abundant, and of less vitality, as cool weather and frosty nights ap-
proached. .There was considerable rain during the Fall, and the hopes and predictions
were that the wet weather would destroy the vitality of the eggs, and many thought
their coming a mere accident, the first time they were ever here, and they would not
trouble us any more
As cold weather came on, they collected more toward warm spots; wagon roads
and railroad tracks, being warmed up during the day by the heat of the sun, were com-
pletely covered, and as they seldom move at night, the morning after found them stiff
and numb, especially on the iron rails, from which they could not move until the sun
warmed them up again, and railroad trains often had difficulty in getting up the grades
on account of the wheels and track getting slippery, which gave rise to the story that
** grasshoppers were so thick they stopped the ears.”
Whatever our calculations may be, nature works according to laws we cannot
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 195
change, and accordingly the following Spring we had a practical demonstration whether
‘the eggs deposited the previous Fall would hatch ornot. Although the Fall had been
quite wet, with considerable rain in the Spring, and freezing and thawing in the inter-
val, the eggs seemed to be proof against any kind of weather, and myriads of young
_grasshoppers hatched out as soon as the weather was warm enough. About the latter
part of April and first of May appeared to bring forth the great bulk of them. They
were apparently harmless little mites at first, but as they grew older and larger their
‘voraciousness increased, and when nearly grown their destructiveness was alarming,
-and could only be understood by those beholding it. The young grasshoppers could
not fly ; but during the month of June, commencing about the first, they divested them-
-selves completely of an outside skin, even unto the legs and feet, and came out a winged
‘insect, and soon thereafter took their flight and left us.
In the month of September following (1867) they came down again, but not so
many as the previous year. They again deposited eggs, but not in such vast quantities
-as before. A large proportion of the grasshoppers had attached to their wings or other
portions small red insects, and also contained inside of them small white worms or
maggots.
The Spring following (1868), the eggs again hatched out, but they were more under
-control of their various enemies, and the damage inflicted was not so much nor so
general as the previous season, and they became infested with mites and worms before
they flew away in June.
The next appearance of these pests was in August, 1874, and this invasion is still
fresh in the memory of nearly every one familiar with the name of Kansas or Ne-
braska.
They have their preference for certain kinds of food, but in the absence of what
they like best will eatalmost anything. Ihave known them to eat the outside off of fence
posts and boards, and other weather-beaten timber, until it looked as if the outside had
been hacked or chipped off. I have had all the foliage and bark, and the ends of twigs,
-eaten off of young trees by them. Soon after coming down, they commence moving
around, something like the foragers of an army, and soon gather and collect on such
things as they like best in great numbers. Almost all the ordinary crops of the farm
and garden seem to be desirable forage for them; but among the things that are most
eagerly devoured are cabbage, onions, radishes, etc. I have frequently seen onion and
radish beds with nothing left but the holes in the ground where they grew, having
been eaten clean out. J have succeeded in raising tomato plants, but the ripe tomatoes
ure generally eaten. Apple and pear trees are stripped of foliage, and sometimes part
of the bark ; but the fruit is not often eaten, but left hanging on the trees. The foliage
of peach, cherry and plum trees generally escapes, but the fruit, especially peaches,
is generally destroyed, leaving the pits hanging on the trees. Willows and pop-
lars soon become stripped of foliage—the tall Lombardy poplar sometimes looking
like an immense swarm of bees. being almost covered with grasshoppers from the top
to the ground.
While few vegetate things of value as food for people escaped without damage,
there was a very noticeable difference in the amount of injury the same varieties of
trees or plants sustained under different circumstances. For example: One tree or
plant out of anumber of others of the same kind might be entirely destroyed or de-
voured, while all the rest would be but slightly injured, or part of the same lot would
be badly injured, and part but slightly. Upon examination it was always found that
when this difference occurred, it was due to a decline in the vitality of such trees or
plants as were mostly injured. It was quite noticeable that newly transplanted things
were more subject to being fed upon than well establisned ones; that any tree in an
orchard of the same variety that was injured by borers, excessive bearing, or from
other causes, would be entirely stripped of foliage, while the others would not. And
196 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST.
even in corn-fields, where plowing was done so as to injure the roots and cause the corn
to wilt, they left the more vigorous growth and attacked the injured. I have observed
a number of them get around the base of a growing corn-stalk an inch in diameter,
and gnaw it off close to the ground, like a lot of beavers gnawing off a tree ; and as
soon as the corn fell to the ground, there was a rush for it by others that seemed to be
in waiting, and the fallen stalk would disappear at an astonishing rate.
Of course they do not confine themselves to this kind of diet, and yet they seem to
prefer it, as is shown in the eagerness by which they feed upon any vegetable growth
that is wilted or on the decline. They show this disposition towards their own family,
for whenever any of them get killed or disabled, others go to work and eat them up,
the one being devoured by the others will kick and struggle as long as life remains,
(and they have a wonderful tenacious life,) but it is all of no use, the length of life only
depends on how long it will take the others to eat it up. Young plants just coming
from the seeds, being weak and easily destroyed, are also particular objects of the
tastes and appetites of these insects.
Having learned that their favorite places, or their resorts of choice, are hard, dry,
warm places, and their preference in food such as is not strongest in vitality, the reme*
dies most successfully employed against them here are early planting, good and
thorough cultivation, and the production of thrifty and vigorous growth in crops.
In wet or cool weather they are comparatively harmless, being scarcely able to fly
or eat; in clear weather the air is filled with them, (after they commence flying); in
cloudy weather few can be seen flying, and on wet or rainy days they do not fly at all.
Their habits seem to be restless and migratory ; they show this disposition as soon
as they hatch out in the Spring, first collecting on patches of May-weed and smart-
weed, and other things suited to their tastes and natures. They will move in bodies:
from one point to another in search of food to suit them. While young, and before
they have wings to fly, they move ina peculiar manner, by walking a short distance
and then jumping. In their travels they prefer hard ground, as it is somewhat difficult for
them to travel (walk and jump) on loose ground. Thus itis that corn-tields of consider-
able size, when well cultivated, generally escape destruction, especially if the corn gets a
good early start in growth. And I think there is no doubt but that a continuous and
thorough working of ground by horse power, is a good safeguard against these insects
from the time they hatch out until they fly. It may not be practical to save small
tracts or lots of ground in this way, because they may encircle from all sides and over-
run it.
Tam one of those who believe there isa final remedy for every evil, and to know
how to overcome them is simply a matter of time and study, and we may as well get
right to work and prepare ourselves to meet and overcome, as well as we can, every
calamity and misfortune that is likely to come in our way.
That the insect in question is one of the greatest scourges this splendid country is
subject to, too many have the misfortune to know, and the past gives but little reason
to hope we will not be troubled with them in the future, unless some organized practi-
cal method be adopted to destroy their power for harm.
PAGE
A
ACHLAUUMAMETICONUIN «cr aric ao cesses sesso 173, 174
oS FUPOR DUTT. dcks OS Ud BGO OOD SOO UOSEOORDO 133
alabame, Chrysobothis vav......... ceaurundTacon 71
CIOVVENOSUS,NILCTOPUS VAL. -cjecee coc e ccs ssiecnees 22
MULE TCOMER NO LOSLENC sine /aiatsielel ales cis\s/e[a'e e/e ele cisneie!sie)« 27
American Oak Phylloxera..................--- 118
ANisOplerys POMELATUA.. 6. cece eeccccesesccees 80, 83
rs UAW cboagoeacasdcanodscG coprcdaoge 80
GNONYMG, DOCKING, /n2 5. ees ccc ce ccs ncc ce eens 178
Anonymous Tachina-fly.................5-0005- 178
TATITHOGONIS HUIS TLTOSUS . « -fessi cle lelcssioiaiviel=ja1>\-\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)<oe\clelsteya\sis/sis:s1si0)6/alejs\efoiers ois 175
Astoma parasiticum........ aaa arate aheloe teste lavsrare oisuauste 176
RLIO USO CLO DLORUS ocx oat. cciaie eile a/ave-elsier=}eleja sialeieynis 169
RUM OT CELL UO 1 Wars) ctataj-ver «/oie¥s « s)cis!s]o\= staie/elcie\eis elei aval « 124
B
Dasalis, Micropus VAL... ....20. 2 cece eee e eres ee 22
bivittatus, Caloptenus......... DEO SOR BOA COD 124, 173
MAU DRU LOU iS CD CT Cla 7atorata ate siess loleieigh elses cic sie'eisiaie sales 7
BES ELE D TING LLCS ee er aisrev xe cieiayavalo;s axclaloveNeFarctetelsicve-e.o[elsie els 75
Cc
calmariensis, Galerucd,.......2..s.0.e00+-++--0, 86
Calopten 1 ACT es Ci SAE Eee 169
BUODELOUUST ecto cieisya cls cee sioreiato <r 124, 173
ue differentialis........... 124, 171, 173, 180
ee PenVUUT=FUDTUT. .. 0-056 c- ewe 126, 128, 170
int JUKE Oona oe SEBO G OOD SOSe ea O OOS 133
ee SPTCLUS. <<. 5200 121, 128, 138, 170, 180
MG ANNKEVWOLIMNS eifescieecicieisielaoisielsictoleisieisis winle nine sic 80
MWONGCMISIOM see ciscie elise cieineisint ote store 88
ixtract from the original Essay on the Can-
Ker=worm) bys Wiel Pecks... .siis1/ = 89
HaeCanker=WOrmne a-ha. cis eiasislets o-\exelelele 83
PLACHCAINCONSIGeEratlONS. «<<: seieielee =< = oe - 85
Spring Canker-worm........... alates sistederere 80
RAI SUSLODIUILOULUS aiaccict etre le jareioicisiel eeietsia\erers\eisieXeielois 27
carnaria, Sarcophaga........ Artes orterpncters) orale cherstars 18)
PUR OL EID CH L199 OO. Oet =<.) fe\0) ol o:olshetsisisisteievals sfeloie/e's ete 175
caryacaulis, Phylloxer is} Kanes enka OL, 975 99, 17
Bue Oud 8 es Devattherarn oererara i aclarstayee 117
carya-fallaxr vb éendomaggco < ocaarmocccds 118
carya-globuli GC" sepa onbGEccOUGdeeD SUNS 117
COTY R-GUMMOSH ~F — vicisccccee cececccccesses 118
cary@-ren OO UadpebopaeonS.c ORO osnO adn 118
cary@-semen 20 Saadod UoopaocodoocbUd Fle Bal)
cary a@-septa Ur = WoghaMEDecDuBEsuoUcon jade 118
caryevene Sh ye) STAS cls, chovayeleteraterciiers oielers 5 tile
castanee $e AOS ONBSBOABOC ORE DCOOBROD . 118
Gert omnia AestructOre . oecieic cis sss'siscie eve es 8 27
GerasphorusrCiNClUsss. . <0. ee so ctiSkectaveive street 76
GILLS way COMBE Peete af -vec/accteia! =) aaiciai eres clei (oPavers 75
Chinch IBIS. so be gone sane dae GenDbd DECeEateSpodeod 19
Appearance and Transformations of....... 20
BAEC Neer erste eres piste) cve ols ietasaia aleleye clel)=)e1= 51
List of Correspondents who made Returns. 51
(Questions answered by Correspondents. . 52
BOSUSICDINCOW BUCS er rrtscisielslaielsieve sie /eisie/e/+/a1< 45
Chinch Bug— PAGE
Mhe Halse Chinchabugwrescsemceserbls » 46
The Flea-like Negro-bug................ . 48
The Insidious Flower-bug s ighalelercieatea Meroe Sern
Destructive powers of the Chinch Bur tenis 24.
Direct remedies against the Chinch Bug.. 3
Flight of the Chinch Bug..:............... an 29)
Heavy rains destr uctive | COpiGe 2) 4:55. eee 30
Importance of Winter work and combined
ACHLOM Msi Sce: ols arate adhere overste ne teleeers Merete 36
UNVUTIOUS TONStOCKS sass onan clelecineteteteteeieine orang to
Tts;food: plants sc seeca- sass see eee E26
ATS Myj UNLESS TA eraicererecte cane eecretsttertcles Breve 12a
Its injuries in Missouri in 1874.............. 25
Ttsimicration’ on Moot... 42. .cseneeetieee ee .' 30
_ Mode of reproduction and hibernation..... 27
NaturalWenemiesaa.c- cick riacek erences . 38
Past history of the Chinch Bug........... . 22
Past history of the Chinch Bugi in Missouri. 22
Possible remedial and preventive measures
that need further and thorough trial. . 41
Preventive measures. . 0.0... vs cccscceclh cic 32
BUTI Sel sce creole Sane aoe e om eee 32
. Mixing seed or protecting one plant by
ANOTHER: 42. Seppe wiatnens este cheieterotraele Ao TS Bt
Invigorating the plant by manure, early
sowing, Clee aa er ae ene bt
Preventing the migration of the bugs from
one field to another..............e++000: 35
IROMING A Wacisttersereien clots octet ierehsieticeetione 33
Abstaining from the cultivation of the
grains upon which the insect feeds..... 38
er ognosticating pevarsestufe) vel verealctehete rajeisleeterete . 44
Recapitulation. iy saree ieraterd ual seni resiecwonatetetelereletelerers 49
Wnnecessary, fearsee cesta cclaetererctoctererts . 44
Wihere the egesiare laid... .\o5 <0 wiser sete es 28
Chr ysobothr 4S FEMOR CLS sary de. rete anemone 71
VAN (ALC DONUE nivale rslcticiels) of cersrelsterete TL
os OO Af USTLELOS Maries mesic esate 71
Gu £2) ME OSUEUN Ua a,ata10(8) dv calals.statssletoterate vi
GG S SI AMLTSCLLG: cparataccretestatsict crests cualcncts a
BG COP WOUSCILE Creve iter: aisha Heike avo 71
us CON PA“UNVD ESSE oo ehssers ice seis elolelote Beri!
: COMASEMUSCULDLE S <yejai ieee) taroteryols Sy il
oe Sie ROO LOI ac cdeivarayey oiavetvore aieiet clots Ree 71
Chinysopa TUiNOvensis hs c.« cre cnr ots cele sei steals 39, 40
< PLOT OO UGG re rteeteter= sila efote sreiapsieyes erm ciels . 40
af EMOTO: aot yc nieayoialorersisyalsiacaie sfotsleretavelesiote 106
Ghrysomela VO=Wineatar sie eles cis vase ee sieioele 16, 18
Cicada sentemadectinewenncten ag Uciee te aoe easiest 27
PEN COE CUNUR raerctn ctate. 2.1 svelte lorans eiceici tie eekeisieey= 27
CUNCLUSES GCC ASI LOTUS esc): « clels\leielaicieieiok> 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 <st-/-teltoealelate UL NAO. COCCINEILG. sem sitelursiels serene cine eee Paes)
CSM Atal PA IStOPY sare cectristele ke eeeiele.crsysiefolerstatets 72 | 4
Neral ENEMIES (6.5 1can ec alsfenias «pects moines 73 N
Ff Terence beminca. ees Eis vats aos NUGHUCORNIS wNTLCHODUSAVAL« sha ietelsrdelonele eee eretetat= 22
forcata, PRY MOLEN Ds alae eae oe ok chee onl 11s | . 0
Fulvivenosus, Micropus var.........d.0---+.--+ se 22 | y
‘fuscipennis, MUIESOCHGVUSELAet Eee Ne ee 75 | Oak Phylloxera—The American.............-. 118
OOUULECIUS COP SUS i ri clotle\nlern)s (ololo= lores stelatasecatereistaloneds 27
G obscura, Chrysobothris Var.........+...000+200%: ral
MG ULENUCH COLMNONLENSUS ac. osc. ce dessa s cin eerste 5, 86 | Gidipoda atror. ...... 6.5. cece eee eee eee eens oo 124
‘ grallator, Giiplush as. ascetic cee 75 Sr CAPONE... 6. see e eens coe ee eee 175, 179
GA DEIU Bom ceyefeverans siete Maree eee see reeesrsie Pooks 75 re MNUGTALONUC, «os eaic te oc ele weieiniioeleiettetvererte 138
VGrapepe hyllOxeras -:5 7... aseere rece sree ta 90 | P
American grape-vines abroad.............. 116 €
American “Oak Ph yOXer ae ce csreretee e ctereisiare 118 | parasiticum, Astoma .........-..0..ceeeeeee veces 176
PAN PENAIK iio eee eee ee secien nee eens 117 | Pemphigus vagabundus NOON aacsaadnmanc dc 7
Completion of its natural history.......... 90 BORO OC Fin seneon sadn Gos codne. 7500c0C Wi
Different forms presented by the species.. 93 | peregrinum, ACTICIUM ...... cece eee e eee e teens 135
WINECE METMEMIES® 5.5 coe) cte syle o/sieleyeisieis slo's ese 1105 |Phalenavernata.).0is.gs seas pelea eee eee 80
Gratting as a means of counteracting the Phylloxera ACANLROCHERINES mere nace isc 119
WOM OL Py NOEs crete sje eteisteieleiolelaterelar= 08 IBOLDUGN UN. erste etereietolat-te 91, 97, 99, 119
Injury done duri ing the yearin America. . 99 oe cary@caulis..........+04+ Sppidacnden aco Ui
Injury done during the yearin France...... : 103 aie COTY COM come ine seiseieee eeeteeee uz
NEV GUSTER Sa on sanaonncedocooopoepscor 106 66 cary@-fallaw ....... 6.00. c ener ee eee Is
Range of the insect in America............ 101 os COPY @=GloOUl ~. 5. 500.0 vce = weie vie sie Wi
ROOTS OUUISe LAS USLOCKen eee leie tien leer 115 ae COPY B-GUMMOSGA .. 22... eserereeeesces ds
Specific identity of the root-inhabiting and os COPY B=T.O Mire, setereistoicisvelolel=\-tnii=i" elorelere . 118
leaf-inhabiting ty POS isis. ca Rsleatenioee crac 9. Ga COPY B-SCMON Lovie cee cree eeeerenaee ii
Specific diagnosis « of Phylloxera Rileyi.... 119 us COTY @=SCPLAN citar piel eiere' lela . 118
Spread of Phylloxera in’ Eur Ns sc000n0000 104 OG COSANEE «1... cee eee eee eee teens 118
Susceptibility of diflerent varieties........ 106) stg COCCINED.... 0. sense eee eee eee e eee ees ie
Synopsis of tbe American species of the | ee CONTCH «1.62 eee eee ee cee cence oe ee eS
SONUS EW yMlORe Asie ileres eer a ke eelels cievens 117 | OG COTLUGOIIS serate ie eisiaia aie oi0isieie s elelal-lorehetere 2 119
The sexual individuals.............--.. +... 98 | ut GOpPTOSSOerewieterei siete sersleieleieistere ein teits is
Varieties of vines to graft and to use as ee EF OTOOLC Same etet fie elolsiejoreielejerenetetisiets es
BUOCKSERE ae cen iahcnte oem man clearence ci 116 | i. | TAehtensteimit.. 2... .cnceue eee 119°
Where do the winged females lay their eggs? 96 | oe QUCT CUS ec iwavelataiaralaiein eheleyni=iateietsisleeereise 91, 119
Gray’s Improved Sprinkler spsieioersig wanes aia riere isis 15 | OG IRDLCU MEME: oe aisle cileseiieee , 91, 117, 118
Ghullonian AStomas Shs chs. vince seccen concen: 175 GG SCUUPET GME a racccesleiciciers cle errr 119
Gryllus erythropus Shonbodgoaph voaaussoDUOdsOaDNG 126 | os SDUMOSE so, o\ehere o1s: oie o/0\eiere:eheleisieiialsiseieitetete 118
| CO MOSTALIO Et Skins sys oon eee HE ally
H | Pe emphigus CORY CORLULS are creleteloielaistelsiere Meieioteleterstetet= i
EL APA CLOT. CURCLUS Ia. 42 v0) sin steroveichetossrerasu eesret a= eiefe ate 41 | CONV CUCNE a aee escent oy Lily
ETT OC ANVED IMA CULUL Coots cfale\e ici islelols)sielole/si-leielsieiols 39 | Perytymbia Vilisand,..... 6... cece eee e eee ene ii
HOlOSEricetun, TPOMDUtUM. 2... oo oe cviscces «vise ovie V75 | Pieris TAP... 2s. cee eee ec ence tee cee e eee ences 5
PT ODIODIMWONGOTCLOLG ce ace vies vleleisieieie tei sanyo Sine custeress 106 | Piesma cinerea....... elo ole leleietarsiet bie eiolare te oreeateropeealaere 47
INDEX. HOt:
PAGE | Rocky Mountain Locust-— PAGE.
LOU UUN AAs) OLUGY SOU Qelacsovsiel< tavels « lsv~iers.choles archon 40 The migratory Instinct and great destruc-
POLY OT CMMG NORMAL ce ces. ss. cess cue cce nee 16 tive. Power belong to but one Species
IONUCLOTLAS AMISOPUETYO occs ovis. ass Us as sue ere 80, 383 west of the Mississippi gisteve eiayp's sete taeda 124
Potato-beetle—The Colorado................... 1 MimenroheApperrAances, 0s... asses eee 160
UN CONTAD CONUMELEMO ence. ccs a cciecien ce va dece 48 What Injury may be expected in Missouri
TRL OTD Merete ieee iets uae noses 66.
; Where the Eggs are laid by Preference..... 123
4-impressa, Chrysobothris vav........0..0000000s Tile IOS CC SELON erate elelern\eiete! = -leisle\eie eisi>='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 <acie lnslecenaauue cnatvdcenes Socsedac te se aensad cnesesmcuceoeas eee menlics
Two Species long confounded, 12—They diler generically; new Genus (Paleacrila) pro-
posed for one, 13—The two compared in all Stages, 13, 1/—Characters of the Genus
Paleacrita, 1j—Distinguished as Spring and Fall Canker-worms, 17—Practical Consid-
erations from their Differences of Habit, 13—Stunting the Larve does not preduce
male Moths, 19—Traps recommended, 20, 21.
MIMETIL MANTRA Von! VV ON rac cae etes vcs taletasssededatenccsse\cechece orcs secvesesedssesasnocs cheveccocsecsise tose dcceet oes
Its Generic Name, 22—The Term ‘‘Army-Worm’?’ applied to various Insects, 23—Past
History of the Army Worm, 24—Known since 1854 in Missouri, 27—It followed
the 1871 Conflagration around Peshtigo, Wisconsin, 28—Its history in 1875; very gen-
eral all over the Country, 28, 29—Its History in Missoxri in 1875, 30-—Sexual Differ-
ences, 30—Sexual Organs illustrated, 30, 32—Natural History of the Species, 32—
Illustrated in all states, 82, 33—1t occurs in Europe, Asia, New Zealand and Austra-
lia, 34—Desceription of the Egg, 31—Where the Eggs are laid, 34—Conelusions drawn
from Structure, 36, 57—When the Eggs are laid, 40—In what state does the Insect
hibernate ?, 43—Habits of the Worm, 45—Why it escapes Detection when Young,
45—Why it travels in Armies, 46—Time of its Appearance, 46—Are there one or two
Broods ? 47—The Fall Army Worm, 48—How distinguished from the real Army
Worm, 48—Plants preferred by the Army Worm, 49—Its sudden Appearance and
Disappearance, 50—It swarms during wet preceded by very dry Seasons,51—Its nat-
ural Enemies, illustrated, 52—Remedies, 54—Philosophy of Winter Burning, 54,
dd—Prevention, 55—Summary of the leading Facts concerning it, 56.
VI
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Tre ROCKY MOUNTAIN LiOCUST siussecaccseceececrosessconodersteiubeencseeuedecteanterereaceetecaccns
CET GRAPE MEY Lil OSGRIR UA: cos vaees coe. toe ceesesteeeesnocccs uesutedetiacesceebonenee wehidowenatanec’ Prrperrtctce: Jl
Previous Experience in Spring 1867, 57—Predictions verified, 58~—General Outlook in
Spring of 1875, 60—Extent of Country ravagel, 60—The Outlook in Missouri, 61—
Country ravaged often as bare as in Midwinter, 61—Account by Counties, 62—Atchi-
Co. ,62— Andrew Co.. 62—Benton Co., 63—Barton Co., 63—Bates Co., 63—Buchanan
Co., 64—Caldwell Co., 64—Cass Co., 64—Clay Co., 67—Clinton Co, 68—Dade
Co., 68—DeKalb Co., 69—Gentry Co., 69—Hickory Co , 69—Holt Co., 69—Ifenry
Co., 69—Jackson Co., 69—Johnson Co., 72—Lafayette Co., 73~Nodaway Co.,
73—Newton Co., 73—Pettis Co., 73—Platte Co., 73—Ray Co., 74—St. Clair Co.,
75—Vernon Co., 76—Condition of Things in other States, 76—Kansas, 76~Ne-~
braska, 79—Iowa, 81~Minnesota, 81—Colorado, 8t—Dakota, 85—Montana, 87—Wy-
oming, 88—Texas, 88—Indian Territory, 88—Manitoba, 89~Damage done in Mis~
souri, 89—Destitution in Missouri, 91—Address of Relief Committee from St.
Louis Merchants’ Exchange, 93—Cases of Starvation, 9{—The Governor’s Proc-
lamation, 95—The Locusts not a Divine Visitation, 97—Natural History; Mode
of molting illustrated, 98—Habits of the unfledged Young, 100—Directions in
which the Young travel, 101—Rate at which they travel, 102—They reached but
a few miles East of where they hatched, 102—Not led by ‘‘ Kings” or ‘‘ Queens,”
103—The species taken for such, illustrated, 103, 104—The Exodus in 1875, 104—Time
of leaving of the winged Insects, 104—Direction taken by the winged Insects, 105—
Destination of the departing Swarms, 106—Native Home of the Species, 109—Views
previously expressed confirmed, 110—Conditions of Migration, 112—Conditions
which prevent the permanent Settlement of the Species in Missouri, 113—Modifica-
tion of the Species by climatic Conditions, 114, 155—Definition of the Species, 114—
How distinguished in all Stages from Species most nearly allied, 117—Experience
in Spring of 1875, 118—Contrast in Summer and Fall, 1J)9—No Evil without some
compensating Good, 120—Injury to Fruit and Fruit Trees, 121—Food Plants, 121—
Only one kind of Plant not touched under all circumstances, 121—Changes that fol-
lowed the Locusts, 121—The widespread Appearance of a new Grass, ordinarily un-
noticed, 122—Appearance of large Worms, 123—The Locusts did not return in the
Fall, 124—Natural Enemies, 124—Remedies against the unfledged Insects, 125—Artifi-
cial Means of destroying the Eggs, 125—Various Means of destroying the unfledged
Young, 126—They are within Man’s Control, 126, 127—The proper Ditch to make,
128—Machines used in Colorado,129—Best Means of protecting Fruit Trees, 130—How
to avert Locust Injuries, 131—Prevention, 151—Legislation, both national and local,
132—Bills before the 44th Congress, 133—Need ot a national Entomological Commis-
sion, 133—The Bounties offered in Minnesota, 138—The Requisites of a good Bounty
Law, 188, 139—How a Bounty Law would work, 140—Suggestions, 140—Lessons of
Year, 142—Locusts as Food for Man, 143—They have been used from Time immemo-
vial, and are used extensively at the present May, 145—The Rocky Mountain Species
quite palatable, 146—Mode of Preparation, 147—False Opinions and Predictions,
148—Unnecessary Alarm causel by other Species, 148—Injuries of native Species in
1875, 150—Locust Flights in Illinois in 1875, 151—They were composed of native Spe-
cies, 152, 153—Explanation of these Flights, 154—Locust Prospects in 1876, 155—No
danger from them in Missouri, 156.
The Injuries not great in Missouri m 1875, 157—Completion of its Natural History, 157—
Where the winged Female lays her Eggs, 157, 161—The sexed Individuals illustra-
trated, 158—Description of the true Female, 159—Description of the impregnated
Beg, 159, 162—Practical Considerations growing out of these latest Discoveries, 163—
Decortication of the Bark to destroy the impregnated Egg, 163—The Insect may be
imported from one country to another on Cuttings as well as rooted Plants, 163—
Best time to attack the Root-lice, 163—Phylloxera Ravages in California, 163—
Great Destruction around Sonoma, 164—Need of Action by the State Authorities,
164—Occurrence of Phylloxera in the Southern States, 164—Its occurrence in
Georgia, 166, 167—Report of Committee appointed by the American Pomological
Society, 165—American Grape-vines in Europe, 167—Large Demand for our Vines,
57
~—
of
4
TABLE OF CONTENTS. Vit
167—The Orders for some Varieties exceeded the supply, 168—The American Vines
flourishing in S. France where the European Varieties perish, 167—Probable future
Demand, 168.
INNOXIOUS. INSECTS.
Tar Yucca BORER....... aceon oon Res cewe iS icenainee Widinwucwe Gatiacnecuonnen a ecaeee Ridocee eae . 169
The only N. A, Butterfly whose Larva has the boring Habit, 169—The arbitrary Nature of
classificatory Divisions, 170—Butterflies and Moths not easily separated, 170—Bio-
logical History of the Species, 171—Illustrations of all States, 171, 172—Habits of
the Larva, 171, 172, 181—Mode of Pupation, 172, 180—Flight of the Imago, 173, 181—
Position of Wings when the Imago rests or walks, 173— Bibliographical Notes, 173—
Detailed Descriptions of the different States, 174, 175, 181—Structural Characters
illustrated, 175—Aftinities of the Species, 176—It is a true Butterfly, belonging to
the Hesperians, 178—Characters of the Castnians contrasted with those of Hespe-
rians, 176, 177, 178—In Classification it is better to widen than restrict in the higher
Groups, 179—Enemies of the Yucca Borer, 179—Concluding Remarks, 179—Un-
safe to describe species from mere Drawings, 179.
NOXIOUS INSECTS— Continued.
SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES ON THE ARMY WORM......c..ccscssssccosesccoscseoees Rocumseconoogaosos Lis
Completion of its Natural History, 182—Oviposition of the Moth described, 183—Eggs de-
seribed, 183—Conclusions previously arrived at verified, 184-—Description of the dif-
ferent larval Stages, 184, 185.
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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. <A few inches
of tanbark or lime placed within, is for the purpose of preventing the moths from
ascending inside. One pint of crude petroleum (costing 3 cents per tree, at 24 cents
per gallon,) is enough for each tree.
22 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
With a little care in making a close connection between the
v-shaped trough and the box, the above contrivance must work to:
perfection, as, indeed, Mr. Barker found it todo. Yet on account of
the greater labor and expense of making and using it, and of the
greater difficulty of examining beneath it, the first described is the
preferable of the two. Indeed I should advise the use of Mr. Jones”
contrivance, if kept properly oiled, over all forms of troughs whatso-
ever, for they too often get filled up with the dead bodies of the
moths or with leaves, or get bridged with spider web; and where fas-
tened directly around the tree must needs be renewed as the girth of
the tree increases.
THE ARMY WORM—Leucania* unipuncta Haw.
(Ord. LEPIDOPTERA; Fam. Nocruip.})
The insect which, next to the Rocky Mountain Locust attracted
most attention and did most damage in Missouri during the summer
of 1875, was the Army Worm. In its destructive power and sudden
appearance and disappearance, it may be compared to the dreaded
locust of the mountains; but everyone can see how this last comes.
and goes, upon its wings; whereas the coming and going of the Army
Worm are more mysterious and not so well understood.
The species has already been treated of in my second Report; but.
the experience of six years has added much that is of interest to our
general stock of knowledge of so remarkable an animal, and from the
evidence adduced a year ago and published in the appendix to the
Chinch Bug article, it is manifest that my second Report was very
poorly distributed, and is not known to one in a thousand of the farm-
ers of the State. I deem it advisable, therefore, to devote some space
in the present Report to the consideration of the Army Worm, and in
doing so, I may have occasion to reproduce, in quotation marks, a few
passages from the previous article referred to.
* Leucanide of Guenée.
+ This long known and familiar generic term, applied to a well defined genus, has recently
been dropped from our nomenclature—in the writings and in the ‘‘ List?’ and ‘‘ Check List’? of N. A.
Noctuide by Mr. A.R Grote. It has been replaced by Heliophila of Huebner. By this change we pass
from light into darkness. I consider that the reasons so long urged by entomologists against the adop-
tion of the classification of the ‘‘ Tentamen’’ and ‘‘ Verzeichniss,’’ and particularly those given by
Guenée for not following this last in his admirable work on the Noctuide, are good and sound. The Hueb-
nerian Classification is essentially unreal, and the generic divisions so inadequately defined that I doubé
if any one would attempt to make use of the works in question, were it not for the references to the ad-
mirably illustrated works of the same author. The introduction of his generic terms into American Lepi-
dopterology has so upset its nomenclature, without in the least advancing our knowledge, and the grounds
for this introduction are so questionable, that those who make these insects a speciality are apt in the
future to divide into two factions—the Huebnerites and the ante-Huebnerites; in which event the lattex
will certainly have strong support from entomologists in general.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 93
THE TERM ‘‘ ARMY WORM’? APPLIED TO VARIOUS INSECTS.
The name “ Army Worm” is naturally given to any insect larva
that congregates and travels in large numbers. Thus, in parts of
Europe some of the owlet moth larve and particularly that of Calo-
campa exoleta (Linn.) sometimes go by that name; and on the Pacific
coast another larva, which has not, so far as I can learn, been speci-
fically determined, is often reported in the California papers by the
name of “Army Worm,” as doing great injury to the beet crops. ‘“ The
Cotton-worm (Anomis xylina,* Say), is very generally known by the
name of ‘the Cotton Army-worm, in the South. The term as applied
to this species is not altogether inappropriate, as the worm frequently
appears in immense armies, and when moved by necessity will travel
over the ground ‘in solid phalanx;’ and so long as the word ‘Cotton’ is
attached —its ravages being strictly confined to this plant — there is
no danger of its being confounded with the true Army-worm. The
term has, furthermore, received the sanction of custom in the
Southern States, and of Mr. Glover in his Department Reports.” The
Army Worm of Jos. B. Lyman, in his “ Cotton Culture” (p. 29) is what
I have characterized as the Fall Army Worm (Rep. III, 109), an insect
closely resembling the true Army Worm in larval appearance and
habit, and which I shall presently have occasion to refer to again.
The Tent Caterpiliar of the Forest (Rep. III, 121) is also frequently
dubbed “Army-
worm,” a fact which
is by no means sur-
prising since it often
appears in countless
numbers and particu-
larly in the more
southern States,where
it strips the oak forests
Ad for hundreds of square
Petcare crt Pome: ceys miles. In 1872 this
from side—enlarged. species was so numer-
ous around Memphis as to frequently stop the trains going
in and out of the city. It stripped orchards, and great
lanes of bare trees marked its track through the woods. Bh aa onnee
Finally, the “ Army Worm” of the Germans is what we ae
more generally call ‘“Snake Worm,” viz., the larva of Sctara (a genus
of small gnats) which has the peculiar habit of traveling in Jarge
[Fig. 16.]
* Identical, as Mr. A. R. Grote first pointed out, with Aletia argillacea, Huebn.
24 i EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
bands or armies, all the individuals attached to each other, heads to
tails, and the whole mass moving with one impulse, as a unit.*
The species we are now considering is, however, the only one in
America which has a just claim to the title, not only because it was
first thus christened, but because it so well deserves the name. Known
to the scientific world as Leucania unipuncta, and often called the
Northern Army Worm, to distinguish it from the other species that
have usurped its title, this insect has a very extended range and pos-
sesses immense power for harm on account of the importance of the
crops it devastates.
PAST HISTORY OF THE TRUE ARMY WORM.
“If we trace back the history of the Army Worm in this country,
we find that inaccuracy and confusion characterize most of the rec-
ords concerning it previous to the year 1861. In that year, however,
by the contemporaneous observations and experiments of several
entomologists, in different sections of the United States, its natural
* These bands of small worms are of not unfrequent occurrence in Missouri, and I give herewith
accounts of them from three different correspondents. In two of the instances the specimens have been
sent to me and proved to be identical. The species averages 513 mm. in length by 0.5 mm. in width, or
about a quarter of an inch long and one-tenth as wide. It is a plain, pale-yellow, soft, viscid, semi-
transparent, legless worm with a free und brown head, and a slight swelling around the anterior border
of the abdominal joints ; the body being cylindrical and tapering but very slightly towar head. Nor-
mally these worms live huddled together under the decaying bark of trees, which they leave in adhering
bands, when they are fall grown and about to enter the ground to transform. When thus marching
in trains they are usually pursued by numerous enemies, and especially by rove-beetles (Slaphilinida)
and ants. They have been reported from various parts of this country.
From my pear-trees runs a path to my stable. In said path, early this morning, we noticed what
we first thought a snake just shed. On closer examination it proved to be a rope-like (about two feet
long and 34 of an inch thick) moving mass of minute worms such as we send you in the center of the
enclosed tin box. Could have sent more than a pint. Afterwards in our fruit-garden we noticed apple
trees much blighted ; then some of our pear trees died of the same disease. We examined with a knife
some of the shoots and found the track and in the track castings of what we thought just such fellows as
those massed and marching away from our pear trees. We hastened to the moving rope: it had disap-
peared, and we could find no traces of the worms, except where they had been trodden into the mud.
As we said, this moving column was leaving our pear trees (about fifty) that are dead and dying with
blight. In the pear-limbs that we cut oif between the outer bark and the wood, we tound the track or
burrow, castings, ete , and occasionally a worm of the color and size of these migrating bands. We
send you with the worms some of the pear Jimbs from trees that were dying with blight. We never
noticed this Worm until last season, as above stated, and we had no blight until that time.
Wiil you please investigate the pear blight and tell us if there is any connection between it and
these worms ?
Jos. SMITH.
Stewardsville, Mo., June 16, 1870.
Of course, as I wrote to Mr. Smith at the time, there is no connection between the worms and the
blight, other than that as soon as a tree is blighted, it furnishes under the decaying bark desirable food
for them—they being rather the effect than the cause. ;
In July 1872, Mr. Louis S. Noce sent me specimens identical with those sent by Mr. Smith, with
the statement that at Bismarck, Mo., they were travelling together in a roll the,size of an ordinary
snake.
The third communication about these snake worms in Missouri was made to me last summer by Mr.
G. A. Bezoni, of Napoleon, Lafayette Co., under the impression that they might be the genuine Army
Worm with which he was not familiar. The species was larger and evidently distinct from the others.
Tle thus describes them appearance:
There were discovered here last summer two rolls of worms, one about six feet long and the other
about four feet long They were as large as a large snake, and were traveling from the east. ‘hey were
so compact and so shaped that they were mistaken for snakes. We got sticks and stones to kill them
with, as they were crossing the road, but on striking we found that they were worms, of a grey color
and about three-fourths of an inch long.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 95
history was first made known to the world, and the parent moth iden-
tified.
“The very earliest record which we find of its appearance in this
country isin Flint?s 2nd Report on the Agriculture of Massachusetts,
where it is stated that in 1743 ‘there were millions of devouring
worms in armies, threatening to cut off every green thing.’
°‘In 1770 it spread over New England in alarming numbers. Dr.
Fitch in his 6th Report quotes the following full and interesting ac-
count from the Rev. Grant Power’s Historical Sketches of the Coés
Country in the Northern part of New Hampshire. ‘In the summer of
1770 an army of worms extended from Lancaster, the shire town of
Coés county, N. H., to Northfield, Mass., almost the whole length of
the Granite State. They began to appear the latter part of July, and
continued their ravages until September. They were then called the
“Northern Army,’ as they seemed to advance from the north or north-
west to the south. It was not known that they passed the highlands
between the rivers Connecticut and Merrimack. Dr. Burton, of
Thetford, Vermont, informed the author that he had seen the pastures
so covered with them, that he could not put down his finger without
touching a worm, remarking that ‘he had seen more than ten bushels
in a heap.’ They were unlike anything that generation had ever
seen. There was a stripe upon the back like black velvet, and on
each side a stripe of yellow from end to end, and the rest of the body
was brown. They were seen not larger than a pin, but in maturity
were as long as aman’s finger and of proportionate thickness. They
appeared to bein great haste, except when they halted to feed. They
entered the houses of the people and came up into the kneading
troughs as did the frogs in Egypt. They went up the sides of the
houses and over them in such compact columns that nothing of the
boards or shingies could be seen. Pumpkin-vines, peas, potatoes and
flax escaped their ravages. But wheat and corn disappeared before
them as by inagic. Fields of corn in the Haverhill and Newbury
meadows, so thick that a man could hardly be seen a rod distant,
were in ten days entirely defoliated by the ‘Northern Army.’
Trenches were dug around fields a foot deep, as a defence, but they
were soon filled and the millions in the rear passed on and took pos-
session of the interdicted feed. Another expedient was resorted to:
Trenches were cut, and thin sticks, six inches in diameter, were sharp-
ened and used to make holes in the bottom of the trenches within
two or three feet of one another, to the depth of two or three feet in
the bottom lands, and when these holes were filled with worms, the
stick was plunged into the holes, thus destroying the vermin. In this
way some corn was saved. About the first of September the worms
26 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
suddenly disappeared. Where or how they terminated their career is
unknown, for not the carcass of a worm was seen. Had it not been
for pumpkins, which were exceedingly abundant, and potatoes, the
people would have greatly suffered for food. As it was, great priva-
tion was felt on account of the loss of grass and grain.’
“The same writer adds that ‘in 1781, eleven years after, the same
kind of worm appeared again, and the fears of the people were greatly
excited, but this time they were few in number.’
“In 1790 their ravages are again recorded in Connecticut, where
they were very destructive to the grass and corn, but their existence
was short, all dying in a few weeks (Webster on Pestilence, I, 272.)
“ Their next appearance in the Eastern States was in 1817, after an
interval of twenty-seven years, according to Fitch, who quotes the fol-
lowing paragraph from the Albany (N. Y.) Argus :
‘* Worcester, Mass., May 22nd, 1817.— We learn that the black
worm is making great ravages on some farms in this town, and in
many other places in this part of the country. Their march is a ‘ dis-
played column, and their progress is as distinctly marked as the course
of a fire which has overrun the herbage in a dry pasture. Not a
blade of grass is left standing in their rear. From the appearance of
the worm it is supposed to be the same which usually infests gardens,
and is commonly called the cut-worm. % *
This same worm is also destroying the vegetation in the northern
towns of Rensselaer and eastern section of Saratoga, New York.
Many meadows and pastures have been rendered by their depreda-
tions as barren asaheath. It appears to be the same species of worm
that has created so much alarm in Worcester county, but we suspect
it is different from the cut-worm, whose ravages appeared to be con-
~ fined to corn.
“Tt was not until after a lapse of forty-four years from the last
mentioned date, namely, in the summer of 1861, that this worm again
spread over the meadows and grain fields of the Eastern States. Du-
ring the interval, however, it had from time to time attracted atten-
tion in the Western States, where it often proved quite destructive.
Thus, in Illinois, it is recorded as having appeared in 1818, 1820, 1825,
1826, 1834, 1841, 1842, 1845, and 1855, and according to Mr. B. F. Wiley,.
of Makanda, IIll., it was quite numerous and destructive in the south-
ern part of the State in 1849, and appeared there also in 1857, though
it was confined that year to limited localities.* Mr. J. Kirkpatrick, of
Ohio, mentions its appearance in the northern part of that State in
*Prairie Farmer, July 18th, 1861.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. oT
1855. He says: ‘Last season (1855), in consequence of the heavy
rains in the early part of June, the flats of the Cuyahoga, near Cleve-
land, were flooded. After the subsidence of the water, and while the
grass was yet coated with the muddy deposit, myriads of small black-
ish caterpillars appeared; almost every blade had its inhabitant; no
animal could feed upon it without, at every bite, swallowing several ;
if anew blade sprung up, it was immediately devoured, but what was
most remarkable, the insects did not attempt to remove to land a foot
or two higher, but that had not been covered by the water.’ ”’*
Since the publication of my second Report I have learned through
Mr. M. P. Lentz, of Rocheport, that it abounded in parts of Boone
county, in 1854, and this is the earliest record that we have of it in
Missouri.
‘The year 1861 will long be remembered as a remarkable Army
Worm year, for this insect was observed in particular localities
throughout the whole northern and middle portion of the United
States from New England to Kansas. It was first noticed in numbers.
sufficient to cause alarm, in Tennessee and Kentucky during the
month of April; and toward the close of the same month it appeared
in the southern counties of Illinois. By the endof June it had visited
nearly all portions of the latter State, proving more or less destruc-
tive to grass, wheat, oats, rye, sorghum and corn.
“Its advent in Missouri was simmltaneous with that in Illinois, and
judging from what facts I have accumulated, it occurred very gener-
ally over this State, though recorded only in St. Louis, Jefferson, War-
ren, Boone, Howard and Pike counties. No mention is made of its
occurrence, at this time,in any of the States or Territories west of
Missouri, but to the East,scarcely a single State escaped its ravages.
In many portions of Ohio it entirely destroyed the hay and grain
crops, and in the eastern part of Massachusetts the damage done was
reported to exceed a half million of doilars.”
In 1865 and in 1866 it attracted attention in restricted localities in
Illinois and Missouri. In 1869 it again appeared in vast numbers in
many portions of our State, especially in St. Louis, Jefferson, Cooper,
Callaway, Henry, St. Clair, Marion, Ralls, and Lafayette counties;
also in some counties in Illinois and Indiana. The first intimation I
received of its appearance in Missouri was the following letter sent
to me by Mr. A. E. Trabue of Hannibal, under date of June 8th:
Linclose a match-box with grass and two worms, which we think are Army
Worms. They are here in myriads destroying the grass. Destroyed a hundred acres.
of blue grass meadow in five days, and are now advancing on me. What are they and
their habits ?
*Ohio Agricultural Report, 1855, p. 350.
98 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
Carbolic acid (one part acid, 20 parts water) kills them if they get a good drench
with it, but is too expensive at that rate. They will cross a trail of it without injury,
though they evidently dislike the smell. Have sent to town for coal tar to see if they
at cross it when the ground is soaked with it. The advancing column is a half mile
wide.
The hogs are very fond of them; will not notice corn when they can get Army
Worms, but we have more of the latter than they can dispose of.
In 1871 it was reported in the Prairie LIarmer “ Record of the
Season” from Marion and Morgan counties in Illinois, and was also
abundant in Linn, Louisa, Washington, Appanoose and other counties
in Iowa, according to the State Agricultural Report for that year. In
1872 it was more wide-spread, and I received specimens from several
correspondents,in Iowa more particularly. It was reported in Louisa,
Van Buren, Wapello, Jefferson, Muscatine, Jasper, Washington, lowa
and Adams counties in that State,and very generally in Wisconsin, in
Ohio and in Kentucky. It attracted less attention in Illinois and Mis-
souri, though I met with it frequently in the last named State. It was
also reported from Tioga county, N. Y. Graphic accounts were likewise
published of its devastations in Tennessee, and the California Farmer
of July 25, 1872, reported legions of Army Worms as appearing over
that State spontaneously, and ‘stripping vines and potato fields.’
From this last statement I infer that they were of some species other
than the one we are considering.
But the most interesting manifestation of the insect during the
year 1872 was in the vicinity of Peshtigo, in the northeastern portion
of Wisconsin. It will be remembered that of the memorable fires
that ravaged the northwestern country in the Fall of 1871, none, after
that of Chicago, attracted more attention, or caused more sympathy
for the sufferers therefrom, than that which swept through Peshtigo,
destroying the whole town, and causing numerous deaths and great
distress. During July of the following year the people of Peshtigo
suffered another infliction in the shape of armies of worms that de-
stroyed the crops and were so numerous that in many places they
could be shovelled up by bushels, and fel] into wells in such myriads
as to render the water foul and useless. This case has such an inter-
esting bearing on the insect’s natural history that I shall revert to if
again under that head. For the present it is only necessary to say
that there can be no doubt as to the species, as specimens received by
Dr. LeBaron and by myself showed it to be the insect under consid-
eration. After 1872, until last year, the Army Worm attracted no un-
usual attention.
ITS HISTORY IN 1875.
During the latter part of May, or just about the time that there
was the greatest consternation regarding the locusts, our papers con-
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 29
tained dispatches from various parts of Southern Illinois and Central
Missouri to the effect that the Army Worm had appeared in countless
millions, and was destroying the grain crops at an alarming rate.
During the last week of that month Mr. C. M. Samuels of Clinton,
Ky., brought specimens to my office with the statement that they were
common and doing much damage all over the northwestern portion of
Kentucky. It was also reported from various parts of Delaware and
of Ohio about the same time. Somewhat later it appeared in Iowa,
and I quote the following account of its advent at Fort Madison, from
a letter from Dr. A. W. Hoffmeister:
The Army Worm was very troublesome in some localities near Fort Madison.
About the first of Jane immense pumbers of caterpillars, one-half inch long, were ob-
served in low grounds, subject to overflow or standing water. Their eating created a
noise which could be heard at a distance as adull grating or sawing sound. Aboutthe
21—24 they bored into the ground and pupated, and in about two weeks after ap-
peared as moths. I had caught the Leucania unipuncta in the fall of 1875 and spring
of 1876 in great numbers by the process ot sugaring, looking at both seasons very
fresh ; and therefore it is a riddle to me whether there is another brood or whether
some pup remain dormant till fall or next spring. All my pup hatched, but I did
not see the moths cohabit, nor did I find young or new larve during the summer. This
fall the moths are less numerous than last fall.
During the latter part of July and August it attracted attention
in New York, and by the middle of the latter month was swarming on
Long Island. In September and October it was extensively reported
in New England, where it did much injury to Hungarian grass and to
oats. Mr B. P. Mann of Cambridge, Mass., who took the moth at
sugar as late as October 27, sends me the following extracts which
will show the time of year and the numbers in which they appeared
in different parts of New England:
Army Worms are very destructive to vegetation around Mashias [Maine.] There
has been nothing like them since 1861. % “5 25 The Army Worms
have appeared in large numbers at Colchester, [Conn.] and are doing much damage
to the crops. [Boston Daily Advertiser, Aug, 10 and 11, 1875.
The Army Worm appeared in immense numbers on Sunday at Sussex, on the
government railway line, east of St. John [N..b.], and since that time the ravages have
created wide-spread alarm. Fields of grain have been destroyed. Horse rollers run
over the road where they crossed did not perceptibly lessen theirnumbers. A dispatch
from Sr. Andrews says, the Army Worm invaded that town yesterday, covering the
streets, fields and lanes in every direction, and devouring the grass and grain in spite
of every oppo-ition. They are still advancing.- [/é¢d, Aug. 12, 1875.
A worm has been discovered in Hollister |Mass.] in such large quantities as to
lead to the supposition that it may be the Army Worm again. The army has invaded
Delham. They have devastated an acreof Hungarian owned by Mr. Greenwood Fuller,
eee field of grass for Mr. Luther Fisher; also for Mr. L. Baker. [Jd¢d. Aug. 16,
1875.
The south shore [of Mass.] in the vicinity of Black Rock has of late been visited
with an innumerable host of moths, commonly called millers. ‘They took possession
of rooms which were accessible by the windows being left open, in such numbers that
it was the work of days to rid the rooms of their presence. Their origin is a mystery 5
but they entered rooms facing north in such flocks that it is a theory that they came in
from the sea. In one small room 800 were killed. [Jdid, September 3, 1875.
30 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
ITS HISTORY IN MISSOURI IN 1875.
The most noticeable feature connected with the appearance of the
worm in our own State was its harmlessness, or non-appearance in the
western or locust-stricken portion. Most of these counties are large
stock-raising counties, and abound in rich prairie and good meadows.
Under ordinary circumstances, the worms would have flourished
there; but last spring, though I have records of their appearance, the
loctsts either destroyed them or caused them to starve before they
acquired full growth. The following list of counties in which no
Army Worms were noticed or in which they were soon killed out, is
made up from reports from my correspondents, and very forcibly illus-
trates the feature referred to: Andrew, Barton, Benton, Buchanan,
Bates, Barry, Caldwell, Clay, Clinton, Cass, Cedar, Daviess, Dade,
Dunklin, Grundy, Gentry, Henry, Harrison, Hickory, Holt, Henry,
Jackson, Johnson, Jasper, Lafayette, Linn, Marion, McDonald, Macon,
Newton, Oregon, Pulaski, Pettis, Putnam, Ray, Sullivan, Scotland, St.
Clair, Texas, Taney and Vernon.
In nearly all of the counties not mentioned I have records of its
appearance, and often in such numbers that whole fields and meadows
were cut down.
SEXUAL DIFFERENCES.
As throwing light on the mode of oviposition the sexual charac-
teristics interest us. The sexes at first glance are not easily distin-
guished. There are no colorational differences, nor does the abdomen
[Fig. 18.] of the one sex differ materially in
size or form from that of the other.
Yet a careful examination with an
ordinary lens will enable one to
separate them with sufficient certain-
ty by the smoother antenne (Fig. 22.
e) and more pointed abdomen (Fig.
22,b) of the female compared to the
more hairy or ciliate antennz (Fig.
22, d) and blunter abdomen of the
male (Fig. 22, a). The antenne of the
female will generally be found quite
naked toward the base, while those
; of the male show two rows of stiff
GENITALIA OF MALE Army Worm Motu:— hairs, about half as long as the an-
A, end of body, denuded of hairs, showing
the upper clasps protruding, and the natural j ; i
position of the hidden organs by dotted lines; tennal width. In both sexes the tip
B, the organs extruded. of the abdomen is covered with a
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 31
brush of long pale hairs, and the moment these are brushed away
the sex is at once easily ascertained. Suppose now we pick out a
male for examination! A little friction with a stiff camels-hair brush
will soon denude the tip of the abdomen without injuring the
horny parts, when we shall notice two rounded, brown, horny lobes
or clasps extending somewhat beyond the ultimate joint (Fig. 18, a)
the lobes some distance apart below, but converging until they
touch, above. A careful removal of the chitinous exterior of the
two terminal joints will further reveal to us that these lobes
are but parts of a somewhat complicated arrangement, admirably
adapted for seizing the female, and consisting chiefly of the two lobes
referred to, of two smaller, inferior lobes, and of two intermediate
organs starting from a knotty base, the upper one curved and ending
in a sort of beak, the lower one more straight and ending in a small
cushion of contracted membrane above.
A still more careful examination will show that the upper valves (Fig. 18, c) have
a rather long and gradually narrowing stem, and that they broaden irregularly, the
hind border obliquing beneath and the lower border more strongly curved than the
upper: all the borders are thickened, the outer surface is polished and dark brown and
the inner surface is clothed with stiff, pale, decumbent hairs, replaced toward the pos-
terior portion with brown, retrose spines. (Fig. 18, 2). The lower valves (Fig. 18, d)
have a shorter stem and are more regularly rounded: each is composed of two corne-
ous layers soldered and somewhat thickened at the borders, the outer piece easily frac-
tured and detached, pale and covered sparsely with very minute spines; the inner one
more solid, darker, and covered with a dense brush of long pale hairs. The upper,
intermediate, curved organ reminds one from the side of a swan’s neck and head
(Fig. 18, e): it is yellowish and cylindrical, dilates and enlarges toward the end and
terminates in a narrower darker beak, the sides of the dilatation behind are curled up
(Fig. 18, g) and furnished with long yellowish hairs behind, and the beak with a brush
of shorter hairs. The lower organ or penis (Fig. 18, f) is broader, composed of mem-
brane supported by two principal ribs—the upper one curved, the lower nearly straight
-——and ends in a sponge-like, superior swelling, which in life may be considerably ex-
tended in the form of atube. Both those intermediate organs play on a strong horny
arch which is generally retracted, but which can be raised and exserted and consider-
ably dilated as in Fig. 18, B.*
If we now take a female and denude the tip of her abdomen in
the same way, we shall immediately find a quite different and far
more simple structure, namely,a thin vertical blade-like valve, more
or less produced or elongated on the upper portion, of a brown color,
but with a broad, slightly thickened, paler border. This valve plays
* A careful examination of the genital organs of thirteen O's of this species shows very consider-
able variation in the contour, and relative size of all these different parts—so much so as to convince
me, when added to my limited examinations of the same parts in other species, that nice differences in
these parts alone are of no specific value.
W
32 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
(Fig. 19.] into two retractile subjoints of the
body, and may be hidden within the
terminal joint proper, so as to show
only the upper tip, or extended as in
the figure (Fig. 19, a). It is in reality
composed of two thin layers, closely
appressed except at the upper or
dorsal portion near the base, where
it swells into a somewhat angular
ridge outside and is hollow within. A
more careful examination will show
that the upper portion is irregularly
= and obliquely striate (Fig. 19, d@), the
denndel vod honing ovgocior at oxy s, Striations representing folds of the
same with ovipositor fully extended; e, f, bas E
retraetile subjoints; h, eggs—all enlarged} 9, membrane, to facilitate expansion;
a : and that the hind border is garnished
with fine hairs which easily rub off and leave the edge quite sharp,
so that. the two layers form a blade which is admirably adapted to
pressing in between narrow passages, or even to splitting frail and
hollow stalks. In life this ovipositor plays on the two sub-joints which
may be greatly extended, and when so extended forms a somewhat
cylindrical and telescopic tube which is rendered very firm by a series
of stout muscles within. (Fig. 19,6). The valve opens from top to
bottom, and may be very considerably distended so as to make way
for the oviduct which is a quite complicated structure.
NATURAL HISTORY OF THE ARMY WORM.
Up to the year 1861 our knowledge of the natural history of the
Army Worm had remained a blank. Nothing, indeed, of a scientific
nature had been published respecting it. ‘A few very observing
farmers ventured to predict its appearance during very wet summers
succeeding very dry ones. They did not know why this was the case,
but, it was a fact that they had learned from experience. It was also
known that the worm attacked only the grasses and cereals, that it
was gregarious in its habits, and that it disappeared suddenly, ina
manner as seemingly mysterious as that in which its advent was sup-
posed to have been made.”
In 1861, however, its wide spread occurrence over the country
and the large amount of injury it caused, attracted the attention not
only of farmers, but of several well known writers on economic ento-
mology and agriculture. Among these may be mentioned my late
friends B. D. Walsh, of Illinois, and J. Kirkpatrick, of Ohio; and Prof.
Cyrus Thomas, of Illinois, Dr. Asa Fitch, of New York, and J. H. Klip-
*
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 33
part, of Ohio. Through the efforts of these gentlemen the worm was
for the first time connected in our minds with the parent moth, and
several parasites were ascertained to infest the species. But beyond
these points—important as they are-—no discoveries were made. The
complete .natural history of the species has yet to be recorded.
Where facts are wanting theories flourish, and we find that in the
Prairie Farmer, the Lllinois Farmer, the Field Notes and the Ohio
Farmer, some very spirited articles were published in 1861 by Messrs.
Walsh, Klippart and Thomas —the controversy between the first two
being at times personal and acrimonious. The points of dispute. be-
tween Messrs. Walsh and Thomas were, Ist, whether the insect
winters in the egg or chrysalis state; 2nd, whether it is single.or
double brooded—Mr. Walsh arguing for the first of both propositions.
From an economic view these points are of vital importance, and
though they have not yet been settled by direct observation, I shall
endeavor to settle them, as far as it is possible, by deduction from the
known facts in the case that bear on them. Before attempting to do
so, it will be well to briefly describe the Army Worm in the three
states in which it is known.
| “The general color of the full grown worm is dingy
———— H black, and itis striped longitudinally as follows: On the
oo back a broad dusky stripe; then a narrow black line;
| then a narrow.white line; then a yellowish stripe; then
| anarrow sub-obsolete white line; then a dusky stripe;
then a narrow white line; then a yellowish stripe;
then a sub-obsolete white line; belly, obscure green.
(Fig. 20.)
“The chrysalis (Fig. 21) is of a shiny mahogany-
brown color, with two stiff converging [¥ig- 21-1
thorns at the extremity, having two fine"
Full grown Army guyrled hooks each side of them. The ri
Worm. Chrysalis of Army
general color of the moth is light reddish-brown or Worm.
(Fig. 22.) fawn color, and it is princi-
ila pally characterized by, and
receivesits name from, a white
spot near the center of its
front wings, there being also
[Fig. 20.]
adusky oblique line running
inwardly from their tips. The
accompanying illustration
Army Worm Morn:—a, male moth; b, abdomen of fe-
male—nat. size; c, eye: d. base of male antenna; e, base
7: ¢ * 4 :
of female antenna—enlarged. (k 1g. 22), will show wherein it
ER—22
34 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
differs from the Southern Cotton Army-Worm, notwithstanding the
colors of the two moths are nearly alike. Our Army moth was.
first described by the English Entomologist Haworth in the
year 1810, in his Lepedoptera Brittanica, page 174, as Noctua
unipuncta. Subsequently the French Entomologist Guenée (Voc-
tulietes I, p. 77) overlooking the former’s description, and regarding it
as anew species, named it Lewcania extranea. Of course ILaworth’s
name takes the precedence. Itis considered a common species even
in European collections, and Guenée mentions it as occurring in Bra-
zil. A variety without the white spot occurs in Java and India, and
still another, lacking the white spot, and having a dark border on the
hind wings, occurs in Australia; while an occasional specimen has
been captured in England. A figure is given in Stainton’s Entomolo-
gist’s Annual for 1860, of one captured there in 1859, but if the figure
is a correct one, the specimen is much lighter than ours, and the char-
acteristic white spot is not nearly so conspicuous.”’*
Whenever this moth is noticed to be unusually abundant in Fall
or Spring, the worm may be looked for in the early summer following,
and the preventive measures that will be subsequently indicated
should be more particularly adopted on such occasions. As of over a
hundred correspondents of whom I have asked whether or not they
are acquainted with this buff-colored moth, all but six have answered
in the negative, and some few have even supposed the Tachina-flies
that accompany the worms to be the parents of the latter; I have
made a new figure (Fig. 22, a) which with the above description will
enable the reader to recognize it.
DESCRIPTION OF THE EGG.
An examination of the egg as disclosed in those moths which
have the ovaries fully developed, shows it to be spherical, smooth or
but very faintly shagreened, with no ribs or sculpture whatsoever. The
shell is quite delicate and semi-transparent, apparently of a dirty
white or yellowish color. It measures 0.5 mm. in diameter, or
about three-hundredths of an inch. In the abdomen these eggs
are so closely pressed together in rows (Fig. 19, g. 4.) that they often
present two flat sides from the pressure. I have counted upward of
two hundred in a single female, so that the species is quite prolific.
WHERE ARE THE EGGS LAID?
Omne vivum ab ovo—Every creature springs from an egg! Not
only from analogy, but from the universality of the law expressed in
the foregoing phrase, we could safely conclude with absolute certainty
that our Army Worm comes from an egg, even if [had not just dem-
*My. Herman Strecker, of Reading, Pa., informs me that he has specimens from New Zealand
and Australia, undistinguishable from ours.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 35
onstrated the fact. Further, we may conclude with sufficient certainty
that the egg is laid by the parent moth and hatches outside her body.
Analogy would also indicate that it is laid on the insect’s preferred
food-plants ; it being a very general law in insect life that the parent,
with wonderful instinct, commits her eggs to the plant on which the
larve or young are destined to feed, if these are herbivorous by
nature. Analogy is not, however, an infallible guide, here, for we
have seen inthe case of the Fall Army Worm that the parent fre-
quently deposits her eggs on the leaves of deciduous trees, which
leaves the worms do not feed upon, but from which, upon hatching,
they instinctively descend, so as to get at more congenial herbage be-
low (Rep. III, p. 114). Yet there are many recorded facts and observa-
tions which indicate that the Army Worm moth follows the more gen-
eral rule, and that she commits her eggs to the stalks of perennial
grasses and of cereals, whether these be cut or still standing.
Nevertheless, the fact remains that no one has ever seen the eggs
of the Army Worm moth, naturally deposited ;* and even if we admit
the correctness of the last conclusion, it still remains conjectural as to
whether they are laid within or upon the stalks, single or in masses,
in the Summer, in the Fall or in the Spring. Nothing but direct ob-
servation will fully and satisfactorily answer these questions; though
we may by proper scientific method come to pretty safe conclusions
regarding them.
Alive to the importance and interest attaching to these questions,
I made every provision last summer that I deemed necessary to their
settlement. But ‘the best laid schemes 0’ mice and men gang aft
a-gley!” Having to leave for Kurope just as the worms were entering
the ground to pupate, I gave full and explicit directions to my clerk,
Mr. Otto Lugger, for carrying on the requisite experiments and ob-
servations, with instructions to spare neither time nor means in pursu-
ance of the object in view. The insect was abundant on many farms
in St. Louis and Jefferson counties, and everything seemed propitious
for fruitful observations. Mr. Lugger proved, by extensive breeding
of the moths and attempts to obtain the eggs in-doors, that which I
have repeatedly proved in previous years, viz: that the eggs cannot
be so obtained. Beyond that, his work wasfruitless; for unfortunately
the rains in June and July were so frequent and copious, as to materi-
aliy hinder -out-door observations. Search for the moths in fields
where the worms had swarmed a few weeks before was so vain as to
*The only purported description of the eggs is by Mr. S. P. Fowler, ina letter to F. W. Putnam,
quoted by Mr. C. A. Shurtleff of Brookline, Mass., (Proc. Essex Ins. Vol. II) in his ‘‘ Report on the
Army Worm;’’ and which evidently refers to Microgaster cocoons.
86 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
lead to the belief that the insects must have been in great part, if not
entirely, drowned out in this locality. In default of direct observa-
tion, let. us see to what conclusion a careful study of the structure of
the insect will lead us.
At first view it seems singular that the eggs of an insect that ap-
pears in such countless myriads from Maine to Georgia, and from Vir-
ginia to Kansas, should have remained undiscovered either by farm-
ers or entomologists. Desiring to attract attention to the subject I
offered in the columns of the Prairie Farmer, last September, a
reward of $20,00 toany one who would send me the eggs of the insect ;
but no one claimed the reward. One of the obstacles that has stood
in the way of discovering these eggs is that, as soon as the worms have
multiplied so prodigiously as to attract attention, their natural enemies
become so multiplied that a very small per cent. of the worms
entering the ground issue again as moths. A second reason is that,
during seasons when the insect is not numerous and attracts no atten-
tion, no one thinks of searching for these eggs. A third reason is
that, as already stated, the moth does not oviposit in confinement. I
venture to suggest a fourth probable reason that has, hitherto, oc-
curred to nobody: itis that the eggs are, for the most part, secreted
where they are not easily seen. Structure is an infallible index to
habit. Look whichever way we may, in studying organic life, we find
perfect adaptation of means to ends—special organs to special pur-
poses. To approach at once the subject under consideration, we find
the ovipositors of insects, or rather the external parts that shield and
guide them, modified in a thousand ways to fit them for conveying the
eggs to their destination. Look at the piercing and boring and sting-
ing instruments of the Ichneumons, extending in some instances as in
Rhyssa, several inches from the tip of the body! Look at the more
or less perfect saws of the Saw-flies which insert their eggs in the ten-
der stems orin the parenchyma of leaves of many plants! Examine
the ovipositor of the Cicada and of many of our tree-hoppers, and see
how admirably they are adapted to splitting and puncturing twigs!
The slender-bodied Dragon-flies belonging to the genera Z’schna and
Agrion have an instrument springing from the base of the penulti-
mate joint, composed of four slightly curved horny pieces, the outer
pair sharp and notched near the tip, and the inner pair both striate
and serrate, so as to perform the three offices of awl, saw and file—the
whole admirably adapted for puncturing the stems of water plants. The
female of the common Plum Curculio has, lying beneath the pygi-
dium a beautiful horny exsertile spoon-shaped contrivance, with a
decurving point, wherewith to guide her egg beneath the skin of the
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 37
punctured fruit. The reader of these reports needs not to be told how
admirably the ovipositors of the different Katydids are adapted to
splitting the thin edge of a leaf, to penetrating a twig, or to rasping
the same, according to the manner in which the eggs are laid; nor
need he go beyond the case of the locust, with her drilling valves for
an example of the same admirable adaptation. To come to moths, let
me illustrate by a few examples taken alike from these reports. Mark
the sword-like sheath and the extremely acute, wirey, elastic, thread-
like organ (Rep V, Fig. 74, 7) which is to convey the egg of the Yucca
Moth to its destination through the tender flesh of the forming fruit: the
horny, telescopic process (ante fig.9, ¢) that enables the Spring Canker
Worm Moth to thrust her eggs into cracks and cavities and beneath
close-lying scales of bark! The ovipositor of the Stalk Borer ( Gor-
tyna nitela, Rep.I, Fig. 85) which in the larva state burrows in the
stem of the Potato and of a variety of other plants,ends in a pair of
[Pig 23.] horny nippers which open laterally (Vig.
. 23.) When closed they form a wedge which
A ), seems admirably adapted to prying be-
BS. tween a terminal leaf bud or into the ten-
Mel der union of leaf with stem, and it is more
than probable that the eggs are so placed.
OVIPOSITOR OF GORTYNA NITELA:—d,
showing it excerted from tip of abdo- . A
men; b, showing it trom abare! That of the Fall Army Worn, the eggs of
which are laid in exposed masses and covered with down, is a mere
fleshy, slightly bifid protuberance, generally hidden altogether out of
sight in a dense mass of soft scales and down, which fills the end of
the abdomen and which is easily detached and used in oviposition by
merely rubbing against the surface on which the eggs are being laid,
and perhaps also by the use of the bifid ovipositor for that purpose.
In detaching the rather abundant pale hair that adorns the end of the
[Fig 4] ~~ abdomen outside, one is sur-
i prised at the profusion of —~
i | black and gray downy mat- —
== | ter that crowds the inside.
If we examine that of the 6
‘ OyiposiTroR OF UNARMED RustTICc:—
parent of the Variegated a, as it appears at end of abdomen;
b, when extended.
Cut-worm—the Unarmed Rustic (Rep. I, p. 72,) the
eggs of which (Fig. 24) are exposed and not pro-
«) tected with any covering, we shall find that it also is
#3] mere fleshy, retractile tubercle (Fig. 25) capable
mts, de Pee OF slight elongation. This last may be taken as an
Ral rped git: fo? ew iexample of the typical form of ovipositor in all moths
tural size.
38 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
which lay their eggs unprotected in exposed places; and wherever
there is any great modification of it, we may feel sure that it is for
some special purpose, and indicates some other than the ordinary mode
of oviposition. Nowif we study the structure of the ovipositor of Zeu-
cania as exhibited on page 3¥, we shall find that it is admirably adapted
either to clasping the edge ofa grass-blade or of a slender glass-stem,
and attaching the eggs in rows therealong, or still better to pressing
in between and then widening long and narrow passages, such as oc-
cur between the sheath and stalk of grasses and grains, especially
just above the joints. It might even be used for splitting the more
fragile, yielding and hollow stalks of grain, and of some of the tame
grasses, though it evidently could not be inserted into the more solid
and pithy stalks of most wild grasses. It is my belief, therefore, that
the eggs of the Army Worm are secreted for the most part between
the sheath and stalk of its food plants just above the joints. Euro-
pean observations do not help us much in forming any opinion; for
the eggs of no species of the genus seem to have been observed.
The fact is well known, however, that the larvee of those species
which frequent more particularly aquatic grasses and reeds, often
retreat and live within the stems; while other insects of the same
family, and notably those of the very closely allied genus Vonagria
naturally live within the stems of reeds and flags. I find upon exam-
ination of such European species as I have been able to observe
CGmpura Albin and /ithargyria Esp.) that the ovipositor is constructed
after the same plan, as are also those of our other American species
of the genus; the difference, when there is any, being in the more
pointed upper portion and lesser prominence of the rounder, lower
portion of the valve. These facts lend some further weight to the
deductions I have drawn.
There are many good reasons, also, for believing that perennial
grasses are preferred by the moth, and that the eggs are seldom con-
signed to the stalks of annuals. From about 130 practical and intel-
ligent farmers living in different parts of Missouri, to whom I have
directly put the question: “ Whatis your experience as to where the
eggs of the Army Worm Moth are laid?” the large majority reply
that they have made no observations and have no knowledge. A
number give it as their opinion (and it is undoubtedly a correct one)
that the eggs are laid in grass that has not been pastured and in old
meadows; asmaller number that they are laid in oats stubble; still
others that they are laid in old straw stacks; and a few that they are
laid in the ground in sheltered and moist places. These opinions are
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 389
founded not on any direct observations on the eggs, but on the locali-
ties from which the worms were noticed to come last spring; and as
the experience of some of my correspondents on these points is inter-
esting, I give a few extracts herewith:
First noticed on low and level land—[Dr. A. H. Dyr, Lamar, Barton county.
On level land; the opinion prevails here that they were most numerous on land
that had been previously cropped to oats or Hungarian grass—Wm. H, Avury, same
place.
First noticed in old meadows—[S, 8. Smira, Bertrand, Mississippi county.
My opinion is that they originate in wet meadows—[J. M. AnTHony, Frederick-
town, Madison county.
In every instance, so far as we have been able to observe in this neighborhood,
they came from the stubble near and among the roots of the grass in meadows; and
they were noticed about the roots of the grass when as small in diameter as the finest
needle—[Rosr. E, Casxre, Rocheport, Boone county.
All whom I have spoken to describe them ‘‘ to seem to just come out of the ground
in old meadows, regardless of high or low situation.”’ In some instances they came
from old straw stacks, 2 years old.—| Ww. Rien, Potosi, Washington county.
There were some Army Worms in a few localities in low meadow land in this and
the east edge of Callaway county.—[E, R. Brown, Montgomery City, Montgomery
county.
The worms hatched in low meadows first, and afterwards on higher lands, such
as meadows and wheat fields, and in some instances they hatched in fields planted in
¢corn.—|[ Henry Brunt, Appleton, Cape Girardeau Co.
On low land.—[S. 8. Bartey, Dundee, Franklin Co.
Noticed on both high and low, but were far more numerous on low meadow
lands. No prairie here. They seemed to come from wheat straw cut in June and
trashed in October; timothy cut in June and July, old dead weeds, and trash of all
sorts that had lain over winter seemed their native home. Pastures or meadows pas-
tured bare previous Fall, were not infested.—[ Wm. Carr, Belleview, Iron Co.
They were first observed on high land and appeared in our flower garden, where
we had used considerable straw and trash as a mulch.—[W. 8. GoopMan, Mt. Vernon,
Lawrence Co.
On the farm of Mr. Henry Elliott, joining my wheat, are extensive Timothy mea-
dows and old pastures of the same of twenty years standing, all of which were ruined
so far as the then growing crop was concerned. Certainly they must have been bred
in those meadows and pastures; if not, I know not from whence they came. High and
low lands were alike infested. A few seemed to start from woodland pastures where
stock fodder had been fed tweive months before, making their way into growing corn
near by. This I observed in two places half a mile apart.—[THos. MircHEeLy, Boon-
ville, Cooper Co.
I think their appearance as a general thing was first in low lands, but in a very
short time they spread over the hill lands as though they all came up out of the ground
at once. ‘They were most destructive near old straw piles.—[J. B. DouGuass, Columbia,
Boone Co.
In every old hay or straw stack place there were more or less of them, and to such
an extent did they come from such places, that such places were fired to destroy them.
On our place there were but few, and those from hay stacks; the hay was cut the latter
part of the June preceding.—[L. A. Brown, Boonsboro, Howard Co.
There were none noticed on the upland in this county, but they were very numer-
ous on creek bottoms in the southern part of the county.—[D. P. Dyer, Warrenton,
Warren Co.
A piece of my farm was adjoining a straw rick, some of which was from the crop
Pre lod . . . .
of ’73, some from °72, and Iam thoroughly convinced that the Army Worm has its origin
40 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
in old straw piles. Many fine meadows in the county were entirely destroyed by them,
and in every instance, upon inquiry, I found they could be traced to the old ricks of
straw contiguous to the meadows. They would pass from meadow to meadow, going
through fields of wheat, eating only the cheat.—[K’. M. Drxon, Jefferson City, Cole Co.
They invariably hatch in low lands or in or about old straw yards and low prai-
ries. They do not seem to inhabit high lands, or visit them as frequently as low ‘
grounds.—[Euinu Canapay, Jones City, Pettis Co.
The above experience accords with that of a large number of
persons who have observed the insect in years past; and from it we
may conclude, Ist, that the moth lays her eggs in standing grass and
grain stalks, but also in such as have been cut and made into stacks.
and ricks.
WHEN ARE THE EGGS LAID ?
This question can only be answered in a positive manner when
that we have just been considering is definitely settled. Neverthe-
less, we have facts enough to warrant our drawing conclusions with
sufficient confidence. Practically the knowledge of the time of de-
position is almost as important as that of the place. There have been,
and can well be, but two opinions, viz., that they are laid either in the
Spring or in the Fall. Every one who has had anything to do with the
rearing of this moth or who has given any attention to it, knows that
in the latitude of St. Louis, it issues on an average in from two to
three weeks after the worm enters the ground. In this latitude they
may be taken abundantly at sugar, from the middle of June to
October. During all this time they may be noticed, when abundant,
in our pastures and meadows, and especially in such as are rank and
undisturbed. They have a strong flight,‘and in alighting dash down
into the grass, apparently without any caution, and from observations
which Prof. Thomas made last summer, it would appear that they
mostly fly close to the ground and ascend but a few feet, since,
though they were common about his residence, none reached his bed-
chamber on the second floor. My own experience accords with this.
The most interesting feature about this moth in the present connec-
tion, is that the ova are without any appreciable development at the
time of issuing, for which reason, as I have already stated, | have
always been unable to obtain eggs in confinement. By pressing the
abdomen so as to extrude to their utmost the telescopic joints on which
the ovipositor plays, the ovaries will issue from the lower part of the
valve in the form of two little white sacks. A week after the moth
ssues the eggs are only just discernible in these sacks, like so many
little specks all very regularly and beautifully arranged.
In order to throw light on the question under consideration, I
have dissected and carefully examined a large number of female
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. — 41
moths from different parts of the country, and would right here tender
my thanks, for their readiness in furnishing material from the locali-
ties where they reside, to the following gentlemen: A.J. Packard, Jr.,
Salem, Mass.; H. A. Hagen, Cambridge, Mass.; J. A. Lintner and Otto
Meske, Albany, N. Y.; Hermann Strecker, Reading, Pa.; A. W. Hoff-
meister, Fort Madison, Iowa; A. Bolter and O. S. Westcott, Chicago,
Ills., and Cyrus Thomas, Carbondale, Ills. The result of these examin-
ations proves that several weeks must elapse from the time the moth
first appears before she can lay eggs. I have found these fully de-
veloped in only three specimens, one obtained of Dr. Hagen, and cap-
tured in Maryland (time not known) and two taken by myself in St.
Louis county, in the month of September. They have fair develop-
ment in some of the specimens taken during the same month in Chi-
cago and New York, whereas in most of the specimens I have exam-
ined—manyv of them taken as late as August and September in Iowa,
New York and Massachusetts —the eggs have been found very imma-
ture. This has likewise been the case with the few that I have been
able to examine that were captured in the Spring. I am inclined to.
think that this is owing to the fact that most of the specimens in the
cabinets of entomologists are fresh specimens, either bred in-doors.
and killed soon after issuing, or taken at sugar. There can be little
doubt that the moth lives several weeks, or even months. Its tongue
is very stout and by it the moth can perhaps obtain nourishment from
the moisture and juice from the tender base of grass stalks,* as well
as from the nectar of flowers. It naturally seeks rank grass plots,
swamps or prairies, and once there would hardly be attracted to
timber where sugaring is generally carried on.
In my second Report I stated my belief that in this latitude the
bulk of the eggs are laid in the Fall of the year, and only the excep-
tional few in the Spring. This opinion was based on a large amount
of testimony that might be cited to show that the worm never hatches
the same year on land that was ploughed late in the Fall or in the
Spring, or in grass or grain sown in Spring,}+ and that where meadows
or grass plots have been burned in winter, they have been exempt
from the ravages of the worm, while non-burned and adjacent grass
has swarmed with it; also on the further fact that, so far as my ex-
perience goes, the moths are more numerous in the Fall than in the
* The Germans apply the term ‘‘ honey-sweating’’ to some grasses.
{ The testimony on these points is conclusive, as any one can see by carefully perusing the Report
which B. D. Walsh published on the insect in the Transactions of the INinois Natural History Society
for 1861. In 1875 the same facts were observed, and Mr. C. M. Samuels, of Clinton, Ky., reports to me
that: all over that country where the worms were bad in May, they came from low grass lands, and that.
they never occurred on lands broken the previous Fall, though often abounding right along side, on
unbroken lands.
42 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
Spring. But upon reflection we shall find that the first class of evi-
dence does not preclude their being laid aiso in Spring; for if, as I
believe, the moth oviposits by choice in mature grass, hay and stub-
ble, the burning and plowing of fields would equally deprive her of
the favorite nidus. The greater scarcity of the moths in Spring may,
also, only be apparent, and due to the fact that they are more busy
Ovipositing. From the examination of over 50 females caught in the
Fall—only 3 of which had well developed eggs—as well as from the
many other considerations brought forward in this article, 1am now
more inclined to believe that the bulk of the eggs, even in this lati-
tude, are laid in Spring, or early in the growing season, and that the
smaller proportion are laid in the Fall. That such is the case further
north, is pretty certain. The further north we go, the fewer eggs will
be laid in the Fall.
Exceptional and abnormal occurrences often help us very mate-
rially in such questions as these. The remarkable appearance of the
worm, as already described (ante, p. 28) in and around Peshtigo, Wis-
consin, in the year following the memorable fires that swept over that
country in October, 1871, was very interesting in this connection.
The conflagration was very general, and occurred so late in the sea-
son as to preclude the idea that the eggs were subsequently laid that
same Fall. It is barely possible that many of the eggs may have
escaped, for though in some places the heat was sufficient to cook
potatoes two or three inches under ground, in others grass and grain
in low places, though scorched, were not materially injured, and these
are just the places were the Army Worm eggs are most likely to be
laid. But after taking mucb pains to get at all the facts, I believe
that the Peshtigo experience proves conclusively that in that higher
Jatitude the bulk of the eggs are laidin the Spring. The following
letter from Mr. A. J. Langworthy, of Milwaukee, is interesting as giv-
ing particulars and dates:
The worm appeared about the Ist of July, and originated on the low, swampy
jands, soils evenly burned, which abound in small patches all over the burned district.
The terr itory burned over was before the fire at least three-fourths woodland, and a com-
paratively wild country, with no prairie at all. No partof the country invaded by the
worm escaped the disastrous conflagration, which did its work on the 9th of October,
1871, at night, at the same time with the Chicago fire, and was followed by moderate
rains very soon after, which extinguished most of the burning embers. By the 20:h
November following winter had set in with snow which did not disappear in the woods
until the following April. I should say that the ravages of the worm about Peshtigo
were confined to an area not exceeding 4 by 6 to 8 miles—and that they originated on
the low grounds that had been formerly covered with a dense growth of white cedar,
which is the ¢ case in all these swampy indentations. * * Not one- -half inch
of rain had fallen in the doomed territory, from the 1st of May until after the fire in the
Fall, so that the extraordinary drouth may have been favor able to the propagation of
these insects. The worms in their line of mareh, through the ‘sugar bushes,’’ a little
west of where the village of Peshtigo stood, devoured everything i in their course, even
to the corn and onions, “filling the wells, houses and barns of the few inhabitants, and
driving them in dismay from. beyond their presence.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 43
We may justly conclude, therefore, that the disputants who have
been contending, on the one hand forthe Fall and on the other for
the Spring oviposition of the Army Worm Moth, have, as in so many
other cases of like nature, both been right and both been wrong.
They were looking at the same shield from opposite sides. JI am very
much inclined to believe that whether the moths preponderate in
Spring or Fall, even in the vicinity of St. Louis, depends much upon
the character of the seasons. A large experience in rearing insects
points conclusively to the fact that a certain amount of moisture is
requisite for the proper development of all species that transform in
the ground in a simple cavity; and that during excessive drouth pupz
so situated will remain dormant and unchanged for weeks, when a
single moistening of the ground will revive them, permit the retarded
transformation and release the imago from its parched prison.
IN WHAT STATE DOES THE INSECT HIBERNATE ?
This question is intimately connected with the preceding one, and,
like it, will not admit of a single unqualified answer. Accepting as
facts that the eggs are laid both in Fall and Spring, the following
questions are to be considered: Ist, whether the eggs laid in Autumn
hibernate as such, or whether the larvez first hatch and hibernate
while small; 2d, whether those laid in Spring are by moths which
issued at that season, after hibenating as chrysalides, or by such as
issued the preceding Fall and hibernated as moths.
As bearing on the first question it is interesting to note that the
Kuropean species of the genus, so far as their habits are known, hi-
bernate in the larva state. Thus Leucania lithargyria Esper, and Z.
turca (Linn.) hibernate as young larvee, while Z. comma (Linn.) win-
ters as a full grown larva, according to Speyer. Quite a large propor-
tion of our closely allied cut-worms are, also, known to thus hibernate.
It would seem, therefore that, in default of direct observation, we
have no good reason for assuming that the eggs laid in Autumn neces-
sarily hibernate as such. But while these analogies make it probable
that the insect may winter in the larva state, all the other facts point
to the conclusion that the proportion that so winter,if any, is very
small. Instead of abounding in a wet Spring when their favorite
haunts are overflowed, they would be well nigh drowned out, on the
hypothesis that they had been wintering there as larva. As bearing
on the second question we have certain facts which indicate that
some of the pup hibernate, the proportion doubtless increasing as
we go north. I have myself never had any of the worms remain in
chrysalis through June, but Prof. Thomas records that less than half
of the pupze which he caged hatched out, and that “only a part are
44 - KIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
transformed to moths during the season of their larva state.”* Un-
fortunately he has left no record of rearing the moths from those
chrysalides the following Spring, and we do not know to how largea
degree the non-issuance of the moths was owing to unfavorable con-
ditions in the breeding cage, which so often affect insects reared in
confinement, and which every rearer of insects is so familiar with.
But Mr. Otto Meske, of Albany, N. Y., informs me that he once found
a chrysalis about the middle of May which ina few days gave him
the genuine wnipuncta, and the earliness of the date precludes the
possibility of the worm having been hatched the same Spring in that
latitude, and renders it almost certain that the pupa hibernated. Of
more value still is the earliness of appearance and freshness of most
of the moths captured in Spring—indicating that they have just come
from the ground. These facts might, it is true, be explained by the
larva hibernating partly grown, but the Peshtigo experience is valua-
ble here and renders the other conclusion much the most plausible.
In fact the hibernation of a certain proportion of the pupz finds its
parallel in numerous other instances in the lives of moths that might
be mentioned. Every experienced entomologist is aware that with
lots of species the imagos from the same batch of larvee often issue
partly in Fall, partly in Spring; while I have given instances in pre-
vious reports of still greater irregularity. Tbe worms that attract
such attention, about the time our wheat is ripening by marching from
field to field are mostly full grown. These would naturally soon turn
to moths; but it must not be forgotten that they are the earliest de-
veloped and that the younger and weaker ones have mostly been
obliged to succumb in the struggle for individual mastery, which must
have preceded the forced abandonment from sheer hunger, of the
original fields where they were born; and that, further, in fields and
rank places where the worms are not so numerous as to be obliged to
travel, there are individuals maturing for several weeks after the more
noticeable hordes have vanished out of sight. As to the hibernation
of the moth, having shown that the larger proportion of the moths
captured in Autumn have the ovaries yet quite immature, it is pretty
evident that the insect hibernates in this state, and I learn from Mr.
Strecker, that he has in fact, found the moth in February, hibernating
“under clap-boards at Reading, Pa., while Mr. B. P. Mann, of Cambridge,
Mass., has also found it hibernating. It would be unreasonable to as-
sume that such large numbers of the moths as occur in Autumn are
destined to perish without issue. Moreover, a large number of closely
allied moths are known to hibernate, and this mode of hibernation
* Illinois Farmer, Sept. 1861, pp. 271 & 272.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. . 45 -
will explain more of the known facts in the insect’s economy than
any other.
From the foregoing considerations I think we may safely conclude
that—taking our whole country with its varied climate—there is no
one state in which the Army Worm can be said to solely pass the win-
ter; that according to latitude and the character of the seasons, there
is nothing to preclude its hibernating in any one of the four states in
which it exists; that in the same latitude and under the same condi-
tions it will even hibernate in different states ; and that, finally, the
great bulk of them hibernate in the pupa and moth states, the pro-
portion of the former increasing northward.
HABITS OF THE WORM.
The fact cannot be too strongly impressed on the mind, that the
traveling of the worms in large armies isabnormal. During the latter
part of April and throughout the month of May, inthis part of the
country, the worms may almost always be found by diligent search in
moist grass land that was not cut or grazed too closely the previous
Autumn. At these times they have essentially the habits of ordinary
cut-worms, and are seldom noticed unless so abundant as to cut the
grass entirely down and be obliged to travel to fresh pastures. In-
deed, one may pass daily through a grass plot where they abound, and
never suspect their presence until the plot suddenly begins to look
bare in patches; and Prof. Thomas tells me that though he was par-
ticularly looking for the worms last June, he never suspected their
presence in a constantly frequented grass plot behind his house, until
it was made manifest in this way, by which time the worms had mostly
disappeared, the abundance of their excrement, however, showing
well enough that they had been there.
The reasons why they so easily escape detection in this their
normal condition, were made very obvious to me in the early part of
May, 1872, when I had an excellent opportunity of studying them.
When less than half an inch long, the worms are scarcely recogniza-
ble as Army Worms, the characteristic dark, sinuous lines on the head
being at this time obsolete and the general color being pale green.
The color is very variable at any stage of growth, and in some individ-
uals the brown predominates while they are yet quite small; but up
to the last molt the green generally prevails and the longitudinal
dark lines are less conspicuous. The broad stigmatal line is the most
persistent, being distinguished when the insect is}inch long. The
worms in this their normal condition feed mostly at night and hide
during the day at the base of the grass or under any other shelter at
hand. If they venture to mount a plant and feed during the day—
which they often do in cloudy weather—they drop at the least dis-
46 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
turbance, and curl up in a spiral so as to simulate very closely a small
shell of the /7eliz form. The worm loves cool, moist places, and is
more often found around the margins of creeks and ponds than else-
where. Last year when the rains were so copious as to fill creeks and
bottom lands and float numbers of the worms away, I saw many an
one cling tenaciously to grass blades and continue feeding as though
little concerned, even when partly immersed.
As already intimated, it is only when hunger impels them that
they march forth from the fields where they were born, though after
they have once begun the wandering habit they often pass through fields
without eating everything to the ground. Invariably when the older
individuals are attracting attention by congregating and traveling in
armies, others may be found of all sizes in the more normal and quiet
condition in grass that is yet sufficiently rank: they may indeed be
found some time after the first worms have changed into moths; and
the mower with his scythe often startles the moths in numbers during
the latter part of June, while yet the worms are clinging to the grass
that he is cutting, or hiding in the stubble that he leaves.
When traveling the worm “ will scarcely turn aside for anything
but water, and even shallow water-courses will not always check its
progress; for the advance columns will often continue to rush head-
long into the water until they have sufficiently choked it up with their
dead and dying bodies, to enable the rear guard to cross safely over.
I have noticed that after crossing a bare field or bare road where they
were subjected to the sun’s rays, they would congregate in immense
numbers under the first shade they reached. In one instance I recol-
lect their collecting and covering the ground five or six deep all along
the shady side of a fence for about a mile, while scarcely one was seen
to cross on the sunny side of the same fence.”
While most of the worms burrow into the ground and form a sim-
ple cavity a few inches below the surface, in which to undergo their
transformations, many of them transform beneath loose stones, slabs
of wood, matted grass, or any other shelter afforded.
TIME OF APPEARANCE OF THE WORM.
As this varies according to the character of the season and accord-
ing to latitude, the only safe general statement that can be made is
that the bulk of the worms are full grown and do the greatest damage
about the time that “ wheat isin the milk.” Thisis also the time when
they first attract attention as, though they hatch three or four weeks
earlier, they are previous to this time not easily noticed for reasons
just stated. In ordinary seasons they are reported along the 32nd par-
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. | uy @
allel, as in Texas, early in March, and about a week later with each
degree of latitude as we advance northward. Thus in South Missouri
they commence to march about the middle of May; in Central Mis-
souri the first of June, and in the extreme northern part of the State
about the middle of the month. In the more northern New England
States they seldom do much damage before the middle of July. There
may, therefore, be a difference of over two months between the
appearance of the worms in Southern Missouri or Kentucky and in
Maine. Thus early in June of the present year, when I left home,
they were mowing down the meadows and wheat fields in Central
Missouri and in Southern Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, as well asin Ken-
tucky ; while upon arriving in New York two months later, they were
marching through the oat fields of Long Island, and were reported
very generally in the Eastern States. In Maine they appeared as late
as September.
ARE THERE ONE, OR TWO BROODS EACH YEAR?
All the evidence, and the whole history of the insect as here set
forth, point to its one-brooded character, at least in ordinary seasons,
and north of the 38th parallel. In the more northern States, it is evi-
dent, from the lateness of the season when the worms enter the
ground, that those which issue as moths the same season cannot beget
a second brood, since the ovaries are so immature at the time of issu-
ing. There is in fact no actual evidence of its 2-brooded nature. One
of the arguments brought forward in support of the theory, is that it
is difficult to conceive how an insect that produces but one brood
annually can become at times so prodigiously multiplied. But it is
only at long and irregular intervals that it does become so prodig-
iously multiplied, and after such a wide-spread appearance of it in
our cultivated fields as that of 1875, it takes several years of undis-
turbed and unnoticed multiplication, culminating in unusually favor-
able conditions, before the decimation of its ranks that inevitably fol-
lows such undue increase, is repaired, and this notwithstanding its
great prolificacy. It is an interesting fact, also, that most Lepidopter-
ous insects that have a wide geographical range and the peculiarity
of appearing suddenly and at irregular intervals in vast swarms, are
known to be single-brooded; while most of our cut-worms, its close
allies, [have by experiment proved to beso. The second argument
in support of the 2-brooded nature of our Army Worm is, that accounts
are often heard of the Army Worm appearing in the Fall of the year,
but in every instance where I have been able to obtain specimens for
examination, they have proved to be
48 EIGHTH ANNUAL RERORT
THE FALL ARMY WORM.
This worm not only acts at times like the Army Worm proper,
but bears a very close general resemblance to it, so that it is not sur-
prising that the two insects should have been so often confounded.
Reports of the appearance of tHE Army Worm in the Fall, such as that —
recorded by Prof. Thomas, and which greatly influenced him in his
belief that our Leucania was double-brooded,* are easily explained
by what we now know of this Fall species. Having already given an
extended account of this last in my 3rd Report,+ it will suffice in this
connection to repeat the leading facts in its history,so as to show
how it may be distinguished from the Leucania.
The Fall Army Worm-—unlike the Leucania, which confines itself
for the most part to grasses and cereals—is a very general feeder, de-
vouring with equal relish most succulent plants, such as wheat, oats,
corn, barley, grasses, purslane, turnips, most garden vegetables, and
even spruces. Though variable in color, when carefully examined it will
be found toinvariably differ from the Army Worm in the following
more noticeable points: 1. It never becomes quite so large; 2, the
head is smaller, darker, with a conspicuous white, V-mark, not pos-
sessed by Leucania; 3, the lateral dark and pale lines are broader
and the former bordered above by a much more distinct white or yel-
lowish, narrow line; 4, the piliferous spots and hairs, which in Leu-
cania are so obsolete that the worm appears perfectly smooth, form
conspicuous polished black tubercles that give rise to short, stiff,
black hairs. Compare
figs.20 and 26, a. Thus,
whenever worms are
ig. 2
LEB. 26] [Fig. 27.]
found mowing down
grain in the Fall of the
year, the presence of
these easily observed
black tubercles will at £&
once show that they
are not the genuine
Army Worm. The
Se i
4 il ‘ z
Fatt Army Worm :—a, full ALL ARMY Worm More :—a.
fe F
grown worm, nat. size; b, head, moth, which belongs the typical form ; b, c, variations
trom front; c, joint of body, : of wings.
dorsal view ; d, do.. side view— tg (Guen ée’s Famil y
enlarged. :
*Prairie armer, Nov. 7, 1861.
+This insect was there described as Prodenia autumnalis. Further investigation shows it to be the
“<Gorn-bud worm moth”? of Smith & Abbott, (Ins. of Ga., 96) figured by them as Phalena Sfrugi-
perda, and subsequently described by Guenée under the genus Laphygma, which is separated from
Prodenia by a few rather trifling characters.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 49
Apamide, is totally unlike our Leucania, being smaller, and of a mouse-
gray color, with the hind wings glistening-white. Though so variable
that scarcely any two are alike, they may yet be separated into
three distinct sets or varieties. The first which may be considered
typical is shown at Figure 27 a, the second which I have called
fulvosa at b, and the third which I have called obscura at c. The
eggs are deposited in small clusters, often two or three layers one
above the other, and covered with downy hair from the parent’s abdo-
men. Hach egg has the form of a slightly compressed spheroid, faintly
ribbed, and is dull yellow in color. As already stated (p 35) they
are often laid on the leaves of trees on which the larva does not feed.
PLANTS PREFERRED BY THE ARMY WORM.
Though when hard pushed the worms will fall upon and devour
each other, and—if the Peshtigo reports in 1872 are reliable—will
take even onions, and other vegetables, and, according to B. F. Wiley,
of Makanda, Ills., who is reliable authority, the leaves of fruit trees ;*
yet their attacks are mostly confined to grasses and cereals, and it is
extremely doubtful whether they could live for any length of time
on other plants. Their more natural food-plants are the coarse swamp
grasses. Of cultivated crops they do most injury to timothy and blue
grass meadows and winter wheat. Though they nibble at clover, they
evidently are not fondofit and generally passitby. Ryeisalsonotas
palatable to them as some of the other grasses.+ They often cut off
the ears of wheat and oats and allow them to fall to the ground, and
they are perhaps led to perform this wanton trick, by the succulency
of the stem immediately below the ear. South of latitude 40° they
generally appear before the wheat stalks get too hard, or early enough
to materially injure the crop; but north of that line, wheat is gener-
ally too much ripened for their tastes, and is sometimes even harvested
before the full grown worms make their advent.
The worm sometimes passes through a wheat field when the wheat
is nearly ripe, and does good service by devouring all the chess and
leaving untouched the wheat; and the following items would indicate
that even a foe to the farmer as determined as this, may sometimes
prove to be his friend.
HARVEST AND Crors.—Notwithstanding the unfavorable weather, many farmers
have commenced the wheat harvest. The yield in this immediate vicinity will be
superabundant. Some fields were struck with rust a few days since, but the Army
Worm making its appearance simultaneously, stripped the straw entirely bare of blades
and saved the berry trom injury. These disgusting pests have saved thousands of dol-
lars to farmers in this neighborhood. A few fields of corn and grass have been par-
tially destroyed, but by ditching around fields, the worm’s ravages have been confined
* Prairie Farmer, July 18, 1861.
t+Jno. Monteith, the present Secretary of the Board of Agriculture, had two acres of timothy,
sown in 1874 with rye. The worms last year cleaned out the timothy, but did not materially affect the rye.
E R—23.
50 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
within comparatively narrow limits.—[Collinville, Ills., correspondence of Missouri
Democrat, June, 1869.
Mr. Ed. Dixon informed us Saturday that the Army Worm had destroyed twenty
acres of timothy for him. From the meadow they entered the wheat field, and de-
stroyed every stalk of cheat, leaving the wheat unhurt. Mr. Dixon ditched between
his wheat and corn-field, and with the aid of a dozen or two pigs succeeded in arrest-
ing their progress and destroying them. This is about the experience that many far-
mers have had in this county. They can be prevented from doing harm by determined,
vigorous opposition.—[Jefferson City Tribune, June 16, 1875.
The habit of merely stripping the blades off the wheat stalks was
very general last summer, and a large number of farmers report that
the work of the insect was beneficial to wheat, as the rains were very
constant and copious and the grain denuded of its leaves ripened bet-
ter than it otherwise would have done.
iTS SUDDEN APPEARANCE AND DISAPPEARANCE,
Among the manifestations in lower animal life, few are more as-
tonishing than the sudden occurrence of a species in vast numbers
over large stretches of country, and its as sudden disappearance. In
a few rare instances, as with the thirteen and seventeen-year Cicadas,
these manifestations are strictly periodical, and occur at regular inter-
vals; but in the great majority of instances they have no such periodi-
city. The numerous natural checks which surround every animal, ad-
ded to the meteorological conditions which affect it in its “struggle for
existence,” sufficiently explain these phenomena to the intelligent
naturalist, though it is not always easy to point out the facts in spe-
cific cases.
Under the head of *“‘ Habits of the Worm,” I have already given
the reasons why it escapes attention in its earlier stages and in sea-
sons when itis not excessively abundant. If, as from what has gone
before we may justly conclude, the natural abode of the worm is in
our low prairie lands and swampy places, it follows that during a very
dry season, when such lands dry out, the worm has a wider range than
usual,where the conditions for its successful development are favorable.
It is a well established fact that all great Army Worm years have
been unusually wet, preceded by one or more exceptionally dry years;
and the wide-spread appearance of the insect in 1875 formed no ex-
ception tothe rule. The explanation of this fact originally given by
Dr. Fitch,* is beyond doubt correct in the main, but needs further
elucidation. Dr. Fitch’s views, in his own words, are given in the fol-
lowing paragraphs:
The Spring and early summer of this “year [1861] was exactly the reverse of last
year—unnsually wet, and the water high in all our streams. Hereby the swamps have
all been overflowed, and this insect has been drowned out of them. [1] The moths or
millers on coming out of their chrysalides, found it was impossible tor them to get to
the roots of the grass there, to deposit their eggs. They were obliged to forsake their
usual haunts and scatter themselves out over the country, the incessant rains making
it sufficiently wet everywhere to suit their semi-aquatic habits. Thus going forth in
*6th N. Y. Rep., 121.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 51
wompanies, they alighted in particular spots, and there dropped their eves; and the
result is sufficiently well known.
More briefly expressed my view is this: a dry season and dry swamps multiplies
‘this insect. And when it is thus multiplied, a wet season and overflowed swamps
drives it out from its lurking place [2] in flocks, alighting here and there over the coun-
try. But on being thus rusticated, it finds our arable lands too dry for it; and immedi-
ately on maturing and getting its wings again, it flies back to the swamps, whereby it
happens that we see no more of it.
[1] It stands to reason that if the insect were drowned out by
overflowed swamps, a wet season, instead of being favorable tc its
wide dispersion, would check its increase and almost annihilate it:
what is meant is, doubtless, that the moth is driven out of the over-
flowed swamps.
[2] This necessarily implies that the moths either issue in the Fall,
and winter over, or else in the Spring before the rains have overflowed
the low places; for if the overflow take place while yet the pup are
in the ground or after the eggs are laid or the worms hatched, it must
needs prove detrimental by drowning them out. Thus, to state the
explanation more explicitly, the conditions most favorable to the
widespread appearance of the Army Worm in our cultivated fields
and meadows are one or more dry seasons that will permit it to multi-
ply in swampy places that are ordinarily overflowed, followed by a
wet Spring in which the rains are not copious enough to overflow such
places until the bulk of the moths have issued, and which soon after-
wards are copious enough to overflow the low lands and oblige the
moths—both those issuing in the Fall and in Spring—to lay their eggs
on higher land which they ordinarily would not prefer.
The insect is with us every year and often attracts considerable
attention in restricted localities the year preceding its more general
advent. J have reared the moths from the worms on three different
occasions since the last general appearance of the species in the
West in 1869.
In the normal cut-worm-like condition they easily escape the eyes
of man; but when the bulk of them have passed through the last
molt, or, in other words, are nearly full-grown, and have stripped the
fields in which they were born, they are then obliged to migrate in
bodies to new pastures. Thus assembled and exposed, they pass
through grass and grain-fields, devouring as they go; for they are now
exceedingly voracious, and, like most Lepidopterous larvze, consume
more during the last few days of worm-life than during all the rest of
their existence. The farmer whois unfamiliar with their life-habits
wonders where they come from so suddenly, and presently, when they
enter the earth to transform, he wonders again where they goto. In
these exposed numbers, also, the numerous natural enemies of the
worms congregate about them and do their murderous work far more
52 j EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
etfectively than when they have to seek individuals hidden here and
there in rank grass; so that we cease to wonder at the almost total
annihilation of the species the year following its advent in such
numbers. Moreover, while a certain amount of moisture is most con-
genial to them, excessive rains and storms such as we had last sum-
mer, and such as are likely to occur after excessively dry years, must
inevitably destroy large numbers—floating many away into rivers, and
causing others to rot on and in the ground. Man, too, in his warfare
with them on such occasions, destroys great quantities; and, finally,
only the vast armies on our cultivated lands disappear so suddenly,
numbers remain unobserved in unfrequented and uncultivated grass
land.
NATURAL ENEMIES.
‘‘ Hogs, chickens and turkeys revel in the juicy carcasses of the
worms, and sometimes to such an extent that, as I am informed by
fig. 98.) Mr. T. R. Allen, of Allenton, the
former occasionally die in conse-
quence, and the latter have been
known to lay eggs in which the
parts naturally white, would be
green when cooked. Small birds,
of various kinds,* and toads and
frogs also, come in for their share
of this dainty food; while the
worms, when hard pushed, will HARP AUUS! CATIGINDS
even devour each other.”
A large number of predaceous beetles gather around and about
the travelling hordes and greedily prey upon them. Ten different
[Fig. 30.] species have been [Fig. 31.]
detected by myself :
and others in this
NW work,+ some of the
principal of which
are herewith illus-
; trated. The worms
have also an un-
d usual number of
CaLosoma CALIDUM, with iar % true paras ites.
They never abound or travel from one field
to another, but they are accompanied by a CALOSOMA SCRUTATOR.
[Fig- 29.]
ry y
PASIMACHUS ELONGATUS.
* The Rice Bunting (Doliconya orizivora) more particularly has 1s s been observed to feed upon them.
+ Cicindela vepanda Dej., Elaphrus ruscarius Say, C alosoma externum Say, C. Scrutator (Fabr.),
C. calidum (Fabr.), C. Wilcovi Lec., Pasimachus elongatus Lec., Amara augustata Say, Harpalus Cai-
ginosus (Fabr.), H. pennsylvanicus (Deg.)
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. ; 53
number of two-winged flies which are often so numerous that their
buzzing reminds one of that of a swarm of bees. The Red-tailed
Tachina-fly (Zxorista leucania, Kirk, Fig. 32) and the Yellow-tailed
Tachina fly (2. favicauda Riley, Fig. 53) are known to infest it.
Seizing the first opportunity to attach their eggs behind the heads of
the army-worms, these flies are as persistent in their work of destruc-
tion as the worms are restless under attack. No worm carries these
eggs into the ground with it but falls a victim to the maggots hatch-
ing therefrom, and which in a very short time become flies like the
parent.
[Fig. 32.] Fully eighty per
cent. of the worms
which I noticed last
===> year had been at-
ae tacked by these
wes | Tachina flies, which
Om, though rendering
ARMY WorM TACHINA-FLY. most efficient service
to the farmer, are not unfrequently supposed *"™™OW 74? TAcHINA-FLY.
‘by him to be the parent and the cause of the worms.*
The next most common parasite of the Army-worm is the Mili-
tary Microgaster (Microgaster militaris Walsh, Fig. 34), a little black
(Fig. 34] clear-wing fly with rufous legs. The larve of this fly infest
the worm in great numbers, and so enfeeble it that it can-
not enter the ground, but lingers—sluggish and paralyzed
—on some grass or grain stalk. Presently the little para.
sites all issue from its body and spin in concert a large
Minirany Mr- amount of cottony silk, in which each individual forms a
mses neat little egg-like cocoon. These are often mistaken by
those unread in Nature’s mysteries for Army Worm eggs. No greater
mistake could be made. This little friend is in its turn preyed upon
by a secondary parasite (Glyphe veridascens Walsh) belonging to
the Chalcid Family. |
[Fig. 35.]
The Glassy Mesochorus (Mesochorus vitreus Walsh),
~\ is another clear-winged fly that attacks the Army Worm.
lag ~y It is but slightly larger than the preceding, and easily dis-
~~ tinguished from it by the more graceful form and by a
translucent yellowish-white spot in the middle of the ab-
GLAssy Mrso-
CHORUS. domen.
*No less than four of my correspondents have expressed belief that, in the language of one of
them, the worms came from ‘‘ a dark colored, fuzzy fly about the size of a blow-fly, which is noticed
-around old stack yards just before the worm comes ; and when plentiful, the Army Worm is sure to
¢ollow.’’
54 KIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
The Diminished Pezomachus ( Pezomachus minimus Walsh) is «
small wingless parasite which, like the Microgaster, spins cocoons in
[Fig. 36.] cottony floss on the back of the worm, [Fig. 37.]
eg,
but places them close together in symme- ki EGS
I : trical order. This in its turn is preyed Sail
ip v ' upon by a little Chalcis-fly (Chalcis albi- ~ fs 3 %
ag
PEZOMACHUS MINI- frons Walsh. ) COCOONS OF
MUS. PEZOMACHUS.
All the small clear-wing parasites, with their secondary parasites,
were reared in 1861 by Mr. Walsh, and full descriptions will be found
of them in the article of his which I have already cited, and in my
Second Report. I reared all of them again last summer, and, in addi-
tion, a Microgaster, which differs from militaris in always having the
three basal joints of the abdomen rufous, but which is, perhaps, only
a variety. While about 90 per cent of the army worms are often de-
stroyed by the primary parasites, only about 18 per cent of these are
destroyed by secondary species.
In addition to these small parasites there are a few
larger, Ichneumon-flies that infest the worm. One—the Purged
Ophion (Ophion purgatus Say, Fig. 38) is a honey-yellow, slender-
bodied, waspish insect, with a short ovipositor, the female of which,
according to Dr. Packard, attaches her egg, which is bean-shaped, by
a pedicel to the skin of the worm; and the footless grub which
hatches therefrom, does not entirely leave the egg-shell, but the
last joints of the body remain attached thereto, while the larva.
reaches over and gnaws into the side of the worm. I have bred
[Fig. 38.] this same species from various cut-worms, and
it spins a tough, brown, silken, oblong-oval
cocoon.
~ Another species, a true Ichneumon, which
| \) may be called the Army Worm Ichneumon-fly
* (Ichneumon leucanie Fitch), was reared from
the worm by Dr. Fitch; while two other spe-
cies are figured in Harris’s Jnjurious Insects
(3rd edition p. 630).
OPHION PURGATUS.
REMEDIES.
In the way of prevention it is a well established fact that burning
over a meadow, or prairie, or field of stubble in the Winter or in Spring
is an effectual guard against the origin of the worm in such meadow
or field. Such burning necessarily destroys those eggs that may be
laid in the Fall of the year, and the fact that it is so effectual a pre-
ventive has been relied on as evidence that the eggs must be laid in
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 55
the Fall. Having already shown that there is every reason to believe
that a proportion of the eggs (the proportion increasing northward)
are laid early in Spring, and that they are laid by preference—if not
solely—in or on the mature or last year’s stalks, it follows that burn-
ing will prove effectual in eitherevent; for a burned field presents no
such mature stalks in Spring. Heavy rolling on land that is suffi-
ciently smooth would have a similar beneficial effect, and may also be
employed to good advantage to destroy the worms after they have
hatched.
As the Army Worm appears in vast numbers during certain years
only, and at irregular intervals, and as this appearance is rather sud-
den and seldom, if ever, anticipated by the farmer, burning as a
remedy loses much of its importance, except where it is practiced
annually ; and in view of the benefit of such burning in destroying
chinch bugs and other insects it is to be regretted that the practice of
winter burning of fields, prairies, straw-piles, weeds and other litter
and rubbish does not more generally prevail: the destruction of in-
jurious insects by such a system would far outweigh the benefit de-
rived from plowing these stalks and weeds under or leaving them to
gradually decay.
The worms may be prevented, as a general thing, from passing
from one field to another, by judicious ditching. It is important, how-
ever, that the ditch should be made so that the side toward the field
to be protected be dug under. About every three or fourrods a deep
hole in the ditch should be made, in which the worms will collect, so
that they can be killed by covering them with earth and pressing it
down. They may also be destroyed by burning straw over them—the
fire not only killing the worms, but rendering the ditch friable and
more efficient in preventing their ascent. I have also used coal oil
to good advantage, and the worms have a great antipathy to passa
streak of it. Many of my correspondents successfully headed them
off by a plowed furrow six or eight inches deep, and kept friable by
dragging brush init. Along the ditch or furrow on the side of the
field to be protected, a space of from three to five feet might be thor-
oughly dusted (when the dew is on) with a mixture of Paris green
and plaster, or flour, so that every worm which succeeds in crossing
the ditch will be killed by feeding upon plants so treated. This mix-
ture should be in the proportion of one part of pure Paris green to
twenty-five or thirty parts of the other materials named. If used ina
liquid form, one tablespoonful of Paris green to a bucket of water,
kept well stirred, will answer the same purpose. I proved last Spring
that this mixture deals death to the worms, but it should only be used
56 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
where there is no danger of its poisoning other animals. Logs or
fences over running streams should be removed; otherwise the worms
will cross on them,
Hogs, as already stated, are very fond of them and may often be
used to good advantage ; and so may chickens, geese, and other fowls.
SUMMARY.
To summarize from what has preceded, the more important points
in the history of the Army Worm, and what we now know of it may
be thus stated:
The Army Worm comes from a buff-colored moth having a con-
spicuous white speck about the middle of each of the front wings.
This moth haunts our fields from the middle of June till Winter.
Those which issue early in the season probably lay their eggs in
Fall, while those which issue later hibernate and lay their eggs in
Spring. The eggs are most probably laid on mature grass and grain
stalks, whether cut and in stack, or standing. They are either inserted
between the stalk and sheath, or attached in rows along the stalk.
The worms, when not excessively numerous, hide during the day and
are seldom noticed. In years of great abundance they are also gen-
erally unnoticed during their early life. The earliest acquire full
growth and commence to travel in armies and to devastate our fields
and attract attention, about the time that winter wheat is in the
milk. They soon afterwards descend into the ground and thus sud-
denly disappear, to issue again two or three weeks later as moths.
The bulk of the worms become moths in this latitude the same sea-
son; but afew probably hibernate in the pupa state below ground,
and the proportion of these increases as we go north. There is but
one generation annually. The worms abound during wet Springs, pre-
ceded by one or more very dry years. They are preyed upon by nu-
merous enemies which so effectually check their increase during
years of great multiplication, that two great Army Worm years have
never followed each other and are not likely to do so. They may be
prevented from invading a field by judicious ditching, and burning
over a field in Winter or early Spring, effectually prevents their
hatching in such field.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 57
THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN LOCUST—Caloptenus spretus Thomas.
(Ord. ORTHOPTERA; Fam. ACRIDIDZ£.)
Serious and distressing as were the ravages of this insect in 1874,
when the winged swarms overswept several of the Western States,
and poured into our western counties in the Fall, the injury and suf-
fering that ensued were as naught, in Missouri, compared to what
resulted from the unfledged myriads that hatched out in the Spring
of 1875. As nothing in the way of insect ravages had before equaled
it in the history of the State, and as the history of this calamity, so
fraught with valuable experience and instruction, will form an im-
portant record for future reference, if condensed and brought together
in an accessible work, I shall devote a large part of the present Re-
port to this insect plague—supplementing the article published in the
Report for 1874, by the experience and observation of 1875. It was
almost universally admitted by our farmers that, grave as was the
affliction, they could have overcome it without great difficulty, if they
had had, at the beginning, the experience they had gained by the end
of the visitation; and it is my hope that in the event of another such
occurrence, the experience here recorded may be made available.
PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE IN THE SPRING OF 1867.
During my travels in the middle western counties of Pettis, John-
son, Lafayette, Jackson and Cass,in which the injury was perhaps the
greatest, few things struck me as more remarkable than the little that
was remembered by the inhabitants of the previous visitation in the
Spring of 1867. Occasionally I would meet with a man who recol-
lected quite distinctly the doings of the young locusts in that year,
and such an one profited to great advantage by that experience; but
what with new comers since 1867, and want of records, the large pro-
portion whom I met with knew little about it. Another important
reason why the farmers were ill prepared for the desolation of last
Spring is found in the fact that the previous injury of 1867, from one
cause and another, was by no means as wide-spread and severe—the
insects did not so generally hatch in such immense numbers; they
were more generally attacked by enemies, especially black birds,
and the people were in much better material condition to withstand
them, and sustain the temporary injury. It will be interesting here
to reproduce what was published in my last Report as to the injury
that might be expected in the Spring of 1875. The predications were
based not only on the general habits and ways of the young insects,
but on the experience of 1867, as far as it could he learned:
58 FIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
Setting aside possible but not probable injury from a new invasion, we may con-
sider the probable injury that will result in 1875, from the progeny of those which came
in 1874. The eggs which are deposited on southerly hill-sides often hatch before cold
weather sets in, if the Fall be warm and protracted, while many hatch soon after the
frost is out of the ground in the Spring. Yet the great bull of them will not hatch
till into April. That most of the eggs will hatch may be taken for granted unless we
have very abnormal climatic conditions, and unprecedentedly wet and cold weather
following a mild and thawing spell. The young issuing from these eggs will, also, in
all probability, do much damage, as they did in the Spring and Summer of 1867. But
the actual damage cannot be foretold, as so much depends on circumstances. In 1867,
in many counties of Kansas and Missouri, where the ground had been filled with eggs
the previous Fall, little harm was dene in the Spring—so small a percentage of the
eggscame to anything and so unmercifully were the young destroyed by natural
enemies. A severe frost kills the young after they have hatched, where a moderate
frost does not affect them. In Missouri, if we have no weather that prove fatal to
either eggs or young, considerable damage may be expected, but not as much as in the
country to the West; for, as already stated, we received the more scattering remains
of the vast army, and the eggs are neither as numerous, nor will they hatch as early in
our territory as farther West. Following a rather mild February the March of ’67 was
a very severe one, the thermometer frequently indicating 18 degrees below zero, and,
according to Mr. W. F. Goble, of Pleasant Ridge, Kansas, who wrote an excellent
account of the insect,* this severe weather caused many of the eggs to perish ; and he
expresses the opinion that ‘‘ judging from the voraciousness of those that did appear,
I doubt not Kansas would have been made a perfect desert if all had lived.”
If after the young hoppers hatch we have much cold wet weather, great numbers
of them will congregate in sheltered places and perish before doing serious harm; but
if, on the contrary, our Spring and early Summer prove dry and hot (which is hardly
to be expected after the several dry seasons lately experienced) much damage will re-
sult from these young locusts, where no effort is made to prevent it. They will ruin
most garden truck, do much injury to grain, and affect plants very much in the order
previously indicated under the head of ** Food-plants.’? They will become more and
more injurious as they get older, until, in about two months from the time of hatching,
or about the middle of June, they will begin to acquire wings, become restless, and in
all probability leave the locality where they were born, either wending their way fur-
ther South or returning in the direction whence their parents came the previous year.
Some bevies may even pass to the eastward of the limit line reached in 1874, and fall
upon some of the counties bordering that line; but they will lay no eggs, and will, in
time, run their course and perish from debility, disease and parasites. In 1876 the
Rocky Mountain Locust will scarcely be heard of within our borders ; a few remnants
from Kansas or Nebraska, or from the country to the southwest, may make their pres-
ence manifest, if the year should be exceptionally favorable to their development; but,
whether delayed till 1876, or even till 1877, the last one will eventually vanish from
Missouri soil, and their race will no more be known among us till—perhaps within the
next six or eight years; perhaps not within the next twenty—a fresh swarm wings its
way to our borders from the plains along the mountain regions. There is, therefore,
no danger of their overrunning the State to the east of the limit line; nor of their doing
permanent injury in the counties they now occupy.—[7th Report, pp. 166-7.
How closely subsequent events verified these predications, the fol-
lowing pages and the experience of 1875, so fresh in the minds of our
people, attest. Yet the fearful devastation that actually followed was
scarcely anticipated, and the conclusion there drawn that the eggs in
our western counties invaded were less numerous than in the country
further west proved incorrect, for the insects were fully as numerous
within our borders as they were across the line in the eastern part of
Kansas.
The territory which received the last remnants of the vast army,
and in which, from the more scattered numbers and greater debility
of the insects, fewer eggs were laid, was less extensive than I had cal-
culated, and as will be seen from the chapters where I more particularly
*Monthly Reports, Dep. Agr. 1867, p. 299.
7¥
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 59
treat of Missouri, was confined to those counties along the extreme
eastern limit of the 1874 invasion, and more particularly to the south-
west counties.
I think that the greater numbers in 1875 as compared to 1867 were
more owing to the characters of the two seasons than to any dispro-
portion in the number of the eggs laid. The Winter of 1874-5, though
commencing late, was severe, steady and protracted till toward the
first of May, when Spring suddenly came upon us in full force. There
was no very variable weather in the earlier months; whereas such
weather did occur in 1867, and the insects not only hatched earlier and
were exposed to enemies and adverse influences for a longer time
before they could begin to thrive, but they were also more seriously
affected by the sudden changes—a steady Winter, however severe,
being more favorable to almost all insects than an open and change-
able one.
Although the insects came nearly a month later in 1866 than in
1874, and left two or three weeks later in 1867 than in 1875, yet good
crops were subsequently grown in 1867; and to show how history re-
peats itself, I reproduce here extracts from the Kansas City Journal
of Commerce, for June and July, 1867. The exodus was made during
the last week of June, and, as last year, in a N.W. direction.
June 6. ‘These ‘winged beasts’ are growing and multiplying amazingly, and
their appetite is inordinate.”
June 7. ‘**A farmer near Platte river informs us that a morning or two ago he
went out to plow his corn, which was about four inches high the day before, and found
it all gone.”
June 9. ‘Grasshoppers alarmingly thick at Westport.”
June 13. ‘There seems to be a difference of opinion among farmers. Some say
the grasshoppers are destroying everything, and others declare they have touched
none of the growing crops.”’
* June 19. ‘* Grasshoppers have opened out on the onion crop in Atchison county,
ansas.
June 22. “The Lawrence Journal mentions that a number of gentlemen had
carefully watched one swarm of grasshoppers. and they moved south more than two
miles in one week. They stopped no longer in grain fields than on bare ground.”
Also. ‘* Leavenworth papers report millions of grasshoppers. They have eaten
all the smartweed out of Delaware street, and have now commenced on the dog-fennel
in some of the main thoroughfares of that prosperous town.”
June 25. A reporter visited the place of Major Hudson, on the Shawnee road,
the same now owned and occupied by Dr. Thorne, and says: ‘*‘ Grasshoppers are now
paying him a visit, and it is taking nearly all he can raise to entertain them. They are
making a heavy raid on the gardens and grainfields in this locality.”
June 26. ‘+The grasshoppers in this neighborhood do not confine themselves to
hopping, but now wing it, and are more animated than ever. Their appetites grow
with their stomachs, and their ravages keep pace with both. They appear to be de-
parting, shaping their course eastwardly.”’
June 28. ‘ We understand that around Westport and Independence the grass-
DOGUETS, are still doing a great deal of damage. In this locality they are thinning out
a little.
June 29. ‘*The grasshoppers are migrating to the northwest by the million.
They fly at a great height and are as thick as snow-flakes. It is a goodly sight to see
their departure.”’ ;
Also. “In St. Joseph the grasshoppers are reported as the sands of the sea, and
sweeping everything before them.”
, July 2. ** Grasshoppers continue to spread themselves considerably in this localk
ity, but they are not so thick as they were and are evidently migrating.”
60 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
July 10. ‘*Grasshoppers are all gone from Fort Scott. * * The Kansas City
markets are abundantly supplied with garden truck, and cheap.”’
GENERAL OUTLOOK IN THE SPRING OF 1875.
The Spring of 1875 brought the farmers of the locust region to a
crisis Somewhat unusual and peculiar. ‘Two previous years of drouth
and chinch bugs, followed by the locust incursion of the previous
Fall, had armed the people with unusual energy, born of hope and
necessity, and there was everywhere determination to put forth the
very best efforts. The opening of the Spring favored the execution of
this purpose. Timely rains and bright weather crowned the seeding
time with unusual hope,and a much larger acreage of all Spring crops
was planted. The experience of previous locust years had been gener-
ally forgotton, and no effort to destroy the eggs had been made. The
same genial sun that made wheat, oats, corn and flax crow apace,
brought into activity myriads of the dreaded destroyers. Scarcely
had the farmer begun to rejoice over a prospect of uncommon promise,
when he saw his fields invaded by an enemy that overcame his utmost
resistance. The severely stricken region, covering an area variously
estimated at from 200 to 270 miles from East to West, and from 250 to
350 miles from North to South, and embracing portions of Nebraska,
Kansas and Missouri, presented a variety of experience, some portions
being comparatively exempt from injury, while others wore an
aspect of devastation that changed the verdure of Spring into the
barrenness of Winter.
The tract in which the injury done by the destructive enemy was
worst, was confined to the two western tiers of Counties in Missouri,
and the four tiers of Counties in Kansas, bounded by the Missouri
river on the East. The greatest damage extended over a strip 25 miles
each side of the Missouri river, from Omaha to Kansas City, and then
extending South to the Southwestern limit of Missouri. About three
quarters of a million of people were to a greater or less extent made
sufferers. The experience of different localities was not equal or uni-
form. Contiguous farms sometimes presented the contrast of abund-
ance and utter want, according to the caprices of the invaders or ac-
cording as they hatched in localities favorable to the laying of the
eggs. This fact gave rise to contradictory reports, each particular
locality generalizing from its own experience. The fact is, however,
that over the region described there was a very general devastation,
involving the destruction of three fourths of all field and garden
crops.
For the relief of the sufferers there came the frequent and grow-
ing rains, carrying Spring far into the usually droughty Summer, and
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 62
giving the subsequent planting an admirable start. Then when the pests
had increased to their highest number, and were working the most
extensive ruin, the flood gates of the clouds were opened, and for
thirty-six hours an unceasing torrent swept large numbers of the pests
into the streams until the surface of most running water was black
with locusts. For the destitution of Kansas an extra session of the
Legislature provided partial relief. In both Kansas and Missouri,
wherever the scourge extended, seeds were to some extent distributed
by the Department of Agriculture, and by enterprising seedsmen,
and committees were sent to more favored regions to obtain contri-
butions of money, provisions and seed. In order to convey a more
exact idea of the condition of things that prevailed, and of the injuries
of the insect, outside of the more severely visited region, I will give a
review by States, and in the case of Missouri by counties also.
THE OUTLOOK IN MISSOURI.
Early in May the reports from the locust district of the State were
very conflicting: the insects were confined to within short radii of
their hatching grounds. The season was propitious, and where the in-
sects did not occur, everything promised well. As the month drew
more and more toa close, the insects extended the area of destruction
and the alarm became general. By the end of the month the non-tim-
bered portions of the middle western counties were as bare asin winter.
Here and there patches of Amarantus Blitum and a few jagged
stalks of Milkweed (Asclepias) served to relieve the monotony. An
occasional oat field, or low piece of prairie would also remain green 3
but with these exceptions one might travel for days by buggy and
find everything eaten off, even to the under-brush in the woods. The
suffering was great and the people were well-nigh disheartened. Cat-
tle and stock of all kinds, except hogs and poultry, were driven away
to more favored counties, and relief committees were organized.
Many families left the State under the influence of the temporary
panic and the unnecessary forbodings and exaggerated statements of
pessimists. Chronic loafers and idlers even made some trouble and
threatened to seize the goods and property of the well todo. Relief
work was, however, carried on energetically, and with few exceptions
no violence occurred. Early in June the insects began to leave; the
farmers began replanting with a will. As the month advanced, the
prospects brightened, and by the Fourth of July the whole country
presented agreen and thrifty appearance again. The greatest damage
occurred in the counties bordering the Missouri river to Liberty,
and thence southward; and Bates, Buchanan, Barton, Clay, Cass,
Clinton, Henry, Jackson, Johnson, Lafayette, Platte, St. Clair and Ver-
62 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
non suffered most. The other counties in the district invaded in 1874,
and especially those along,the eastern border of that district, as indi-
cated in my map of last year, suffered less. In some of these, as in
the extreme northwest counties, the reason may be found in the fact
that the winged insects of 1874 did not stay long enough to lay ex-
cessive numbers of eggs; while in those along the eastern border,
the reason is to be found in the fact that, as I stated last year, the
winged swarms, when they reached this limit, were weakened and
decimated: they were the straggling remains of the vast army. But
in order to more correctly state the condition, it will be best to par-
ticularize by counties, in doing which, I shall endeavor to record the
facts as far as possible in the words of residents themselves.
AtcHiIson County.—The extreme northwest corner of the State,
bordered on the west by the Missouri river, with rich rolling prairie,
interspersed with timber along the streams, and extensive bottom
land—this county suffered severely. Mr. R. Bottom, of Rockport,
made the following report about the middle of May:
The locusts are taking every green thing as fast as it appears above the ground in
this part of the county, say ten or twelve miles from the river. Beyond that I am told
there is little small grain, vegetables and corn. Mostof the county shows as little sign
of vegetation as it did in March, except the trees. All small fruit is gone, they have
even eaten the weeds. We are rebreaking our land to sow millet and Hungarian grass
and plant corn for fodder, after they leave. If we can’t raise something in this way
this section will be destitute of anything to eat for man or beast. The question is, what
shall we do? But few men have money enough to buy corn to do them until they raise
another crop. I fully believe if we had commenced in time we could have saved our
erops by killing them. I tried my best to convince the farmers in my neighborhood
but could only get a few intoit. Iam sure l have killed more than was hatched on my
farm. My plan is to dig deep ditches along the fence in their run witha deep hole at
each end of the ditch, into which they pile up and kill each other or smother to death.
Holes bored with a post augur isa very good plan. In order to collect them in the
ditch I took forty yards of domestic, cutin the middle, made two wings like a partridge
net, tacking to stakes every ten feet. Start at one end and stake down at each corner
of the ditch slanting inwards, fit down well to the ground so they can’t crawl under,
this conducts them to the ditch ; get ahead of them when they start to travel. I have
tried many plans but this is the best. Coal oil will kill them; a shallow ditch will do
With water init, and a pint of coal oil poured in when the ground will hold water.
No general measures of relief were adopted, so far as I have been
able to learn.
Anprew County.—This county, though in the heart of the infested
region, suffered comparatively little. Mr. J. H. Smith, of Whitesville,
places the damage at 50 per cent. of all crops, and Mr. Jno. White, of
Flag Springs, writes me that of the first planting not one acre ina
hundred was left in most sections. ‘All the oats, Spring wheat and
most of Fall wheat, potatoes, vegetable of all kinds, were eaten
down; but with nerve the people went to work and had plenty in the
Fall, though a million dollars would not make up the injury.”
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 63
Benton County.—The damage in a few localities was great, but
Mr. J. H. Lay, of Warsaw, writes that taking the county as a whole it
was very slight.
Barton County.—The general destruction and consequent distress
were not so great here as in counties further north. Winter wheat
and rye turned out well, but of oats and Spring wheat fully one-fourth
of the crop was destroyed by the locusts.
W.B. Krimminger, of Leroy, wrote, May 21:
Grasshoppers have been hatching here for about seven weeks in this locality
{township 33, range 32 west) but have not done much damage except to cut out some
gardens.
~The only effect Fall plowing had on grasshopper eggs was to cause them to hatch
out later; perhaps the result would have been different if our winter had been wet
instead of extremely dry.
The insects were leaving in a north and north-west direction
every favorable day throughout most of June, and by the end of that
month farmers were jubilant over the brightened prospects.
Bates County.—Lying near the centre of the region where the
eggs were most thickly laid, this county suffered severely. The peo-
ple were in a condition that outside help was imperative tosave many
families from actual starvation. For miles and miles every green thing
that grew out of or upon the ground had been literally devoured.
Committees were sent to Kansas City and St. Louis asking for help,
and brought back cheering words and timely aid to the hungry and
despairing at home.
Jno. B. Durand, of Prairie City, wrote me, May 17:
The locusts are of more notoriety here at present than anything else. It is actu-
ally alarming and distressing to see all our crops and pastures eaten off until they are
as bare asin midwinter. They take everything green, even tobacco. They keep the
leaves off of some of my apple trees so that I am afraid they will die.
A prominent merchant of Butler, wrote, May 19, to the St. Louzs
Globe- Democrat:
We are having terrible times in this county now. The grasshoppers have de-
stroyed the country ; there is scarcely a green shrub in the country. All of our crops
are destroyed, and there is no prospect of the hoppers leaving, Our town is being
threatened with a raid by the starving people from the country.
Our condition is awful, and God only knows where it will all end.
The merchants and citizens of that town and vicinity held several
meetings, and raised enough money to purchase a car load of seed
corn. This was distributed to responsible farmers for seed only.
Other arrangements were made to supply the immediate wants of the
people and Messrs. Devinney, Hannah and Childs were appointed a
committee to distribute the corn.
64 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
By the end of May the condition began to change for the better,
and by the middle of July everything looked promising. There was
just rain enough to make the corn grow rapidly. But little wheat had
been sown; oats produced a fair crop; flax yielded about one-quarter
of acrop. A large amount of castor beans was planted, and the crop
was excellent.
BucHaNan County.—By the end of May the reports from this
county were various and the opinions of farmers differed widely. The
insects were in spots. Some farms had not been touched at ali, while
others had been stripped of every green thing. They impeded the
progress of the trains on the railroads, and in some places created a
most disagreeable stench. In most parts of the county so completely
did the locusts do their work, that, had it not been for the foliage
borne by the loftier timber, the general aspect of nearly all parts of
the county would have been that of Winter.
The following letter, written June 7, by J. S. Talbot, of Easton, to
the Hon. Waller Young, and read before the State Board of Equaliza-
tion, then in session, conveys, perhaps, the most correct idea of affairs :
In answer to your inquiry, I would say that our prospects are gloomy indeed. I
think by the time the hoppers leave here they will have devoured everything green,
The crops are about all destroyed now, together with meadows and pastures. The
country would present the appearance of winter if it were not for the foliage of the
timber. The leaves are all stripped off the hazel bushes. I think they will live on us
yet some three weeks. If they stay this length of time God only knows what will be
the result with this people. The farmers are generally in good spirits. Some are
planting, others are going to commence in eight or ten days, hoping the ’hoppers will
leave by the time the corn comes up. The outlook isa dark one. ‘here are but few
who have the seed, fewer who have anything to support teams necessary to raise crops.
Do all you can to reduce the burdens of the tax-paying farmers. Many of them have
not paid last year’s taxes, and what is to be done in the premises I am unable to say.
It seems to me there ought to be a called session of the Legislature and some relief
afforded in the shape of stay-laws as to taxes and debts. So tar the people seem very
indulgent as to debtors. There is but little money here. My crops are all gone—fifty
acres of corn, the same amount of wheat, twenty acres of oats and fifty acres of
meadow. ‘The most of the meadows are killed outright. Much of the stock is being
taken north into Gentry, DeKalb and other counties. It would astonish you to see the
courage of the farmers, the surroundings considered. ‘hey are determined to keep up
courage and hope for success ; will not beg or ask for outside assistance till the last ves-
tige of hopeis gone. If the hoppers will leave in two weeks we can raise plenty to
Winter on.
The request there made to reduce the taxable valuation of the
property of the county was granted, and no further measures for gen-
eral relief were adopted.
CaLDWELL County.—The injury was confined to the extreme south-
west corner of the county. Reports from C. L. Gould, of Hamilton, and
D. W. Monroe, of Kidder, show that even here the damage was slight.
Cass County.—Sustained perhaps the most damage of any of the
counties in the afflicted district. The general expression that it was
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 65
the darkest day ever experienced by the people of the county, does
not overstate the true condition of things. From many graphic ac-
counts of the outlook in this county, I select the two following, as ac-
cording most nearly with my own experience.
In April the locusts commenced hatching out in countless millions, and every day
since that time large swarms have come to the surface. As soon as they were able to
hop and eat, which seems to be in about thirty minutes after incubation, they com-
menced their depredations. Since that time, though millions have been destroyed,
their capacity for destruction has increased. In spots they cover the ground com-
pletely ; sometimes bushels of them can be scooped up from the area of a few square
feet. These will invade a wheat, oats or flax field, and in a few hours scarcely a ves-
tige of vegetation is to be seen. They climb currant and gooseberry bushes, and ina
short time the bushes will be entirely stripped of fruit and foliage. They have invaded
almost every garden, meadow, wheat, oats, flax and rye field in the county, and have
devoured them. : 05 ze 19 * * * =e *
It would be impossible to give in our brief article an adequate idea of their de-
vastation in Cass county. Mr. Lee Emerick says they took fifteen acres of fine oats
for him in three hours. Judge Frank Clark had a fine field of wheat which was en-
tirely destroyed last Sunday afternoon. Numberless instances could be given of fields
perfectly beautiful in verdure one morning, presenting an aspect as bare of vegetation
‘by the next day as they were at planting time.—[Cass County Courier, May 21, 1875.
Those persons at a distance and out of range of the plague can have but a faint
jdea of our situation, nor can they comprehend the fearful ravages made by these pests.
These have already eaten up the wheat and oats, and are taking the corn that is planted
as fast as it appears above the ground. Our gardens and meadows have been totally
despoiled, and our once beautiful, flower-decked prairies now look as desolate and bar-
ren as the desert. Our stock will either have to be sent off or starve, as there is noth-
ing for them toeat. The influence of the plague (there is no use denying the fact) is
being severely felt in our towns and cities by all classes. Business is becoming stag-
nated, work of all kindsis on the decline, and gloom and despondeney fill almost every,
heart at the prospect of famine and possible starvation, which must surely come unless
assistance comes from some source.—[ Pleasant Hill Review, May 25, 1875.
Mr. W. H. Barrett, a prominent merchant of Harrisonville, wrote
me, May 27:
In reply to your enquiries about destruction of crops, I will say, of my own per-
sonal knowledge, as follows: I had loaned flax seed enough to sow an acreage of ten
thousand acres, and now there is not one acre left standing in thecounty. I have some
five thousand acres of castor beans out and I find that they are not damaged to any
great extent, and this is the only exception of any crop I know of in the county.
Flax, oats, wheat, early corn, and in fact every green vegetable is destroyed, and they
are now working on the fruit of all kinds, and [ find all of this year’s growth of young
trees is being eaten off and great apprehension is felt for fear they will kill the trees.
In fact, all the small fruits are eaten bare, and in my opinion, are now killed.
Even the forest trees did not escape the destroyer. The castor
bean, which the locusts at first refused, was finally to some extent
eaten. Large fields were swept away with marvelous rapidity. One
farmer testifies that he had one hundred and sixty acres of wheat, rye,
oats and corn in fine condition, and that thirty-six hours after his fields
were attacked, not a hat full of grain was left.
The almost entire loss of crops of the year previous by drouth and
chinch bug, left the people in a sad condition to encounter the misfor-
tunes of 1875. More or less distress settled upon all classes of peo-
66 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
ple, and meetings were held in the different townships of the county
for the purpose of ascertaining the extent of the damage done, and to
devise measures of relief from the scarcity of food for man and beast,.
and from the want of seed for a new planting. A county convention
was held at Harrisonville, May 18,1875, to receive reports from the va-
rious townships in regard to the destruction of crops by theinsects. A
large number of the citizens of the county were present. Col. H. M.
Bledsoe was called to the chair and J. F. Potts was appointed secre-
tary. A call of the townships disclosed the fact that a large number
of persons were destitute, and that immediate action must be taken
to escape actual starvation. It was found that the county court was.
powerless to extend aid on account of the express limitation of the
statute. A resolution was passed requesting the Governor to call a
special session of the Legislature to take into consideration the state
of things and administer relief.
It was also resolved to hold township meetings on the 22d of May,
and another county convention in Harrisonville on the 24th of the
same month. This subsequent convention was held, reports received
from the townships, and the county court requested to appoint a com-
mittee of four to proceed to St. Louis and solicit aid.
I twice visited this county and was kindly received by Dr. T,
Beattie, Judge H. Glenn, W. H. Barrett, Dr. Abraham, G. M. Houston,
Wm. H. Allen, and the Editor of the Courter. Visiting the adjacert
woods and fields I found that the accounts of the destruction had not.
been overstated. Being called upon to address the citizens at the
court house at Harrisonville, I set forth the history, origin and habits
of this locust, stating when the insects would leave, the direction they
would most likely take, and endeavored to encourage the people by
the assurance that the distress then afflicting them was but temporary
and would be followed by abundance.*
As part of the history of the locust troubles in Cass county, and
in illustration of the change that three months wrought, I take the
liberty of reproducing the following from a report made by the Kansas
City Zimes of an address I was called upon to deliver in the same
hall, the latter part of September, and in which I endeavored to bring
together the dear bought lessons of the year:
Gentlemen—Farmers of Cass County: Ileft you, hardly more than three months
since, with long faces, discouraged, forlorn. You were in despair and almost heart-
broken over the gloomy prospects. Desolation and distress surrounded you on every
*With what result, the following extract from a letter from Mr. Geo. M. Houston of that place,
will indicate: ‘‘Your talk here to our farmers and citizens has had an excellent eflect. Every person
appears to be in amore hopeful mood. Farmers are talking about following out your advice in plant-
ng corn, etc., immediately.’’
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 67
hand, and there was enough to make you discouraged. I told you that the people of
the State were, as a whole, blessed with a plenty, and prosperous, and that they would
not see you suffer. The noble generosity of our more fortunate citizens to the east,
and especially of the people of St. Louis, in relieving your more pressing wants at the
time, have since justified my good opinion of our people. At the same time I gave
youa full account of the habits and ways of the locust plague, and endeavored to im-
bue you with confidence and hope by showing that your then distress was temporary,
that the plague would leave you at a certain time, and that you would yet be blessed
with abundant harvests. I told you that L was imperatively called away to Europe, and
should be absent from the country during most of the summer, but that, though L left
you in distress, [ expected to come back and find you growing the largest crops of
most kinds. Surrounded with such gloomy prospects, it was difficult for you to take
such abright view of the future, and while many of you were encouraged and had full
faith in my predictions, some of youno doubt went away as doubters. Nor could I
wonder at the doubters, because, in spite of the fact that an account of the insect was
given in my last official report, and that I had given substantial reasons why the pest
would not extend farther east, and would not remain with you, some of our influential
journals were not only filled with ridiculous ideas as to the insect’s natural history,
written by correspondents unfamiliar with the first principles of entomology, but they
persisted in spreading the idea that the western counties were to permanently suffer
from the scourge, and that it was going to overrun the State and other States to the
east—thus unnecessarily increasing the panic, injuring the credit of these counties, and
causing many to leave who would otherwise have stayed.
I come back among you to find all my predictions verified, and [ joy with you in
the bounteous corn crop which | see on all hands, the rich vegetable harvest, and the
exceilent condition of }our pastures and stock. From the first I have placed myself
on record, and to do so, it required that faith and confidence born of full consciousness
of the fact that my opinions were based on scientific data. It isno slight matter for a
public officer to thus risk his reputation, and were you now suffering as you did last
Spring, or had my predictions not been so fully verified, your State Entomologist
would no doubt be condemned in words by no means measured.
Ciray County.—Here again the insects were very bad and
trains on the Cameron Branch of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Rail-
road were often reported as stopped by them. The injury was, how-
ever, not general. Many parts of the county were bared, but in the
larger portion the wheat and corn were not seriously affected, and by
the end of June the insects were flying north in multitudes. Corn was
being everywhere replanted and the ground extensively prepared for
Hungarian and millet. The following correspondence of the St.
Joseph Weekly Herald shows the condition of things about the end
of May:
Liperty, May 28, 1875.—The grasshoppers in Clay county are doing great damage
to the garden and present growing crops. In Liberty, the citizens fought bravely in
hopes of keeping them out of their gardens. This week they surrendered. Mr. Hop-
per has the field. In the county they haye ruined several crops, but some still not
damaged. Everything green seems to be their preferred dish.
The feed for work stock is entirely exhausted, and the last hope the farmers had
to put in their second crop was for their stock to subsist on grass, which last hope is
disappearing fast. Several are driving their stock north to graze. Report says our
neighbors are objecting, saying they must have what grass is left for themselves.
The hoppers are also doing great damage to the fruit in many places. But our
farmers have the Jackson kind of nerve and are determined to pick their flint and try it
again.
K®ARNEY, May 28, 1875.—The prospect at present is rathergloomy. ‘The gardens
are nearly all destroyed. Oats, clover, and in fact all small grain have suffered consid-
erably from the ravages of the grasshopper, and from a number of farmers we hear
that their corn is going too. The recent heavy rains have livened up everything won-
derfully, and there is still a prospect for an abundant corn crop, if the pests do not in
jure it any more than they have done. The citizens of this (Kearney) township wil
hold a mass meeting next Tuesday, the lst, to consider the best means of meeting the
coming emergency and to mutually aid and assist each other.
68 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
Crinton Counry.—Accounts gathered from this county are some-
what meagre. The St. Joseph Weekly Herald, May 21, contains the
following item from Cameron: ;
There are still no indications of the grasshopper plague in this vicinity, though
they have done some damage in and about Perrin, some eight miles southwest of here,
on the line of the railroad. So far none have been discovered north, east or south of
us, only west and southwest. At Plattsburg, twenty miles southwest, they are to be
found in countless millions, and have done great injury to wheat and corn. ‘The farm-
ers in the devastated sections are replanting corn, and the prevailing sentiment seems
tu be more hopeful than at last report.
At a later date, June 14, Capt. M.S. Payne writes:
As regards the ravages of the locusts, they are fearful, although the air is filled
with vast swarms of them like so many bees that had escaped from a hive on their way
to other lands, yet enough remains to destroy all vegetation as fast as it comes on, and
all prospects fora crop, and sustenance for the coming Winter, unless they leave in the
next ten days. The two previous years of drouth in northwest Missouri, together with
the enormous financial pressure and heavy taxation have left the people without re-
source against the fearful invasions of these devouring insects.
They came out of a hard, cold Winter, with stock poor and weak. Many good
industrious citizens reached the very bottom of their corn cribs long before Spring
opened, and the weather was so cold and dry, and vegetation was so exceedingly back-
ward that the locusts got the advantage and have kept it.
All the meadows, both clover and timothy, are absolutely destroyed, and nothing
but frequent and heavy rains will save the blue grass. Our meadow of forty acres is
as bare and as desolate as if it had been swept by a fire; both pastures are (with the
exception of the green trees) as bleak as Winter. There is no grass lefton the place
but the little slope of blue grass that runs back of the barn, and that is kept very short.
Our corn is still standing, although much injured, and we do not know how soon it
will be taken, the oats next to it were black with them yesterday.
* * * % * %*
The devastation is much heavier and more universal on the west and south sides of
the county. The hazel and undergrowth are as leafless as in Winter—all the small
fruits of every description are destroyed, Those who were depending on their gardens
for support are left destitute, and in the northern and eastern portions of the county,
where there is any prairie unenclosed, the grass is not much injured, but there are such
vast quantities of stock on it that it affords a meagre sustenance.
Those who expected to plow, off the grass, are left without sustenance for their
teams while making a crop, even if the hoppers leave in time for them to replant, and
they can succeed in procuring the necessary seeds. Many farmers will have to plow
with very poor horses through the hottest and most exhausting weather without feed.
* % * *
Our people are brave and persevering and the majority of them will do all that
human labor and human skill can accomplish, if they can get the right kind of seeds.
Not corn alone is needed, but potatoes, navy beans, Michigan peas, buckwheat, millet,
Hungarian, turnip seed, and all kinds of late garden seeds. Tomato, sweet potato and
cabbage plants could be shipped in, and if we have a late Fall they can be raised for
Winter use.
* * %
Dave County—The Dade County Advocate of June 3, says:
‘“ Farmers report no grasshoppers to amount to anything, and in what
few places they have made their appearance they have done no dam-
age as yet. Chinch bugs appear to be leaving most neighborhoods,
and not much more damage is anticipated from them. Oats are look-
ing well in most parts of the county.”
Mr. R. A. Workman, of Greenfield, writes me: “Those that
hatched out in the Spring of ’75 were so few and so scattered that
they did no harm, and, in fact, were scarcely noticed, and disappeared
so quietly that no one knows how or where.”
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 69
DeKars County.—I clip the following from the St. Joseph /er-
ald of June 3, from correspondence from Sherman township, May 31:
As assertions prove nothing [ will give you the names of some responsible gentle-
men who have been injured bythe hopper. Capt. S. H. Varner has been run over by
them for a week. They have eaten his oats and one hundred and twenty acres of
meadow. As yet they have not troubled his corn, but may before night. Mr George
Lowe, near Union Star, went to St. Joseph last week and bought him a new cultivator
to plow his corn. He returned next day and had not a hill of corn to plow. Adam
House went to St. Joseph last Tuesday and returned on Wednesday and found his corn
field as bare as the day he planted it. It was six inches or more high. Of course he
will plant it over again, but what surety has he that the young hoppers that are now
hatching (and they are numerous) will noteat it? Judge Williams, Frank Bowen and
numbers of other farmers have been injured by them, while some farms are as yet un-
touched.
Gentry County.—As a whole this county was favored, though in
many localities the ground was made as bare asin Winter. Mr. Levi
Long, of Island City, writes:
They ate all the wheat that was on high land, also oats and corn ; all garden veg-
etables and a great portion of the fruit. Imagine everything green on the face of the
earth eat entirely up; the meadows and blue grass pastures as dry and bare of vegeta-
tion as the centre of a State road that is traveled a great deal, and you can probably
form some idea of our condition at the time.
Hickory County.—The same may be said of this as of the preced-
ing county.
Hout County.—In 1867 this county suffered more severely than
many others, and I have several correspondents who retain a very
vivid recollection of that experience. Last year the county suffered
less than many others, and the pests were quite successfully fought.
Many crops were saved by ditching, and in one instance a Mr. Walker
is reported as saving his crops by ditching around a whole quarter
section, on a place called Hackberry Ridge.[—St. Louts Republican,
July 5.
Since our last these insects have developed their endurance beyond question.
They have established a reputation for perfect indifference to storms and cold weather
that is truly astounding. They are now going for garden stuff with an avidity that is
rather discouraging to the planter. They went for our cabbage patch, and devoured in
a few hours, what we had been several months in developing; others have been more
unlucky. losing everything, cabbage. peas, raddishes, lettuce, all swept away in a few
hours. Some of the farmers in this vicinity have had their wheat, oats, barley, timo-
thy and other crops greatly injured by these pests.
Out on Hickory Creek the hoppers are not so numerous as here, and as a conse-
quence are not doing so much injury; near Craig, Judge Van Wormer reports they
are destroying the wheat. Near Forbes they are more numerous than here, and have
destroyed about all the gardens; only one piece of wheat is reported as injured yet.
Some other parts of the county report none, while others have enough to supply several
counties.
All accounts show, however, that we are not as bad off as some of our neighbors.
—[Holt County Sentinel, May 15.
Henry County.—A correspondent of the St. Louis Republican,
under date May 26, thus describes the devastation in Henry County :
The locusts have already destroyed a large portion of the crops in sections of this
county, and still continue their work of devastation. ‘The western and northern part
70 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
of this county is almost a desert, there being scarcely a vestige of anything green re-
maining to be seen. ‘hey don’t seem to have any definite direction to travel, but at
present they are moving southeast, and, if they continue in that course, the entire crop
of this county will be destroyed. The largest are as yet not more than half grown,
and will probably not be able to fly for one month or longer, while many are yet hatch-
ing. [Subsequent events proved this incorrect: the bulk of them left by the middle of
June.|] Our farmers are so alarmed that some are leaving their farms, while many
would do so but are unable. Grass on the prairies is destroyed in certain localities and
people are compelled to drive their stock some distance for grazing. Many farmers
have planted their corn the second time, and will plant again if the locusts leave soon,
while many have exhausted their means and will be unable to buy seed or provisions,
and will actually starve unless they receive immediate relief. These are serious facts,
and are entirely free from exaggeration.
A mass meeting of the citizens of the county convened at the
court house on May 21st, to devise some plan of relief for the desti-
tute. Dr. J. H. Britts was called to the chair, and Thos. Day elected
secretary. A committee consisting of Messrs. McLane, Tewell, Woods,
Gantt, and Dr. Salmon was appointed to prepare a plan of action.
This committee reported as follows:
Your committee have come to the conclusion that we have not the means in our
midst to relieve the necessities of our poor. The great destitution is alarming. We
must have aid. We are now in the midst of a famine. The people of Henry county
have always contributed liberally when other sections needed our aid ; believing then
that an appeal to those portions of our country that have been blessed will bring con-
tributions of corn and bacon for our poor, we are in favor of sending duly accredited
agents to solicit aid from the people of other portions of the country, and especially
the great centers of commerce.
Committees were appointed to visit Illinois and Iowa to solicit
aid. They carried the seal of the county court, and were instructed to
receive and distribute contributions. The following resolutions, adopted
by the meeting, express the intense feeling that pervaded the county:
Whereas, Owing to the fact that there is now great and wide-spread alarm among
all classes of citizens of this county at the ravages of the grasshoppers and chinch
bugs, and that much harm will necessarily inure to the growing crops of the county,
and in many instances the flax crop is already destroyed ; Therefore be it
Resolved, 1st, That to prevent the destitution that must necessarily follow if the
crops of the county are destroyed, and not replenished, we earnestly recommend that
farmers do not cease to plant as long as a crop is likely to mature at all; that after it is
too late to plant corn, we recommend that Hungarian and millet be sown for the purpose
of supplying the deficiency of the hay crop.
2d, That it is only by earnest and persistent effort that we will be able to supply
the loss caused by these pests, and to some extent prevent the calamity that now
threatens us.
3rd, That the chair appoint a committee of three to proceed to Jefferson City,
and in bebalf of the tax-payers of Henry county memorialize the State Board of
Equalization now in session, to put the valuation of property in Henry county at its
present cash value.
Jackson County.—The devastation in other adjacent counties
was repeated in this. Mr. Z. F. Ragan, of Independence, with whom I
spent some time during the most critical period, writes:
While young they did but little damage, neither did they excite much alarm,
since persons who had resided here, when they were here in 1867, assured us that but
little damage might be apprehended, inasmuch as in 67 they only cleaned up the dog-
fennel along the public highways and the weeds out of the corn fields. But lo, and be-
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. Ti
thhold! When they commenced moving in vast armies, and all kinds of growing crops
disappeared before the black dead line of their advance, threatening destitution and
even starvation, a general alarm pervaded the whole community, and many that had
treated the matter lightly, began to comprehend the situation and saw at once, that
notwithstanding they might be themselves self-sustaining, if they were surrounded by
-destitute and needy people, they could have no security in what they might call their
own. Meetings were called in every school district and committees appointed to ascer-
tain the true condition of every family and report to the county committee, which was
provided with a contribution fund to provide seed and supplies for all that needed aid
till something could be raised for the support of man and beast. With all the crops of
wheat, rye, oats, flax, clover, corn, gardens and pastures consumed in defiance of every
human eftort to stay the general devastation (say up to the IstofJuly), the fields being
as bare as the public roads; the outlook was gloomy beyond description. Many gave
up in despair and left the county.
The following from a correspondent to the St. Louis G@lobe- Demo-
erat of May 28, may be taken as a fair statement of the condition of
things:
But now, within a month they have become multiplied millions upon millions,
traversing the whole country, spreading themselves in all directions, going to and fro;
-and I may safely say there is scarcely a square yard in the county which can claim ex-
emption from their ravages. Pastures have been stripped of herbage, oat and wheat
fields have been swept, gardens are bare of any growing vegetable, and the cornfields
are alike destitute of indications that anything has been planted. ‘The small fruits are
irrevocably gone, and the larger fruits are now becoming a prey to their devouring
powers. They swarm into the houses, hopping and climbing in every place that is
not absolutely closed against them. No one who has not seen them can have a con-
ception of their amazing number. They have been destroyed in all possible ways—by —
fire, by ditching, and various other modes—in bushels beyond computation, and yet
they are the same ubiquitous host. So great is the dearth of anything upon which
cattle may feed that they are daily being removed to distant counties and ranges where
pasturage can be had. ‘The condition of affairs is indeed gloomy, and much solicitude
is felt in regard to the issue. Many are disposed to yield to despondency, but the larger
number of our people are still resolute and hopeful, There will, of necessity, be many
cases of destitution, but we hope to be able to provide for all such, and not apply for
aid from abroad until we have exhausted our own resources. The situation is by no
means desperate. An occasional field has been lightly touched, and the corn, which is
the real staple of the country, though constantly eaten off as fast as the blade appears,
it is thought has sufficient vitality to cause it to grow when the pest disappears, and
even if it does not a fair crop may be secured by planting a quickly maturing variety
even as late as the Ist of July.
A Farmers’ Delegate Convention was held at Independence on the
26th of May, and was largely attended, 750 being present. They
adopted resolutions reciting the destruction of all crops, fruits,
meadows, etc.; that in consequence of the short crops of the two pre-
ceding years, farmers had not means to prevent suffering or provide
seed for replanting; calling upon the people to meet in the school dis-
tricts on the next Saturday, to make lists of persons needing aid; call-
ing upon the county court to provide for such persons; appointing a
delegation to visit the State Board of Equalization, and ask a reduction
of fifty per cent. on the assessment of 1875; appointing a committee
to wait on capitalists and banks and negotiate for money to pay for
seed and relief; that the people of Jackson county will help each
other to the utmost extent, and in case that is not adequate, will call
on the Governor to convene the Legislature to provide further relief;
72 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
and, finally, appointing a committee to issue an appeal to the people of
Jackson county, and discouraging all unlawful acts by sufferers.
An adjourned meeting was held at the same place on the 31st of
the month, at which 150 delegates were present. The story of desti-
(tution recited that many were living on bread and water; trees were
being cut down for food for cattle. Arelief committee was appointed
and donations were solicited from all who were able and willing to
help. Asaresult of this movement about $5,000 to $7,000 were col-
lected and distributed.
I spent some time in this county, and the gloomy outlook toward
the end of May could not well be exaggerated. The stench from the
immense numbers that were destroyed around Kansas City, was at
one time unendurable, and lest it should breed a pestilence the au-
thorities of Westport took measures to deodorize and disinfect the
atmosphere on a large scale. Fifteen barrels of locusts were one
evening shoveled up and hauled from the base of the court house at.
Independence, each barrel weighing 220 pounds. These were only a
portion that were unable, after a hard days’ battle, to get inside where
_ there was a luxuriant growth of blue grass.
JoHnson OCounty.—The western portion of the county was most
severely handled. In the vicinage of Kingsville it was estimated that.
four-fifths of all the wheat, oats, rye, corn, flax, meadow, wild grass.
and garden products were destroyed. At ameeting of farmers from
Madison township held at Holden, June 2d, and presided over by the
mayor, Hon. W. C. Smith, it was shown that the locusts had devoured
all the wheat, flax, clover and timothy represented, together with half
the corn. Potatoes were entirely ruined, and but little fruit, small
or large, left. It was found necessary to drive live stock out of
the county to localities more favored to prevent starvation. A large
number of families were reduced to a bread and water diet. Al?
were hard pressed to raise means for obtaining seed for replanting,
and work teams were so reduced as to be scarcely able to perform
their necessary tasks.
At the invitation of the county court, a delegate convention was
held at Warrensburg on the 28th of April, all the townships in the
county beingrepresented. Dr. J. M. Fulkerson was elected chairman,,
and Rev. I. N. Newman, secretary. A committee of one from each
township was selected to propose some plan for meeting the necessi-
ties of the county. The matter of relief was finally referred to the
action of the individual townships. In some of the townships effort
was made to effect large loans upon bonds given by the most respon-
sible men in the community, the object being to sub-loan the amount
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 13
thus obtained, in smaller sums to those who possessed but little prop-
erty, and yet sufficient to secure a note for such an amount as would
' be needful to supply their families and buy seed.
On three occasions, in May and June, I visited the country around
Holden and Warrensburg, and publicly addressed the people at the
latter place. The better class of citizens were determined and hopeful,
and the condition of the county, judged by the payment of taxes,
compared favorably with its condition in previous years, for in War-
rensburg township $32,000 were collected out of $39,000.
LAFAYETTE County.—Although lying on the eastern border of the
region visited by the locusts, this county shared largely in the general
affliction and distress. A correspondent of the Chicago 7Zimes under
date, Lexington, May 18, says: “The grasshoppers are on the move
east, eating everything green in their road. One farmer south of this
city had fifteen acres of corn eaten by them yesterday in three hours.
They mowed it down close to the ground, just as if amowing wa-
chine had cut it. All the tobacco plants in the upper part of the
county have been eaten by them.” Other advices show that many
neighborhoods were rendered destitute, and the want of seed for re-
planting was widely felt. No public measures of relief were adopted,
so far as I have any knowledge, and it is probable that none were
necessary.
Nopaway County.—In the St. Joseph Herald of June 3, there
appears a brief item from Graham, Nodaway county, under date May
29th, as follows:
We have some locusts here, but they are doing no serious damage to crops or
gardens in this immediate vicinity. Five miles north of here there are no locusts.
South of here, in Andrew county, they are numerous, and in places are destroying
crops and gardens. West of here, in Holt county, they are not doing much damage,
except in the west part of the county, where they are sweeping everything in places.
Farmers are following after and replanting.
This county appears to have been singularly fortunate, a fact
which may perhaps be accounted for by the large amount of timbered
land in the county, together with its prominent undulations of sur-
face.
Newton County.—Few eggs were laid in this county, and no seri-
ous ravages are reported.
Perris County.—Only the western part of this county suffered,
and that not severely.
Puatte Country.—Under date May 25th, a correspondent to the
St. Louis Republican thus describes the ravages of the insects in
this county:
74 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
They have destroyed all the gardens in this vicinity, not sparing the onions or
peas. The rose-bushes, instead of presenting one solid mass of bloom, look like so
many bundles of sticks stuck about in the yards. They are materially injuring the
young fruit trees as they climb upon them to roost, and during the night they cut off
every green branch. The grapes have been cut the same way. In fact we have but
little left. The pastures are full, and our farmers are sending their stock away to hunt
grass. Some have felled trees for their stock to browse upon the green boughs. They
have destroyed nearly all the corn and have been busy at work in the wheat fields,
eating all the blades, leaving only the bare stalks standing. Every evening these stalks
are crowded with the little pests, and it is feared they will destroy the bloom of the
wheat, as they have nothing left upon which to feed.
Farmers drove away their stock to more favored localities, and for
such as they were obliged to retain they cut down linden trees for
feed. No concerted measures for relief are reported. The Platte
City Landmark reports by the 24th of May, that the people had be-
come more or less disheartened, and had about concluded that no
effort of theirs could stay the ravages of the pests. Whole fields of
wheat, corn, grass and most of the gardens in that county had been
swept as clean of every green thing as if a simoon had blasted them.
An army of the insects, about one hundred yards wide, attempted to
cross Platte River, at Darnall’s Ferry. For miles up and down the
river the water was a living mass of them. Mr. Darnall at once sum-
moned his whole force of farm hands, consisting of twelve men, who,
~with the aid of clubs and sticks, kept them from returning to shore,
or crossing, until they became exhausted and floated off with the cur-
rent. Mr. Darnall thinks that at least five hundred bushels were thus
destroyed. He thus saved about one hundred acres of as fine wheat
as he ever raised.
Ray County.—A gentleman residing at Richmond writes, May 23:
Since the reception of your note, I have been at some pains to gather the facts
you asked for, and Isend them in a shapeas much condensed as possible. After riding
about over the county for two days, and talking to reliable farmers who have been
pretty much all over it, the truth learned seems about to be that we have been worse
scared than hurt. The grasshoppers are not general over the county. In some places
where they are they have eaten considerable, and in other places none at all. Myriads
of them are dying. In some places so great is the mortality that the stench is sicken-
ing. Our general crop prospects are good. We have had fine rains. So far our grass-
hoppers seem to get no wings. From the places where they were hatched out to the
places where they now are, the distance traveled won’t amount to fifty yards. Weare
all hoping for the best, and believe the worst is over.
The following from the correspondence of the Kansas City 7imes
shows the condition of things June 14th, nearly a month later:
The grasshoppers are still here, and doing a great deal of damage. They have
left the high lands in places and gone to the bottoms. Thousands of them are daily
flying away. A great many of them were seen flying on Sunday, from 11 a. M., to 5 Pp.
M., going in a northwesterly direction. Great numbers of them dropped in Camden,
and pounced upon the first green thing that came in their way. Crops continue to
suffer ; many farmers have turned their stock in on their wheat; oats are going every
day, and young corn is badly injured, and in many places entirely destroyed. Farm-
ers are almost despairing of a chance to replant anything. Tobacco plants are all
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 75
destroyed, as far as heard from. Hempis badly injured. Fruit trees are suffering from
the hoppers, as they are cutting off the young fruit and leaves, even dropping the
young twigs to the ground, seemingly, to feed the weaker ones who cannot so readily
get up in the trees.
The St. Joseph Herald, May 27, reports from Richmond, “ that in
some localities the locusts have taken the corn and wheat clean, and
in other localities there has been little or no damage as yet. Some
are planting their gardens and corn over, and think the ‘ hoppers’ will
leave the country before they can do damage to the second crop.”
The Richmond Conservator of May 29, says, editorially :
Our exchanges are filled with accounts of the appearance and depredations of
these pests; many of which are exaggerations, especially that report from Richmond,
published in the St. Louis Times and Dispatch. The visitation is bad enough, we want
it no worse; but, if accouuts are correct, we have but few compared with the numbers
in other counties. With but rare exceptions, no one has been seriously injured here.
Sr. CLrarr County.—Correspondence of the St. Louis Pepublican
of June 3, shows, graphically, how great was the destruction and conse-
quent destitution in the larger part of this county:
At the end of the war not ten buildings remained to mark the place of the once
centre of trade. Even the court house was destroyed. The terrible sights of the cruel
war are now being outdone by the cruelest of sights—starvation. For the past three
years the crops of St. Clair county have been a total, or nearly total failure. Last
Fall the pangs of hunger stared many a strong man in the face, but with the assist-
ance of help from the more fortunate he kept it at a safe distance only to return again
with redoubled fury. Within the past few weeks cases have come to hand which excel
and leave in the shades of night the thrilling scenes of battieand tender feelings gener-
ated by the tale of Indian warfare, where the scalping knife plays the most important
part. Ten times more preferable would death be under the club of the savage than
under the lingering cruel death of starvation. A true statement of events cannot, in
fact, be better portrayed than is shown by a circular which is being circulated around
the county, calling for a meeting of the citizens to devise some means whereby death
¢an be driven from the door of suffering humanity. The following is a copy:
“Friends, you have been instrumental in relieving the most pressing wants of
many of your citizens, and [hope you are still willing to aid them a few weeks longer,
until they can be able to help themselves. Through the committee here there have
been forty-four families aided. There are of that number now, perhaps one-half, who
can get through upon their own resources, and the balance will need help.
* Friends, [ appeal] to you in behalf of suffering humanity, to do your duty in this
ease. If youcould but see what I have seen, of the destitution of our people, you
would not hesitate in this matter, but would gladly help the old and infirm, the crip-
pled, the widows and orphans, whose cries for bread, bread, are ascending up to
heaven. Will you respond to their cries? I believe you will. May God help each
and every one to do his duty in this matter. I hope the good people of Osceola will
call a meeting at once, at which time and place the truth may be made known and the
required relief given.”
This represents the destitution of but one town out of ten. The picture is unvar-
nished and put in as mild a form as possible. We have seen within the past week fam-
ilies which had not a meal of victuals in their house; families that had nothing
to eat save what their neighbors gave them, and what game could be caught
in a trap, since last Fall. In one case a family of six died within six days of
each other from the want of food to keep body and soul together. But it is but justice
to say thatthe neighbors and citizens were unaware of the facts of the case and were
not, therefore, responsible for the terrible death which overtook these poor pilgrims
on their journey to the better land. This is, we believe, the first case of the kind which
has transpired in this county; but, from present indications, the future four months
will make many graves, marked with a simple piece of wood with the inscription,
“** Starved to death,” painted on it. Our citizens have given, all that had any to give,
until nothing is leit to give, and now they must in their turn solicit aid from elsewhere.
It would be more encouraging if the prospects for a fine harvest were at all flattering,
but as the case now is, we do not hope for an excuse for a crop. The grasshoppers
76 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
have eaten up all the flax, all the wheat and corn, and now are attacking everything
green, even grass, and three weeks will witness a country as barren as the grim deserts
of Africa. We must have aid from some source or we shall perish. As I write this
the sound of prayer and song is wafted on the breeze through the open window from
the church across the way, as a crowded house, numbering some six hundred souls,
are offering up, in answer to the proclamation of Gov. Hardin, their humble prayers
for the interposition of Divine Providence to relieve the calamities which are falling
with such fury upon this county, May the Lord, in His mercy, take pity upon this
afflicted people and saye them from the death which will surely overtake them unless a
miracle is performed.
Vernon Cotnty.—Hon. William Hall, of Walker, writes, May 20:
“ We are in the midst of an army of insects. Between the grasshop-
pers and Chinch bugs this county is threatened with famine both for
man and beast.” Froma correspondent of the St. Louis Republican,
June 4, it appears that the ravages were chiefly confined to the north-
western portion of the county.
The other counties of Cedar, Dade, Daviess, Harrison, Hickory,
Jasper, Lawrence, McDonald, Polk and Worth, that were visited in
1874, suffered comparatively little from the unfledged insects in the
following Spring.
CONDITION OF THINGS IN OTHER STATES.
Kansas.—The ravages of the young locusts in this State, during
the Spring of 1875, were confined to a district about 150 miles in length
and 50 miles in breadth, at the widest, along the eastern border. The
counties of Doniphan, Brown, Atchison, Jefferson, Leavenworth,
Douglass, Labette, Johnson, Miami, Franklin, Linn, Bates and Bour-
bon suffered more or less severely. These counties comprised the
principal hatching-grounds of the insect, for, although the invading
hosts of the previous autumn had been reported as ovipositing in
almost every county of the State, time proved that the great bulk of
the eggs were laid as the locusts approached their eastward limit. In
1874 the greatest damage had been from northwest to southeast, being
lightest along the eastern half of the State which the winged insects
reached too late to do very serious injury. In 1875 the tables were
turned; the eastern portion of the State suffered, and the western
counties were little troubled.
A small proportion of the eggs, which had been deposited in dry,
sunny situations, hatched during the autumn of 1874; but there is no
evidence that any of the young thus prematurely brought into the
world survived the Winter. On the contrary, certain experiments
made the following Spring demonstrated the fact that a temperature
of 2° below zero was invariably fatal to them.
The insects were reported as hatching in a few localities, and
mostly along river bottoms, as early as the middle of March; but it
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. Ti
is the general opinion of my correspondents that all such early col-
onies perished from subsequent cold and freshets.
Prof. Snow, of the State University at Lawrence, records the fact
of seeing the first young locusts upon the southern slopes of Mt. Oread
on April 6th, and soon learned that a simultaneous hatching had
taken place in many spots of bottom land, along roadsides and in
fields of grass and grain. From this date until about the 10th of May
they were reported from various localities as “ still hatching.”
Many citizens of the infested district labored with heroic deter-
mination to save their crops from the pests, and such efforts measura-
bly succeeded in keeping them in check.
Continued wet weather and hail storms in some localities greatly
reduced the numbers of the insects, and a large proportion also per-
ished before acquiring their wings, froin the attacks of various para-
sites.
From all the data accessible it would appear that the locusts first
took flight in Kansas from the extreme southeast of the infested re-
gion, on May 28th and 29th, and that these swarms passed over the
State in a northerly and northwesterly direction. At Ft. Scott they
began flying on June Ist. At Lawrence the first winged locusts were
observed May 30th and the first flight from that locality occurred on
June 3d. At Chetopa they commenced flying June 5th; at Topeka,
June 6th; in Worth and Jackson counties June 8th and 9ih. By the
13th of the same month they had nearly all taken their departure from
Lawrence and the region southward, and by the 15th were gone from
as far north as Leavenworth.
The testimony of a vast majority of observers is conclusive as to
the general northwesterly direction of their flight. The few cases on
record of their moving in other directions are attributable to strong
adverse winds or to the fact that they were merely making short aérial
excursions preparatory to the grand flight. It was noticed that when
they flew to the south or east it was at a much lower elevation than
when apparently returning to their native habitat.
The following interesting observations on their flight in Kansas
are from an article by Prof. Snow, in Kansas City 7imes:
The direction of their flight I have carefully noted. When the wind is strong
they fly with the wind. If the wind is light they fly toward the northwest, by what
seems to be anatural instinct. Thus on June 7th, witha southwest wind moving, ac-
cording to the University anemometer, at the rate of three miles an hour the locusts
were flying in vast numbers in a direction a little to the north of west nearly in the face
of the wind. On June 12th also, with a northeast wind blowing at the rate of four
miles an hour they were flying in greater numbers than ever before in a northwest
course at right angles to the direction of the wind.
Having once taken wing, there are on record but two or three in-
78 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
stances of their alighting within the borders of the State. In these
exceptional cases they remained but ashort time, and, tho’ creating
much alarm, did but little damage—being far less voracious than had
been the invaders of the previous Autumn.
There were no incursions into the State this year from the north
or west, and after the middle of July scarce a specimen of spretus
could be found in Kansas. The disappointed, but not disheartened,
farmers went to work with a will, putting in late crops; the devastated
fields and gardens renewed their green under the influence of frequent
showers, and by Autumn there were but few mementos of the deso-
lation of the previous Spring.
The amount of damage done to the early crops is difficult to esti-
mate. During the prevalence of the plague it was doubtless consid-
erably exaggerated, for even in the localities where the locusts were
most numerous they seldom made a clean sweep of the crops, with
the exception of garden vegetables and like succulent plants, for
which they manifested a decided preference. In many instances they
would completely strip one field, while perhaps the adjoining one
would entirely escape.
Leavenworth county reported a loss of about 50 per cent. of the
Spring crops; Doniphan lost 30 per cent.; Miami 25 per cent.; Brown
20 per cent., and other counties, where the locust injuries had been
confined to certain sections, averaged a loss of from 10 to 15 per cent.
Census returns from sixty-two of the seventy-six counties show
the total population to be 494,172. The remaining counties had a
population, in 1874, of 41,905. If the returns for this year show an
equal number, the population of the State will be over 536,000. Thir-
ty-eight of the counties for which returns have been received show a.
gain in population, and twenty-three a loss. After such severe trials,
this indicates an unusual prosperity ; and it is worthy of remark, as.
illustrative of the enterprise of her people, that the fourth annual
Report of the State Board of Agriculture, for the year 1875, is a.
volume of 754 pages, replete with valuable statistics, profusely illus-
trated, elegantly published, and edited in a manner that reflects great
credit on its Secretary, Mr. Alired Gray.
The report of the operations of the Kansas State Relief Society
was completed during the Summer. It covers all the transactions of
the committee in detail, from its organization November 19, 1874, to
its disbandonment June 9,1875. ‘The amount of cash contributions
received is given at $73,863.47, and the quantity of supplies at 265 car
loads, and 11,049 separate packages. The estimated value of supplies
is put at $161,245, which, added to the cash receipts, makes the aggre-
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 79
gate benefactions over $235,000. In addition to this, the United States
have given nearly $100,000 in rations and clothing, and over $7,000 has
been sent directly to the various counties from the east, and is not in-
cluded in the committee’s reported receipts. Itis safe to say, counting:
everything, that fully four hundred and fifty thousand dollars in money
and supplies were sent into Kansas since the 20th of November,
1874, for the relief of the locust sufferers. The largest amount of
money was contributed by California, and the largest quantity of
supplies by Illinois.
The following observations were made at the Signal Service Sta-
tion at Leavenworth:
On the 6th of June last, the locusts were seen flying for the first time this
year. They were flying north. At times, when the wind was due north and brisk,
their direction would be apparently west, but a close observation would show that they
retained their northerly direction. Large hordes could be seen flying almost every day
for two weeks, but as they were flying ata great height, and also owing to the bril-
liancy of a Summer sun, it was impossible to observe their size and‘thickness. On the
20th of June, those that were flying north disappeared. On July the 6th and 7th, two
large hordes were seen flying southeast; with this single exception, the locusts were
flying in a northerly direction in 1875. The locusts of this year flew apparently but a
short distance north, and this is supposed to be due to the fact that they were destroyed
by a small insect that could be seen in multitudes through a microscope upon the
greater number of those that were full grown.
Nepsraska.—The hatching grounds of the locusts in this State were
limited to the district immediately bordering on the Missouri River,
and a comparatively small area suffered from their attacks during the
period of development. The populous and highly cultivated counties
of Nemaha, Richardson and Otoe were most severely ravaged. In
these a very large proportion of the Spring crops of all kinds were
devoured by the young hoppers, while the attacks of the insects on
nursery stock, following those of their progenitors of the previous
year, entailed losses which it will take several years to repair. Por-
tions of Adams, Cass, Lancaster, Seward, Josephine, Miller, Saline and
Table Rock counties were also put under contribution for the susten-
ance of home-bred schools; but in these the damage was local, and,
with a few exceptions, inconsiderable. From the data at hand it
would appear that the insects hatched remarkably late, and it was
not until about the 20th of May that their depredations became seri-
ous. Asin Missouri and Kansas, the farmers energetically defended
their crops by means of ditching, burning and coal oil traps. For the
latter the insects seemed to have a great affinity, and once thoroughly
immersed in the fluid, they were sure to die. Before the armies which
had been bred within its borders were fully developed, Nebraska re-
ceived transient but repeated visits from the migrating swarms of
more scutherly latitudes, on their way toward the northwest, and with
80 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
these it was much more difficult to contend than with those still un-
fledged. Reports of injuries by foreign swarms were received from
the counties of Saunders, Washington, Douglass, Buffalo, Pawnee,
Clay and Barton. In portions of these, corn and early vegetables
were cut off, and wheat and rye bladed to some extent.
The brood which hatched within the State acquired wings
and began to rise from the ground avout the 7th of June. Their
course, as with those from the south and east, was invariably to the
northwest, except during the prevalence of strong adverse winds or
absolute calms, and in such cases, they commonly alighted to await
more favoring gales. By the 6th of July they were reported as about
gone from the State.
The following observations were made at Omaha, and communi-
cated by Mr. Myer:
The locusts made their appearance here on the 14th of June, about 10 a.m., and
continued passing to the northwest until about 2 p. M., the wind blowing fresh from
the south and §$.8.E. The tail end of this swarm settled to the north of this city and a
few of them returned to the south on the 15th with a north wind. Great numbers of
them were destroyed by the hail and rain storm of the 17th.
Mr. Rosewater, editor of the ‘*‘ Omaha Bee,” made inquiries regarding this swarm
and states that it covered a tract of country 80 miles wide; 60 miles west and 20 east of
the Missouri river. It went through a tract in Cass county 10 miles wide on the 13th.
This was the only swarm worthy ot note that was noticed passing here, though others
may have passed unobserved: they sometimes move so high that they can only be seen
by looking towards the sun.
The following are taken from dispatches to the “ Omaha Bee,”
dated June 7, 1875:
McPherson, Lincoln.—A great many on the wing for several days; yesterday a
great many going northeast.
Brady Island, Lincoln Co.—A few hatched out, many going northwesterly.
Columbus, Platte Co.—A few passed northwest lately.
Willow Island, Dawson Co. —No damage. Many on the prairie, including those
hatched here. The air is full of them, having no particular direction but flying with
the wind. None came down.
Kearney, Buffalo Co.—Going northwesterly.
Gibbon, Buffalo Co.—No locusts hatched; passed twice going north.
Kearney Junction, Buffalo Co.—Going northwesterly—large numbers came down
May 30th.
Schuyler, Colfax Co.—Now and then a garden visited.
Nebraska City, Oteo Co.—Going southwest lately.
The following are from dispatches to the same journal, dated
June 14, 1875:
North Bend, Dodge Co.—No grasshoppers in sight.
Valley, Douglass Co.—Going north since noon—none alighting.
Millard, Douglass Co.—Going north all day.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 81
Silver Creek, Merrick Co.—Going northwest.
Gilmore, Sarpy Co—Billions going north.
Elkhorn, Douglas Co.—Going north.
Chapman, Merrick Co.—Going north.
Lone Tree, Merrick Co.—Going north for two days.
McPherson, Lincoln Co.—Going northwest.
Gibbon, Buffalo Co.—Going with wind for last two weeks.
Schuyler, Colfax Co.—A few going north.
Grand Island, Hall Co.—Going northwest for the last few days.
In three or four of the counties where the young had most
abounded and where migrating swarms had most frequently settled,
the loss of crops was estimated at from 25 to 30 per cent., but averag-
ing the State at large it did not, at an outside estimate, amount to 5
per cent., and according to the Omaha Herald of July 16th: “The
local damages were more than equalized by the additional acreage
under cultivation and the increased yield of all products in other
parts of the State.”
August 10th it was reported from Laramie City that vast clouds
of locusts were flying southward; but nothing further was heard of
them from any quarter.
lowa.— Very few locusts hatched during the Spring of 75 within
the limits of this State. On the 26th of May they were reported in
considerable numbers in a few localities on the southwest boundary.
The first serioas incursions from the south were made about the
10th of June, and from that date to about the middle of July, the
western counties suffered considerably from the swarms that were
almost constantly passing over, many of which alighted and remained
from twenty-four to forty-eight hours in a place, making sad havoc
in corn fields, gardens and nurseries. Rye, wheat and oats were also
damaged to some extent. From the counties of Mills, Tremont and
Council Bluffs a loss of 25 per cent. was reported. Near Red Oak they
settled in such vast numbers that the railroad trains were stopped by
the oiling of the track with their crushed bodies.
Minnesota. — During the Spring of 1875 locusts occurred pretty
generally throughout the western part of the State, especially in the
region south of the Northern Pacific Railroad. They seem to have
been most numerous and destructive in Blue Earth, Le Sueur, Nicol-
let, Brown, Sibley, Sterns, McLeod and Watonwan counties. In some
of these counties generous bounties were offered for the bodies of
the young hoppers, and a vigorous warfare was, in consequence, waged
ER—25
82 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
upon them by the farming community, in which both sexes and all}
ages eagerly participated. A letter to the New York World, dated
June 8th, has the following: ‘“‘ You can form an idea, not only of the
energetic way in which the people have gone to work, but also of the
magnitude of their task, when I tell you that two thousand bushels.
have already been paid for in this (Blue Earth) county up to last.
night, and they only commenced on Friday last.” Taking the different
counties together more than fifty thousand bushels of locusts were
destroyed. By means of these vigorous measures from two-thirds to
three-fourths of the crops were saved, while the price paid for the
insects doubtless made some amends for what was destroyed.
A dispatch to the Chicago Tribune, dated July 18th, states: ‘The
first foreign hoppers appeared on the Sioux City Road, aligbting be-
tween Lake Crystal and St. James on Wednesday last.” A few days
later they were observed at New Ulm, flying southeast, and at noon
of the same day struck the line of the road at Madelia, St. James,
Fountain Lake, Windom and Heron Lake; covering the track for
about 50 miles of its length. They were described as being “ uneasy,
most of the time in the air, and, except in certain isolated or scattered
fields, as doing but little damage.”
From such data as can be procured it would seem that there were
no invasionsinto the State from the original breeding grounds of the
insect; but that the “ foreign ” swarms were from the States immedi-
ately to the south and west, and were probably deflected from their
usual course by adverse winds. The soil and climate of Minnesota
being peculiarly congenial to them, they deposited their eggs in pro-
digious numbers and probably died there. About the middle of
August Gov. Davis appointed a commission consisting of J.C. Wise of
Mankato, Warren Smith, of Graham Lakes, and Allen Whitman, of St.
Paul, to investigate the history of the insect and its incursions; the
purpose being to collect the most complete information possible,
with a view to organized effort next year for the destruction of all lo-
custs appearing in the State. The following letter from Mr. Wise,
chairman of that commission, contains such interesting statements
that [reproduce it, notwithstanding the complimentary allusions:
C. V. Riley—Dear Sir: I received copies of the Rural World, and as I[ take the
Prairie Farmer, amalso in possession of your equally valuable articles in the issues of
the 11th and 18th. Ihave read your report, and your observations and descriptions are
so very accurate that we shall draw largely upon them in making our report, for
which full credit will be given. Indeed, you are so far in advance of anything else that
I have seen that I feel that our State, and indeed the whole Northwest, owe you a debt
of gratitude for your investigations of this very important subject.
You state correctly that while a few hoppers may hatch this Fall, the great bulk
will not hatch until next Spring. We have heard of some hatching this Fall, but in
our travels we have seen but very few. It was the same last Fall. A few hatched, and
some were deluded by that fact into the belief that most of them would, and we should
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 83
escape injury. It was a delusion, for in the Spring when they began to appear, we
were convinced that scarcely one ina million had hatched in the Fall.
In arecent trip to the region where eggs are now deposited, we found that in
counties where eggs were first laid, the hopper is now formed, and with the aid of a
glass the eyes and even limbs may be seen. In other localities the eggs are yellow and
filled with a watery substance, which induces many to think that they are rotting, but
which in fact is that condition incident to and preceding the formation of the insect.
This fact, however, was pretty generally and indeed invariably observed: That the
glutinous fluid which matures and forms the coating to the sack has entirely disappear-
ed and the eggs lie unprotected in the earth. We attribute this to the fact that the
heavy rains have so moistened the ground as to dissolve that coating. This, we take
it, is an unnatural condition, and, if so, there is ground for hope that the unusual damp-
ness of the earth may assist in destroying at least a portion of the eggs. This condi-
tion prevails to such an extent that in all our investigations it was diflicult to get outa
whole sack, for they would break with the ground.
The hoppers that came into this county last year (1874,) came from the south-
west. That was their course when they first flew, and when they commenced leaving
they continued the same direction, northeasterly. This summer—the fore part of July—
when they left us, they flew southwest, going in the direction from whence they had
come, and in depositing their eggs have occupied about the same territory they did in
1873, though enlarging their limits. It was observed that nearly all of this year’s hop-
pers had in the bodies a grub or worm such as you describe in your report, and to a
greater extent than any previous year, causing them to die in large numbers.
Yours etc, JoHN C. WISE.
Mankato, Minn., Sept. 19, 1875.
The report made by this commission is an excellent digest of the
subject, and by being scattered over the State will do much good. It
places the amount of damage done in 1875 at two million dollars, and
sums up the experience of the year as follows:
The eggs deposited in 1874, in the more northern counties of the State, began to
hatch in April, and the young locusts were killed by the continuous cold and wet
weather which followed, and damage is reported only in Becker and Todd counties.
The eggs are also said to have been freely destroyed by grubs in Becker county. Along
the Red river but few eggs were laid, and along the Mississippi they hatched in too
widely distributed localities to have any great effect on the general crop.
The chief damage of the year was done by locusts hatched in the counties of Me-
Leod, Sibley, LeSueur, Nicollet, Blue Earth, Brown and Renville. The hatching pro-
gressed through May as usual, and in spite of the warfare waged against the locusts,
the damage was great throughout all the counties named. The departure began about
July first, and by the tenth of the month it became general throughout most of the
districts ravaged. A fresh northwest wind would have carried the greater portion of
the locusts hatched in Minnesota far beyond the borders of the State, but aiter strug-
gling awhile against a southwest wind they settled down upon the fields and continued
their ravages. During the remainder of the season they inflicted serious damage upon
Jackson, Martin, Murray, Cottonwood, Watonwan and Redwood counties, and slighter
damage upon Nobles, Rock, Lyon and Lincoln. By the end of August the locusts had
mostly disappeared in one way or another, and the earliness of the disappearance has
been accounted for by the action of parasites, which infested the locusts abundantly
The following observations were made by the Signal Service
operator at Breckenridge:
‘The locusts were seen during the month of July and a part of August, until about
the 12th; the first seen came from the southeast, and nearly always moved with the
wind, especially if strong. During the month of July they were flying almost every
day, and at times the swarms were so dense that it was impossible to see through them
with a good field glass.
The farmers state that their flying was so regular that no one paid much attention
to it; at times the swarms would be more dense than at others, especially if almost
calm. Several persons who watched them say that they think they laid but few eggs
in the soil this year, and predict few for the next summer.
It will be well here to reiterate the fact that the Rocky Mountain
84 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
Locust is sub-alpine, and breeds in greatest profusion in the Rocky
Mountain region of the extreme northwest. It thrives best in a high,
dry, cold climate, where the summers are short but sufficiently in-
tense. By bearing this fact in mind, we may understand why Minne-
sota suffers more frequently from the pest than do Iowa, Nebraska,
Kansas or Missouri.
The records show that the insect occurs much more frequently in
that State than it does further south. Minnesota is unfortunately
nearer to the insect’s native habitat, and the pest not only extends
further east in Minnesota than in any other State (having been known
to reach as far as Lake Superior,) but it holds its own better in that
climate, and does not so soon succumb to disease and enemies, or so
soon leave, as with us.
CoLorapbo.—This territory, always more or less subject to the lo-
cust scourge, was, during the spring of 1875, put under unusually
heavy contribution by the insects which hatched in its most highly
cultivated sections.
The Colorado Farmer for May 6, gives the following account of
the situation:
The locust plague is fairly upon us; the locusts have hatched out in countless
millions, and have gone through the early garden and farm crops. From all parts of
the territory the ery of ‘“ the Jocusts are upon us,’’ comes with startling force, making
strong men quail and women weep.
North and south, from the base of the mountains out to the verge of the plains,
the pestiferous locusts have commenced their hateful work. Want and penury stares
men in the face who have invested their last dollar in putting ina crop. Eaten outlast
year, the bouyant bope that has ever characterized Coloradans, induced another trial
this season, but it will hardly be possible to tide over the present fearful set-back.
There are, however, some redeeming features; the hoppers can’t stay with us
always, and they have already commenced to move in a southeasterly direction. Farms
that are suitably protected by irrigating ditches are not harmed; wherever the ditches
have been filled, nearly all the hoppers that have attempted to cross have perished in
the trial. ‘The hard earned experience in the past of Colorado farmers has developed
many plans for the destruction of the pests, Among these plans, in addition to the water
plan, is destruction by fire—burning straw, in which they seek shelter by night; the
use of machines to gather them, and systematically driving them into running water.
The date of hatching varies with the elevation. Mr. N.C. Meeker,
of Greeley, writing the latter part of August, says: “ On the plains
they appeared late in April and the first of May; along the foot hills
in May ; in the timber region and along the Snowy Range, from June
toJuly. * * * About the first of July the first hatched in the
plains region departed torward the south. A week ago, (Aug. 20th,)
those hatched in the Blue Mountains came down upon us and then de-
parted in a southeasterly direction, but now we are having them from
the Snowy Range in whatseems incredible numbers. Their numbers,
however, are almost nothing in comparison with the myriads that
keep southward every day about noon. I estimate that they cover in
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 85
the sky east and west a space 20 or 30 miles wide, while they move in
a body half a mile deep. They consume about two hours in passing,
and one can estimate from this statement how much ground they
would cover if they should all alight. * * * *
“ Colorado has something like half a wheat crop of most excellent
quality, and it is sufficient to provide bread. The deficiency arises
wholly from the destruction of crops by the locusts, which hatched a
month earlier than common. If they had hatched out at the usual
time, the crop would have been a full one, because the wheat would
have been too far advanced in growth to have been injured. Thou-
sands of acresof corn were planted in the ruined wheat fields, and
the earliest planted is likely to yield well, but with these millions of
locusts around us everything is uncertain.”
In November a correspondent of the Colorado Farmer wrote that
“the young locusts were hatching out in great numbers, and that the
eggs deposited during the present season were so far advanced toward
hatching that large numbers would be destroyed by frost during the
Winter and Spring.”
Signal Service observations made at Denver show that from the
20th of July to the end of August, swarms repeatedly passed and in-
variably from the north and northwest, notwithstanding that the pre-
vailing direction of the wind was from the south.
Dakota.—Observations made at Pembina and communicated
through A. J. Myer, chief signal officer, show that the young locusts
began to make their appearance, or to hatch from eggs laid the pre-
vious Fall, about the first of June. They matured in about six weeks.
The general movement of the winged insects was south, though at
times southeast.
About the 10th of August they were seen in incalculable num-
bers going south, the atmosphere being thick and clouded by them as
far as the eye could penetrate, seeming miles in height.
Long before this, however, the insects which left the country to
the southeast early in June, passed over the territory in a northwest
direction, as the following special dispatches to the Sioux City (lowa)
Daily Journal, kindly furnished by Mr. Wm. R. Smith, of that place,
will show:
Forr 'Hompson, June 28.—Large clouds of grasshoppers passed over this place
to-day, but did no damage. They came from the southeast, and if they maintained
their course would bring up in the bad lands of northwestern Dakota and Montana,
where their presence will hurt nobody. It is to be hoped they will not light short of
that locality.
YANKTON, June 28.—This section is still free from injury by grasshoppers,
although many of our people lost heart to-day on seeing the myriads of pests carried
56 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
along high in air by the wind. Fears were entertained that perhaps something might
BOD their flight, but as yet we hear nothing of their coming nearer than within eye-
shot.
YANKTON AGENCY, June 28.—The hoppers have come and gone without doing
damage. Vast swarms passed over this place to-day going in a northwesterly direc-
tion, but happily did not light.
Fort Suzy, June 28—Light clouds of grasshoppers passed over here to-day
moving in a northwesterly direction. They did not light and consequently no damage
is reported.
Fort Ranpat, June 28.—No damage here from grasshoppers to-day, notwith-
standing the air has been full of them flying in the direction of the Whoop-up country.
SPRINGFIELD, June 28.—The grasshoppers went over here to-day, evidently head-
ing for Montana. Weare pleased to say that they didn’t stop here for luncheon.
Mr. Myer also sends me the following interesting observations
made at other points in the Territory by the different signal officers:
Bismarck.—Locusts first made their appearance in the vicinity of this station on
June 6, 1875, and infested this district from that time until the date of their final disap-
pearance, July 15, 1875.
They first made their appearance on June 6, 1875, but not in such quantities as to
excite remark—coming from west and southwest; with surface wind fresh to brisk
from northwest and weather hazy. On June 7th, during the morning, their numbers
perceptibly increased, flying from the South, in small swarms, eight or ten feet thick,
with the surface wind west and southwest. During the afternoon with gentle south
pane he grasshoppers rose and flew north; very few being visible near this station
that night.
On June 8th they returned gradually from the north, and for the first time began
to eat the crops, and during the day were reinforced by a light swarm from the south-
east—surfacé wind from west and northwest. Remained during June 9th, eating but
little. On June 10th a storm of wind and rain from the east swept over this station,
which appears to have dispersed them, very few being seen in this vicinity until June
29. On that date, a small swarm, estimated as being about five hundred yards square
and from ten to twelve feet thick came from the south, the surface wind being from the
northwest. This swarm settled but did nodamage that I could hear of, and no more
arrived until July 7th. On that day a swarm made its appearance before which the
previous visitations sank into insignificance. The day was very warm with hazy
weather and gentle south winds. At10 a. mM. the locusts were first noticed on the
southwest bank of the Missouri river, and in such quantities as to resemble heavy
banks of stratus clouds. They passed over this station, without intermission from 10
A.M. to4 Pp. M., with a peculiar ‘‘ whirring ’’ noise caused by movement of so many mil-
lions of wings. It was almost impossible to estimate the extent and thickness of this
swarm, extending from twenty feet above the ground, high into the air, probably two
hundred feet ; and as far as the eye could reach to any point of the compass, the air was
full of the insects. At 4p. mM. they began to settle on the ground and by nightfall the
ground was covered with them.
On the morning of July Sth another swarm estimated to be about half as large as
the one mentioned above, came with the surface wind from southwest, and settled on
the ground with their predecessors.
During the 9th and 10th July, the locusts devoured nearly everything green in this
vicinity, and inflicted great damage to all crops except potatoes, in which the loss was
estimated to be 25 percent. Cabbages and turnips were almost wholly destroyed. The
total damage done to all crops is estimated at 60 per cent.—excluding the potato
crop. Had all the crops been ripe at this time, a total destruction would no doubt
have ensued.
After July 10th, the locusts rapidly became less, many dying and the balance
slowly moving north and west; and after July 15th, they had wholly disappeared.
YANKTON.—On June 17 the wind was strong from the east; the locusts
were going with it to the west. On June 28 the wind was moderate from the south.
Great swarms of insects were going with it north. On vune 29 the wind was north-
east, moderate. A good number of locusts were traveling southwest.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 87
Fort Surry, June 15th.—[Direction of wind, as ascertained by the records: 6 a.
™. to 7 A. M. northeast, then east till 10 a M., then south till 3 Pp. M.; southeast remain-
der of day.] Several days previous to this date I had been hearing of the approach of
locusts along the line of telegraph from Omaha upward to northwest, and at 4 p. M. of
the 14th the operator at Fort Thompson (85 miles south, 25° east from Fort Sully) re-
ported their advance flying northwest and northwardly. At noon a largecloud of the
‘insects passed over until night when they were no longer visible. Roughly estimated
the swarm may have been about 50 miles long, 25 wide and } to} mile in height. A
hail storm the following day may have dispersed them.
June 23.—[Direction of wind: 6 a. M., southeast; 7 a. M., southeast; 10 a. M.,
southeast; 2 and 3 p.m, east; rest of day calm.] Large flights of locusts passing
over during the morning, going north and northwest at an estimated elevation of about
50 feet to as high as they were visible with field glasses, possibly a mile; none alighting.
This swarm, as near as could be ascertained by telegraph at the time, came from the
Minnesota infested region along the line of the Sioux City and St. Paul Railroad in a
continuous cloud, probably 1,000 miles long from east to west, and 500 miles from north
to south. How much farther north of this post, unascertained, and’not conjectured.
June 24.—[ Morning calm ; west wind at noon, followed by southeast in evening
and night.] Straggling locusts began to fall, the flight still continuing northwest.
During the afternoon they commenced to alight and the post garden vanished from
the earth. Their increasing numbers resembled smoke ata short distance, many think-
ing there was a large prairie fire, the resemblance being very close.
June 25.—[Wind north until night, then southeast.] Locusts so thick along the
bottom land as to hide the ground in places. Prairie also covered with them. Large
numbers still flying. In some places they drifted into disgusting heaps, from six inches
to a foot in depth, and where trodden upon by horses, ete.; they rendered those loca-
tions very uninviting in appearance and odor.
June 26.—[Wind east till 3 p. M.; then northeast, and at night north.] Remain-
ing as the day before.
June 27.—[ Wind north till 3 p. M.; southeast at night.] Began arising.
June 28.—[Wind southeast till 10 4. M.; west at 2 p.M.3; north at night.] Disap-
peared from ground and by night none were seen in the air. They flew away north-
west.
August 6.—Large numbers passed over but less than on previous occasions,
(stragglers fell) passing northwest.
August 7.—Still passing northwest.
August 8 —Same swarm going northwest. A severe thunder storm arose and
about 8 p. m. hailstones fell. When this storm passed the last locust seen this year had
fied northwest.
Monrana.—I have been unable to obtain any satisfactory data
from the editors of any of the journals published in the Territory, all
of whom I addressed with stamp enclosures. The tendency is so
great among such to depict the Territory an Eden with no drawbacks,
that they invariably claim to be out of the line of the locusts. The
following observations were recorded at Virginia City in the extreme
‘southwest of the Territory, and received from Mr. Myer. After stat-
ing that the insects moved west on the 18th of July; a little south of
weston the 19th; southwest on the 20th, 21st and 22d, and southwest
on the 7th of August; and that the wind was from northeast and
southwest on the 18th, west and southwest on the 19th, southeast and
northwest on the 20th, east and northeast on the 21st, southwest and
west on the 22d and northwest and west on the 7th of August, the
observer continues:
The locusts were thickest on July 20th and 21st, giving the sun a hazy appear-
ance.
These ‘‘emigrant’’ locusts came from the plains of Dakota, and were here, the
largest bodies on the above mentioned days, at least half a mile in thickness, and, as L
Jearn from reliable authority, they presented an unbroken width of twenty miles, be-
ing even more numerous on the wings than here, near the centre.
88 EIGHTH ANNUAL RERORT
A great many stopped here on the 20th, clinging to fences, etc., as if exhausted.
They were numerous around Helena, Bozeman, Deer Lodge, and other towns in that
portion of Montana Territory, the general course taken being southwest.
The following observations, received from the same source, were
made at Benton:
Large quantities of locusts devastated the country west of this place, but there
being no arable land nearer than Sun river, sixty miles distant, they were not so plenty
here, although large quantities were at this place during July and August. They
moved principally southwest and northwest. The wind was principally west, and the
swarms at Sunriver large enough to darken the sky. I find no mention of them in the
journal except on July 27th and 28th, and that states that they did not seem to be tray-
eling in any particular direction.
Wyominc.—Signal Service observations made at Cheyenne, show
that the young locusts were very numerous during the latter part of
May on bottom lands; and the observer records the following some-
what later in the season:
August 6th. A number of locusts were seen moving south; wind from north-
east, at P. M. ’
August 8th. A great many locusts were observed at 2 Pp. M., moving from north-
west; apparently carried by the northwest wind, they moved to the southeast.
August 23d. An immense swarm of these insects alighted from east to southeast,
apparently compelled to by the brisk northwest wind.
August 24th. Most of the locusts left to-day, moving west and northwest ; wind
being light to fresh from north to sowth. I noticed a few, upon my return to the station,
September 30, and October 1.
I did not learn of any serious damage from these pests, owing, I suppose, to the
fact that agriculture is not carried on in our vicinity.
A series of questions, as to the course of the insects, which I pub-
lished in the Daily ews of Laramie City, failed to bring me any
answers.
Texas AND InpIAN TerritoRY.—The insects are reported as having
hatched in large numbers early in the Spring in Northern Texas and
Indian Territory; but while gardens were often ruined, little damage
was done to the growing grain. The Signal Service officer at Fort
Gibson, I. T., reports that—
There were three distinct swarms seen about the first of May; the exact date I am
unable to ascertain. They seemed to have had their origin from a deposit of eggs dur-
ing the preceding year, and left the neighborhood as soon as they were able to fly. The
first two lots moved toward the northeast, with the surface winds blowing from the
south; the third swarm, on the contrary, moved towards the southwest, with a north-
east wind.
They were leaving during most of the month of May, and gen-
erally north. A dispatch from Fort Gibson, dated June 1, says:
Millions of locusts essayed their new wings on Sunday, rising like swarms of bees
and started in a westerly direction. The air was filled like a cloud over the sun at ten
o’clock. The Grand, Verdigrisand Arkansas rivers were covered with the dead hop-
pers that failed to fly across at the start. We bid them adieu without a pang of regret-
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 89
They were not noticed as far south as Corsicana, Texas, but were
observed to be numerous at Dallas, sixty miles to the north.
Mantropa.—Little or no cultivation was attempted in many parts
of Manitoba, owing to the prevalence of locusts in the Spring. Mr.
G. M. Dawson, in an interesting pamphlet “on the Locust Invasion of
1874 in Manitoba and the Northwestern Territories,” just published in
Montreal, remarks that “the position of Manitoba, near the north-
eastern limit of the range of the locust, is in so far favorable as it is
only exposed to invasions from directions included between wect and
south; and the prevailing winds being northwesterly and coinciding
with the direction of the migration instinct of the insect, carry the
greater number of the swarms from their breeding places to the South-
western States. The northern situation of the province also tends to
exempt it from a double visitation, first from southern, and then from
northern and northwestern broods,” He states, however, that the
number of the insects borne to Manitoba, is more than sufficient to
produce great injury.
AMOUNT OF DAMAGE DONE IN MISSOURI.
In making an estimate in figures of the amount of damage done
by the locusts, several important considerations must be kept in view.
First, it is impossible to arrive at strict accuracy, for we have no
such means of collecting facts covering a whole county, as would en-
able us to ascertain the exact damage upon each farm or quarter sec-
tion. Then, the amount of injury to fruit and gardens, and the per-
manent injury to fruit trees, meadows and pastures, can scarcely enter
into our calculation. The numberof improved acres varies in counties.
of nearly the same area. Different counties received different meas-
ures of harm, owing to the different character of the surface, the rela-
tive amount of timber, etc.
The immediate damage was the loss of labor expended in plant-
ing, and the seeding for about two-thirds of the crop acreage of the
country, to which the destruction of the tame grasses and of fruit may
be added. The value of these it is difficult to get at. Ihave requested
a number of correspondents to give an estimate of the probable
damage in their county from the young locusts, and I append a few of
the answers as samples, from counties which received the greatest in-
jury. Many find it impossible to make an estimate, while a few deem
that their counties, for one reason and another, were not materially
injured by the locusts.
The loss to Lafayette county was fully two millions of dollars.—[J. Brit, Napo-
leon, Lafayette Co.
90 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
I estimate the damage done in this county to be at least 50,000 dollars.—[EL1mmu
Canabay, Lonia City, Pettis Co.
The damage in our county was not very heavy, as the insects hatched late, when
there was already abundance of vegetation to feed upon, and they did not spread over
the whole county. There were none east of Sedalia, while they were numerous south,
west, and northwestward. Ido not think the damage in the county amonnted to over
$50,000 in all, while their depredations created a demand for much of our produce
further west.--[GEORGE HUSMANN, Sedalia, Pettis Co.
The damage to our county by the young locusts in the Spring of 1875 would not
all far auor of seventy-five thousand dollars. —[JNo. L. Mopret, Little Osage,
ernon Co.
I suppose half a million dollars would be the lowest estimate that could be given.
—[J. L. Morsincer, Fayetteville, Johnson Co.
The damage was immense. Our county will not get over it for years. Nearly one-
half of our farmers are bankrupt. Deeds of trust are on one-half of the lands.—[B. F.
Dunkley, Dunksburg, Johnson Co.
The damage done to the three-fourths of Lafayette county invaded, has been esti-
mated to be not far from two and one half millions ($2,500,000). — [Jas. E. GuapIsH,
Aullsville, Lafayette Co.
$2,380,000. In making an estimate of the loss to the county from ravages of
locusts, I would state that we put it at the very lowest figures from actual calculations.
—[Dr. Jno. L. GreGG, Stony Point, Jackson Co.
If I had the statistics showing how much clover and timothy was destroyed, how
much oats and wheat, and how much of the same was planted in corn, and what the
average crop raised in comparison with what would have been the average if the earlier
planting had stood, and also to what extent the soft corn is being and will be utilized
—if I had a perfect knowledge of these things I might make an intelligent answer.—
(W. 8. Parriso, Hickman Mills, Jackson Co.
The damage to Jackson county in the Spring of ’75 would exceed two million
dollars.—[Z. 8. RaGan, Independence, Jackson Co,
To enumerate by counties, the following figures approximate the
real loss sustained from the injury to grains alone:
Atchison $700,000; Andrew $500,000; Bates $200,000; Barton
$5,000; Benton $5,000; Buchanan $2,000,000; Caldwell $10,000; Cass
$2,000,000; Clay $300,000; Clinton $600,000; DeKalb $200,00u ; Gentry
$40,000; Harrison $10,000; Henry $800,000; Holt $300,000; Jackson
$2,500,000; Jasper $5,000; Johnson $1,000,000; Lafayette $2,000,000;
Newton $5,000; Pettis $50,000; Platte $800,000; Ray $75,000; St.
Clair $250,000; Vernon $75,000; Worth $10,000.
The foregoing estimates exceed the amount of $15,000,000. They
are arrived at, in the majority of instances, by combining the
following elements: the number of acres of crops destroyed; the
average amount of the crop; and the value of the crop, allowing
forty cents a bushel for corn, one dollar for wheat, one dollar and a
half for barley, and thirty cents a bushel for oats. The amount of
loss redeemed by crops that succeeded after the insects left, it is im-
possible to determine; and yet this amount may again be offset by
the injury both temporary and permanent, to fruit, fruit trees, vine-
yards, gardens, meadows and pastures; by the fact that such crops as
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. . 91
flax, castor-beans, etc., have not been estimated in the calculation ;
and lastly, by the injury to stock, the animals necessarily driven out
of the country, and the general depreciation of property. The coun-
ties of Cedar, Dade, Hickory, Lawrence, McDonald, Nodaway, and
Polk, have, moreover, been omitted from the calculation, for want of
sufficient data on which to base estimates.
THE DESTITUTION IN MISSOURI.
From the facts already detailed under the heads of the different
counties, it will readily be inferred that the same portion of the State
has never before been visited by a calamity so appalling, and so dis-
astrous in its results, as the locust ravages of 1875. Other years have
brought drought, chinch bugs, and partial or total failure of particular
crops, but no event ever before so completely prostrated the country
within which the ravages occurred. The suddenness and desolating
power with which the attack came, where often the possessor of pro-
mising crops deemed them safe, acted as a paralysis upon those very
faculties that are engaged in the forethought and deliberation necessary
to self-preservation or concerted action. The farmer saw his green
acres smiling with glorious hope to-day, and to-morrow, perhaps, all
barren and bleak as in winter. It is no wonder that many communities
were panic-stricken. Previous disaster had already brought many
sections to a critical and suffering point, so that even during the
winter the Legislature was appealed to for aid. Stock had been
dying; feed of all kinds was scarce, and whole communities were
relying on the promise of the Spring. For this reason the locust
ravages were all the more desolating and discouraging. I subjoin a
few extracts as a record of the destitution that occurred:
It would be useless for me to attempt to describe the ravages of the grasshoppers.
You can form some idea of their voracity from the fact that they have eaten lint and
decayed wood from the fences, and unpainted houses are gnawed all over, and they are
now consuming the last year’s corn stalks, In addition to our present disasters, I fear
that disorder is not far away. There is an uneasy, if not desperate feeling in many
localities, and those having provisions are secreting them. The press is not telling the
whole truth. A few nights since a body of armed men, who said they were from Bates
county, took all the flour from the Kingsville mill, and it has not been published.
Many other ugly facts are suppressed.—[Extract from a letter from Abram Helms, of
Holden, to H. M. Williams, Jefferson City.
We must have aid, or many will be compelled to abandon their crops. We have
not the seed to plant with, or the money to buy. Season too far advanced for anything
except corn, late potatoes, navy beans and millet. Can you help us by donation or
loan. The condition of our county is truly alarming. People have become discouraged;
many are talking of leaving their homes; some are living on bread and water.
Unless we get assistance from some quarter, many are bound to suffer. Holden
and East Lynn are our shipping points. Can get better rates to Holden than any
other place convenient.—[Letter to Master T. R. Allen by a committee appointed
at Altona, May 25.
I am now out of funds, while the distress is more imminent than at any time
since we began our relief effort. From Benton, Bates, Cass, Johnson, Henry, St,
Clair, and from Lafayette and Jackson counties, the appeals are most urgent and
pathetic._[Extract from a letter, May 21, from State agent A. J. Child to T. R. Allen.
92 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
From Galbreath’s store, Henry county, comes the statement ‘‘that there are many
families who will actually starve if they are not assisted.”” The agent of the State
Grange, A. J. Child, who has been distributing corn supplied by the grange, writes
from Appleton City, St. Clair county: ‘It grows worse and worse, and God only
knows what the future of many of these inhabitants is to be. They are out of every-
thing and have exhausted every available means of credit in their efforts to live and
get crops started, and now the chinch-bugs and grasshoppers are cleaning up every-
thing like a consuming fire. Iam overpowered and overwhelmed by disclosures of
the fearful want, and the equally fearful outlook.” Judge Woods, of the Henry
county court writes: “I cannot see how our people are to get through the next two
mouths, as there is not enough bread-stuff in the county to keep them from starvation.
If it were here, they have no money to buy with. Those who had a little corn had to
feed it in order to save their stock, and now they are out of corn, money and credit.
Hundreds are living on bread and water.”? A letter from Kingsville, Johnson county,
says: ‘‘The condition of things in the western part of our county is pertectly dis-
tressing. Men are growing desperate, and already threaten to divide out by force
what there is in the county, and we all know that when such a move is once made, the
worst men in the county will take the lead.”’"—[S¢. Louis Republican, about the middle
of June.
I do not exaggerate, but state the simple truth when I say that I have been time
and again over the most of this (Polk) township, and I do not believe there is one sprig
of timothy, clover, wheat or corn left standing an inch above the ground in the to wn-
ship; that not a bundle of oats will be cut; not a pound of hay or grass of any kind
will be saved this season; vegetables of every kind have been totally destroyed, and
all the fields, without a single exception, so far as 1 have been able to learn, are as
bare of vegetation, even weeds, as newly ploughed ground—notwithstanding the fact
that some farms have been planted as often as twice aud three times this season, and
the wild grass and weeds on the outlands in both prairie and timber, have either been
entirely devoured or cut down so close to the ground that cattle have been and still
are starving to death by hundreds. The owners having in many eases paid out all
their money, sold everything they could get along without, and mortgaged their farms
to get money to carry their stock through the winter and plant their crops, now are
left with nothing to eat, their stock have starved to death, and they have no money,
and no means of raising any by loan or mortgage, to buy food or to get away from here
to more favored sections of the country.—| Globe-Democrat Correspondence from Stras-
burg, Cass Co, June 16.
My own impressions received at the time, may be gathered from
the following remarks made at a meeting of the merchants of St.
Louis, held at the Merchants’ Exchange, May 28, for the relief of the
destitute, and reported in the St. Louis papers:
I have just returned from the district of Pettis, Johnson and Cass counties, and
from reports [ have had from Vernon, Batesand Johnson counties, I can form a pretty
correct conclusion as to the actual state of things there. One reason why reports are
so contradictory is mainly because you will find districts in the same county very
differently affected. I believe that Cass county is about the worst off, and actually the
devastation by the locusts in that county cannot be exaggerated. You may go
from one end of that county to the other, and with the exception of forest trees, where
there is timber, and here and there a low piece of moist prairie, or occasionally an oat
field, there is not a trace of vegetation to show you that it is the growing season; the
country is as bare and desolate asin mid-winter. The only vegetation remaining in
the fields consists of a few stalks of milkweed (Asclepias), which is about the only con-
spicuous plant they do not relish.
Very much the same state of things occurs in the adjacent counties, and the dis-
tress is great.
I find among the people in the stricken district generally a determination to over-
come the difficulties, and, as far as possible, to relieve their own people. The well-
to-do citizens feel inclined to relieve their own counties as far as possible, and with few
exceptions there is no actual distress. The greatest want is mainly on account of the
scarcity of seed. Some families will need rations and food to keep them from starva-
tion until they can bridge over the present destitution, but as a rule the need is mainly
for seed for the different crops. They need corn that will mature early, buckwheat,
Hungarian grass, vegetable seeds, potatoes—every thing that will soon mature, and this
they want immediately.
It is impossible to say how long those sections in the several infested counties,
which are now in a flourishing condition, will remain so. The probabilities are that
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 93
during the next week most of the crops in those sections will be destroyed, and that
they in the end will suffer more than the counties which have so far suffered most.
There has been a great deal of talk among a few idlers and loafers and desperate char-
acters, of raids on the towns and on those who have supplies. But the committees
appointed, especially in Johnson county by authority of the County Court, investi-
gated the real state of affairs, and have reported that there was really no actual desti-
tution in that county, and that all these threats were made by desperate characters,
who would not work if they had the chance.
Efforts are now being made to relieve this pressing necessity for seed. [ am
confident thatthe prediction [have made willbe verified. The people will yet raise in
those counties, in all probability, the largest crops of corn they ever raised. The
locusts having killed off the herbage from the ground, the hosts of noxious insects that
fed on it have also been annihilated. There is not a weed left, and the ground is in the
best possible condition to receive seed. By the time it comes up [ believe the insects
will have been decimated by parasites and starvation, so that the crops will re-
ceive little injury; that the insects will not materially advance beyond the east-
erp line they have now reached. Already they are dying in immense quantities; and
they will soon acquire wings and leave. Thus the fears of some that they threaten to
be a permanent pest, and that it is of no use to plant because the insects will eat every-
thing as fast as it comes, are groundless.
{ would urge all farmers to put forth their best efforts to plant seed for such crops
as will mature soon. I would especially urge the planting of more root crops, such as
turnips, beets and mangel wurzel, which will furnish nutritious food for stock. We
must not forget that the area now being devastated, compared with the area overrun
last fall is small, and the present severe devastation is confined to some dozen
counties, whereas in the rest of the State the crops are promising most abundantly.
LT really hope that no aid will be asked outside of the State.
There are a number of ways in which the insects can be destroyed. By means of
ropes, conveying sereens and nets, they can be caught in large quantities. They may
be trappedin ditches. If it had been possible for Governor Hardin to offer a bounty for
every bushel of the insect, that could have been captured throughout that district, it
woul! have afforded employment to hundreds of people who have now nothing to
do. From a conversation I had with Governor Hardin, I am of the opinion he
would gladly have taken that step. When I suggested last winter that a law should
be passed offering a bounty for the eggs, the idea was ridiculed, but the people see now
how wise such a course would have been. A few thousand dollars appropriated by
the Legislature for the purpose would have been the means of averting the present
injury.
The meeting above referred to resulted in the appointment of a
committee by the Directors of the Exchange, for the purpose of solic-
iting aid; and the committee at once issued the following circular :
ADDRESS OF THE COMMITTEE.
The undersigned, a committee appointed by the Merchants’ Exchange, and acting
under the advice of the Governor, to appeal to the charitable people of St. Louis, and
the State of Missouri at large, in behalf of our fellow-citizens of the counties of Cass,
Vernon, Henry, Bates, Jackson and other border counties of the State. now infested
and overrun by locusts, beg leave to submit the following suggestions: From conver-
sation and correspondence with numerous parties whose statements can be relied upon,
we are convinced of the great necessity for the immediate relief of these people. ‘The
demand is more especially for seeds for replanting to enable them to subsist during the
coming winter.
The committee beg leave to recommend that the people of other cities and coun-
ties in the State organize local relief committees to co-operate with this committee, or
send supplies directly to the committees appointed by Governor Hardin. Supplies or
money sext through this committee will be strictly applied to the relief of the destitute,
under the supervision of proper and responsible sub-committees.
The committee are satistied, from information obtained through Prof. C. V. Riley,
State Entomologist, that the insects will not extend far beyond their present limits, and
that they will gradually disappear from the counties now infested—the great demand
being for immediate and present relief.
Donations are specially asked for'in the following seeds, viz. : Early corn (grownas
far north as possible), millet, Hungarian grass, rye, oats, buckwheat, beets, turnips, man-
gel wu zel, potatoes, cabbage, tomatoes, sweet potato plants, peas, beans, broom corn, sorghum
and other garden seeds in season. Food—Corn meal, flour, cured meats and salt.
Forage—Corn, oats, hay and any other forage for stock.
94 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
Donations in any of the above articles may be sent to the Central Elevator, cor-
ner of Twelfth and Austin streets; Pacific Railroad track; Henry Ames & Co., No.
1001 North Main street ; E. M. Samuel & Sons, Levee and Vine; or W. M. Price & Co.,
No. 14 South Main street. On notice left with any of the committee, donations will be
called for.
John M. Gilkeson, Chairman, L. L. Ashbrook,
Joseph A. Wherry, Samuel M. Dodd,
John T. Davis, W. RK. Jouett,
Miles Sells, R. M. Adams,
Jos. S. Nanson, Webb M. Samuel,
John W. Larimore, T. G. Conant,
A. H. Smith, C O. Dutcher,
John B. Maude, Thomas Booth,
Ch. Bartlett, W. M. Senter,
W. P. Howard, W. M. Price,
D. W. Marmaduke, Committee.
It is hardly necessary to state that the Committee did not cease
its efforts till the 22d of June when there began to be no further occa-
sion for them. The sympathies of our citizens were aroused and large
amounts of supplies of all kinds, and especially of seeds were at once
sent out to the stricken districts. Aside from the good relief work
done in other favored parts of the State, outside St. Louis, the efforts
of T. R. Allen, Grand Master Patrons of Husbandry, are particularly
worthy of mention. He took an active part, and deserves the thanks
of the people. He traveled through the more fortunate sections of
the State, and personally plead for the sufferers and solicited sub-
scriptions, and in this way succeeded in doing much good.
Some cases of actual starvation were reported in the papers, but
I have been unable to learn of a single authenticated instance where
the names of parties could be given. Replies to the question, ‘“ Did
any cases of actual destitution or starvation positively occur in your
county ?” from over a hundred correspondents in counties which suf-
fered most, with scarcely an exception have been to the effect that
while there was great destitution no cases of starvation occurred.
The following are a few of the most gloomy statements:
Severe destitution prevailed, and I think in some cases, perhaps death from dis-
ease was hastened from want of proper food.—[J. H. Lay, Warsaw, Benton county.
Cases of actual destitution and starvation positively did occur. A large number of
families were compelled to leave our county. ‘They were forced to get out to procure
bread for their starving children—among whom were some of our best families.—[ A. C.
LOVERIDGE, Harrisonville, Cass county.
There was no starvation, but undoubtedly would have been, if assistance had not
been given.—[H. L. Hewirr, Austin, Cass county.
There were many cases of partial destitution in this county, but none of actual
starvation that Ll know of —[ Wm. A. Smiru, East Lynne, Cass county.
No cases of starvation to my knowledge, but great destitution.—[W. H. Barron,
Raymore, Cass county.
None to my knowledge, although some were in straitened circumstances for food
and were aided by their more fortunate friends—[Dan. Carpenter, Barry, Clay
county.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 95
There were cases of extreme destitution, but none of starvation.—[D. C. McIn-
TIRE, Norris Fork P. O., Henry county.
There was destitution but no starving that I know of.—[I. J. Quick, Gaines Farm,
Henry county.
No eases of starvation occurred to my knowledge, but many were put on short
allowance, and much stock actually perished for want of food.—|Z. 5S. Ragan, Independ-
ence, Jackson county.
To my knowledge, I cannot say that any person starved to death directly, but
hundreds and thousands of men and beasts did not get the necessaries to keep them up
in vigor and strength, required to do the work allotted to them after the destruction. £
knew several to say they put their crops in on bread and water, and the bread gave out
and they had to leave for other parts to make a living; and thousands were compelled
to mortgage and pledge their property. It was represented by some of the wealthy
money mongers that Johnson county could take care of her destitute, which prevented
much assistance and aid for distribution from coming here; though considerable was
sent and distributed by the society of Dunkards, Granges and other individuals, and
this alleviated our situation very much.—[JOHN ZIMMERMAN, Warrensburg township,
Johnson county.
Destitution did exist, but probably no positive starvation, in this immediate vicin-
ity.—[Catvin A. Marx, Warrensburg, Johnson county. :
No; the good people of St. Louis, and other parts of the State, prevented starva-
tion, and the rich helped the poor everywhere in the county.—[B. F. DuNKLEy, Dunks-
burg, Johnson county.
We think not, but many families were upon very short allowance a considerable
time, having nothing to eat but poor bread and water.—[J. T. Ferauson, Linabar,
Lafayette county.
There were cases of destitution, but aid from abroad, and assistance at home, pre-
vented any cases of starvation.—J. Be_r, Napoleon, Lafayette county.
None, to my knowledge, but there must have been much suffering, and even death,
but for the praiseworthy response of the citizens of both Lafayette and other counties, as
well as the city of St. Louis.—[Jas. E. Guapisu, Aullsville, Lafayette county.
There were many cases of actual destitution in this county, but none of starva-
tion.—JNno. L. MoprEL, Littie Osage, Vernon county.
THE GOVERNOR’S PROCLAMATION.
The general interest awakened in the various endeavors to aid the
sufferers was, without doubt, largely due to the active sympathy and
the prompt attention given to the subject by Governor, Hardin: About
the middle of May he issued the following proclamation :
Whereas, owing to the failures and losses of crops much suffering has been en-
dured by many of our people during the past few months, and similar calamities are
impending upon larger communities, and may possibly extend to the whole State, and
if not abated will eventuate in sore distress and famine 3
Wherefore, be it known that the 8d day of June proximo is hereby appointed and
set apart as a day of fasting and prayer, that Almighty God may be invoked to remove
from our midst those impending calamities, and to grant instead the blessings of abun-
dance and plenty ; and the people and all the officers of the State are hereby requested
to desist, during that day, trom their usual employments, and to assemble at their
places of worship for humble and devout prayer, and to otherwise observe the day as
one of fasting and prayer.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the great seal of
the State of Missouri to be affixed, in the City of Jefferson, this 17th day of May, 1875.
C. H. HARDIN.
By the Governor :
M. K. McGrath, Secretary of State.
96 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
This proclamation naturally drew forth a large amount of com-
ment, and our worthy Governor was ridiculed or praised according as
fancy inspired newspaper men. As I was myself taken to task by no
less a personage than the Reverend Doctor W. Pope Yeaman of the
Third Baptist Church of St. Louis, for supposed ridicule and for taking
“‘unnecessary pains to sneer at Providence,” it may be as well to state
that the only sentiment I ever expressed, either by word of mouth or
by pen, as to the proclamation, is contained in an article published in
the St. Louis Globe of May 19, where I wrote:
I deeply and sincerely appreciate the sympathy which our worthy Governor mani-
fests for the suffering people of our western counties, through the proclamation
which sets apart the 3d of June as a day of fasting and prayer that the great author of
our being may be invoked to remove impending calamities. Yet, without discussing
the question as to the eflicacy of prayer in affecting the physical world, no one will for
a moment doubt that the supplications of the people will more surely be granted if
accompanied by well-directed, energetic work. When, in 1853, Lord Palmerston was
besought by the Scotch Presbyterians to appoint a day for national fasting, humiliation
and prayer, that the cholera might be averted, he suggested that it would be more bene-
ficial to feed the poor, cleanse the cesspools, ventilate the houses and remove the causes
and sources of contagion which, if allowed to remain, will infallibly breed pestilence,
‘¢in spite of all the prayers and fastings of a united but inactive nation.” Weare com-
manded by the best authority to prove our faith by our work. For my part, I would
like to see the prayers of the people take on the substantial form of collections, made
in the churches throughout the State, for the benefit of the sufferers, and distributed
by organized authority; or, what would be still better, the State authorities, if it is in
their power, should offer a premium for every bushel of young locusts destroyed. In
this way the more destitute of the people in the infested districts would have a strong
incentive to destroy the young locusts, and thus avert future injury, and at the same
time furnish the means of earning a living until the danger is past. The locusts thus
collected and destroyed could be fed to poultry and hogs, buried as manure, or dried,
pulverized and sold for the same purpose.
As stated in my reply to Dr. Yeaman, “ my intercourse with Gov-
ernor Hardin has led me to honor him as a Chief Magistrate whom
the State will learn to appreciate more and more, and I hold him in
too great respect to have much sympathy with the mere flippant ridi-
cule that has been made of the proclamation. Though I may not
have overmuch piety and faith myself, I at least know how to re-
spect those qualities in others, and however much I believe that the
insect which was the remote cause of Dr. Yeaman’s sermon is gov-
erned by natural laws, which should guide us in understanding and
overcoming it, the reverend zentleman forgets his calling, and makes
himself ridiculous, in charging, for such reasons, that i ‘sneer at
Providence.’ ”
As the most effective and substantial method of observing the
day of fasting and prayer, Gov. Hardin on the 24th of May, wisely
issued a second proclamation, urging the benevolent and charitable,
who might assemble on the 3d of June in public worship, and felt so
disposed, to make contributions and forward the same to Jesse Chil-
ton, Harrisonville, Cass county; R. B. Harwood, Warrensburg, John-
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 97
son county; Dr. G. Y. Salmon, Clinton, Henry county; Dr.G.N. V.
Dodson, Nevada, Vernon county, and F. G. Tygard, Butler, Bates
county, and to the presiding judges of such other counties as are
known to need relief.
The third of June was well observed in most parts of the State,
and the observance of the day was productive of good not only by
the collections taken up in the different churches for the sufferers,
but by reassuring and encouraging many good people who could have
been reassured in no other way.
NOT A DIVINE VISITATION.
There are those, both among the clergy and the laity, who deem
such a visitation as that from which our western counties suffered, an
expression of Divine wrath, for the sin and corruption of the people—
achastisement of the Lord. They claim that the “ wickedness, fraud,
falsehood, and corruption” which, as they assert, “ abound in every
department of society,” are at the bottom of it. They consider it im-
pious to attempt to avert the evil. These opinions were boldly pro-
claimed by a correspondent of the St. Louis Republican. The ex-
pression of such opinions was a downright insult to the hard-working,
industrious, and suffering farmers of the western country, who cer-
tainly deserve no more to be thus visited by Divine wrath than the
people of other parts of the State and country. Persons who promul-
gate such views are little removed in intelligence from the poor crack-
brained negress whom I saw in the streets of Warrensburg shouting
andimploring the people not to kill a locust, since God Almighty
had sent them; or from the poor deluded Arabs who make no effort to
destroy the locusts which they believe to be the “army of the Great
God.” Itis not surprising that people are yet found who hold such
views; for no great calamity ever befell acountry which was not attrib-
uted, by certain fanatics, to Divine wrath; but it is surprising that,
in this enlightened day, such persons can, without editorial reproof,
find circulation for their vagaries in the columns of some of our widely
circulating and influential journals.
NATURAL HISTORY.
In addition to what was said under this head a year ago, a more
detailed account of the process of molting may here be given. In or-
der to illustrate this interesting process we will trace an individual
through the last molt—from the pupa to the winged insect—as it is the
most difficult, and, on account of the larger size of the animal, most
E R—26.
98 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
easily watched. The other molts are very similar, except that the
wing-pads increase but moderately in size with each. When about to
acquire wings the pupa crawls up some post, weed, grass-stalk or
other object, and clutches such object securely by the hind feet
which are drawn up under the body. In doing so the favorite posi-
tion is with the head downward, though this is by no means essential.
Remaining motionless in this position for several hours, with antennez
drawn down over the face, and the whole aspect betokening helpless-
ness, the thorax, especially between the wing pads, is noticed to swell.
Presently the skin along this swollen portion splits right along the
[Fig. 39.]
Rocky.-MownTAtIn Locust :--Process of acquiring wings ; a, pupa with skin just split
on the back ; b, the imago extruding; e, do. nearly out; d, do. with wings expanded; c,
do. with all parts perfect.
middle of the head and thorax, starting by a transverse curved suture
between the eyes, and ending at the base of the abdomen. Let us
now imagine that we are watching one from the moment of this split-
ting, and when it presents the appearance of Fig.39,a@. As soon as
the skin is split, the soft and white fore-body and bead swell and grad-
ually extrude more and more by a series of muscular contortions; the
new head slowly emerges from the old skin which, with its empty
eyes, is worked back beneath; the new feelers and legs are being
drawn from their casings, and the future wings from their sheaths. At
the end of six or seven minutes our locust—no longer pupa and not
yet imago—looks asin my Fig. 39, }, the four front pupa-legs being
generally detached and the insect hanging by the hooks of the hind
feet, which were anchored while yet it had that command over them
which it has now lost. The receding skin is transparent and loosened,
especially from the extremities. In six or seven minutes more of ar-
duous labor—of swelling and contracting—with an occasional brief
respite, the antenn and the four front legs are freed, and the fulled
and crimped wings extricated. The soft front legs rapidly stiffen and,
holding to its support as well as may be with these, the nascent locust
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 99
employs whatever muscular force it is capable of to draw out the end
of the abdomen and its long hind legs (Fig. 39, c). This in afew more
minutes it finally does, and with gait as unsteady as that of a new:
dropped colt, it turns round and clambers up by the side of the
shrunken cast-off skin, and there rests while the wings expand and
every part of the body hardens and gains strength—the crooked limbs
straightening and the wings unfolding and expanding like the petals
of some pale flower. The front wings are at first rolled longitudinally
to a point, and as they expand and unroll, the hind wings which are
tucked and gathered along the veins, at first curl over them. In ten
or fifteen minutes from the time of extrication these wings are fully
expanded and hang down like dampened rags (Fig. 39, d). From this
point on, the broad hind wings begin to fold up like fans beneath the
narrower front ones, and in another ten minutes they have assumed
the normal attitude of rest. Meanwhile the pale colors which always
belong to the insect while molting have been gradually giving way to
the natural tints, and at this stage our new-fledged locust presents an
aspect fresh and bright (Fig. 39,¢). If now we examine the cast-off
skin we shall find every part entire with the exception of the rupture
which originally took place on the back; and it would puzzle one
who had not witnessed the operation to divine how the now stiff hind
shanks of the mature insect had been extricated from the bent skele-
ton left behind. They are in fact drawn over the bent knee joint, so
that during the process they have been bent double throughout their
length. They were as supple at the time as an oil-soaked string, and
for some time after extrication they show the effects of this severe
bending by their curved appearance.
The molting, from the bursting of the pupa skin to the full ad-
justment of the wings and straightening of the legs of the perfect
insect, occupies less than three-quarters of an hour and sometimes
but half an hour. It takes place most frequently during the warmer
hours of the morning, and within an hour after the wings are once in
position the parts have become sufficiently dry and stiffened to enable
the insect to move about with ease, and in another hour, with appe-
tite sharpened by long fast, it joins its voracious comrades and tries
its new jaws. The molting period, especially the last, is a very critical
one, and during the helplessness that belongs to it the unfortunate
locust falls a prey to many enemies which otherwise would not molest
it, and not unfrequently to the voracity of the more active individuals
of its own species.
As stated a year ago (Rep. 7, p. 123) there are four molts exclu-
sive of that which takes place upon leaving the egg. In the first
100 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
stage—that following the egg—the wing-pads are not visible; in the
second (after the first molt) they project but little beyond the meso
and metathorax, differ but little in size, and are directed downwards,
lying separately close to the body: in the third stage (after second
molt) they are directed upward, the hind covering and hiding more or
less the front pair, and the joints bearing them retreating more beneath
the prothorax: in the fourth stage (after third molt) they are enlarged
as seen in the pupa, and with the fourth molt the fifth or perfect stage
is attained. Kuropean authors differ as to whether there are three,,
four or five molts in the European migratory species ;* but I have
watched spretus from the egg to the imago, and thousands of mounted
and alcoholic specimens of all ages, show distinctly the five stages
enumerated, and these only.
HABITS OF THE UNFLEDGED LOCUSTS.
Never having had before the opportunity of observing the habits
of the young insects as they hatch out.in the Mississippi Valley, the
experience of last Spring was very interesting to me, as well as valu-
able. AsIhad stated they would, the great bulk of these young
hatched out about the middle of April, but others kept on hatching
even up to the time when the first hatched got wings, so that up to
the 1st of June they were met with of all sizes from the newly hatched
to the winged. So long as provision sufficed for them on their hatch-
ing grounds they remained almost stationary, and created but little
general apprehension, although many farms on bottom lands and
fields adjacent to timber were overrun with them. As soon, however,
as the supply of food in these situations was exhausted, they com-
menced to migrate, frequently in bodies a mile wide, devouring as
they advanced all the grass, grain and garden truck in their path.
The migrating propensity was in no instance, that came to my knowl-
edge, developed till after the first molt. Up to that time they were
content to huddle in warm places, and lived for the most part
on weeds, and especially on the common dog fennel or mayweed
(Maruta.)
The young locusts display gregarious instincts from the start, and
congregate in immense numbers in warm and sunny places. They
thus often blacken the sides of houses or the sides of hills—the
prevailing tint of the mass during the first and second larval stages.
being a dull, deep gray. They remain thus huddled together during
cold, damp weather. When not traveling, and when food is abundant,
or during bad, rainy weather, they are fond of congregating on fences,
buildings, trees, or anything removed from the moist ground. They
*See Képpen, ‘‘Ueber die Heuschrecken in Suedrussland,’’ 1866, pp, 22-3.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. : 101
also prefer to get into such positions to undergo their different molts.
Their power for injury increases with their growth. At first de-
vouring the vegetation in particular fields and patches in the vicinity
of their birth-places, they gradually widen the area of their devasta-
tion, until at last they devour every green thing over extensive dis-
tricts. Whenever they have thus devastated a country they are
forced to feed upon one another, and perish in immense numbers from
debility and starvation. Whenever timber is accessible they collect
in it, and after cleaning out the underbrush, feed upon the dead leaves
and bark. A few succeed inclimbing up into the rougher-barked
trees, where they feed upon the foliage, and it is amusing to see with
what avidity the famished individuals below scramble for any fallen
leaf that the more fortunate mounted ones may chance to sever. This
increase in destructiveness continues until the bulk of the locusts
have undergone their larval molts and attained the pupa state. The
pupa, being brighter colored, with more orange than the larva, the in-
sects now look, as they congregate, like swarms of bees. From this
time on they begin to decrease in numbers, though retaining their
ravenous propensities. They die rapidly from disease and from the
attacks of natural enemies, while a large number fall a prey, while in
the helpless condition of molting, to the cannibalistic proclivities of
their own kind. Those that acquire wings rise in the air during the
warmer parts of the day and wend their way as far as the wind will
permit toward their native home in the northwest. They mostly
carry with them the germs of disease or are parasitized, and wherever
they settle do comparatively little damage.
DIRECTIONS IN WHICH THE YOUNG LOCUSTS TRAVEL.
The young insects move, as a rule, during the warmer hours
of the day only, feeding, if hungry, by the way, but generally march-
ing in a given direction until toward evening. They travel inschools
or armies, in no particular direction, but purely in search of food—
the same school often pursuing a different course one day to that pur-
sued the day previous. On this point the experience of last Spring is
conclusive; and while the bulk of the testimony as to their actions,
when hatching out in States further north and west, is to the effect
that the prevailing direction taken is south or southeast, the prevail-
éng direction taken last Spring, in Missouri, as gathered from the re-
ports of numerous correspondents, was northward, sometimes a little
to the east, at others to the west. I have, while traveling along a
road, often seen them marching in one direction to the left and in the
opposite direction to the right of me. They were more often noticed
102 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
going against than with the wind, and, as they approached maturity,
they seemed disposed to gatherinto more compact masses and prefer to
advance in a northerly direction. The following extracts are given
as illustrative of the experience of my correspondents:
There was no particular direction pursued by them; they went to one point of
the compass as much as another, but when they moved, large bodies went in one diree-
tion. ‘They traveled in columns from 4 to 40 rods wide, and fences and other obstacles
frequently caused them to vary their course. Tbe front of a column coming to an ob-
stacle at right angles, (such as a fence or building) usually went through or over. But
I have seen a column going southeast and another going southwest, come to an east
and west fence, and then take their course along it in opposite directions, jumping over
or against one another in an amusing manner. I opened the fence and set a wide plank
on edge in the gap, that guided them through, and then from there they all took one
direction south, many bushels passed throughin a few hours.—[CaLvin A. Mark,
Warrensburg, Johnson county.
They moved while yet unfledged in all directions, that is, different droves moved
in different directions, and so persistent were they in their course, that they were seen
to cross at right angles without becoming confused.—[G. W. ALLEN, Westport. Jack--
son county.
Although they move in nearly every direction at times, yet the whole movement
was north.—[ Dan. CarPENTER, Barry, Clay county.
There was no particular direction noticed, but they seemed to go against the wind
to a great extent, but not always.—[J. W. Marie, Oregon, Holt county.
They were inclined to travel in a northwest direction, though they would g9 some-
little distance in other directions to get wheat and other things which they liked to eat.
—[Levi Long, Island City, Gentry Co.
In this locality they traveled when untledged, east and southeast. Living
on the east of the Potawatomie creek, the young locusts which were hatched out near
the timber had to travel in this direction to find food. On the west side of the creek
they traveled west or northwest, for the same reason. On one occasion they were seen
crossing each others track, traveling in different directions.—|JamMES Hanway, Lane,.
Franklin Co., Kansas.
RATE AT WHICH THE YOUNG TRAVEL.
Having often watched the young insects on their travels and care-
fully timed them, I have concluded that when about half grown they
seldom move at a greater rate than three yards a minute, even when
at their greatest speed over a tolerably smooth and level road, and
not halting to feed. They walk three-fourths this distance and hop
the rest. Two consecutive hops are seldom taken, and any individual
one may be run down and fatigued by obliging it to hop ten or twelve
times without rest.
THEY REACHED BUT A FEW MILES EAST OF WHERE THEY HATCHED.
Rumors prevailed continually last Spring that the insects were
spreading eastward and threatened to overrun the whole of the State,
Illinois, etc. In reality, as I continually urged would be the case,
they did not reach on an average five miles east of the limif line
where they hatched. The reason is plain enough. At the rate at
which they travel, as just described, they could not extend many
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 103
miles, even if they continued to travel in one direction froin the time
of hatching till maturity. They travel only during the hotter portions
of the day, say six hours on anaverage; and their unfledged existence
terminates in from six to eight, say seven weeks. It is very easy to
calculate from these facts that if they continued in one direction from
the time they hatch until they acquire wings, they would not extend
thirty miles. In reality, however, they do not travel every day, and
where food is abundant they scarcely travel at all. Moreover, as just
shown, they do not commence traveling till after the first molt, and
they do not go continually in a particularly eastern direction, but in
all directions.
We have already seen that the winged insects took a northwest
direction, and none flew to the east. Yeta few stragglers were car-
ried as far as the centre of the State by being swept into the Missouri
and drifted on logs and chips during the annual rise of that river in
July; for 1 received specimens of the genuine spretus thus brought
as far as Rocheport in Boone county, from Mr. Robert A. Caskie of that
place.
NOT LED BY ‘‘ KINGS”? OR ‘‘ QUEENS.”?
The idea that the young hoppers were led in their marches by so-
called “kings” or “queens” was very prevalent last Spring. It is,
however, quite unfounded. Certain large locusts belonging to the
genera Acridium and (Edipoda hibernate in the full grown, winged
[Fig. 40.]
= 10 I
ET TT, Us
AMERICAN ACRIDIUM.
state, and not in the egg state, like the Rocky Mountain species.
Always with us, their presence was simply more manifest last Spring,
when the face of the earth was bare. Hopping with the others or
falling into ditches with them, they gave rise to this false notion, and
it is an interesting fact as showing how the same circumstances at
times give rise to similar erroneous ideas in widely separate parts of
the world, that the same idea prevails in parts of Europe and Asia.
The two species which are most often thus found with the young
locusts and supposed from their size and conspicuity to be guides, are
104 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
the American Acridium ( Acridium Americanum, Drury, Fig. 40), and
[iig. Al] the Coral-winged Locust
(Ldipoda phenicoptera
is our largest and most ele-
a4 = —— gant locust, the prevailing
eh a i) Mee =~ color being dark brown, with
? ot ob a broad, pale yellowish line
CoRAL-WINGED Locust. along the middle of the back
when the wingsare closed. The rest of the body is marked with deep
brown, verging to black, with pale reddish-brown, and with whitish,
or greenish-yellow; the front wings being prettily mottled, the hind
wings very faintly greenish with brown veins, and the hind shanks
generally coral-red with black-tipped, white spines. The species is
quite variable in color, size and marks, and several of the varieties
have been described as distinct species. The Coral-winged Locust is
also an elegant species, the colors being brown-black, brick-yellow
inclining to brown, and a still paler, whitish-gray; the hind wings va-
rying from vermillion-red to pink, with more or less yellowish green,
and with a broad external dusky border, broadest and palest at tip.
The hind shanks are yellow with black-tipped spines. This species is
also quite variable, and at least half a dozen of its slight variations
have been seized upon to fabricate new species.
THE EXODUS IN 1875.
The grand exodus of the flying swarms from our borders began
early in June, and reached its acme about the middle of the month.
Some were leaving up to the last week in the month. The cheering
news “they fly, they fly,” was wired over the country from Coffey-
ville, Kansas, on the 29th of May, and a few days later these same
words that cheered the waning spirit of General Wolfe as he saw that
victory remained with England, and Canada was lost to France, passed
along the lines from our Western counties, and gladdened the hearts
and revived the dying hopes of the suffering farmers.
TIME OF LEAVING OF THE WINGED INSECTS.
The insects which hatched in Northern Texas and Indian Territory,
began to leave on wing in greatest numbers, during the second and
third weeks of May, and they doubtless went to make yup the swarms
which were reported as flying at intervals over Western Kansas and
Nebraska, during the last half of that month. The grand hegira began,
however, during the last two or three days of the month from Southern
Kansas, where the insects were more numerous than farther south. By
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 105
the 15th of June, they had nearly all left from as far north as Leaven-
worth. From the 7th of June on throughout the month, they were
flying over Southwest Iowa and Nebraska, being most numerous,
judging from the balance of the many reports collected, about the
middle of the month. A little later the bulk of them was flying over
Dakota, and they are reported as flying most numerously in Montana
during the month of July. The following memoranda from two of my
correspondents, show how almost continuously during the first three
weeks in June, they were observed passing over the northwestern
portion of our own State:
From my diary, I find that they commenced rising up and leaving for the first
time on the 38lst day of May; flight, northwest. June Ist, course north. June 2d,
northeast at noon; at3 Pp. M., course west; 3d, northeast; 4th, rain prevented any
from leaving; 5th, cloudy, none flying; 6th, flying northeast at noon; at 3 Pp. M.,
course west. June 7th, noon tol p.M., southwest; 3 p.m., flying west, with wind
from northwest, and seemed confused ; and while they could not stem the current of
wind to make their desired course, they were shifting to new quarters in search of
food. June 8th, leaving in large numbers, course northeast. June 9th, heavy rain
the past night—hoppers doing heavy damage to our orchards; noon to 1 Pp. M., flying
confusedly, but generally bearing to the northeast. June 10th, attempting to fly
northeast, but heavy winds will not admit of their leaving. June1lth, flying north-
east, nearly east. June 12th, flying west upper current, but an under-current of wind
caused multiplied millions to come down, covering the whole face of the earth. June
13th, 9 o’clock a. M, commenced flying northwest till 11, when the wind shifted to the
northeast, great numbers came down, and did great damage to our trees. June 14th,
flight northeast. June 15th, but few leaving. June 16th, course northeast. June
17th, flying north in vast numbers. June 18th, cloudy; but few flying. June 19th,
flight northeast; immense swarms of them. June 20th, flight northeast, in vast
numbers. June 21st, hoppers thinning out; a few flying atlp. mM. June 22d, flying
in considerable numbers to the northeast. June 23d, flying but little, and we com-
menced replanting our corn and garden.—[Z. 8. RaGan, Independence, Jackson Co.
To give you some idea of the locust plague, let me describe briefly their flight.
Kleven days ago they began to pass here overhead. They begin to rise up about 9
o’clock, and by 10 o’clock they are nearly all on the wing. ‘Chey go as the wind drives
them. Excepting one day, when we had a wind from the north, their flight has been
from the south northerly. Looking up, at any time between the hours of 10 and 4,
towards the sun, they may be seen passing like large snow flakes, rapidly as their
wings and the wind can make them. By a large spy-glass I judge the swarm to be
about half a mile deep. And so they go, day after day. By night they settle down.
On the evening of the day before yesterday, we concluded the swarms were about ex-
hausted, as not nearly so many had passed during that afternoon, and we congratu-
lated ourselves on possible future exemption. But yesterday the air was again full of
them; and last evening about six miles nerth of this, they came down in a line
extending all across the country in such tremendous clouds as to frighten people.
Many persons that were out ran in-doors, fearing lest they might be smothered. A
gentleman, Judge Russell, who was riding along, said that for some time he regarded
it as a vast storm-cloud coming down over the whole land, and the sound was said by
one to resemble that made by a locomotive and long train of cars. Now, to-day, with
a southeast wind, the air is again filled with them, flying to the northwest.—[CLARKE
{RVINE, Oregon, Holt Co., June 18.
DIRECTION TAKEN BY THE WINGED INSECTS.
From the facts recorded in considering the last Spring’s history of
the plague by States, and particularly by the observations so kindly
obtained for me from the Territories by General Myer, Chief of the Sig-
nal Bureau, it is evident that the main direction taken by the insects
_ that rose from the lower Missouri Valley country was northwesterly : in
106 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
other words, toward what I believe to be the native home of the spe-
cies, whence their parents had come in 1874. That they instinctively
sought this direction there can, I think, be no doubt; for while they
depend in great part on the wind for propulsion, and without its aid
would be unable to migrate to very great distances, I have a large num-
ber of reports to show that whenever the wind blew from the north
or northwest, the locusts came down and waited a change to a more
favorable direction. They begin to rise when the dew has evaporated,
and descend again toward evening. A swarm passing over a country
yet infested with the mature insects, constantly receives accretions
from these, and is, consequently, always more dense in the afternoon
than in the forenoon. In rising, the insects generally face the wind,
and it is doubtful if they could ascend to any great height without
doing so. They are, I believe, good navigators, and know how to take
advantage of the different air currents. The rate at which they travel
will depend on the force of the wind; but it is evident from the ob-
servations made in Dakota, where their advance was reported by tele-
graph, (ante p. 37,) that last Spring they often traveled a hundred
miles a day. Their minimum speed, in tolerably calm weather, when
the wind is scarcely felt at the surface of the ground cannot be much
less than from eight to ten miles an hour.
The exceptions to the northwest course occurred toward the end
of the first week in July, when swarms were seen flying southeast
over northeastern Kansas. These could hardly have originated in the
adjacent parts of Iowa or Missouri, as the bulk of the insects had by
that time left that section; they were probably detachments of the
swarms that left Minnesota about the first of the month and which, as
their parents came from the southeast in 1874, instinctively flew in
that direction. During July they also flew south from their native
hatching grounds in Colorado; while later in the season, viz. in
August, fresh swarms from the northwest and west flew over that
State in a southeast direction.
DESTINATION OF THE DEPARTING SWARMS.
That the swarms which left the fertile country in which they
hatched and are not indigenous—say all the infested region lying
south of the 44th parallel and east of the 100th meridian—passed by
degrees to the northwest and reached into northwest Dakota, Wyom-
ing and Montana, the records clearly prove. Whether or not they
reached up into British America, I have no means of judging. I be-
lieve, however, that few, if any, did. Those which survived long
enough to deposit eggs evidently reached the higher and treeless
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. ; 107
regions north and west of the region just indicated; but that a large
proportion of those which took wing perished on the way from debil-
ity, the effects of storms, and more particularly the attacks of para-
sites, there can be little doubt; because I proved by careful dissec-
tion that a large proportion of those which came to maturity and left
our own western counties, carried with them the germs of destruction
in the shape of Zachina eggs or the larve already hatched and of
varioussizes. Others again were infested with the scarlet mites. As
some persons have expressed doubts as to whether these locusts are
ever killed by the parasites I described last year, I will state that be-
fore the insects began to leave Missouri last Spring large numbers
had actually died of these parasites, and that on five different occa-
sions in five different localities, a hundred of the winged specimens
taken at random showed 5, 8, 10, 23 and 52 per cent. infested with Tachi-
na larvz alone, to say nothing of mites. The following items in addi-
tion to what is recorded on preceding pages, will show how very
generally over the country vacated by the locusts, this parasitism
occurred :
Fort Scort, Kas., June 1.—Messrs. Durkee and Stout, extensive and successful
farmers near this city, report that they have caught in a sheet and killed some six or
seven bushels of grasshoppers or Rocky Mountain locusts. They have examined large
numbers of them by dissection and close inspection, and find that about nine out of
every twelve so examined contain a well developed maggot, alive, and differing in size
and development. These they feel sure after athorough examination, will eventually
kill and exterminate the entire grasshopper tribe in this country in a very short time.
In proof of the existence of this maggot found inside, Messrs Durkee and Stout state
that the large piles of grasshoppers which they have killed are almost immediately
alive with the maggots.
Mr. Young, another large farmer, reports to-day that they are leaving in the last
few days, flying away high in theair in large numbers. All of these, however, it is
thought, contain the parasite or maggot above spoken of, and will never be able to do.
any further damage. It is thought that the season of the year has come when we can
anticipate no further damage, and we do not any more in this section.—[From a dis-
patch to the Kansas City Times.
The general Government should appoint a Commission to study the habits of the
Jocusts, ascertaining where they come from, and where they have gone, and obtain full
information concerning them. It is known that all leaving this country were covered
with parasites, and it is believed that these parasites destroy them, but there is a very
general feeling that too little is known of the pests, and it isthe duty of the Govern-
ment to appoint a competent Commission for the study of their habits. Senator Ingalls.
has telegraphed to the Secretary of War, asking him to direct military and signal offi-
cers throughout the Northwest to observe and report their movements.—[Correspond-
ence to the Chicago Tribune, from Atchison, Kans , June 16.
It is reported that some kind of insect has destroyed the grasshoppers in Bourbon
county, as they lay dead in heaps on the roadside. It is said they are dying every-
where in the southern part of the State. A farmer from Jefferson county says that
some kind of an insect or parasite is destroying them by the thousands in his locality.
Another farmer reports the same in his locality ; and that handsful of dead grasshop-
pers can be gathered. We are having continued rain-falls, and it is said the wet
weather is favorable to the destruction of these pests. A gentleman, just returned
froma tour through Jackson, Cass and Bates counties, Missouri, says the grasshoppers
are much more numerous in that section than in this.—[Chicago Tribune correspond-
ence from Atchison, Kans., May 18.
108 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
Reports from the grasshopper districts Friday are more encouraging. They are
jJeaving as fast as they get wings, and parasites are making sad havoc in their ranks.
When a column of them take flight many are observed to fall to the ground unable to
fly. An examination invariably shows that they have been so enfeebled by maggots
that they are unable to get away and soon die.—[Jefferson City Tribune, June 9.
There are a few people who yet refuse to believe that parasites are destroying
the locusts. Hundreds of the most intelligent and practical men in the State have
carefully studied this question, and all agree, so far as we have heard, that not one
locust in a thousand will live long enough to reach his native country in the north-
west. Ninety-nine out of every hundred of these pests are covered with parasites.
We recently examined a grasshopper with a powertul microscope, and counted twen-
ty-four parasites upon it. Upon nearly every hopper that can be found will be found
from two to a dozen of these parasites, ranging in size from a minute atom, hardly
visible to the naked eye, to the proportions of a pin-head.
Experienced entomologists, and careful, observant, practical men of all classes,
have devoted great attention to the study of these parasites. nd their investigations
conclusively prove that, so far as the grasshoppers visiting this region are concerned,
their race is run. They are dying by millions. Those that live to get back to their
native haunts cannot propagate their species. Nature, always faithful in adjusting its
balances, has provided an enemy capable of mastering the grasshopper, and this enemy
is the little red parasite that can be found either on his wings or his body.—[Atchison
(Kans.) Champion ; forepart of June.
Thousands of grasshoppers fell to the ground in the Republican Valley and else-
where, while flying, and all seemed to be destroyed by parasites, eating into the body
at the base of the wings. Within the last few days I have examined many localities in
the vicinity of Lincoln, where the grasshoppers have appeared, and in five spots found
the ground covered with their dead bodies, which, on examination with the micros-
cope, were seen to be literally devoured by these minute parasites. 1 hear the same
thing reported from different parts of the State. — [Correspondence of the Lincoln
(Nebr.) Journal, about the middle of June.
Mr. Al. Dunbar brought to our office this morning a handful of healthy looking
locusts, and requested us to inspect them. We did so, and pronounced them a fair
article. He then dissected them, one by one—by pulling them apart just below the
head-—-and in the upper part of the body of six out of eight locusts, a white worm
about one fourth of an inch long, was discovered. The balance might have been in-
fested also, but not having a microscope we could not tell. Other persons have dis-
covered these worms, and report that the locusts are dying rapidly. The worms are
hatched from an egg deposited beneath the leg or wing by an insect similar to a com-
mon house-fly.—[ Warrensburg (Mo.) News, June 2.
From this experience 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 so perish reached the Rocky Mountain
region of the northwest whence their parents had come the previous
year. They struggled back with thinned and weakened ranks, and it
will probably take many years ere they become so prodigiously multi-
plied 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 rest-
ing places on the way, but in a large number of instances, they rose
after their brief halts, without doing serious injury. Nor can I learn
of any instances where these swarms that left our territory deposited
eggs. Had the winds been adverse to their northwestern 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.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 109
NATIVE HOME OF THE SPECIES.
The question as to the native home of the species will always in-
terest. Having carefully weighed all that has been written on the
subject during the year, and eagerly sought all information that
might shed light upon it, I am firmly convinced of the general truth
of the views enunciated under this head in my last Report. The
species is,in fact, “at home in the higher altitudes of Utah, Idaho,
Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, northwest Dakota and British Amer-
ica. It breeds in all this region, but particularly on the vast hot and
dry plains and plateaus of the last named Territories, and on the
plains west of the Mountains.” In that country alone does it come to
perfection for a series of years, and in that country alone can it
become so prodigiously multiplied, and be borne by the wind to such
distances as to overrun the country already indicated (p.106) where it.
is not indigenous, and reach as far east as it did in 1874. To this end,
also, a combination of favorable conditions that only occasionally oc-
cur, are necessary. The best evidence of the soundness of a theory is its
power of absorbing newly ascertained facts and of overcoming objec-
tions that are raised against it. The facts already adduced as to the
direction and destination of the departing swarms from the lower
Missouri and Arkansas river country add strength to the theory. I
will here briefly notice the principal objections to it, made by Mr. 8.
H. Scudder, as a means of adding to the arguments already brought.
forward. In the Proceedings of the Cambridge Entomological Club
for June 11, 1875, as reported in Psyche (the organ of the club), for
Febr. 1876 (Vol. 1, p. 144) occurs the following:
Mr. Seudder offered some remarks on Mr. Riley’s account of Caloptenus spretus in
his recent Annual Report. The speaker doubted whether these insects took flight
from the heart of the Rocky Mountains [1] to the localities in which they were destruc-
tive, passing over the wide expanse of arid plains which intervene, because there has
been no record of their occurrence in swarms in these plains, and there is sufficient
ground for the supposition that they may have developed in the immediate vicinity of
the regions which they devastate [2]. Itis well known that among other insects there
are yearsin which individuals are suddenly very abundant, and intervening series of
years in which few are to be found. Itis alsoknown that afew of these locusts can be
found in Kansas and Missouri, andin tact from Texas to Manitoba eyery year, [3] so it
seems hardly necessary to look so far for the derivation of the destructive Swarms.
Moreover, the circumstance, mentioned by Mr. Riley, that the locusts get tired after
repeated flights, is an additional argument against the supposition that they came from
a great distance, for the rate at which their strength diminished seemed out of all pro-
portion to the activity of the insects at the time of their first ravages. [4.]
[1] Ihave nowhere spoken of the “heart of the Rocky Moun-
tains ” as the source of the swarms that take their flight to our coun-
try. On the contrary, my language is very different (wzde Rep. 7, p.
163), and it is upon this kind of misapprehension that Mr. Scudder’s
remarks are based.
110 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
[2] It is difficuit to comprehend what is meant here, since I have
myself shown that much of the country devastated must be in the
immediate vicinity of the hot,dry plains and plateaus in which I be-
lieve the species is more particularly at home. I have also expressed
my belief that the swarms that occasionally, during Summer, devas-
tate the country in which the species is not indigenous, must neces-
sarily be the progeny of insects developed at no great distance
from the sections they invade, whether they come from Minnesota
southward; from Colorado eastward, or from Texas northward; and I
endeavored to draw the distinction in 1874 between these Summer
swarms and the more disastrous Falls warms. On this point the Min-
nesota Commission remarks (Special Rep. to Gov. Davis, p. 25):
It is plain that locusts hatched in Colorado and regions to the south and south-
west of Minnesota acquire wings in time to allow them to reach this State in the
former half of June. This is shown by the time when the invasion occurred in 1873,
and by the immense flights of locusts which passed over Nebraska and Dakota to the
northward in June, 1875. It seems to be a common impression that the locusts which
have invaded Minnesota at other times were hatched in Montana, northwestern Dakota
and British America, and this is rendered probable by what few facts we know, and by
the time and direction from which they came. These attacks are all represented as
coming from the west, north or northwest, and reached the Red River Settlement in the
last week of July, 1818, the Upper Mississippi about the same time in 1856, the western
line of the State in the former half of July, 1864, and on July 15th, 1874. In the last
three cases the invasions did not reach their farthest limit until a considerable portion
of the crops had been harvested.
If Mr. Scudder means that the hordes that occasionally overrun
in August and September the whole territory which I have indicated
as outside the insect’s natural habitat, originate within or upon the
borders of that Territory—the country south of the 44th parallel and
east of the 100th meridian—then the facts are entirely against his
supposition. The late swarms of 1874 are known to have traveled
from five to six hundred miles after having reached the more thickly
settled country and been observed. The period that elapses between
the acquiring of wings and the deposition of eggs is not positively
known. From analogy and from a general survey of the facts at
hand, I have placed it at from two to three weeks. The Minnesota
Commission, in their Special Report to Governor Davis, state (p. 26)
that it has been known to beas short as eight days. I think we may
safely say, judging from the insects that have hatched out and laid
in the same regions in Minnesota, that it will be within a month.
Now, the late deposition of eggs—as in September and October, in
the region that suffered so last Spring—implies late hatching and de-
velopment of the parents; and the insects that laid in our western
counties, in 1874, must have hatched as late as June Ist, and this late
hatching could only occur in the higher sb-alpine regions of the
northwest. Of course, in speaking of the hatching of the species, I
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 1il
do not forget its irregularity in the same locality, and refer in conse-
quence to the bulk of the eggs. The invasion of northern regions,
like Minnesota and Dakota, from the still further northwest, makes it
also clear that the insects come from beyond. The theory of short
flights and development, in the immediate vicinity of the country
devastated, will scarcely answer for the late disastrous and general
irruptions like those of 1866 and 1874; and in discussing this question
the difference between these irruptions and the earlier, more frequent
and Jess disastrous ones, should always be borne in mind.
[3] I deny that the species, as defined in these reports, and as it
swoops down from the mountain region, occurs every year in Missouri,
Texas, Kansas, or any of the country to which I have indicated it is
not indigenous. It occurs there only as the dwindling progeny of the
swarms from the west or northwest, and never becomes acclimated. I
have traveled through Iowa, and from Omaha to Denver, collecting
plants and capturing insects along the route on every occasion; I
have traveled extensively in Kansas, Indian Territory and Texas, al-
ways collecting; I have been overwhelmed in the latter State with
swarms of locusts while in front of an engine, and vet, among all the
locusts collected, I have never found the genuine spretus. It cannot
be found there any more than it can be found in our western counties,
except as the progeny of invading swarms. There is no instance on
record of the species, when hatching out in any of this country, re-
maining long enough to lay eggs, even supposing it capable of doing
so under such circumstances. We find it multiplying continuously
west and north of the boundary indicated; pushing annually, in de-
tachments, eastward from the mountains to the west, and southeast-
ward from the country to the northwest; but only at long intervals
does it sweep down in countless myriads and extended and devastat-
ing swarms from the extreme northwest. Just beyond the confines of
the country in which it permanently multiplies, it follows that it will
more often do injury than farther east and south; it will also hold its
own longer, but sooner or later it vanishes from the country beyond
those confines. It either vacates the territory on the wing or is de-
stroyed by influences adverse to its well-being.
In placing these confines along the 44th parallel and 100th merid-
ian, I think I have given the utmost southern and eastern limit. Prof.
Thomas indicates the eastern boundary as along the 103rd meridian,
while Mr. G. M. Dawson, in the pamphlet already referred to, says that
“north of the 49th parallel, the whole area of the third or highest
prairie-plateau, and probably much of the second, are congenial
breeding places, and here the locusts are always in greater or less
112 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
numbers.”? Regarding the western boundary, nothing struck Prof.
Thomas* as more singular than the few specimens of spretus collected
west of the mountain range by the Hayden Geological Survey, from
which he infers that the line of the survey was along the southwest
border of its district. Mr. J. D. Putnam, of Davenport, Iowa, who
spent July, August and September of last Summer in Utah, also in-
forms me that he did not meet with a single specimen.
This whole subject of the original source of the swarms that at
times lay our fertile valley country under such severe contribution is
yet somewhat obscure, and should be investigated by the Govern-
ment. Meanwhile we must shape our views by the facts in our pos-
session.
[4.] Now that we know where the bulk of the eggs were laid, it
seems more than likely that the principal reason of the retarded pro-
gress of the 1874 swarms, by the time they reached east Kansas and
Missouri was due to the fact that they were more busily engaged in
ovipositing than they had previously been. Moreover they there
strike a country more or less timbered, with moister atmosphere, and
less violent and more changeable winds.
CONDITIONS OF MIGRATION,
The exodus from the country where the species is not indigenous
would seem to be instinctive and determined perhaps by the injurious
effects of the uncongenial climate. The cause of the migrations from
its native northwest home I discussed in my last Report (p. 164). Hun-
ger and strong winds are the principal; but the conditions which per-
mit extended flights and migrations southeast are doubtless, in great
part, meteorological, and as throwing light on these conditions, the
following from an interesting review of the locust question by Mr. W.
H. Miller, and published in the Kansas City Journal of Commerce,
will prove suggestive:
Since it has been well ascertained that dry weather is a necessity to its prosperous
existence, it is concluded that dry seasons are necessary to its invasions. There is much
force in this conclusion, for since the moisture of the western States and Territories is
borne to them from the Gulf of Mexico by southerly winds,a dry season indicates a
diminishing of these winds, which removes two important impediments in its advance
-—moisture and opposing currents of air. Itis also held by entomologists that it mi-
grates only when the vegetation of its habitat becomes exhausted. A diminished south-
erly wind, and a dry season on our western plains, would favor this result, for since
the moisture of this region comes from the Gulf, a dry season on the plains and short
vegetation there would indicate a dry season and short vegetation in the latitude where
_ we have supposed its habitat to be.
* Preface to his Report upon the Collections of Orthoptera made in Nevada, Utah, California, Col-
orado, New Mexico, and Arizona, in 1871, 1872, 1873 and 1874, by Hayden’s Geol. Surv. of the Terr.
(1876) .
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. tis
THE CONDITIONS WHICH PREVENT THE PERMANENT SETTLEMENT OF THE SPECIES
IN MISSOURI.
The conditions which determine the geographical limits in which
a species can exist, are often complex, and it is not generally easy to
say precisely what they are. Assuming that I have correctly placed
the native home of the species in the higher, treeless and uninhabita-
ble plains of the Rocky Mountain region of the northwest, and that it
is sub-alpine,we may perhaps find, in addition to the comparatively sud-
den change from an attenuated and dry to amore dense and humid
atmosphere, another tangible barrier to its permanent multiplication
in the more fertile country to the southeast, in the lengthened Sum-
mer season. As with annual plants, so with insects (like this locust)
which produce but one generation annually and whose active exis-
tence is bounded by the Spring and Autumn frosts—the duration of
active life is proportioned to the length of the growing season. Hatch-
ing late and developing quickly in its native haunts, our Rocky Moun-
tain Locust when born within our borders (and the same will apply in
degree to all the country where it is not autochtonous), is in the con-
dition of an annual northern plant sown in more southern climes;
and just as this, attains precocious maturity and deteriorates for
want of Autumn’s ripening influences, so our locust must deteriorate
under such circumstances. If those which acquired wings in Missouri
early last June had staid with us long enough to lay eggs, even sup-
posing them capable of doing so, these eggs would have inevitably
hatched prematurely and the progeny must in consequence have per-
ished.
Being a firm believer in change by modification in what we call
species, and that climatic conditions play a most important part in
causing this change, and that they act more rapidly than most evolu-
tionists grant, the idea has been very strong in my mind that the
species might become profoundly modified in the direction of A¢lanzs
in the course of two or three generations in the country to the south-
east, and that in this way and through miscegenation with our native
species, its extinction from our territory might also be accounted for.
It has also been suggested by Prof.Thomas—a professed anti-Darwinian
—in an elaborate paper published last October in the Chicago /nter-
Ocean, and, as bearing on this point, I will state that the specimens
which hatched: in and left our western counties last Spring were, on
an average, somewhat darker and smaller than their parents. But
after fully digesting all the facts, 1 am convinced that these influences
play a very unimportant part,if any; and that they cannot be con-
sidered as factors in the problem. All that could get away from the
E R—27
114 ‘ EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
regions of Missouri, Kansas, lowa.and Nebraska ravaged last Spring,
didso; and if I mayjudge from experience in our own State, those that
could not, perished, so that not aremnant of the army was left in theFall.
But whatever the causes, the fact of debility, disease and deterio-
ration in, as well as migration from, the more fertile southeastern
country the species occasionally devastates, stands forth clearly and
cannot be gainsaid. The following observations from careful observers
may be placed on record here:
Mr. Riley is of the opinion that the grasshoppers run out in a few generations
after they leave their native sandy and gravelly soil. My experiments so far as they
go, verify that opinion. For several years I have caught grasshoppers during early
summer that came fresh from the direction of the mountains, and by attaching their
legs with fine silk threads to a small spring balance, found that their physical strength
was from twenty-five to fifty per cent. greater than that of grasshoppers treated the
same way that were hatched in Nebraska or in States further eastward or northward.
The same result was reached by caging them, and ascertaining how long they would
live without food, and also by vivisection. In some places, also, the eggs that were
laid in different years since 1864 did not hatch out. The changes from extreme wet to
dry, and from cold to hot weather, or some other unknown Causes, seems to sap their
constitutional vigor. Were it not for this, long ere now these grasshoppers would, from
their enormous numbers, have desolated the whole country as far east as the Atlantic.
—-[Prof. Samuel Aughey, of the University of Nebraska, in the Lincoln (Nebr.) Journal.
I have observed hundreds of winged locusts fall to the ground during flight, either
already dead or soon dying. ‘These upon examination have generally proved to con-
tain no parasites, and I judge that their death was in consequence of impaired strength,
this second generation raised in an unnatural climate not equalling in vitality the first
generation and succumbing to the fatigue consequent upon extended flight.—[Prof. F.
H. Snow, of Kansas State University, in Observer of Nature.
DEFINITION OF THE SPECIES.
In defining the Rocky Mountain Locust last year, I endeavored to
show that we have three closely related forms or so-called species, viz. :
spretus, which is the devastating species of the West; femur-rubrum,
a somewhat smaller, shorter-winged species common over the whole
country, and AZlanis, a still smaller species, but, except in size, ap-
proaching in general character nearer to spretus than femur-rubrum.
Careful study of the subject has convinced me of the correctness of
the definitions then given. In the report of the meeting of the Cam-
bridge Entomological Club, already referred to, we are told that:
Mr. Scudder also doubted the specific and perhaps even the varietal rights of C.
Atlanis, described by Mr. Riley from the White Mountains, tor specimens ot C. spretus
have been found in different eastern localities, and, like many other insects of wide lat-
itudinal distribution, have shorter wings than the western forms. Mr. Riley gives no
characters of importance to distingulsh C. Atlanis from C. spretus.
An opinion like this from one who has given much attention to
the Orthoptera might command respect were it not unjust and super-
ficial. All discussion at the present day as to whether we are deal-
ing with species or varieties, is more orless puerile. Naturalists have
no fixed standard as to what constitutes a species, and are fast com-
ing to the conviction that there is no such thing in nature, and that
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. : 115
the term is conventional—an abstract conception. Yet it is the cus-
tom, in entomology and botany more particularly, to separate by
names, under this term species, forms that are separable and show
constant differences; and the separation of such by the study of Jarge
material, and their life-histories is of far more weight and value than
that by the examination and description, however detailed, of one or
two individuals. In giving my opinion that “the future orthopterist, as
he studies material from all parts of the country, will very likely
write: Caloptenus femur-rubrum, DeGeer., var. spretus Thomas, var.
Atlanis Riley; but the broad fact will remain that these three forms
—call them races, varieties, species, or what we will—are separable,
and that they each have their own peculiar habits and destiny,” (Rep. 7,
p. 171,) Ihave, I think, indicated how very immaterial it is what rank in
a system of classification they hold; but nothing is more certain than
that typical specimens of each are at once distinguishable, and far
more readily than the majority of species described in Entomology—
and, let me add, than many of the species described by Mr. Scudder
himself in the same Family and genus. If I should say that my friend
“‘ gives no characters of importance to distinguish” many of his spe-
cies, 1 might be deemed rash; the following opinion, therefore, of
Prof. Thomas, which I am permitted to publish, will have more weight.
Prof. T. writes me: ‘“ Although the descriptions of species estab-
lished by Scudder may be ample and sufficient in other orders; in
Acridiil have, asa general rule, found them quite unsatisfactory. The
characters chosen are those most liable to variation, and hence insuf-
ficient in describing species. As a natural consequence, a number of
his species are in fact but varieties.”” As Prof. Thomas himself has
confessedly, in his Synopsis of the Acrididz, described several varie-
ties as species,* it would seem that even if Mr. Scudder’s opinion of
Atlanis were just, I should simply bein the same boat with himself
and the other authorities. Not to waste words, however, on what
*T am fully convinced that this has occurred even more often than he imagines; for unfortunately
he rarely states the number of specimens described from, and although he relies more on structural
than colorational characters as of more value and less variable, even they lose their value if founded on
slight variation, when large material isexamined. During the past year I have collected very largely
of the commoner species in this Family, and I unhesitatingly assertthat, with few exceptions, minute
relative measurements of parts or minute colorational descriptions from a few individuals are of little
value; and that in Calopteni particularly, specimens taken from the same locality show such variation,
-and so connect with otber species through these variations, that there is no proper way of defining except
by the average differences of large numbers. Not only would many supposed species vanish by this
method, but many genera also; for I have good evidence to show that in several cases, species described
under the genus Pesotettiz, are but short-winged forms of Calopteni. In submitting some material for
determination to Prof. Thomas, he writes: ‘‘ You have assigned mea very diflicult task in submitting
to me for determination these erratic Caloptenoid forms. * * Stal’s attempt to systematize, if carried .
out will give us a genus for nearly every species; and Scudder seems disposed to make a distinct spe-
ies for each yariation in color.’’
116 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
must remain a matter of individual opinion, I repeat that careful
comparisons made during the year of many hundreds of specimens:
both living and dead, of spretus, femur-rubrum, and Atlanis fully
establish in my own mind the justness of the separation of these
three forms, and Prof. Thomas is of the same opinion. I have a box
full of each now before me, and no one would for a moment hesitate
to separate the typical, diminutive, livid, mottled and strongly marked
Atlanis from the typical, large, pale, more uniform and voracious-
looking spretus. Granted—as I freely have—that they approach each
other through deviations from the average, as indeed most species do,,
I have yet to see the first specimen of spretus and Atlanis that I could
not properly separate; and when Mr. Scudder is more familiar with
the true Rocky Mountain spretws, he will give ap his notion that it.
occurs in different localities in the East. All such statements result
from confounding these two forms and the inaccuracy that such state-
ments imply is good evidence of the necessity of designating the two
forms by different names. Indeed Af/anzsis more effectually sepa-
rated from spretus than from femur-rubrum, for while it may be dis-
tinguished from this last by tne characters which I gave a year ago,.
viz.: smaller size, more mottled coloring, relatively longer wings, and
notched anus; and while aside from these characters, its brighter yel-
low venter permits its separation with great ease in life, the two forms.
more thoroughly blend by departures from the average, than do spre-
tus and Atlanis. Thus, Mr. Thomas in speaking of them, writes:
So far all the Atlanis I have spread have the wings slightly tinged with blue when
fresh, while this does not appear to be the case with the true femur-rubrum; it
(Adlanis) also has the outer face of the posterior thighs more distinctly marked with
alternate oblique dark and light bands, in these two . characters agreeing very closely
with my C. occidentalis, which is probably but a variety of femur-r ubrum, as lam com-
pelled also to think your A¢lanis is. I might add also that I believe A¢/anzs usually has
the hind tibiz blueish, but this character is so uncertain that it is of little value.
[am inelined to think femur-rubrum the older form and that during the change
which produced the desert condition of the west it was converted in that district into
spretus. The Atlanis form I think is less permanent and more transient, the result
probably of suitable climatic conditions continued but a few years, and that as soon as
the climate returns to the normal condition it will revert to the usual form of femur-
rubrum. My C. occidentalis belongs chiefly to that region and climate found in North-
western Minnesota and Eastern Dakota.
Not having previously taken specimens of A¢lanizs in Missouri, I
formerly inferred that it was confined to the mountain regions of the
Atlantic. In 1875 I collected it in large numbers in St. Louis, Jeffer-
son, Washington, St. Charles, Warren, Franklin, Boone and Cole coun-
ties in Missouri, andin various parts of Illinois. I found it associated
with femur-rubrum, and often in equal numbers; and this in two
instances in the same fields in which the year before I had collected
hundreds of specimens of nothing but femur-rubrum.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. ; 117
In this connection I will also record the occurrence of a variety of
-spretus,in which all the pale or normally yellowish-gray parts are bright
green. These green individuals are conspicuous among their brown
brethren. I found them to constitute about one in a thousand of the
schools around Warrensburg, and singularly enough nowhere else.
The green endures from the larva to the perfect state, and I would
designate this variety as viridis. It is but a marked colorational
variety, in aspecies which has not heretofore been known to present
these colorational differences, and no one having a true conception of
the differences between spretus and Atlantis would think of placing
the latter on the same grade.
Comparisons of the immature stages of these three species show
that, when large material is examined, femur-rubrum and Atlanis are
more nearly allied than this last and spretws, though, as in the mature
ansects, they approach each other through exceptional individuals.
In the first stage, spretus has a decidedly ferocious look, the head being out of all
proportion to the rest of the body. The colors are brown, gray and dull white, the
general tint being light gray, and the insect presenting a mottled and speckled appear-
ance. The antenne have several joints less than when mature, and are more thick and
clavate. The frontal ridge is more prominent and deeply sulcate. The cerci extend
beyond the rounded tip of the abdomen. ‘The tarsi show the three joints, but the
middle one less distinctly than afterwards. The medio-dorsum from vertex to near
‘the tip of the abdomen, is carinate and pale. Of the dark dots and marks the most
conspicuous and persistent (for some specimens are much darker than others) are, one
behind the eyes, a sub-quadrate one on the side of the meta-thorax, a crescent streak
‘on the sides of the swollen end of hind femora, and two spots on the bulbous base of
hind tebiz. Inthe second stage the face with very rare exceptions is pitchy black, the
‘top of the head shows the three characteristic rows of transverse black marks on a rust-
brown ground, the outer rows curving around the eyes, and the middle one broadest
-and divided by a narrow medial, pale line; the rust-brown color continues, with more
irregular black marks on the prothorax, narrowing toward its middle; on each side
-of it the anterior part of the prothorax is black, relieved below by a conspicuous, arched
pale line, and this again with a more or less distinct dark lateral mark beneath. The
-cheeks are mottled with rust-brown and edged behind wita yellow; the head
beneath, and palpi, except a black rim around tips are pale yellowish. The other
-colors are much as in the mature insects. With each succeeding stage the broad and
pale streaks of prothorax intensify, and as soon as the hind wing-pads are turned up
over the front pair, viz: in the third stage, the pale spot at the base which becomes so
conspicuous in the pupa, is visible. The black face after the first molt is quite charac-
teristic, and often endures to the pupa state.
Atlanis, in the first stage, is distinguished by its deeper, more livid, or rosy, less
‘speckled appearance, and more strongly contrasting brighter yellow venter. In the sub-
sequent stages these colorational differences still prevail and the face is not black as in
-spretus; the pale spot on the hind wing-pads is less conspicuous in the third, and the
pupa is not only distinguished by its smaller size and different color, but by the nar-
@ower, more obsolete black marks of the prothorax and by the wing-pads being con-
118 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
siderably shorter and smaller, the hind pair livid, with only rarely a touch of black
at base, and with the pale spot obsolete. It presents in facta marked contrast to the
pupa of spretus. In the early stages, femur-rubrum is distinguished from Atlanis by no
very constant characters, except the generally paler, less livid and greener hue.
As the idea prevails among many of our farmers that our Rocky
Mountain Locust is identical with the devastating species of the Old
World, and Mr. Z. S. Ragan, in an otherwise excellent essay, read at
the last meeting of our State Horticultural Society, gives it as his
opinion that our locusts “ came over from Asia via Behring’s Strait, to
British America, thence extended from time totime over Washington
Territory, Oregon, California, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Da-
kota, Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Kansas, Indian
Territory, Nebraska, part of Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota and Wiscon-
sin ;” it may be well to insist here that there is no foundation whatever
for such an opinion, and that spretus is a purely American species,
occurring in no part of Europe or Asia.
EXPERIENCE IN THE SPRING.
Having already spoken of the desolate aspect which the ravaged
country wore toward the end of June, it will suffice in this connection
to give a few of the more interesting experiences. It is recorded in
Kurope that few things, not even water, stop the armies of the young
locusts when on the march, and Déngingk relates having seen them
swim over the Dnjestr for a stretch of 14 German miles, and in layers
7 or 8 inches thick.* We have had similar experience with our own
species. Mr. James Hanway, of Lane, Kansas, informs me that the
young last Spring crossed the Potawotomie Creek, which is about four
rods wide, by millions; while Mr. Z. S. Ragan, of Independence, told
me that the Big and Little Blues, tributaries of the Missouri, one
emptying into it above and the other below his place, the one about
one hundred feet wide at its mouth, and the other not so wide, were
crossed at numerous places by the moving armies, which would march
down to the water’s edge, and commence jumping in, one upon an-
other, till they would pontoon the stream, so as to effect a crossing.
A neighbor also informed him that two of these mighty armies
met, one moving east and the other west, opposite his farm, on the
river bluff, and each turning their course north, and down the bluff,
and coming to a perpendicular ledge of rock twenty-five or thirty feet
high, passed over in a sheet, apparently six or seven inches thick, and
causing a roaring noise similar to a cataract of water.
* Koppen, loc. cit.,p. 43.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. . 119
It was generally supposed that evergreens would escape the rav-
ages of the young insects, but wherever these were abundant, hemlock,
arbor vitae, the different pines, and especially the Norway spruce, for
which they showed a predilection, were stripped. The red cedar
more often escaped. Wild prairie, especially that which was low,
would be eaten down less closely than other grasses, and oats more
often escaped than other cereals. Blue grass was sometimes killed
out, but more generally not, and corn was eaten down so often and so
deeply into the ground that it was frequently destroyed. Potatoes
were not killed by being eaten down and very generally made a
crop after the insects left, without replanting. ‘This was especially the
case where planted deep and where the vines as they grew were at
first kept covered with earth, which they can be with impunity. The
blossoms and stems of peas were left after the leaves were stripped, and
parsnips sometimes remained untouched. All other vegetables were
sweptoff. Of wild plants, Milkweed (Asclepias) and Dogbane ( Apocy-
num) were little to their taste, and only taken when all else was de-
stroyed; an occasional Salvia trichostemmoides and Vernonia nove-
boracensis would also be left in the general ruin; but the plant of all
others that enjoyed immunity from the omnivorous creatures was the
Amarantus Blitum, a low, creeping glossy-leaved herb, lately intro-
duced into the State. I found this plant unmolested even where the in-
sects were so hard pushed for food that they were feeding on each
other and on dead leaves,the bark of trees, lint of fences, etc., and
where they were so thick hiding amid its leaves that fifty to a hundred
occured'to the square foot. ‘he immunity of the plant is the more
remarkable since the other species of the genus do not escape.
CONTRAST IN SUMMER AND FALL.
By the end of July the whole ravaged district began to wear a
smiling and promising aspect, in strong contrast to the desolation of
a month before. In Missouri, in the non-ravaged districts, the wheat
harvest was interfered with by the exceptionally heavy rains that
prevailed at the time; but in most other parts of the country within
the locust district the reports were most encouraging. In Minnesota
the crops in the counties ravaged in 1874 yielded well. In Dakotathe
crops of wheat, oats and barley were reported, around Yankton, as
promising to be the best ever harvested. In Oolorado everything
looked splendid, after the locusts left. The people of Iowa and Kan-
sas, in general, were jubilant over their brightened and encouraging
prospects, though, as in Missouri, the heavy rains retarded and some-
what reduced the grain harvest. In Indian Territory the wheat crop
was reported as the largest ever gathered in that part of the country.
In August the contrast became still more gratifying, and in our own
/
120 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
stricken counties the finest crops the people had witnessed for years,
were reported, of corn, Hungarian grass, prairie meadow, buckwheat
and vegetables of all kinds. Larger areas had been planted to corn
than ever before. In September the change which three months had
wrought needed to be seen to be appreciated, and never in the history
of those counties had root crops done so well, or vegetables of all
kinds attained such immense proportions.
NO EVIL WITHOUT SOME COMPENSATING GOOD.
Not to mention the valuable experience and the quickening in-
fluence that are generally gained in temporary adversity, there are
other ways in which good will grow out of the locust troubles. The
chinch bugs filled the air last Spring throughout the stricken district,
and many persons feared that they would destroy the corn crop even
if the locusts left. I then argued that there was no danger of sucha
result, and that there was every reason to expect less injury from this
cause than usual, and with a wet Summer, which might be expected,
an almost total annihilation of the pest. With everything eaten by
the locusts, the female chinches, instead of being quietly engaged,
unseen, in laying eggs, as they usually are in May, were flying about,
seeking plants on the roots of which to consign their eggs. For this
reason they were more noticeable. Once fully developed in the
ovaries, and the eggs must be laid, and the great bulk of them were
necessarily laid where the young hatching from them were destined to
perish, as the result proved ; for, injurious as the species had been for
the two or three previous years, scarcely a specimen was to be found
in the Fall. Indeed, I think we may safely conclude that, as a conse-
quence of the locusts and the rain, the farmers of cur western coun-
ties will not suffer from the Chinch Bug for the next two years at least.
The same will hold true of many other insect pests, which were starved
- out last Spring; and while some of our common native locusts were
so thick in the Fall, in the eastern portion of the State, as to do seri-
ous injury to fall wheat and garden truck, scarcely one could be found
in the counties most ravaged last Spring by the spretus.
Toe unusual productiveness of the soil in the stricken country
was on all hands noted during the year, and was owing, in no small
degree, to the rich coating of manure which the locusts Jeft. In the
form of excrement and dead locusts, the bulk of that which was lost
in Spring was left in the best condition to be carried into the soil and
utilized. The introduction of new seed from other States was also
beneficial.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 121
Nature generally maintains her averages, and whenever dimin-
ished southern winds, drouth and locusts have prevailed, the opposite
conditions are very apt to follow, and give us plenteous harvestsin the
place of short crops.
INJURY TO FRUIT AND FRUIT TREES.
It is doubtful if grain-growers and stock-raisers suffered as much
in the end as fruit-growers, from the locust injuries. The injury was
less felt by these at the time, but was in many instances more lasting
and serious. Most trees would survive one or two defoliations, but in
many cases no leaves were permitted to grow for weeks, just at the
season when they are most needed. This was especially the case with
low shrubs, such as gooseberries and currants, in which the insects
were fond of roosting. Where not excessively numerous, heart-cher-
ries were preferred over others, and the insects would pass through a
strawberry bed and only clean out the weeds. A great many trees
were killed outright, and it was often found necessary to cut down the
grape-vines. Trees not killed were often badly barked and lost many
limbs, except where protected by ditches no orchards yielded fruit.
Many trees put forth a few secondary blossoms after the insects left,
and a few small apples were noticed on such in autumn.
FOOD PLANTS.
I have little to add to what was said under this head last year.
The Minnesota Commission found that the bearded varieties of wheat
escaped with less damage from the winged insects than smooth varie-
ties, owing as they think to the fact that the insects are deterred by
the long beards from attacking the heads, and confine their injuries
to the stalks and leaves. Mr. G. M. Dawson, in his “ Notes” already
cited, suggests that to their known dislike of Leguminous plants we
may perhaps attribute the large number of such found on the western
plains. The Amarantus Blitum is the only plant which I found the
insects to refuse last Spring, when driven to extremities.
CHANGES THAT FOLLOWED THE LOCUSTS.
The invasions into a country of large numbers of animals, whether
men or insects, are often followed by changes in the vegetation of that
country. Certain strange plants are said to yet mark the path through
the Southern States which Sherman’s soldiers took in their march to
the sea,and a number of plants new to the country are known to have
been introduced into France by the Germans during the late Franco-
Prussian war. So the locust incursions and devastations in Kansas
and Missouri were followed by some curious changes. These changes
122 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
consisted mostly in the great prevalence of plants that in ordinary
seasons are scarcely noticed. The Amarantus Blitum already spoken
of spread at an unprecedented rate, and grew in great luxuriance.
Immediately after the locusts left, the common purslane started
everywhere and usurped the place of many other species. The com-
mon nettle (Solanum Carolinense), and the sand burr (S. rostratum),
Green Larva of White-lined Morning Sphinx.
spread to an alarming degree, and the Pcke weed ( Phytolacca decan-
dra), was very abundant. All kinds of grasses grew very luxuriantly
during the Summer, a fact due to the wet and favorable weather;
but some kinds * that are rare in ordinary seasons, got the start.
and grew in great strength and abundance. Among these none are
more notable than the sudden appearance very generally over the
locust-devastated region, of what is usually called a new grass.
Springing up wherever the blue grass gets killed out it proves a God-
send to the people, for while it is young and tender cattle like it and
fatten upon it. This grass is the Vilfa vaginefora, an annual which
[Fig. 43.]
Black Larva of White-lined Morning Sphinx.
is common from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains. Unnoticed
during ordinary seasons, the destruction of the blue grass and other
plants by the too close gnawing of the locusts, gives it the advantage
in the struggle for existence—an advantage which is soon lost, how-
ever, as the normal relations between species are assumed again in a
few years after the disturbing influence has ceased to be operative.
* Prof. G. C. Brodhead (Trans. St. Louis Ac. Se. II, p. 348) mentions more particularly, Ari-
stida oligostachya, in ordinary seasons of rare occurrence around Pleasant Hill, as reaching the unusual
height of two feet, and being very abundant. Eragrostis powoides, ordinarily recumbent and scarcely
noticed in yards and along roadsides, grew in profusion and 3}g feet high, ‘‘ looking like meadows
ready to be mowed.”? Panicum sanguinale was luxuriant enough to cut for hay.
.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 123.
Indeed, since the Vilfa ripens and dies early in the Fall, the blue
grass gains ground the very first year, and afterward easily retains
supremacy. The wide-spread appearance of the Vilfa, following the
locusts, has been explained on the hypothesis that the latter brought.
the seed from the West and passed it undigested with their droppings.
The fact that the seed is a line long, and not particularly hard, aside.
from the other facts in the case, renders such a hypothesis unreason-
able. Being an annual, the seed was scattered the previous Fall, and
naturally starting, we may presume, about the time the insects left,,
the species got the ascendency.
Some persons were quite alarmed at the prevalence of large green
and black worms, soon after the locusts left. Feeding upon purslane:
and prevailing to an unusual degree, because of the unusual preva-
lence of this plant, they generally did good by keeping this weed
‘down and converting it into manure. In some few instances, how-
ever, they swarmed to such an extent as to devour all the purslane,
when they attacked grape-vines, and as Mr. Thos. Wells, of Manhat-
tan, Kansas, informs me, even cut off corn when it was about a foot.
high. These worms were the variable larve of the White-lined
Morning Sphinx, a pretty moth often seen hovering over flowers at.
evening. Thespecies was treated of in my third Report (p. 140) and
the illustrations are herewith reproduced. Most insects that naturally
feed in Spring above ground on low vegetation were killed out, and
peig. 3.) _ the only species un-
| / affected by the visi-
tation were those
feeding on forest.
trees, or living in
the ground orin the
trunks of trees. The.
White-lined Morn-
ing Sphinx, was just.
issuing from the
pupa, which had re-
White-lined Morning Sphinx. mained undisturbed
below ground, when the locusts were leaving. It found the purslane—
its favorite food-plant--everywhere springing up and abundant, and
its eggs were laid without difficulty, and the young larve did not, in
any case, lack for food. As aconsequence they prevailed to a remark-
able degree.
124 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
THE LOCUSTS DID NOT RETURN IN THE FALL.
In the scourged district the people were very anxious lest another
invasion like that of the previous year should occur. I did not hesi-
tate toinsist through several journals that there was no danger of a
general invasion. Noneof the insects were noticed to return in au-
tumn in Iowa and Nebraska, and though there are authenticated
instances of a few scattering individuals, or of small swarms flying
over parts of Kansas and Missouri, and settling without doing dam-
age, yet in the majority of instances thistle down and the downy por-
tion of cottonwood seed, were proved to be the occasion of the re-
ports that were made of flying locusts.
The specimens I have obtained of these returning individuals are
like those which developed in the same territory during the Spring, i.e.
‘somewhat darker and below the average size of the typical species;
which indicates that they did not come from the extreme northwest,
but more probably from nearer home, and perhaps from Colorado.
In September a few flights also came into Texas from the north.
As arule the ravaged districts were remarkably free in the Fall
of most insects and especially of locusts. Those individuals that did
not get away in June were, as one of my correspondents, Mr. J. Coen,
of Jackson Station, remarks “loaded with parasites and soon died ;”
while the native species were scarce.
NATURAL ENEMIES.
I haveno important additions to make to the list of these instanced
last year. The good offices of birds were everywhere noticed, and
Mr. Wise, of the Minnesota Commission, is of opinion that the black-
birds and prairie chickens destroyed a large portion of the eggs laid
in that State in 1875, scratching for them after the fashion of hens.
Prof. F. H. Snow, of Lawrence, Kansas, found the young locusts in the
gizzards of the Red-eyed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocepha-
lus,), Yellow-billed Cuckoo ( Coccyzus Americanus), Cat-bird ( Wimus
Carolinensis), Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus), Great-crested
Flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus) and Orow Blackbird (Quéscalus
versicolor», species that had not been noticed to feed on them before.
I found the young insects in our own counties pursued by many pre-
daceous beetles, especially those (p.52) that attack the Army Worm.
I also found several species of predatory soldier-bugs attacking them;
and Mr. Dan. Carpenter, of Barry, refers, by letter, to the frequency
with which the locusts in his neighborhood were noticed to be infested
with “slender worms measuring often fourteen to eighteen inches
in length,” which were without doubt hair-worms, ( Gordii)—well
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 125.
known to infest several other species of Calopteni. None of these
enemies are so effectual in their work as the mites and Tachina-flies.
REMEDIES AGAINST THE UNFLEDGED INSECTS.
The war waged against the young insects last Spring was ener-
getic and untiring, and everything that human ingenuity could con-
ceive was employed in the conflict. Trapping, burning, tramping,
poisoning, trenching, were all resorted to. In some cases whole acres
were surrounded with boards and the insects imprisoned until they
starved, while in others coal tar was smeared on to fences and out-
houses in order to hold fast the newly-hatched swarms that settled
thereon.
The means to be employed against the ravages of this insect in
the more fertile country subject to its periodical visitations, but in
which it is not indigenous, may be classed under five heads: 1. Nat-
ural agencies; 2. Artificial means of destroying the eggs; 3. Such
means of destroying the unfledged young; 4. Remedies against the
mature or winged insects; 5. Prevention. Having considered these
measures last year, I shall treat here principally of the second, third
and fifth, bringing together the more valuable experiences of the
year. In apaper on “The Locust Plague: How to avert it,” read be-
fore the American Assoviation for the advancement of Science last
August, I wrote as follows:
Artificial Means of Destroying the Eggs.—The fact that man can accomplish most in
his warlare against locusts by destroying the eggs has long been recognized by Euro-
pean and Asiatic governments liable to suffer from the insects. The eggs are laid in
masses, just beneath the surface of the ground, seldom to a greater depth than an inch 3.
and high, dry ground is preferred for the purpose. Very often the ground is so com-
pletely filled with these egg masses, that not a spoonful of the soil can be turned up
without exposing them, and a harrowing or shallow plowing will cause the surface to
look quite whitish as the masses break up and bleach from exposure to the atmosphere.
Great numbers will be destroyed by such harrowing or plowing, as they are not only
thereby more liable to the attacks of natural enemies, but they lose vitality through
the bleaching and desiccating influence of the dew, and rain, and sun. If
deeply turned under by the plow, many of them will rot, and the young that
chance to hatch will come forth too late the next year to do much barm—providing the
same ground be not re-turned so as to bring the eggs to the surface in the Spring.*
Excess of moisture for a few days is fatal to the eggs, and they may very easily be de-
stroyed where irrigation is practicable. Where stock can be confined and fed on soil
filled with such eggs, many of these will be destroyed by the tramping. All these
means are Obviously insuflicient, however, for the reason that the eggs are too often
placed where none of them can be employed. In such cases they should be collected
and destroyed by the inhabitants, and the State should offer some inducement in the
way of bounty tor such collection and destruction, Every bushel of eggs destroyed is
equivalent to a hundred acres of corn saved, and when we consider the amount of des-
titution caused in some of the Western States by the locust invasion of 1874, and that
in many sections the ground was known to be filled with egys; that, in other words,
? .
the earth was sown with the seeds of future destruction—it is surprising that the legis-
*The beneficial results of plowing under or turning up the eggs are fully demonstrated in the
report of the Minnesota Commission.
+The efficacy of irrigation or inundation in destroying the eggs will, of course, depend very
much on the character of the soil, and may be of little service in a tenacious clay.
126 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
latures of those States did not make some effort to avert future injury by offering a
liberal price per bushel for the eggs. A fewthousand dollars taken out of the State
treasury for this purpose would be well spent and be distributed among the very peo-
ple most in need of assistance.
Destruction of the Unfledged Young.—As I have stated in the articles already alluded
to, heavy rolling, where the surface of the soil is sufficiently firm and even, destroys
the larger portion of them, but is most advantageously employed when the insects are
most sluggish. They drive almost as readily as sheep, and may be burned in large
quantities by being driven into windrows or piles of burning hay or straw. But the
experience of the present year convinces me that by far the most effectual way for man
to protect his crops and do battle to these young locust armies—especially where, as in
West Missouri, last Spring, there was no hay or straw to burn—is by ditching, A
ditch two feet wide and two feet deep, with perpendicular sides, offers an effectual bar-
rier to the young insects. They tumble into it and accumulate, and die at the bottom
in large quantities. In a few days the stench becomes great and necessitates the cover-
ing up of the mass. In order to keep the main ditch open, therefore, it is best to dig
pits or deeper side ditches at short intervals, into which the hoppers will accumulate
and may be buried. We hear much talk about the powerlessness of man before this
mighty locust plague; but [am quite confident that here we have a remedy that is at
once thorough and effectual, whereby the people of some of the States, at least, may
avert in future such evil as that which befell them this Spring. There have been a
number of partial attempts at ditching by simply turning a couple of furrows with the
plow. Even these will often divert the encroaching insects from their course; but
they can never be relied on, and you may rest assured that whenever you hear a man
declare that ditching is no protection, he refers to such slovenly, half-made ditches.
No instance has come to my knowledge where a ditch, such as | first described, has
failed to effectually keep off the insects. Made around a field about hatching time, few
hoppers will get into that field till they acquire wings, and by that time the principal
danger is over, and the insects are fast disappearing. If any should hatch within the
inclosure, they are easily driven into the ditches dug in different parts of the field.
Just behind the fair-grounds at Kansas City there is an intelligent
and industrious gardener, Mr. I’. D. Adkins, having about three acres
in vegetables. ‘The locusts hatched in large numbers all around Kan-
sas City, and nowhere more abundantly than in the immediate vicinity
of this truck-garden. Mr. Adkins, remembering his experience with
the same plague in 1867, persevered in ditching for their destruction in
1875; and though the surface of the country for miles and miles around
was desolate, yet this little three-acre field was untouched—a perfect
oasis in the desert, at once giving pleasure to the eye and speaking
eloquently of what may be accomplished by a little tact and perseve-
rance. Rush Bottom,in Jackson county, contains a large tract of land
in abend of the Missouri river, naturally protected on all sides but
one by the river, and Mr. Ragan relates that, taking advantage of this
circumstance, the inhabitants cuta ditch across the neck of land at
the foot of the bluff—cutting off the marching column of locusts from
the surrounding country. They thereby saved their gardens and hun-
dreds of acres of corn and oats.
Mr. S. D. Payne, of Kasota, Minn., says in the Report of the Min-
nesota Commission: “In my mind the most practical mode, not only
of protecting the crops but of destroying the plague, is the ditching
system. I have demonstrated to my own satisfaction that an indivi-
dual farmer can protect himself both against those bred on his farm
(by carefully noting the breeding-grounds and the consequent points
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. | 127
of invasion) and those raiding from the neighboring country; anda
general concert of action by all the farmers will tend to vastly de-
crease the numbers, if not entirely remove those hatching here.”
Numerous other instances of this kind might be given, and I have not
a doubt but that with proper and systematic ditching early in the sea-
son, when the insects first hatched, everything could have been saved
with comparatively little trouble. I have seen people driving off the
young locust day after day,in their endeavors to save some small
vegetable or flower garden—their efforts eventually in vain—where
one-tenth the time spent in ditching would have effectually accom-
plished the object. And when I should, perhaps, have been praying,
I have witnessed sights that prompted to thought and word the very
reverse of prayer. Ina large portion of Johnson county the injury
was slight, and until the end of May little damage was done around
Warrensburg. Happening to be in the vicinity of this town on the
3d inst., [came upon a beautiful vineyard which had up to that time
escaped. The insects had got into it, and the owner was advised to
ditch to save it. His piety exceeded his good sense, however, and
instead of genuflecting on a spade he was performing the operation
in another way, while his beautiful vineyard was literally being gob-
bled up at a rate that would not show a green leaf by the morrow.
Irespect every man’s faith, but there are instances where I would
respect his work a good deal more.
; Where water can be let into the ditches so as to cover the bottom
they may be made shallower, and still be effective. Mr. Frank Hol-
singer, of Kansas City, under date of May 23rd, 1875, sent me the fol-
lowing account of his experience :
Your very interesting communication to the St. Louis Globe was reproduced in
our Journal of Commerce ot the 2lstinst. I have no doubt but that your counsel will
be heeded by many, but to the mass of our people it is as ‘sounding brass,’’ ete. Dur-
ing the past four days I have been at work, and although [ spent less than one-fourth
of my time to the purpose, I have destroyed between 30 and 40 bushels of wingless
locusts. My remedy is so simple I concluded to give it to you, as I think it better than
any I have yet seen, and had L known how easily it was to accomplish I would now see
growing crops where ruin and desolation appear.
As they had entered my wheat (I took your advice and Fall-plowed everything,
and I do not think there was a hatfull hatched on my 40 acres) from neighboring farms,
and knowing that when they got through they must move in force on my garden,
I cautioned my wife to inform me when they commenced on this last. On the 18th
inst., at 11 A. M., she gave the watchword, ‘‘they come;’’ so, leaving corn-plowing, I
hastened to surround our garden with a board fence, intending to drive the insects
around, but to no purpose, although the boards were placed at 45° outward, and some
six of us were at work. Still they came. We built straw fires next—still unsatisfac-
tory. I had been underdraining, and had some drains stiJl open. Wife said, *‘you will
work yourself sick, and all to no purpose.”? L take a look, and a patch of early pota-
toes, one-third of an acre, which we had saved, was melting before them. I then saw
them march straight for the drain. My impulse then was to burn them in the drain.
This [ found difficult. The next thought was “ pit-falls at intervals in the drain;’ I
commenced digging these, and the locusts tumbled in by thousands, but many escaped.
Now the thought occurred that if there was water in the pits they could not jump ; so
water was thrown in, and the result was a success. I[ feel certain that by a judicious
expenditure of $50, in ditching around my 35 acres, I could have saved everything,
while my loss is largely in excess of. $1,000.
128 EIGHTIL ANNUAL REPORT
The width and depth of the ditch is important, and as experience
differed somewhat I have been at pains to get the experience of a
large number of correspondents addresced by circular. Many suc-
cessfully used ditches 2 feet deep and 18 inches wide; a few made
them only 18x18; those who used water found 12x15 sufficient, while
the larger number used a ditch such as I have recommended, viz.:
2 feet deep by 2 feet wide, with perpendicular sides. At the winter
meeting of the Kansas State Horticultural Society, Dr. J. Stayman, of
Leavenworth, insisted that a ditch 3 feet wide had not prevented the
insects from crossing on his place. Thinking that his experience, so
different to that of the majority of hisown people, might be accounted
for by the character of his soil and other circumstances, I got him to
promise to send me a detailed statement, and to give me.the similar
experience of others, which he asserted he could do; but I have not
heard from him since. Mr. Jas. Hanway, an intelligent correspondent
of the Kansas Farmer, and who, at my request, has been to some
trouble to get the experience of Kansans on this point, writes that the
ditches generally made were from 18 to 20 inches wide, and about 12
inches deep. Professor Thomas is of opinion, from what he has seen
in Colorado, that while a ditch such as I have recommended will pre-
vent the larvz from crossing, “the pup, though halting for a time,
will soon make the leap.” That they can do so, every one who has
had experience knows; and socan the larve; but the fact remains,
as I had abundant evidence last Spring, that in practice they seldom
do when hatching out in our part of the country, and that even when
the majority are in the pupa state, the 2-foot ditch is still quite effect-
ual. Even the larger winged Acridii and (idipod tumble into such
a ditch, and seldom get out again. I would remark in this connection,
also, that a ditch 3 feet wide, unless correspondingly deep, will be
more apt to permit the insects to escape, when once in, than a nar-
rower one. In hopping, the more perpendicular the direction the in-
sects must take the shorter will be the distance reached. Whenever
our farmers are again troubled with the unfledged myriads, the 2-foot
ditch, used in time, will be found all sufficient.
Next to ditching the use of nets or seines, or converging strips of
calico or any other material, made after the plan of a quail net, proved
most satisfactory. By digging a pit, or boring a post augur hole, 3 or
4 feet deep, and then staking the two wings so that they converge to-
ward it, large numbers of the locusts may be driven into the pit after
the dew is off the ground. By changing the position of this trap,
much good can be done when the insects are yet small and huddled
in schools; but all modes of bagging, netting and burning become
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 129
4
comparatively useless when the insects begin to travel in concert
over wide stretches of land. The same may be said of all mechanical
contrivances to facilitate the destruction of the insects: they are use-
ful if used in concert in a given neighborhood soon after the young
hatch, but subsequently do not compare to ditching. Mr. Charles D.
Zimmerman, of Buffalo, N. Y., has sent me the plan of an immense
bag, by which he found that he could catch large quantities of native
species. Toa frame 15 feet long and 3 feet high is tacked a stretch
of cheap cotton cloth. The stuff is closed at the ends, and when the
frame is mounted on wheels, and drawn across a meadow, the locusts
accumulate in the bag which drags on the ground, and there form a
tangled mass and do not escape. The same style of bag, on a larger
scale and drawn with a horse at each end, and with an arrangement
whereby the lower edge of the bag could be unhooked from the frame
and the accumulated insects dumped into pits, would prove useful.
Mr. J. Hetzel, who has had considerable experience at Longmont,
Col., writes me that the best means he has seen of fighting the locusts,
if they do not hatch on the ground, is a burner drawn by horses. “It
is 12 feet long, 2 to 24 feet wide and made of iron, set on runners 4
inches high. An open grate on the top of the runners is filled with
pitch pine wood, and a sheet covers the grate to keep the heat down.
Two men and a team will burn 10 to 12 acres a day, and kill two-thirds
of the insects, but it requires a hot fire.” Mr. C. C. Horner gives in
the Colorado Farmer the following more detailed description of what
appears to be the same machine:
it consists of three runners made of 2x4 scantling three feet in length, to be
placed six feet apart, making the machine twelve feet wide, runners to be bound
together by three flat straps or bars of iron (the base being 12 feet long.) Across the
top, bars of iron hold the runners firmly together and form a frame across which
wire can be worked, to make a grate to hold fire. The upper part of the runners should
be hollowed out so that the grate may glide along within two inches of the ground.
A sheet iron arch should be set over this grate to drive the heat downward. This
machine is very light and can be worked with one horse; pitch-wood is best adapted
for burning and can be chopped the right length and size and left in piles where most
convenient, when needed. This machine is intended to be used when the little hoppers
just make their appearance along the edge of the grain, going over the ground once or
twice each day, or as often as necessary to keep them killed off. The scorching does
not kill the grain but makes it a few days later. This is certainly the cheapest manner
of getting rid of this pest, as well as the most effectual.
Mr. Rufus Clark, of Denver, according to the same paper, uses a
piece of oil cloth, nine to twelve feet long, and six feet wide; one side
and each end is secured to light wooden strips by common carpet
tacks, and the corners strengthened by braces.
“The oil cloth is smeared with coal tar, purchased at the Denver
Gas Works for $7.50 per barrel, and the trap is dragged over the ground
by two men—a cord about ten feet long being fastened to the front
E R—28
130 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
corners for that purpose. The entire expense of the “trap” is about
$3.50, and as it is light and easily handled will be found serviceable on
small as well as large farms.”
Zinc instead of oil cloth has also been used for the same purpose.
The experience of last Spring shows that when the insects are
famishing, it is useless to try and protect plants by any application
whatever. Sweetened water seemed to keep the winged insects off
special plants in 1874; but it certainly has no such effect on the un-
fledged hoppers, for they “went for” plants which I thus sprinkled
even more voraciously than for those not sprinkled. Lime does not
deter them; neither coal oil nor cresylic soap will keep them from
eating; and Paris green, though it undoubtedly kills those which par-
take, is yet no protection to plants, because those which go off to die
somewhere after partaking are continuously followed by others which
go through the same experience. I gavecarbonic acid gas, from a
Babcock fire extinguisher, a thorough trial under many different cir- -
cumstances and conditions, but without any satisfactory results. It
had very little effect upon them even when played upon them con-
tinuously and at short distance. They often became numbed by the
force of the liquid but invariably rallied again.
The best means of protecting fruit and shade trees deserves sep-
arate consideration. Where the trunk is smooth and perpendicular,
they may be protected by whitewashing. The lime crumbles under
the feet of the insects as they attempt to climb, and prevents their
getting up. By their persistent efforts, however, they gradually tear
off the lime and reach a higher point each day, so that the whitewash-
ing must be often repeated. Trees with short, rough trunks, or which
lean, are not very well protected in this way. A strip of smooth,
bright tin answers even better for the same purpose. Encircling the
tree in any of the different ways suggested for preventing the ascen-
sion of the female Canker Worm, puts an effectual estoppel on the
operations of the young locusts above the point of attachment, for
they cannot jump on a perpendicular surface. A strip of tin three or
four inches wide brought around and tacked to a smooth tree will pro-
tect it; while on rougher trees a piece of old rope may first be tacked
around the tree and the tin tacked to it so as to leave a portion both
above and below. Passages between the tin and rope or the rope and
tree can then be blocked by filling the upper area between tin and
tree with earth. The tin must be high enough from the ground to
prevent the hoppers from jumping from the latter beyond it; and the
trunk below the tin, where the insects collect, should be covered with
some greasy or poisonous substance to prevent girdling. This is more
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. - 131
especially necessary with small trees; and kerosene or whitewash
having Paris green mixed with it will answer as such preventives.
One of the cheapest and simplest modes employed last Spring
was, to encircle the tree with cotton batting into which the insects
would entangle their feet, and thus be more or less obstructed. Strips
of paper covered with tar, stiff paper tied on so as to slope roof-fash-
ion, strips of glazed wali-paper, thick coatings of soft soap, were used
with varying success; but no estoppel equals the bright tin; the
others require constant watching and renewal, and in all cases coming
under my observation some insects would get in to the trees so as to
require the daily shaking of these morning and evening. This will
sometimes have to be done when the bulk of the insects have become
fledged, even where tin is used; for a certain proportion of the insects
will then fly into the trees. They do most damage during the night,
and care should be had that the trees be unloaded of their voracious
freight just before dark.
One of my correspondents, Capt. John R. Wherry, of Boonville,
has suggested the use of strips of canvass, dipped in liquid sulphur
and attached to stakes to be stuck in the ground. He thinks that if
the strips are lit at evening the fumes will drive the insects away
from the locality they pervade. The suggestion strikes me quite
favorably as a means of protecting orchards, and I would recommend
its trial to the people of Colorado and the Mountain region, who
will doubtless have the opportunity the present year. The strips
should be dipped in hot sulphur, allowed to cool, and then staked to
the windward of the orchard, if the wind is stirring.
HOW TO AVERT THE LOCUST INJURIES: PREVENTION.
The measures so far recommended have in view the destruction
of the insects when once they are upon us. The question very natu-
rally arises, “Can something not be done to prevent the incursions of
the species into the more fertile States in which it isnot indigenous 2”
In the previously quoted paper read at Detroit, I gave it as my opin-
ion that “the proper way to deal with this insect is to attack it in its
native breeding places. It is a fact that does not speak well for some
of the countries of the Old World subject to locust injuries, that it is
to this day not known whence many of the devastating swarms have
their origin. But because European nations have hitherto shown
lethargy on this subject, it isno reason why we should. Let us rather
in this, as we have in many things, set an example which they will be
glad to follow. - - = Our efforts should be confined to
the restriction of the species within its natural limits.
132 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
The most important results are likely to flow from a thorough
study of the Rocky Mountain Locust in its native haunts and breed-
ing places. By learning just when and how to strike the insect, so as.
to prevent its undue multiplication there—whether by some more
extensive system of irrigation, based on improved knowledge of the
topography and water supply of the country, or by other means of
destroying the eggs—we may hope to protect the fertile States to the
East from future calamity.”
One of the best means of checking theincrease of the species in its
native haunts, will be found in the encouragement and increase of its
natural enemies, especially the game birds, and the example of Kansas
should be followed in enacting stringent laws for their protection.
The introduction of the English sparrow has been recommended.
From what I know of the bird both here and in its native country, I
should expect little aid from it in this line, and if it can thrive to the
northwest, it will soon spread there, as it is rapidly multiplying at
several points along the Mississippi. We may expect more good from
the encouragement of native Locust-feeding species. Prof. Thomas.
has suggested that inducements be offered to the Indians to collect.
and destroy the eggs and young along the west side of the plains.
Some system of preventing the extensive prairie fires in Fall that are
common in the country where the insect naturally breeds, and then
subsequently firing the country in the Spring after the young hatch
and before the new grass gets too rank, might also be adopted. But
whatever the means employed, they must be carried on systematically
and on a sufficiently extended and comprehensive scale; and this
brings me to the subject of
LEGISLATION, BOTH NATIONAL AND LOCAL.
It is very evident that if anything can be done at all in averting
this evil, it must be done by national means. No one individual can
acquire the requisite knowledge. The importance of having the mat-
ter properly investigated by the national government has been re-
peatedly urged by many prominent persons in the west, best compe- .
tent to judge. The feeling has been very general of late years, both
among scientific men and intelligent agriculturalists, that the work of
our Agricultural Department, in the line of economic entomology,
has fallen very far short of the expectations of the people. Whether
this is owing to the character of its present management, or to the
nature of the Department organization, is immaterial in this connec-
tion. The feeling has found expression in our agricultural journals,
and in resolutions passed by various agricultural and horticultural
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 133
societies. These resolutions have lately assumed the more substan-
tial form of a memorial, indorsed by several important agricultural
and horticultural societies, and signed by many prominent farmers,
fruit-growers and scientific men, urging Congress to create a commis-
‘sion that shall have forits object a thorough investigation of the
principal insect pests of our agriculture, and particularly the one in
question.
Two bills have, in consequence, been introduced during the pres-
ent session of Congress, and referred to the Committees on Agricul-
ture.
The first (Senate bill 158) was introduced by Senator Harvey, of
Kansas, and appropriately referred in the Senate; it was subsequently
introduced in the House by Mr. Patterson, of Colorado, and there
properly referred. Itis entitled ‘a bill to provide for an investiga-
tion as to the habits of the Rocky Mountain locusts, or so-called
grasshoppers,” and provides as follows:
That the Commissioner of Agriculture be authorized and requested to appoint
‘three commissioners, having the requisite scientific knowledge to constitute a compe-
tent commission, whose duty it shall be to visit the native breeding places of the said
locusts, in the Rocky Mountains or elsewhere; and report as to the best method of
preventing the incursions or irruptions of the said locusts into the adjacent fertile
States and Territories.
That the Treasurer of the United States is hereby authorized to pay the expenses
incurred in making this investigation, upon the presentation of the proper vouchers
approved by the Commissioner of Agriculture.
The second bill, (S. 438,) was introduced by Senator Ingalls, of
Kansas, and properly referred. It provides as follows:
That the Secretary of the Interior shall have authority to appoint a Board of
Commissioners, and to fill all vacancies which may occur therein, on the nomination
-of the National Academy of Sciences, to consist of three entomologists eminent in their
profession.
That the said Commissioners shall devote themselves to the investigation of those
insects which are most destructive to the crops of farmers and planters, and especially
of the Rocky Mountain Locust, the Chinch-bug, the Army Worm, the Cotton-worm,
the Hessian fly, and other insects injurious to the great staples, corn, wheat and cot-
ton, in order to devise successful methods for the destruction of such insects. The
Commissioners shall report the results of such investigations and methods, at least
once in each year, to the Secretary of the Interior, by whom the same shall be trans-
mitted to Congress. As soon, also, as the information gathered shall enable them, the
Commissioners shall compile practical instructions for the repression of the different
insects referred to.
That the said Commissioners shall be appointed for the term of five years, and va-
-eancies shall be filled for the residue of the term only, and they shall respectively receive
$5,000 per annum, to be paid monthly from the date of the original appointment, and
shall have clerical assistance, office room, fuel, stationery, chemicals and traveling ex-
penses, not to exceed —— thousand dollars per annum.
The first is open to the objections that it sets no limit to the ex-
penses of the commission, and that it leaves the appointing power
with the present Commissioner of Agriculture. Even were Mr. Watts’
competency to choose wisely in such a field not questionable, the
134 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
work intrusted to a commission such as that called for, is too impor-
tant and serious to leave in control of any one individual. If Mr.
Watts had had any due appreciation of the needs of Western agri-
culture, he would long ere this have taken steps to have the work
performed which it is designed that such a commission shall perform,
and would have asked for the proper appropriations to enable him to
do so, instead of waking large annual demands on Congress to enable
him to run a competition with legitimate seedsmen, by establishing
a gigantic National seed store, which has been instrumental in doing
no small injury by disseminating noxious weeds and insects.
The second bill would far more nearly meet the requirements of
the country. It restricts the time during which the commission shall
exist, and limits its cost. If the blank be filled in with $10,000, which
would be sufficient to cover cost of experiments and other expenses,
the annual expense could not exceed, and might fall below, $25,000.
It specifies more clearly the duties of the commission, and provides.
for the investigation of not one, but of several, of our worst insect
pests. It gives us, also, the best guarantee of judicious appointments ;.
for if the assembled judgment of sucha body as the National Academy
of Science—composed mainly of men now engaged in scientific work
for the government, and of those who have devoted their lives to ap-
plied science—will not give us a competent commission, I know not.
what will.
The good that a commission properly constituted and supported
might do for the country is incalculable. We have made some pro-
gress in the field of economic entomology during the past quarter of
a century, and particularly during the past decade. The few ento-
mologists that have been employed by different States have made
important discoveries and recommendations, while practical men who-
have kept themselves informed of the knowledge recorded by these
officers have not failed to apply it, and have often devised measures.
and schemes of great value in the warfare against insect pests. Still
the State Entomologists have, for the most part, been obliged to con-
fine their attention to investigating the habits of local pests; neither
the time nor the means that have been at their command have per-
mitted the carrying on of elaborate and expensive investigations
such as those we may expect from a National Commission more gen-
erously supported. The consequence is that some of the most injuri-
ous insects, such as those mentioned in Senator Ingalls’s bill, have
never been fully investigated, and to this day there are important
points in the history of several of them, that remain a mystery.
The species mentioned in the bill are of national importance, and
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 135
should receive due attention from the nation. Congress owes it to
the farmers of the country, and especially to those of the West, who
are in actual need of all the encouragement and aid that can be given
to them, that some effort be made to relieve them, as far as it is in
human power to do so, of this insect burden which is doing as much
as any other to crush them.
In the case of this locust itis not merely the question of saving
to the nation, in future, such vast sums of money as this insect has
filched from the producers of some of the Western States (amounting
during the past three years to many millions of dollars;) it is a ques-
tion affecting the welfare of whole commonwealths on this side of the
Mississippi, and the ultimate settlement of a vast track of country
extending from the base of the Rocky Mountains eastward, to which
settlement the ravages of the locust in question offer the most serious
obstacle.
Yet what has Congress done? The Senate committee reported —
an amendment providing for the appointment of one Commissioner
for one year at a salary of $4,000 and expenses, the appointment to
be made by the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of the Smith-
sonian Institution and the Commissioner of Agriculture. This amend-
ment was very much of a farce. Noone denies that our agriculture
forms the basis of our national prosperity. No one who has given the
subject attention can deny—because the figures confront him—that
we often lose upward of $200,000,000 annually from insect depreda-
tions. Yet when our producers urge that some national effort be
made to relieve them wholly, or in part, it takes on this farcical shape.
What the late lamented Walsh wrote ten years ago is true to-day:
“Let a man profess to have discovered some new patent powder
pimperlimpimp, a single pinch of which being thrown into each cor-
ner of a field will kill every bug throughout its whole extent, and
people will listen to him with attention and respect. But tell them
of any simple common sense plan, based upon correct scientific prin-
ciples, to check and keep within reasonable bounds the insect foes of
the farmer, and they will laugh you to scorn. Probably about nine-
tenths of the members of Congress and of our State Legislatures are
lawyers, busying themselves principally with law and politics; and
the remaining one-tenth are physicians, merchants and manufacturers,
with a very small sprinkling of farmers. Is it to be expected that a
crowd of men, whose heads are mostly full of such important things
as cognovits and assumpsits and demurrers and torts and caucuses
and conventions, should condescend to think about‘ bugs’? What
do they know about farmers, except that they have got votes? Or
about farmers’ pockets, except that most of the taxes come out of
136 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
them? What do they know or care about entomology, fancying, as
most of them do, that entomologists busy themselves exclusively in
collecting the greatest possible number of beautiful butterflies? Talk
to them of science, and they smile in your face. They are so perpet-
ually teased and tormented by scientific charlatans—wolvesin sheep’s
clothing—lobbying for legislative assistance for all kinds of ridiculous
impossibilities, that they have come to believe firmly that science is
only another word for humbug and imposture.”
I am confident that if one-hundreth part of the pecuniary dam-
age that is annually inflicted by insects upon the farmers were in-
flicted, instead, upon the merchants or manufacturers, Congress would
long since have given the matter most careful consideration.
What could one man, employed for one year, accomplish where
the field is so wide? Our cotton growers have lost hundreds of mil-
lions of dollars through the Cotton Worm. Yet to our shame, be it
said, no one knows positively, to-day, how the insect passes the Win-
ter, for the simple reason that no extended observations have been
made on the subject. One man’s time for at least a year, with liberal
assistance, would be required to thoroughly investigate this species,
to say nothing of the others.
Ifthere is to be National legislation in this line, let it be wise
and worthy of the occasion, or let us have none at all. Let us not
court failure and disappuintment by weakening the power of the com-
mission for good, and thus adding one more to the list of similar com-
missions that have failed and thus brought discredit on the country
and on science.
Both the Ingalls and the Harvey bills were preferable to the
amended one; but even the single commissioner was denied, and
after debating the amended bill, as reported by the committee for
one whole morning, (and those who care to follow the debate in the
Congressional Record for March 7, will find rich reading,) the bill was
passed in the following form:
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of
America in Congress assembled, That it shall be the duty of the Commissioner of Agri-
culture to investigate and gather information relative to those insects which are most
destructive to the crops of planters and farmers, and especially of the Rocky Mountain
locust, the chinch-bug, the army-worm, the cotton-worm, the tobacco-worm, the Hes-
sian fly, potato-bug, and other insects injurious to the great staples, wheat, corn and
cotton, in order to devise successful methods for the destruction of such insects; and
to make public from time to time such information and such practical instructions for
the suppression of the different insects referred to.
And thus the debate ended in the fizzle of resolving that it shall
be the duty of the Commissioner of Agriculture to perform certain
work, which people outside the Senate have been in the habit of sup-
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 137
_
posing to be his duty without any such senatorial instructions; but
which duty the present incumbent has failed to perform either from
inability or lack of 1neans; and which there is no reason to believe he
will any better perform in the future. Let the people of the West re-
member that this brilliant result on the part of a body which can vote
four hundred thousand dollars to protect Goverment clothing from
mildew and moths (there was a job in it) but which cannot vote
twenty thousand for the protection of our crops, was brought about
by the persistent efforts of Senator Logan, who pretends to represent
the greatest agricultural State in the Union! Other nations have
found it necessary to appoint commissions for the injurious insects
of national consequence, and the day will doubtless come when our
Government will feel the imperative necessity of doing likewise.
To insure good results to the country, a national entomological
commission should consist of at least three persons; it should have
at least five years in which to perform its labors; it should have lib-
eral support, and last, and most important of all,it should be com-
posed of competent and experienced men—men who can combine
practical experience with scientific accuracy. The services of such
can only be insured by decent salaries, and their appointment guar-
anteed by some such combined selective power as that proposed in
Senator Ingalls’s bill. Whether or not the subject will be again taken
up by the present Congress it is impossible to tell; but I candidly con-
fess that I have little faith that it will receive the serious consideration
at Washington that it deserves. Congress is too busy in exposing cor-
ruption and peculation to pay much attention to the wants of our
insect-cursedfarmers. If the annual sum asked forin Senator Ingalls’s
bill were to maintain some useless diplomatic service in some third-
rate foreign land, there would be some chance of getting it; but as it
is for the performance of important work that is to redound to the ma-
terial benefit of the country for all future time, and for the promotion
of our most important industry, why, I presume, it will not be granted.
But while there seems to be little chance at present of getting any
national legislation on this locust matter, the wisdom of State legis-
lation has become obvious in some of the States. Wise laws for the
repression of noxious insects can only be enacted where legal and
scientific knowledge are combined in the framers of the laws; and it
too often happens that legislative bodies show lack of the requisite
knowledge of the latter kind. We kad an illustration of this last
year in the laws passed by several European nations prohibiting traffic
in American potatoes, with a view of preventing the introduction of
the Colorado Potato-beetle ; whereas, as has been abundantly shown
a
138 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
in these reports, such a course was not the best, but one of the very
poorest, so far as the object had in view was concerned. There is
scarcely any possibility of the insect being imported in barreled po-
tatoes, but there is danger of its importation in other ways. In like
manner, Algiers, Italy and other south European countries have, dur-
ing the past year, passed laws with a view of keeping out the Phyllox-
era, which laws, by being extreme, are calculated to do harm rather
than good, and are founded on insufficient knowledge of the insect’s
habits.
Last Summer some counties in Minnesota, and particularly Le
Sueur, Todd, Meeker, Brown, Sibley and Nicollett, offered bounties
for the catching and destroying of locusts. The laws had the effect to
measurably clean out the insects. The Kansas Legislature, at its late
session, also, passed a bill for the destruction of locusts. The bill,
though an important step in the right direction, is yet, to my mind,
defective in one or two vital particulars. It provides that a bounty
shall be paid out of the county treasury, of five dollars for the collec-
tion and destruction of every bushel of locust eggs, and sixty cents
for the collection and destruction of every bushel of unfledged locusts.
The original bill, introduced by Senator Halderman, made a discrimi-
nation as to the time of destruction of the unfledged locusts; and I
cannot think that the change madein committee was an improvement.
As several other Western States will doubtless be led to pass similar
acts for protection against locust ravages, and as I sincerely hope that
our own Legislature will do so next Winter, I will briefly state what I
conceive should be the essential features of any act having that ob-
ject.
1. The bounty should be paid out of the State and not the County Treasury. When
any State or portion of a State is afflicted by a locust visitation, the people of the State
at large should bear the burden. By a judicious State bounty system that would avert
future calamity in any threatened district, the more prosperous portion of the com-
munity is made to contribute to the relief of the afflicted, and the whole community in
reality gains by the operation,
2. The bounty should be immediately available to those earning it. When distress
and want stare the people of a locust-stricken district in the face, those who work for
a bounty should be able to obtain it with as little delay as possible. ‘This result can,
perhaps, best be attained by empowering tbe Township Trustee, or the Street Commis-
sioner, to receive and measure the eggs or young insects, and to issue certificates set-
ting forth the number of bushels destroyed—the certificates to be filed with the County
Clerk, who should issue to the claimant another certificate, setting forth the name and
residence of the holder, and the number of bushels of eggs and young locusts collected
and destroyed by him. This last certificate should be taken and received by the Col-
lector of the Revenue of the county in which the same was given, and such collector
should pay the holder thereof the sum called for under the act, and be allowed pay
out of the State treasury for the same.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 139
3. The act should, as far as possible, tend to the destruction of the Eggs. Barring ex-
ceptional cases, where shallow plowing can be resorted to, the collecting of the eggs
will be tedious. It will be safe, therefore, to offer a pretty large inducement to collect
them, and $4 to $6 a bushel would not be too much, and would give remunerative em-
ployment to young people through the mild weather of winter and in late Fall and
early Spring.
4. After the eggs, the destruction of the newly hatched Locusts should be encouraged
by the Act. A bushel of the newly hatched insects will contain thirty or more times as
many individuals as will a bushel of the pupx, and, moreover, their destruction pre-
vents the subsequent injury. It would be folly to pay sixty cents a bushel for them
later in the season when they are nearly full-grown and have done most of the harm
they are capable of doing. The price offered, therefore, should vary with the season,
and while sixty or seventy-five cents should be offered in March, the price should di-
minish to fifty-cents in April, twenty-five cents in May and ten cents in June. In addi-
tion to the foregoing requirements of such an act, every precaution should be taken to
prevent fraud and dishonesty in obtaining the bounty.
In order to get the opinions of our own farmers who had expe-
rience last Spring as to the value of a bounty, I submitted to many
the following question: “Do you not think that a bounty of fifty
cents a bushel, offered by the State for the young insects when they
were hatching, would have given employment and means to a large
number of persons who, on account of the locust ravages, were with-
out work; and would not such a bounty have induced so general a
destruction of the insects during the first fortnight of their hatching
as to virtually have prevented the subsequent devastation and suffer-
ing?” Of over a hundred answers to this question, the opinions are
almest unanimously affirmative. Five of the writers believe that it
would have availed little last Spring, because the people had no
anticipation of the subsequent ravages, but that it would work well
in future; and three doubt whether any human effort would have
saved their crops. The experience of Minnesota is valuable here, and
the State Commissioners do not hesitate to recommend the system
after the county trials, imperfect as they were, and commenced as they
were in most cases, too late in the season. It was clearly shown that
in one township $30,000 worth of crops was saved by an expenditure
of $6,000. Nicollet county paid $25,053.00 for 25.053 bushels of locusts,
but the price paid by other counties was higher: in fact, much too
high. The prices I have suggested are all sufficient; for we must not
forget that aside from the bounty inducement, the people who appre-
ciate the situation must feel that they are working for self-protection,
and know that it is folly to waste labor in any other way. A law such
as I have suggested, once enacted and on our Statute books, might
not be called into operation for many years; but would beyond all
doubt serve an admirable purpose in the event of a repetition of the
140 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
evils of 1874 and 1875. Underits provisions, I am confident that in the
event of another invasion, during the milder months of Fall and
Spring, between the laying and hatching periods, thousands of bushels
of eggs will be collected. Suppose $50,000 or $100,000 had thus been
taken out of the State treasury last Winter or Spring in the way of
bounties. The money would have been well earned and distributed
among those who most needed it. The injury done later in the Spring
would have been measurably or entirely averted, for every bushel of
eggs is equivalent to the future destruction of at least 300 acres of any
young crop, and each county comprises on an average not much over
300,000 acres. The smaller bounty for the young hoppers would have
worked just as beneficially. It would have given employment to
thousands who had nothing to do, and stayed the excuse for raiding
which idlers and desperate characters made. Wherever private par-
ties offered even a bounty of 50 cents per bushel for these young, they
soon had to desist on account of the numbers brought them; which
shows how effectual a State bounty would have been.
In the more thinly settled parts of the country to the west of us,
a State bounty system may be more or less ineffectual, so far as the
general destruction of the insects is concerned, though it will even
there be one of the best means of relieving destitution ; but in our
more settled counties it will accomplish both ends.
SUGGESTIONS.
As a means of assisting farmers in the destruction of the unfledged
locusts by trenches and in other ways I would also urge the employ-
ment of military force, a large amount of which, in times of peace,
could be ordered into the field at short notice. As stated in my paper
read at Detroit: “To many, the idea of employing soldiers to assist
the agriculturist in battling with this pest, may seem farcical enough,
but though the men might not find glory in the fight, the war—unlike
most other wars — could only be fraught with good consequences to
mankind. In Algeria the custom prevails of sending the soldiers
against these insects. While in the south of France last summer, I
found to my great satisfaction, that at Arles, Bouche du Rhone, where
the unfledged locusts (Caloptenus Italicus, a species closely allied to
our Rocky Mountain locust), were doing great harm, the soldiers had
been sent in force to do battle with them, and were then and
there waging a vigorous war against the tiny foes. A few regiments
armed with no more deadly weapons than the common spade, sent
out to the suffering parts of Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska last
Spring, might in a few weeks have measurably routed this pygmean
army, and materially assisted the farmer in his ditching operations.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 141
“Hogs and poultry of every description delight to feed on the
young hoppers and will flourish where these abound when nothing
else does. It will be well, in the event of a future invasion, for the
people in the invaded districts to provide themselves with as large a
quantity as possible of this stock. Where no general and systematic
efforts were made to destroy either the eggs or the young locusts, and
it is found that, as Spring opens, these young hatch out in threatening
numbers, the intelligent farmer will delay the planting of everything
that cannot be protected by ditching, until the very last moment, or
till toward the end of June—using his team and time solely in the
preparation of his land. In this way he will not only save his seed
and the labor of planting, and, perhaps, replanting, but he will mate-
rially assist in weakening the devouring armies. Men planted last
Spring, and worked with a will and energy born of necessity, only to
see their crops finally taken, their seed gone, and their teams and
themselves worn out. The locusts finally destroyed every green thing,
until, finding nothing more, they began to fall upon each other and to
perish. This critical period in their history would have been brought
about much earlier if they had not had the cultivated crops to feed
upon; and if by concert of action this system of non-planting could
at first have been adopted over large areas, the insects would
have been much sooner starved out and obliged to congregate in the
pastures, prairies and timber. Moreover, the time required for early
planting and cultivation, if devoted to destroying the insects after
the bulk of them hatch out toward the end of April, would virtually
annihilate them. The multiplication of any species of animal beyond
the power of the country to support it, inevitably proves the destruc-
tion of that species unless it is able to migrate. Let fifty batches of
Canker-worm eggs hatch out ona single, somewhat isolated apple
tree, and not one worm will survive long enough to mature. The
leaves of the tree will be devoured before the worms are half grown,
and the latter must then inevitably perish; whereas, if only a dozen
batches of eggs had hatched on that tree, the worms might all have
lived and matured. In the same way the young locusts inevitably
perish whenever they are so numerous as to devour every green thing
before they become fledged; and under certain circumstances, the
sooner such a condition of things is brought about the better.” The
greatest generals and mightiest armies must yield to starvation!
Too much stress cannot be laid on the advantage of codperation
and concert of action, to accomplish which ought not to be difficult,
with our present Grange system. One of my correspondents, Mr. Jas.
E. Gladish, of Aulsville, Lafayette Co., suggests that, to insure concert
/
142 KIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
of action the supervisors of each school district be authorized to call
out every able-bodied man and oblige him to work in a general system
of destruction as soon as the young insects commence to travel.
In this connection it is also very obvious that our Signal Service
might be made the means of giving important assistance to the farm-
ers of the West, by warning them of coming danger. If, as I believe,
the disastrous swarms which reach our State come from the extreme
northwest, there is no reason why, by increasing the number of signal
stations in that region the movements of large swarms should not be
daily recorded, and the farmers to the east and southeast be apprised
of their probable coming for weeks in advance. The people might
not, it is true, greatly benefit by the information, except in preparing
and providing for the possible contingency; but by thus recording
the movements of swarms we shall in a few years come to know more
about the native breeding places and habits of the species, and as the
Bureau perfects its work, we may, through it, learn the Fall before,
when the insects have become unduly multiplied or have laid enor-
mous quantities of eggs over large areas in their native habitat, and
when, in consequence, an invasion the following year is probable: in
which event a larger proportion of small grains and other crops that
escape the ravages of the Fall swarms can be planted in the threat-
ened country.
The same plan of allowing the grass to remain unburned until
the young hatch in Spring, suggested for the destruction of the insect
in its native home, will of course work equally well when the eggs
are laid in the country to the east and in our own counties.
As to the best means of disposing of the slaughtered locusts, the
easiest and generally employed are burning and burying. Yet the
insects might be turned to good advantage as manure, or sun-dried
and preserved in cakes to feed to hogs, poultry, etc., and where large
quantities are destroyed under a bounty system, some such means of
making the most of them should be considered.
Finally, much can be done to avert the evil we recently suffered
from, by a judicious choice of crops; but I will consider this matter
under the head of
LESSONS OF THE YEAR.
There is nothing surer than that the destitution in our western
counties last Spring was as much, if not more, owing to the previous
ravages of the Chinch Bug than to those of this locust.
The Chinch Bug is an annual and increasing trouble; the locust
only a periodical one. Now, the counties ravaged are among the
richest agricultural counties in the State, and, for that matter, can
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 143
scarcely be surpassed in the country. Consisting of high, rolling
prairie, interspersed, as arule, with an abundance of good timber, these
counties produce a very large amount of corn and stock. Of culti-
vated crops, corn is the staple, and, with a most generous soil it has
become the fashion to plant and cultivate little else, year after year,
on the same ground. The corn fields alternate more or less with pas-
tures, and there is just enough small grain to breed and nourish the
first brood of chinch bugs which pass into the corn at harvest time
and scatter over the country, by breeding and harboring in the corn
fields. Not to mention the different means to be employed in counter-
acting the ravages of this insect a diversified agriculture is undoubtedly
one of the most effectual. It must necessarily follow that the more
extensive any given crop is cultivated to the exclusion of other crops,
the more will the peculiar insects which depredate upon it become
unduly and injuriously abundant. The chinch bug is confined in its
depredations to the grasses and cereals. Alternate your timothy,
wheat, barley, corn, etc., upon which it flourishes, with any of the
numerous crops on which it cannot flourish, and you very materially
affect its power for harm. A crop of corn or wheat grown on a piece
of land entirely free from chinch bugs will not suffer to the same ex-
tent as a crop grown on land where the insects have been breeding
and harboring. This fact is becoming partially recognized, and already
hemp, flax and castor beans are to some extent cultivated in the coun-
ties mentioned. But there are many other valuable root and forage
plants that may yet be introduced and grown as field crops; and if
the late calamities only awaken the farmers of that country to a full
realization of the importance of greater diversification in their cul-
ture, the lesson will not be too dearly bought.
Of root crops that would escape the ravages of the winged insects,
and which would grow in ordinary seasons, and furnish excellent food
for stock may be mentioned turnips, ruta bagas, mangel wurzel, car-
rots (especially the large Belgian), parsnips and beets. Of tubers that
are not as profitable but of which it would be well to plant small
quantities in locust districts, for the reason, as my friend A. S. Fuller
suggests, that they grow with such ease, and are less likely to be in-
jured by the insects, the Chinese Yam, Jerusalem Artichoke (/elian-
thus tuberosus), and the Chufa (Cyperus esculentus) are worthy
of trial.
LOCUSTS AS FOOD FOR MAN.
As considerable merriment was made of certain trials made by
myself and others to ascertain the value of the young locusts as food,
144 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
I give here a paper on the subject, read by me before the last meet-
ing of the American Association for the Advancement of Science:
In the few words I have to communicate under this head, it is not my purpose to
inflict a long dissertation on edible insects. The subject has been sufliciently treated
of by various authors, and especially by Kirby and Spence in their admirable Intro-
duction to Entomology; while, within the year, Mr. W. BR. Gerard has brought to-
gether most of the facts in a paper entitled ‘‘Entomophagy,” read before the Pough-
keepsie Society of Natural History. It is my desire, rather, to demonstrate the avail-
ability of locusts as food for man, and their value, as such, whenever, as not un-
frequently happens, they deprive him of all other sources of nourishment.
With the exception of locusts, most other insects that have been used as food for
man, are obtained in small quantities, and their use is more a matter of curiosity than
of interest. They have been employed either by exceptional individuals with per-
verted tastes, or else as dainty tit-bits to tickle some abnormal and epicurean palate.
Not so with locusts, which have, from time immemorial, formed a staple article of diet
with many peoples, and are used to-day in large quantities in many parts of the globe.
Any one at all familiar with the treasures on exhibition at the British Museum,
must have noticed among its Nineveh sculptures, one in which are represented men
carrying different kinds ef meat to some festival, and among them some who carry
long sticks to which are tied locusts—thus indicating that in those early days, repre-
sented by the sculpture, locusts were sufliciently esteemed to make part of a public
feast. They are counted among the ‘clean meats” in Leviticus (xi, 22), and are re-
ferred to in other parts of the Bible, as food for man. In most parts of Europe, Asia,
and Africa, subject to locust ravages, these insects have been, and are yet, extensively
used as food. Herodotus mentions a tribe of AXthiopians ‘ which fed on locusts which
came in swarms from the southern and unknown districts,’? and Livingstone has made
us familiar with the fact that the locust-feeding custom prevails among many African
tribes. Indeed, some tribes have been called Acridophagi, from the almost exclusive
preference they give to this diet. We have it from Pliny that locusts were in high
esteem among the Parthians, and the records of their use in ancient times, as food, in
southern Europe and Asia, are abundant. This use continues in those parts of the
world to the present day.
In Morocco, as Iam informed by one (Mr. Trovey Blackmore, of London) who
has spent some time in that country, they do more or less damage every year, and are
used extensively for food whenever they abound so as to diminish the ordinary food-
supply ; while they are habitually roasted for eating and brought into Tangier and
other towns by the country people and sold in the market places and on the streets.
The Jews, who form a large proportion of the population, collect the females only for
this purpose—having an idea that the male is unclean, but that under the body of the
female there are some Hebrew characters which make them lawful food. In reality
there are, under the thorax, certain dark markings—the species used, and which is so
injurious to crops, being the Acridiwm perigrinum. Radoszkowski, President of the
Russian Entomological Society, tells me that they are also, to this day, extensively
used as food in southern Russia; while many of our North American Indian tribes, and
notably the Snake and Digger Indians of California, are known to feed upon them. No
further evidence need be cited to prove the present extensive use of these insects as
articles of food. Let us then briefly consider the nature of this locust food, and the
different methods of preparing it.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 145
The records show us that in ancient times these insects were cooked in a variety
of ways. (£dipoda migratoria and Acridium perigrinum, which are the more common
devastating locusts of the “Old World,” are both of large size,and they are generally
prepared by first detaching the legs and wings. The bodies are then either boiled,
roasted, stewed, fried or broiled. The Romans are said to have used them by carefully
roasting them toa bright golden yellow. At the present day, in most parts of Africa,
and especially in Russia, they are either salted or smoked like red herrings. Chenier,
in his account of the Empire of Morocco (London, 1788), says that thus cured, they are
brought into the market in prodigious quantities, but that they have ‘‘an oily and ran-
cid taste, which habit only can render agreeable.’ The Moors use them, to the present
day, in the manner described by Jackson in his ‘*‘ Travels in Morocco,” viz.: by first
boiling and then frying them ; but the Jews, in that country—more provident than the
Moors—salt them and keep them for using with the dish called Dafina, which forms the
Saturday’s dinner of the Jewish population. The dish is made by placing meat, fish,
eggs, tomatoes—in fact almost anything edible—in a jar which is placed in the oven
on Friday night, and taken out hot on the Sabbath, so that the people get a hot meal
without the sin of lighting a fire on that day. In the Abbé Godard’s ‘ Description et
Histoire de Maroc”’ (Paris, 1860), he tells us that “ they are placed in bags, salted, and
either baked or boiled. They are then dried on the terraced roofs of the houses. Fried
in oil they are not bad.’’? Some of our Indians collect locusts by lighting fires in the
direct path of the devouring swarms. In roasting, the wings and legs crisp up and are
separated; the bodies are then eaten fresh or dried in hot ashes and put away for future
use. Our Digger Indians roast them, and grind or pound them to a kind of flour,
which they mix with pounded acorns, or with different kinds of berries, make into
cakes and dry in the sun for future use.
The species employed by the ancients were doubtless the same as those employed
at the present day in the Kast, viz.: the two already mentioned, and, to a less degree,
the smaller Caloptenus Italicus. We have no records of any extended use of our own
Rocky Mountain species (Caloptenus spretus), unless—which is not improbable—the spe-
cies employed by the Indians on the Pacific coast should prove to be the same, ora
geographical race of the same.
} It had long been a desire with me to test the value of this species (spretus) as food,
and I did not lose the opportunity to gratify that desire, which the recent locust inva-
sion into some of the Mississippi Valley States offered. I knew well enough that the
attempt would provoke to ridicule and mirth, or even disgust, the vast majority of our
people, unaccustomed to anything of the sort, and associating with the word insect or
“ bug” everything horrid and repulsive. Yet I was governed by weightier reasons
than mere curiosity ; for many a family in Kansas and Nebraska was last year brought
to the brink of the grave by sheer lack of food, while the St. Louis papers reported
cases of actual death from starvation in some sections of Missouri, where the insects
abounded and ate up every green thing the past Spring.
Whenever the occasion presented I partook of locusts prepared in different ways,
and, one day, ate of no other kind of food, and must have consumed, in one form and
another, the substance of several thousand half-grown locusts. Commencing the ex-
periments with some misgivings, and fully expecting to have to overcome disagreeable
flavor, I was soon most agreeably surprised to find that the insects were quite palatable,
in whatever way prepared. The flavor of theraw locust is most strong and disagree-
able, but that of the cooked insects is agreeable. and sufficiently mild to be easily neu-
tralized by anything with which they may be mixed, and to admit of easy disguise,
according to taste or fancy. But the great point I would make in their favor is that
ER—29
146 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
they need no elaborate preparation or seasoning, They require no disguise, and herein
lies their value in exceptional emergencies ; for when people are driven to the point of
starvation by these ravenous pests, it follows that all other food is either very scarce or
unattainable. A broth, made by boiling the unfledged Calopteni for two hours in the
proper quantity of water, and seasoned with nothing in the world but pepper and salt,
is quite palatable, and can scarcely be distinguished from beef broth, though it has a
slight flavor peculiar to it and not easily described. The addition of a little butter im-
proves it, and the flavor can, of course, be modified with mint, sage and other spices,
ad libitum. Fried or roasted in nothing but their own oil, with the addition of a little
salt, and they are by no means unpleasant eating, and have quite a nutty flavor. In
fact, it is a flavor, like most peculiar and not unpleasant flavors, that one can soon learn
to get fond of. Prepared in this manner, ground and compressed, they would doubt-
less keep for a long time. Yet their consumption in large quantities in this form would
not, I think, prove as wholesome as when made into soup or broth; for I found the
chitinous covering and the corneous parts—especially the spines on the tibie—dry and
chippy, and somewhat irritating to the throat. This objection would not apply, with
the same force, to the mature individuals, especially of larger species, where the heads,
legs and wings are carefully separated before cooking; and, in fact, some of the mature
insects prepared in this way, then boiled and afterward stewed with a few vegetables,
and a little butter, pepper, salt and vinegar, made an excellent fricassee.
Lest it be presumed that these opinions result from an unnatural palate, or from
mere individual taste, let me add that I took pains to get the opinions of many other
persons. Indeed, | shall not soon forget the experience of my first culinary effort in
this line—so fraught with fun and so forcibly illustrating the power of example in over-
coming prejudice. This attempt was made at an hotel. At first it was impossible to
get any assistance from the followers of the us coqguinaria. They eould not more flat-
ly have refused to touch, taste or handle, had it been a question of cooking vipers.
Nor love nor money could induce them to do either, and in this respect the folks of the
kitchen were all alike, without distinction of color. There was no other recourse than
to turn cook myself, and operations once commenced, the interest and aid of a brother
naturalist and two intelligent ladies were soon enlisted. It was most amusing to note
how, as the rather savory and pleasant odor went up from the cooking dishes, the ex-
pression of horror and disgust gradually vanished from the faces of the curious look-
ers-on, and how, at last, the head cook—a stout and jolly negress—took part in the
operations; how, when the different dishes were neatly served upon the table and
were freely partaken of with evident relish and many expressions of surprise and satis-
faction by the ladies and gentlemen interested, this same cook was actually induced to
try them and soon grew eloquent in their favor; how, finally, a prominent banker, as
also one of the editors of the town joined in the meal. The soup soon vanished and
banished silly prejudice; then cakes with batter enough to hold the locusts together
disappeared and were pronounced good; then baked locusts with or without condi-
ments; and when the meal was completed with dessert of baked locusts and honey a
la John the Baptist, the opinion was unanimous that that distinguished prophet no
longer deserved our sympathy, and that he had not fared badly on his diet in the wild-
erness. Prof. H. H. Straight, at the time connected with the Warrensburg, (Mo.) Nor-
mal School, who made some experiments for me in this line, wrote: ‘“‘ We boiled them
rather slowly for three or four hours, seasoned the fluid with a little butter, salt and
pepper and it made an excellent soup, actwally ; would like to have it even in prosper-
ous times. Mrs. Johonnot, who is sick and Prof. Johonnot pronounced it excellent.”
I sent a bushel of the scalded insects to Mr. Jno. Bonnet, one of the oldest and
best known caterers of St. Louis. Master of the mysteries of the cuisine, he made a
"4
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 147
soup which was really delicious, and was so pronounced by dozens of prominent St.
Louisans who tried it. Shaw,in his Zravels in Barbary, (Oxford, England, 1738), in
which two pages are devoted to a description of the ravages of locusts, mentions that
they are sprinkled with salt and fried, when they taste like crawfish; and Mr. Bonnet
declared this locust soup reminded him of nothing so much as crawfish bisque, which
is so highly esteemed by connoisseurs. He also declared that he would gladly have it
on his bill of fare every day if he could get the insects. His method of preparation
was to boil ona brisk fire, having previously seasoned them with salt, pepper and
grated nutmeg, the whole being occasionally stirred. When cooked they are pounded
in a mortar with bread fried brown, or a puree of rice. They are then replaced in the
saucepan and thickened to a broth by placing on a warm part of the stove, but not
allowed to boil. For use, the broth is passed through a strainer and afew croutons are
added. I have had asmall box of fried ones with me for the past two months, and
they have been tasted by numerous persons, including the members of the London En-
tomological Society and of the Societé Entumologique de France. Without exception
they have been pronounced far better than was expected, and those fried in their own
oil with a little salt are yet good and fresh; others fried in butter have become slightly
rancid—a fault of the butter. Mr.C. Horne, F. Z. 8., writing to Science Gossip about
swarms of locusts which visited parts of Indiain 1863, says: ‘‘In the evening I had asked
two gentlemen to dinner and gave them acurry and croquet of locusts. They passed
for Cabul shrimps, which in flavor they very much resembled, but the cook having
inadvertently left a hind leg in a croquet, they were found out, to the infinite disgust
of one of the party and the am usement of the other.”
This testimony as to the past and present use of locusts as human food might be
multiplied almost indefinitely, and I hope I have said enough to prove that the nature
of that food is by no means disagreeable. In short, not to waste the time of the asso-
ciation in further details, I can safely assert, from my own personal experience, that
our Rocky Mountain locust is more palatable when cooked than some animals that we
use upon our table. I mention the species more particularly, because the flavor will
doubtless differ according to the species or even according to the nature of the vegeta-
tion the insects were nourished on. Ihave made no chemical analysis of this locust
food, but thatit is highly nourishing may be gathered from the fact that all animals
fed upon the insects thrive when these are abundant; and the further fact that our
locust-eating Indians, and all other locust-eating people, grow fat upon them.
Locusts will hardly come into general use for food except where they are annu-
ally abundant, and our western farmers who occasionally suffer from them will not
easily be brought to a due appreciation of them for this purpose. Prejudiced against
them, fighting to overcome them, killing them in large quantities, until the stench
from their Cecomposing bodies becomes at times most offensive—they find little that
is attractive in the pests. For these reasons, as long as other food is attainable, the
locust will be apt to be rejected by most persons. Yet the fact remains that they do
make very good food. When freshly caught in large quantities, the mangled mass
presents a not very appetizing appearance, and emits a rather strong and not over pleas-
ant odor; but rinsed and scalded, they turn a brownish red, look much more inviting,
and give no disagreeable smell.
The experiments here recorded have given rise to many sensational newspaper
paragraphs, and I consider the matter of sufficient importance to record the actual
facts, which are here given for the first time.
Like or dislike of many kinds of food are very much matters of individual taste
or national custom. Every nation has some special and favorite dish which the people
of other nations will scarcely touch, while the very animal that is highly esteemed in
148 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
one part of the country is not unfrequently rejected as poisonous in another section.
We use many things to-day that were considered worthless or even poisonous by our
forefathers. Prejudice wields a most powerful influence in all our actions. It is said that
the Irish during the famine of 1857, would rather starve than eat our corn bread ; an@
if what I have here written shall, in the future, induce some of our Western people to
profit by the hint, and avoid suffering from hunger or actual starvation, [ shall not
have written in vain.
FALSE OPINIONS AND PREDICTIONS.
I have already alluded to the fact that the idea entertained by
some people, and particularly promulgated by Mr. Z. S. Ragan, viz.:
that our Rocky Mountain Locust comes originally from Asia, vie
Behrings Strait, has no foundation whatever in fact (ante, p. 118;) and
under this head I desire to reassert and affirm that the belief that the
species will continue to move eastward, is just as unfounded. This
last belief is more generally entertained than the other, and the fol-
lowing from an editorial in the St. Louzs Republican of May 25, 1875,
is an example of the many expressions of it:
As near as can be judged from the observations of last year, the grasshoppers do
not move more than one hundred and fifty miles during the season. That is to say the
hatching locality this year is about one hundred and fifty miles to the eastward of last
year’s hatching place on an average, and those who have observed their habits think
that they will move across the continent at this rate, keeping within a belt of territory
bounded generally by the 37th parallel on the south and the 41st on the north. If this
theory be correct, they will hatch next year in the counties immediately west of the
meridian of St. Louis; the next in the eastern counties of Illinois, the next on the
western borders of Ohio and so on.
UNNECESSARY ALARM CAUSED BY OTHER SPECIES.
[Fig. 45.] The sense of apprehension of further danger
is great in a community that has suffered se-
verely from disaster whatsoever, and locusts
which under ordinary circumstances would
attract no attention were quite frequently
looked upon with alarm and suspicion during
the year. Mr. EK. W. Kruze, of Sedalia, sent
me avery large, short-winged locust found in
his locality last Fall, with an inquiry as to its
name, and whether there was any connection
between its appearance and the late invasion
of spretus. The same species was also sent
from the same locality by Mr. Geo. Husmann.
It is the Brachypeplus magnus of entomolo-
gists,and may be popularly called the Clumsy
Locust. It is one of our largest and clum-
siest species, incapable of flight, and never
f N doing serious injury. It is common on the
Tur Ciumsy Locust. plains of west Kansas and Colorado, but has
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 149
never been reported from Missouri till the present year. It is pret-
tily marked as in Fig. 45, and occurs in two distinct varieties, one in
which a bright yellowish-green prevails,and the other in which pale-
. brown predominates. There can be no connection between its ap-
pearance and that of spretus, other than that the exodus of this last
rendered more conspicuous, all large insects of this kind that were left
behind. Reports were circulated and published last February that
“the grasshoppers had appeared again at Independence, and in other
parts of the State.” The following letter from Dr. B. F. Dunkley, of
Dunksburg, Pettis county, will show how easily people are misled:
Inclosed please find some young locusts, just hatched out. We believe them to be
the Rocky Mountain locusts, but send them to you to decide. Please answer. In my
report, in answer to your circular, I said that some of the locusts that hatched out late
and only grew to half the size of others that migrated and left us last July, did lay their
egos, for myself and others saw them at it. Now I think these are from the eggs laid
by them. If so, will the cold, when it comes, kill them ?
All opinions like those expressed by Mr. Dunkley are based on
*+ mistaken identity.” The species noticed hopping about, during the
mild weather of January and February, are native species that are
[Fig. 46.] with us all the time, and
iN ~ habitually hibernate in the
‘ half-grown, unfledged condi-
tion. The most common of
y them, and that sent by Mr.
GREEN-STRIPED Locust :—a, larva; b, perfect insect. Dunkley and other corres-
pondents, is the Green-striped Locust ( Zragocephala viridifasciata,)
avery common species, ranging from Maine to Florida, and from the
Atlantic to Nebraska. It passes the winter in the immature con-
dition, sheltering in meadows and in tufts of grass, and becoming
active whenever the weather is mild. It is sometimes found in Win-
ter in the early larva stages but more often inthe pupa state, and
becomes fledged toward the end of April.
It differs generically from the Rocky Mountain Locust, which
hibernates in the egg state. This Green-striped Locust, as its name
implies, has, when mature, a broad green stripe on the front wings,
and in the narrower, humped and keeled thorax or fore-body, (Fig. 46)
may at once be distinguished fromthe dreaded Rocky Mountain pest.
Like so many other species of its family it occurs in two well marked
varieties, one in which, in addition to the stripe on the front-wings, the
whole body and hind thighs, above, are pea-green; the other in which
‘this color gives way to pale-brown. In both varieties the hind wings
are smoky with the basal third greenish.
The species noticed by Mr. Dunkley to hatch out late and to lay
eggs in the Fall was more probably femur-rubrum than spretus.
150 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
The species of the genus Zettiv also hibernate in the half-growm
and sometimes in the full grown condition, and are frequently sup-
posed to be the young of spretus. These insects are very active, and
[Fig.47.] are at once distinguished by the small head, great breadth
LS f across the middle of the pro-thorax which extends to a taper-
ie ing point to or beyond the tip of the abdomen; by the front of
f ch the breast forming a projection like a stock-cravat into which
ih 7 to receive the lower part of the head, and by the short, rudi-
| { mentary, scale-like front wings. They fly with a buzzing
Graxcrar- noise like a flesh-fly. Our most common species (7étt7x gran-
Locust. lata Scudder, Fig. 47,) may be called the Granulated Grouse-
locust. It is like the other species, very variable in color and orna-
mentation, the prevailing hue being dark-brown beneath and paler
above. A well marked variety has a small, pale spot on the rudimen-
tary front wings, and a larger conspicuous one on top of the hind
thighs.
Even insects belonging to adifferent Order were not unfrequently
the cause of unnecessary alarm. In the Spring of 1575 the meadows.
were reported as being destroyed around Champaign and Jackson-
ville, IlJinois, by what was supposed to be the young of spretus ; but
specimens of these supposed locusts, sent me by Chapin & Simmons,
of the Jacksonville Journal, proved to be little Jassoid leaf-hoppers
allied to the common grape-leaf hoppers —insects belonging to a differ-
ent order (Hemiptera) to that which includes the locusts (Orthoptera. )
They were indeed grass-hoppers,in the sense of hopping about among
the grass, but they were not the so-called grasshoppers (locusts) that
were proving such a plague in parts of Kansas and Missouri at the
time.
INJURIES OF NATIVE SPECIES IN 1875.
The native species of the genus to which the Rocky Mountain
Locust belongs were unusually common and destructive toward Au-
tumn in most parts of the State, except in the region ravaged by that
species in the Spring. The Two-striped (Rep. 7, Fig. 34), the Differen-
tial (zb7d, Fig. 33), the Red-legged, (ch7d, Fig. 26), and the Atlantic
species were abundant everywhere, and the two latter were more
particularly injurious. These were often supposed to be the genuine
spretus, and the reports of this last in Jefferson, Franklin and Moni-
teau counties in the Monthly Report of the Department of Agricul-
ture for November and December, undoubtedly refer to them, and
are a sample of the reliability of much of the entomological informa-
tion that comes through that channel. They were troublesome not.
only in the Mississippi Valley, but in the East, for I know that they
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 151
did great damage to oats and meadows in Southwest Pennsylvania,
and the following items doubtless refer to the same species, and will
show how injurious they were in Massachusetts :
GRASSHOPPERS IN Boston. — We did not anticipate that Boston proper would
ever be inconvenienced by the pests which have proved so destructive out West, but it
is a fact that grasshoppers are so numerous at the South End that they destroy the
flowers in the back yards to such an extent that hens are hired or bought to clear the
premises and save the ornamental plants which adorn the premises. ‘These insects are
not of the Western pattern, but are native productions. If their ravages continue, it is
possible some of our Western friends will be called upon to raise subscriptions for the
relief of the floriculturists of Boston.—| Boston Journal.
I venture to ask your advice in a grasshopper matter. Three years ago a party of
farmers and others in this commonwealth, tired of granite hills, gravel banks and sand
flats, and wishing some little latent fertility in the original soil—combined to effect, and
did effect, the reclamation from the sea of about 1400 acres of what originally was ‘ salt
marsh.’ We are amply satisfied of the fertility of this land,and so far, all is good.
Last summer, however, this land and adjoining territory was scourged with a plague
of locusts or grasshoppers. Whether they came in such numbers owing to the diking
of these 1400 acres, or whether they would, last year, have come in equal numbers
whether the marsh was diked or not, we cannot say. Our question is this, and is at the
same time the point upon which we pray your advice: Can we do anything to diminish
the number of these pests for next year? We could, for example, flood this whole tract
of land until early spring. Would this be advisable? Any points you would be kind
enough to give us on the matter, would be thanktully received.—[ Letter from C. Hers-
che], Boston, Mass., latter part of October.
LOCUST FLIGHTS IN ILLINOIS IN 1875.
The manner in which some writers have clung to the idea that
the Rocky Mountain Locust must overrun Missouri, [llinois, and the
States to the East,in spite of opposing facts, can only be accounted
for by inordinate iove of magnifying possible danger and of making
as much of a sensation as possible out of any misfortune that befalls
acommunity. A certain amount of apprehension is pardonable; and
that, under such apprehension, all sorts of insects, some of them, as I
have just shown, having no relation to locusts, should be mistaken
for the Rocky Mountain pest, is natural with persons who have had
no acquaintance with it, and are unfamiliar with its appearance. Last
September many prominent papers of the West gave the news that
the dreaded swarms had finally come into Illinois. In point of fact
large swarms of locusts did pass over the central portion of that State
early in September, and more particularly over parts of Livingston,
McLean, Vermillion, Ford, and Champaign counties. Small and scat-
tered flights were also seen later in the month. Some writers jumped
to the conclusion that said swarms were of the Rocky Mountain spe-
cies, without, however, giving a particle of proof. There is nothing
absolutely impossible in the occurrence of scattering swarms of the
genuine spretus in Illinois the year following a general invasion such
as we had in 1874, for while I have expressed the opinion that the
species will never do any damage east of the 94th Meridian, I have
admitted that it may temporarily extend to some distance beyond
152 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
that line (7th Rep., 165). But we had no reports of swarms passing
over the country to the Northwest or the northwest part of Illinois,
prior to their occurrence in the middle counties, and I felt so confident
that the swarms were composed of indigenous species, that I so stated
my belief in the Chicago Lvening Journal of September 9th, and ex-
pressed the opinion that they had originated within the borders of
the State; that there was no occasion for alarm, and that they
would scarcely be heard of after they settled. These opinions were
subsequently justified by the facts; for after taking every pains to
ascertain the truth, all specimens from such flights examined by com-
petent persons proved to be indigenous species. We heard nothing
of their ravages or of their rising again and passing over the country
to the south or east. Moreover, their flight seems to have been irreg-
ular and poorly sustained. Mr. H. P. Beach, County Judge of Ford
county, Ills.,in sending me specimens, writes, September 15:
About ten days ago myriads of grasshoppers flew southward over town. Many
of them came down evidently unable to keep up the journey. They seemed to be
all the way from a hundred feet, to a quarter or half a mile high, or perhaps very much
higher. In looking up towards the sun—the only way they could be seen,—the appear-
ance was much like that of a snow-storm looked at in the same way. We have not
heard from them since, and of course can give you no idea from ‘‘ whence they cometh
and whither they goeth.”’
Mr. B. F. Johnson, the Champaign (Ills.) correspondent of the
Country Gentleman, and who has most persisted in believing the
swarms to have been composed of the Rocky Mountain species,* also
in speaking of these flights, writes to that paper (Sept. 16):
When first seen their movements and motions were so unlike what [ had con-
ceived their flights to be, that it was not till several disabled or partially exhausted in-
sects had been caught,and their identity with the Kansas species demonstrated, that I was
convinced of their true character. I had supposed that these creatures flew in a man-
ner as pigeons and ducks and geese do—straight ahead in a given direction and with a
purpose. On the contrary, every insect seemed to be out on a holiday and acting inde-
pendently of all the others. While the vast mass slowly moved south with an inclina-
tion toward the east, there was a constant circular movement of a vast majority of the
whole number of individuals. zs a 22 When it got noised abroad
that they were flying, the fact produced a startling sensation. Would they increase in
numbers till thesun was darkened and then descend and devour up every green thing,
and leave eggs for a progeny behind them that. would repeat the disaster next summer?
These fears were speedily dispelled when their numbers were seen to diminish, and
when it was considered that allthe grasshoppers which had passed over, did they come
down could make but small impression on the ten thousand square miles of corn in
Central Illinois.
Actual examination of specimens from these flying bevies over
Illinois, shows them to have been composed of three species, viz: the
* Country Gentleman, Sept. 16, 12, Oct. 7, Nov. 11 and Nov. 25. Mr. Johnson cannot be blamed
for supposing these flights to have been composed of spretus, since considerable experience with this
last and some discriminating knowledge are necessary to distinguish it from the common indigenous
species, and especially from Aflanis. Neither can he be praised for the manner in which he has dis-
dained the evidence in the case ; for evading the real question by poor wit (C. @., Nov. 25); nor for
suppressing in a controversy in which he challenged my own views, some facts and arguments which I
submitted to him by private letter, in answer to his last public communications on the subject.
ive
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. : 153
Red-legged, the Atlantic and the Differential locusts: in no instance
was a specimen of spretus seen. The several specimens obtained
from Ford county were all Atlanis; asingle specimen received from
Mr. H. J. Dunlap, of Champaign, was a male femur rubrum, while
specimens taken by Prof. Burrill, of the Industrial University, at the
same place, as well as others from Norwood, Mercer county, sent to
Prof. Thomas, were diferentialis. The parties capturing these speci-
mens are not apt to fall into error, and are all positive that the speci-
mens submitted were from the flying bevies.
From these facts it results that two species, viz: femur-rubrum
and diferentialis, though normally having no migratory habit, and, as
I believe, incapable of extended flights, can actually assist in such
flights. That the bulk of these Illinois swarms was composed, how-
ever, of Atlanis, scarcely admits of a doubt. The other two, less able
to sustain lengthened flight, would naturally be most near the ground
and most often captured; while A¢lanzs, which we now know to occur
in this part of the country as well as East, and to often display the
migratory habit, would fly higher.
There are two facts which it will be well to bear in mind in this
connection, as explaining the above phenomena. ‘The first is that, as
we have already seen, A¢/anzs was very common in Missouri, even in
fields where it had never been noticed before. It prevailed to such
an extent in Illinois, that around Carbondale, Prof. Thomas could not
find a single specimen of the typical femur-rubrum, and there was
not a single specimen of it among a number which he caused to be
collected for me. So obvious was this fact that Prof. Thomas was led
to suggestin the Chicago /nter- Ocean of October 9, 1875, that the one
was the out-growth of the other. I quote his language:
This species (femur-rubrum) which can usually be found anywhere in the fields or
along the roadside during the Summer and Fall, appears to be entirely replaced by a
new form, which I take to be the one described by Prof. Riley as Caloptenus Aélanis
which is an intermediate form between © femur-rubrum and C. spretus, so near, in fact, to
the latter that it is almost impossible to distinguish the one from the other. I have
searched in vain for femur rubrum, it seems to have entirely disappeared, and that the
new variety has taken its place. Is the one the progenitor of the other: the former of
the latter? Iam no believer in Darwinianism, but here is presented a problem difficult
to solve, unless we admit the correctness of that theory, or, that all three supposed
species are but varieties of one, which I am half-way inclined to believe is the case.
Otherwise how are we t9 account for the appearance of this new form this season ?
The spretus has not visited our section, the femur-rubrum is absent, and here I have he-
fore me a large number of specimens gathered here, some of them to-day, with the
long wings and the notched male abdomen, corresponding exactly to Professor Riley’s
description of Caloptenus Atlanis? Is the common femur-rubrum being transformed
into spretus, this being the intermediate step? If so, over half the distance has al-
ready been traversed.
The second fact is, that diferentialis was also unusually abundant.
A letter from Mr. M. Brinkerhoff, of Onarga, Illinois, dated October 18,
154 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
1875, and accompanied by specimens, describes them as in great num-
bers there, filling the ground with their eggs.* The following which
refers to the same species is also interesting:
While the migrating hopper committed such devastation west of us, we here at
Bluffton have the manor-born, in immense numbers. A patch of potatoes, and some
sweet corn, seemed in danger of being consumed, when a flock of purple grackles, our
crow blackbird as it is usually called, came to our rescue. The few days that they have
visited the patch, has thinned out the hoppers amazingly. I never before noticed that
this bird was so useful in this respect. and as they are plenty, we may expect to be rid
of the big grey fellows (hoppers). They are more than twice the size of the Colorado
hopper, and are nearly as bad on a crop when plenty. What saved our little crop from
utter destruction, was an open field of land thickly covered with wild chamomile, upon
which they fairly swarmed. On this we saw them as thick as the Colorados, in Sedalia
or Warrensburg.—[S. Miller, in Rural World, Aug. 14, 1875.
Though unusually common, yet dif#erentialis, if I may judge from
my own experience in our fields and around Chicago, last Fall, com-
pared only as1 to 50 with Adlanis, and it is doubtful if it formed a
larger proportion of the flights. How are these exceptional migra-
tions of local species to be explained? We know they have occurred
at intervals in the Kast, (7th Report pp., 167-171) and we now have
evidence that they may occur in any part of the country ; and indeed
local swarms were not confined to Illinois last Fall as they were also
noticed in Kentucky. I think the explanation is simple. The ex-
cessively hot dry years of 1873 and 1874 permitted the undue multipli-
cation of these native species, and they were already very trouble-
some in the latter year (7th report, p. 173.) The myriads that
hatched out in 1875 were scarcely noticed at first and made little im-
pression on the luxuriant vegetation that a wet and favorable season
produced. By September, when a spell of dry weather cured the
grass and the locusts had acquired full growth, we can imagine that
they swarmed in much of the prairie country of Central Illinois.
Whenever they abound to an unusual degree the migrating instinct is
developed, just as it is under like circumstances in many other insects,
as butterflies and beetles, that are normally non-migratory. The rea-
sons we can only surmise; but aside from those of hunger, etc., pre-
viously suggested (Report 7, p. 164), the annoyance and inconveni-
ence to which the females while attempting to oviposit, have to sub-
mit from their companions, under conditions of excessive increase,
may have something to do with it. But mere increase in numbers
would not give to species like femur-rubrum and diferentialis, which
*The eggs of Caloptenus differentialis may be distinguished from those of spretus by the larger
and more irregular size of the mass ; by the greater number composing it; by the somewhat larger size
of the individual egg which measures 0.19—0.22 inch in length; by the coarser reticwlations of the sheli,
and by the brown color of the gummy fibrous matter that is intermixed with them and glues them to-
gether. The color of the egg varies from yellow to deep carneous, the latter prevailing, and the poste-
rior or narrower end is always somewhat constricted and darker.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 155
are ordinarily heavy-bodied and short winged, the power of extended
flight, and there is little doubt, in my mind, that the same exception-
ally hot, dry seasons which permit this undue multiplication, also
modify the individuals, and cause a decrease in bulk and increase in
wing-power. The facts support this view, for the flying specimens of
difterentialis sent to Prof. Thomas had, as he writes me, “the body
lighter and the wings longer, and some of that peculiar fierce appear-
ance belonging to migrating specimens ;’ and I have specimens from
Kansas and Minnesota which differso much in these respects from the
more normal specimens as found with us in ordinary seasons, that they
can scarcely be recognized as the same species. The casual observer
knows how thoroughly plants are modified in size and habit by season
and condition: the same holds true of insects, and more particularly
in certain groups.
Given that over the vast prairie region of Central Illinois, the in-
sects were as thick as I found them in many of our own fields,
where every step would cause two or three hundred to rise, and let
this migratory instinct be developed, and the mystery of the Illinois
flights vanishes. They are exceptional local phenomena: they are
neither as strong nor as long sustained as those of the Rocky Moun-
tain species; nor are they in any sense to be as much dreaded.
In short, whenever the climate and conditions in the Mississippi
Valley approach those existing in the native home of the Rocky
Mountain Locust, some of our native species, and especially those
nearest akin to it, also approach it in habit. If the climate of Illi-
nois and Missouri were to permanently change in that direction, these
species would become permanently modified ; but as there is no im-
mediate danger of such acontingency, the Rocky Mountain Locust is
the only species, here considered, that can properly lay claim to the
migratory habit.
PROSPECTS IN 1876.
The people in our western counties are very naturally quite inter-
ested in the locust prospects during the coming year; the more so
that the story has been widely circulated that the danger was greater
than ever before. As an example I take the following from an edito-
rial in the St. Louis Globe- Democrat of the 26th of December last:
Persons whose experience in such matters entitles their opinions to respectful
consideration, declare that the Summer sun of 1876 will hatch such swarms of grass-
hoppers in the West as have. never before been seen, and that the tract of country in
which they will prevail wil! be wider than ever before, reaching from a long distance
west of the Black Hills to the center of Missouri and Lowa.
I know of no persons whose experience deserves respectful con-
sideration who have declared anything of the sort; and so opposed to
156 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
the facts is the declaration that i do not hesitate to state that there is
no possible danger of any general injury in Missouri this Spring, and
no probable danger in the Fall; and to convey my views more fully
Ireproduce a short article which I last January communicated to the
New York Tribune:
Some one has announced the fact that there has been a prodigious number of
locust eggs laid all over the nothwest portion of the country lying east of the Rocky
Mountains. Some one has asserted that the soil of Wyoming, Montana and Dakota is
generally and thickly charged with these eggs. Who this some one is with such vast
experience that he has examined the soil over such large areas as to make the state-
ment, nobody knows. But some careless editor has set the gossip’s ball in motion, and
it has rolled on from paper to paper, with one change and another, until at last the
Boston Journal includes Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska in its portentous scope. “Ob-
servations show,”’ says this journal, ‘‘that last year’s grasshoppers deposited immense
numbers of eggs, and when the warm weather comes and hatches them, devastation
even more than these sections have previously known, will be pretty sure to follow.”’
“Observations show” that some editors are very gullible, and too ready to propagate
the sensational, and to disseminate alarming statements on the flimsiest grounds.
They publish as fact the veriest on dit, without once inquiring into its probability or
caring for the consequences.
From personal observation in parts of Missouri and Kansas, and from an exten-
sive correspondence, I am able to say that such statements, so far as these two States
are concerned, are entirely groundless; and I have every reason to believe that the
same will hold true of Nebraska; while in Minnesota, the investigations of the com-
mission appointed last summer by the Governor, indicate that even where eggs were
laid in that State, they mostly perished from excess of moisture, which dissolved the
glutinous substance which normally protects and holds them together. That in some
parts of the high country lying east of the mountains, especially toward the North,
eggs have been deposited in numbers, is not only probable but pretty certain. But in
that region such is the case every year, for it is the native home of the swarms which
occasionally extend to the upper Mississippi valley. But the number of eggs laid in
the States of Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska by the few straggling insects that passed
into that country last Fall, will not equal that laid in ordinary seasons by indigenous
species. In Colorado, also, there have been in most parts such abundant rains since
locust eggs were laid, and the ground has been so unusually moist, that there is some
hope that the bulk of the eggs are or will be destroyed.*
I give itas my belief that, firstin the three States mentioned, (Missouri, Kansas and
Nebraska), there will not hatch as many locusts next Spring as would naturally hatch
in ordinary seasons from the indigenous species; second, that, compared with other
parts of the country, those States ravaged by locusts last Spring and early Summer
will enjoy the greater immunity, during the same seasons of 1876, not only from
locust injuries, but from the injuries of most other noxious insects, except the wood-
borers. In short, the people of the ravaged section have reason to be hopeful rather
than gloomy. They will certainly not suffer in any general way from locust injuries
in the early season: and the only way in which they can suffer from the migrating
pest is by fresh swarms later in the year from the far northwest, the odds being, how-
ever, from a number of reasons which it is unnecessary to enumerate here, very great
against any such contingency. ‘There is one redeeming feature in the Journal’s article.
It is the advice to the people of the States named to not be profligate of the abundant
corn crop they have garnered, but to store it for an emergency. If nothing short of a
false alarm would cause them to do this, the statement might find justification ; but the
lesson of 1875 so clearly pointed to such a course, and was so dearly bought, that it
will not needlessly go unheeded.
*The Colorado Farmer for April 28, 1876, says editorially: ‘‘Hearing many conflicting reports
about the probable appearance and ravages of the hoppers this season, we took time recently to visit
a number of ranches on Clear Creek, Ralston and Bear creeks, and investigated for ourselves and inter- *
viewed many, and from all the inquiries we have made of reliable people from all parts of the Territory
and a careful gleaning of our exchanges, we have been lead to the following conclusions :
There will be some locusts, but not in the countless millions of last year. They may do some
damage, but not such havoe as in the past. They have already commenced to hatch in warm, sunny
localities, and a careful examination of the ground in many places miles apart, and in different sections
of the oountry and their favorite hatching grounds demonstrates that the eggs are in insigniffcant quanti-
ties compared with last near, and that where farmers have worked to exterminate them by dragging
the ground several times during the Fall and early Winter and Spring, millions of eggs have
been destroyed.
°
‘
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 157
THE GRAPE PHYLLOXERA.
This insect still continues to attract much attention abroad as
well asat home. Owing to the excessively wet summer of 1875 it did
comparatively little injury in our own vineyards, and I have little to
add to what has been previously published in these Reports.
COMPLETION OF ITS NATURAL HISTORY.
Having shown last vear that our knowledge of the natural history
of this insect was then all but completed, it gives me pleasure to now
record its completion, which I can best do by supplementing with a
few additional notes the following paper read last October before the
St. Louis Academy of Science:
It is well known to those who have followed the habits of Phylloxera vastatriz, as.
these have been discovered and recorded, that one of the most important points in the
life-history of this insect that has hitherto remained unsettled, is the nidus which the
winged female chooses for the consignment of the few eggs she lays. In 1871 I ven-
tured the supposition that these eggs were deposited in the down of the leaf-buds,* but
subsequent observation led me to believe that “ the more tomentose portions of the
vine, such as the bud, or the base of a leaf-stem, furnish the most appropriate and de-
sirable nidi’” for these winged mothers, and that the eggs were also laid in minute cre-
vices on the surface of the ground, especially around the base of the vine ,—all these
conclusions being based on observations made on the insects in confinement. The
question is an important one practically, as the hope was entertained that, by knowing
just where to look for these eggs, we might be able to check the rapid spread of the
Phylloxera disease, since it is through them alone that the disease can be started in
new localities distant from infested regions. Feeling, from past experience, that it was
extremely difficult to solve the problem in the open vineyard, and that experiments
with the insect confined in tubes were more or less unsatisfactory, I built, early in Sep-
tember, a tight house of heavy Swiss muslin, six feet high and four feet square, over a
Clinton vine. The house was built so as not to permit even so small an insect as the
winged Phylloxera to get in or out, and the vine was trimmed so that but few
branches and leaves remained to be examined. Into this enclosure I brought an abund-
ance of infested roots, and for the past five or six weeks I have been getting the wingea@
females confined where | could watch their ways. In addition, I prepared large, wide-
mouthed glass jars, by half filling with moist earth. Into the earth was then stuck a
vial of water holding a tender grape-sprig with young leaves. The leaves were thus
easily kept fresh and growing for a fortnight and upward. From day to day, as the
winged females were obtained from other vessels prepared for the purpose with infested
. roots, they were introduced into these jars containing living leaves,
The results of these endeavors to supply the winged mothers as nearly as possible
with the natural conditions have been satisfactory, and they prove that, as was sur-
mised, the eggs are laid in crevices of the ground around the base of the vine, but still
more often on the leaves, attached generally by one end amid the natural pubescence, or
rather down, of the under surface ; and while heretofore all efforts to artificially hatch
+ Seventh Mo. Ent. Rep., p. 98.
* Fourth Mo. Ent. Rep., p. 60.
158 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
e
the progeny from these eggs have, for the most part, failed, I have this year succeeded
in hatching them without difficulty, and present a tube with living individuals, and also
mounted specimens for the inspection of members. I have also succeeded in getting
both sexes of the American Oak Phylloxera and in thus completing the natural history
of both species.
Though this true sexual form of vastatrix, from the winged and agamous female,
has never before been carefully observed and described, it was nevertheless anticipated
by Balbiani in his studies of the European Oak Phylloxera (Phylloxera quercus Fonse.)
and by myself in my studies of the American Oak species (P. Rileyz).* Balbiani had
also obtained what is evidently the same from eggs deposited by wingless, hypogean
mothers late in the season and after the winged mothers cease to fly.t
The winged females carry in the abdomen from three to five and sometimes as
many as eight eggs. These eggs are of two sizes—the smaller, which produce males,
about three-fourths the size ot the larger, which produce females. Asthe whole organ-
ization of these aérial mothers—with the stout proboscis and ample,wings—indicates,
freedom and nourishment are needed to bring the eggs to perfection and cause their
proper oviposition. In confinement in small vessels, where these requisites are not
easily furnished, the eggs are gencrally voided, with the death of the parent, on the
sides of such vessels ; and those freely laid are with the greatest difficulty brought to
the hatching point. Only in two instances did I succeed in doing this last year. These
failures in the past find their explanation not so much in the difficulty of supplying
the natural conditions, as in lack of experience as to what those conditions were.
Whether owing to the want of down on the Clinton leaf, or to the fact that the
minuteness of the eggs makes it about as difficult to fiad them on a square four feet of
earth surface as the proverbial ‘‘ needle in a haystack,’’ the eggs found on the vine in
the aforementioned muslin enclosure were very few compared to the number of winged
insects which must have come out of the ground. It was also next to impossible to
SEXED PHYLLOXER™®:—a, female vastatrir, ventral view, showing egg through transparent skin;
5, do, dorsal view; c, greatly eal: arged tarsus; d, ‘shrunken anal joints as they appear after oviposition;
e, male car yecaulis, dorsal v iew--the dots in circle indicating natural size.
* Seventh Mo. Ent. Rep., p. 119.
t+ Comptes Rendus de l’ Acad des Sc., Paris, Nov. 2, 1874.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 159
find, and quite impossible to follow, the sexed individuals after hatching. In the pre-
pared jars, where the tomentose leaves of Labrusca were kept, 1 obtained more satis-
factory results; for, while a few eggs were laid on the surface of the ground, especially
in the space between the earth and the glass, and a few others on the upper side of the
leaves, by far the larger number were attached to the under surface, generally by one
end and thrust between the natural down of the leaf—evidently showing that this is
the natural nidus chosen. The winged mothers die soon after ovipositing, and their
shrivelled and decaying bodies adhere to the leaf-down.
By taking a leaf bearing eggs that are eight or nine days old and enclosing it in
asmaller, tightly corked tube, the sexed individuals hatch freely, and are easily
watched. This hatching takes place on about the tenth day after deposition, with our
late September temperature. The egg perceptibly enlarges during this time, a fact
that might be explained by endosmosis of the leaf-juices were it not known that the
same fact holds true of many soft insect eggs that are not attached to succulent leaves
or other living vegetation. The red eyes are seen through the delicate egg-shell early
in the development of theembryon, and just before hatching the joints of the body are
perceptible. The egg-shell is so delicate that in the process of hatching it is usually
pushed back in folds, and is left as a little wrinkled, whitish mass: occasionally, how-
ever, it more nearly retains its original form.
The sexed individuals are at once distinguished from all the other forms which
this interesting species assumes by the obsolete mouth-parts, the sexual organs and the
more highly developed nervous system: otherwise, in size, in smoothness and in obso-
leteness of the basal joint of tarsus, they most closely resemble the newly hatched
larva.
The female (Fig. 48, a, /) measures 0.40 mm., and is about one-third as broad. The
body widens slightly behind, and the two narrow anal joints of the abdomen swell out
prominently from the others. A mere swelling between the two anterior coxz repre-
sents the mouth-parts. The antenn more nearly resemble those of the wingless, aga-
mous Q than of the winged one, having but one rather small plate near the end of the
third joint, which third joint is generally constricted at base so as to give it a some-
what more pedunculate appearance than in the other forms; this does not always ap-
pear, however, as in some of my mounted specimens the diameter of the joint from
base to tip is nearly uniform. The minute, black, dorsal, hair-like points, as also the
dusky subventral warts each side of sternum just outside the cox, are visible as in the
agamous @, but not the six pale mefio-sternal tubercles between the legs. The legs
have the tibiz rather heavy terminally, and the tarsi show no distinct basal joint : they
otherwise precisely resemble those of the agamous Q, and are, together with the an-
tenn, similarly more dusky than the body. In most of my mounted and transparent
specimens (9 examined), two irregularly contorted nervous chords with numerous finer
ramifications are distinctly visible, one each side, crossing and joining on the prothorax
and metathorax.
The male differs in no respect from the female, except in the bulbous penis taper-
ing to a point; in broadening, if anything, before rather than behind, and in being
about one-fourth smaller. Barring the somewhat shorter black points, he is the coun-
terpart of the same sex in alarger species (caryecaulis) which I have already illustrated
and the figure of which I here introduce (Fig. 48, e.)
The single egg which the true female carries develops rapidly after she is born, and
on the second day already occupies nearly the whole body, as shown at Fig. 48, a. It
is delivered the third or fourth day, and this generally happens independent of impreg-
nation.
This impregnated egg, which I have so far obtained only in my small tubes, is
smooth like the other egys of the species, but more elongated or ellipsoidal, and but
very slightly broadest behind. It measures 0.32 mm., and is nearly three times as long
as broad. Bright yellow when laid, it soon acquires a deeper, yellowish-green color.
The posterior end is generally thickened or roughened by what is probably a mucous
secretion that serves to attach it.
160 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
Where this egg is naturally laid I have not yet ascertained, but in all probability
it is carried into or near the ground by the impregnated parent. The young hatching
from it is the normal agamous female ; for, though I have not yet hatched this impreg-
nated egg of vastatrix, I have succeeded in doing so with that of Rileyi, and Balbiani
long since did so with that of quercus. Iam led to think that, once impregnated, the
female carries her egg into the ground, because in 1878 I found females whose abdo-
mens, instead of being filled with numerous small eggs, were distended with a single
large one ;* and, though I was puzzled to interpret the fact at the time, I have no doubt
now that I then had under my eyes the true, impregnated female here described, and
that I overlooked the obsolete mouth.
The habits of these sexed indiyiduals, as I have been able to observe in both the
Grape and American Oak species, ure similar to those recorded by Balbiani of the Eu-
ropean Oak species. The male is quite ardent, more active than the female and some-
what longer-lived.
The complete natural history of the Grape Phylloxera may now be considered
established. <A full biological view of the species exhibits to us no less than five differ-
ent kinds of eggs: 1st, the regalarly ovoid egg, 0.25 mm. long and half that in diame-
ter, of the normal, agamic and apterous female, as itis found upon the roots; 2d, the
similar, but somewhat smaller egg of the gall-inhabiting mother; 3rd, the Q egg from
the winged mother, rather more ellipsoidal, aud 0.50 mm. long when mature ; 4th, the
3& egg from same, } less in length and rather stouter; 5th, the impregnated egg, just
described, 0.82 mm. long and still more ellipsoidal. We have also the singular spectacle
of an egg from the winged mother increasing from 0.34 mm. (its size when laid) to 0.40
‘mm. (its size just before hatching ;) giving birth to a perfect insect 0.40 mm. long, and
this in-turn, without any nourishment, laying an egg 0.32 mm. long. A being is thus
born, and, without.food whatsoever, lays an egg very nearly as largeas that from which
she came.
From observations here recorded I would draw the following conclusions :
1. We can no longer entertain the hope of any practical good from the knowl-
edge of the nidus chosen by the winged mothers, as the destruction either of these or
of their eggs—scattered as they are on the leaves all through a vineyard—is out of the
question. The objects are too small to be practically searched for, and it is virtually
impossible to prevent the spread of the disease in this stage. We might almost as well
try to prevent mildew by the destruction of the invisible floating spores that must at
times pervade the atmosphere of a vineyard. The hope entertained by Lichenstein
that the winged mothers would congregate and be attracted to some particular plant
must, I think, be abandoned.
2. The only preference shown in this respect would seem to be for those leaves.
that are most downy or tomentose; and from this view of the case we get another
probable reason why the varieties of Lubrusca which are characterized by an abund-
ant downiness on the under surface of the leaves suffer most from the insect.
3. Having already had the young from the impregnated egg of Rileyi hatch in
about a fortnight after it was laid ; having shown in previous writings that this species
winters in the larva state, and not in the impregnated egg as does the European
quercus; and, remembering, further, that vastatriz resembles Rileyi in wintering as
* One fact, which is not now interpretable, but may have a significance in future, I feel constrained.
to record inthis connection. It is that, in examining vastatriz, I have occasionally met with degraded
?’s (underground mothers) in which the abdomen, instead of containing numerous small ova, was
well nigh filled with a single, much larger, egg. Every observed fact leads to others yet unknown and
unsuspected ; and the full history of Phylloxera has yet to be written.—6th Rep , p. 87.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 161
larva, it is safe to conclude that the impregnated egg of vastatrix will also hatch the
same season that it is laid, and that we cannot apply to it the term ‘ winter egg ”’
which Balbiani applies to the impregnated egg of quercus. Itis not unlikely that, since
a few of the winged females issue as late even as the latter part of October, some few
also of the later produced impregnated eggs may pass the winter unhatched; if so,
they may be considered exceptions to the rule. In the same way, a few of the more
common eggs from the agamous Q may be exceptionally found on the roots in winter,
though as a rule only the hibernal larva is found.
In conclusion, I would state that this year’s studies of both vastatrix and Rileyi
confirm me in the opinion, elsewhere maintained (7th Rep. p. 91), that the term
“* pupa,” as applied to the sexed eggs by Lichtenstein, is quite unwarranted, and that
the egg-covering—thin and plastic though it is—can in no sense be likened to a cocoon,
and still less to a “silken cover.’’ The fact of its shriveling up makes it none the less
an egg-shell, for this shriveling process occurs in all eggs with very delicate and plas-
tic covering, and may, indeed, be witnessed in the gall-inhabiting form of vastatriz,
though no one has thought of questioning the ovarian nature of the eggs found in
those galls.
My sincere thanks are due to Miss M. E. Murtfeldt, who has carefully carried on
observations for me during my necessary absence. Without her patient watching and
persevering efforts, my endeavors must have measurably failed of results.
‘Soon after the above paper was printed, I received one by Balbi-
ani, published October 4,* in which he announces having also discov-
ered the nidus which the winged females choose, and obtained the sol-
itary impregnated egg of vastatriz. Lichtenstein also about the same
time succeeded in obtaining the sexed individuals and the solitary
egg, at Montpellier. The same observations were thus being made
simultaneously by three parties, both in Europe and America. The
few eggs which I obtained in my tubes became discolored and per-
ished, perhaps from not being impregnated, and I can make little out
of them under the microscope. Balbiani, by the assistance of M.
Boiteau of Villegouge (Gironde) was able to make his observations in
the open vineyard. He has been more fortunate and assiduous than
myself in continuing them, and has, as I just learn while writing this,
obtained the progeny from the impregnated egg. It is evident, also,
that with his trained eyes and excellent instruments, he sees minute
details which escape the notice of others, and I lay before the reader
the results of his observations.
The eggs of the winged female are not only placed on the under
side of the leaves amid the natural down, but also beneath the
loosened bark of branch and trunk, and in the recesses afforded by
the buds. As my friend Lichtenstein found them laid on muslin with
which he confined winged mothers, it would seem that they may be
laid almost anywhere. Nevertheless Iam satisfied that the leaves
*Comptes rendus del. Ac. d. Sce., Paris, Oct. 4, 1875.
E R—30,
162 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
form the most natural and most favorable nidi. Balbiani describes
the impregnated egg in detail as 0.28 mm. long and 0.13 wide, and as
mine were somewhat longer they probably vary slightly in size. It
gradually acquires an olive green tint, speckled with minute darker
dots. It is polished, translucent, and the shell is finely reticulate with
hexagonal meshes. This egg is always laid onthe more solid and per-
manent parts of the vine under the bark that is becoming loose. It
remains in these positions during the winter and with the renewal of
vine growth in Spring gives birth, as from analogy we knew it would
do, to the wingless mother louse which starts anew the virginal repro-
duction. In all essential characters it is like the normal root-inhabit-
ing, wingless, virginal mother, but is intermediate in size and form
between this last and the true sexual female when compared at the
moment of hatching. Balbiani gives the length as 042 mm. and the
width 0.16 mm.
The habits of this mother which, with increased vitality starts the
somewhat complicated cycle of the species’ changes, have not yet.
been observed, but she doubtless seeks the roots to there surround
herself with eggs, resting no doubt for the most part just at the butt
of the vine; while an occasional individual, where the conditions are
favorable, may settle on a tender leaf, and found the gall-inhabiting
type.
These observations of Balbiani’s establish one thing, which is, that
the impregnated egg hibernates before hatching, and they would
seem to indicate that the third conclusion which I drew (p. 161) is
erroneous. But I yet strongly incline to believe that further observa-
tions will prove that, as there suggested, the hibernation of the im-
pregnated eggs will prove exceptional and that they mostly hatch the
same year that they are laid. The eggs which I obtained having failed,
and feeling much interest in verifying in this country the interesting
discoveries made by Balbiani in France, I have perseveringly sought.
for the impregnated egg in our own vineyards the past winter. I have
most carefully examined many a vine from “top to stern” myseif,
and have employed Mr. Theo. Pergandy, who is well trained in the
examination of minute objects, during nearly every mild day to in-
spect vines in vineyards in which I knew the Phylloxera to occur.
I have had whole vines dug up from the Bushberg vineyards, and
collected large quantities of the loose bark for careful examination
and inspection in-doors; and while I have been rewarded by some
interesting discoveries, and have obtained the eggs of a large number
of other insects, I have failed to find the first Phylloxera egg, though
in several instances I have found what may be the empty shell. This.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. _ 163
failure to find here what has been found in France, may be due to
the comparative scarcity of the insect with us in 1875, and while I
would by no means conclude from it that there is any difference of
habit in the insect here and there, it shows how very rare these winter
eggs may sometimes be.
PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS GROWING OUT OF THESE LATEST DISCOVERIES.
Since the announcement that the impregnated egg winters under
the loose bark, a number of French writers have proposed plans for
its destruction, and urged that such was the readiest way to avert
PhyHoxera injuries. The plans mostly consist of the decortication of
the vines and burning of the bark, and the application to the wood of
some oily liquid such as kerosene, that may be applied so as to pene-
trate and destroy the egg and not injure the wood. While granting
that the destruction of such eggs in such manner is desirable, espe-
cially in a vineyard in an infested neighborhood, but not yet suffer-
ing, I doubt whether it is sufficiently important to warrant the labor
involved ; for those who advocate such a preventive system most
earnestly, forget that by far the larger number of the insects hiber-
nate as young larve on the roots, and that according to Balbiani this
same impregnated egg may be produced on the roots from sexed in-
dividuals born of hypogean, wingless mothers.
While it is always best to know the truth, in the present instance
it certainly does not give us any advantage over ourenemy. Now
that we have obtained a full survey of his powers we find no especial
weak point by attacking which he can be destroyed. He has too
many resources at command. From the practical side it seems to me
that the lessons taught by these late discoveries are more discourag-
ing than otherwise. There is no chance of managing in any general
way the destruction of the eggs on the leaves, and it is evident now
that the insect may be imported from one country to another on cut-
tings as well as on rooted plants; and that winter submergence will
not eradicate the pest. We furthermore get a better understanding:
of the fact that in so few instances the insect has been eradicated by
insecticides applied to the soil. One valuable lesson is taught by
these facts: it is that the season in which insecticides applied to the
roots will do most good, is in the interval between the hatching of
the impregnated winter egg and the appearance of the winged females,
i. e., during May and June.
PHYLLOXERA RAVAGES IN CALIFORNIA.
There is no longer any doubt whatever of the occurrence of Phyl-
loxera in California. It has during the year made its presence but too
164 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
manifest around Sonoma, and many vineyards there are already
seriously affected. Mr. Julius Dresel of that place, who was in my
office the past winter, informed me that he has himself had to root up
many hundreds of vines, and that the roots are crowded with the lice.
There naturally exists much excitement among the grape-growers of
the Pacific about it. Had the subject not been thought too lightly of
and had the California authorities taken some steps to guard against
the introduction of the pest when I pointed out the danger in the Fall
of 1871 in the Rural New Yorker and Rural World, and also in my
Ath Report (p. 56), the calamity which now seems inevitable to their
grape interest might have been averted. Active measures, even at
this late day may do much good, but it seems impossible to get our
politicians to appreciate the interests of the producing classes. A
bill “for the destruction of the Phylloxera” was introduced at the
last session of the Legislature which, through indifference, failed to
pass; and it is probable that nothing will be done till bitter expe-
rience obliges action, by which time it will in all probability be use-
less. While the authorities fail to appreciate the situation, the grape-
growers are much exercised, and are already endeavoring to profit as
much as possible by the researches of others, and the experience of
the French. This they will be able to do through the efforts of Prof.
E. W. Hilgard, of the University of California, who appreciates the
situation and who, in an address, delivered before the State Vinicul-
tural Association, at San Francisco last November, gave an excellent
resume of the insect’s habits and of the best means of managing it.
He infers that, from the great local intensity and comparatively slow
spread of the disease, the winged females are not developed to the
same extent as in France or the Mississippi Valley—an inference
which, it is to be hoped, future experience may warrant, but which I
fear it will not.
ITS OCCURRENCE IN THE SOUTHERN STATES.
While I have shown in previous Reports that the Phylloxera ac-
tually occurs in North Carolina and other Southern States, the exam-
inations made by Messrs. Berckmans and Ravenel, at Augusta,
Ga., and Aiken, S. C., which I reported last year, indicate that it is
not found in those localities. In the Proceedings of the 15th Session
of the American Pomological Society is a report of a special com-
mittee, consisting of A. S. Fuller, of N.J., Messrs. Berckmans and
Ravenel, and Thos. Taylor, of Washington, D. C., appointed at the
previous meeting of the society upon the following resolutions offered
by Mr. Berckmans, and which indicate the object of the mover:
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 165
‘* Whereas, American vine-growers are accused in the south of France of having
introduced there the Piylloxera vastatriz or Gall Louse, which is now causing the de-
struction of thousands of acres of vineyards, itis due to them that this assertion be
removed ; it is, therefore,
“ Resolved, That a committee be appointed to fully investigate its origin, whether
American or imported, the amount of destruction caused here, its area of dissemina-
tion, ete.
‘The committee to report the results of their labors in the Proceedings of the
present session.”’
The report was not submitted for discussion at Chicago, which is
to be regretted, as it isa very partial and one-sided statement of the
facts. It consists of some general statements by the chairman, of the
examinations made in 1874 by Messrs. Berckmans and Ravenel, and
published by me last year, and of additional examinations made by
the same parties in the same localities in 1875, and which, as embody-
ing the only facts in the report, [republish herewith:
Examinations made by Mr. Ravenel in 1875.
June 5th.—Made an examination to-day of 2 Isabellas, 1 Warren, and 1 black July
vines, for Grape Phylloxera; found nothing.
June 11th.—Examined at Mr. Cornish’s vineyard, 1 Muscat, of Alexandria, 1
Chasselas, 1 Catawba, | Isabella, 1 Black July, and 1 Warren; could find no traces of
insect life; roots, both young and old, perfectly healthy.
June 15.—Examined the following grape-vines at Mr. Scheveiren’s vineyard, situa-
ted in the lower part of Aiken, 1 Isabella, 1 Catawba, 1 Delaware, 1 Clinton, 1 Concord,
1 Riesling, and 1 Chasselas. These vines are about 8 years old, (except the last which
were only 2,) healthy and vigorous, and in fine fruit; we could find no traces of insect
life. The young and older roots were clean and healthy, and showed no ravages in pre-
vious years.
July 8th.—Went over to Mr. Berckmans’ Fruitland Nursery, near Augusta, Geor-
gia, and made examination of the following vines:
1 Clinton, 2 years old, under cultivation.
1 Clinton, 3 years old, under cultivation.
1 Ives, 4 years old, under cultivation.
1 Concord, 4 years old, under cultivation.
1 Taylor, 5 years old, not cultivated one year.
I could find no trace whatever of insect life.
The roots of young and old are healthy, and exhibit no effects of former ravages.
The above are transcripts from my notes taken at the time the examinations were
made. In the two seasons I have examined 60 specimens, comprised in 18 different va-
rieties of grapes, and in four separate localities. The soils of these four localities vary
from a light and loose sandy soil (my own, on the borders of the ‘‘ sandhill ”’ region,)
to a firmer and more compact (Scheveiren’s in the lower part of Aiken,) and a clay loam
(Dr. Berckmans’ in Georgia. )
I present the above facts as they have come under my own observation. I used in
all these examinations a pocket glass of high magnifying power, and saw nothing
which | considered necessary to be put under the microscope. Had the insect been
present in any form, either as egg or living animal, I could not have failed to detect it.
Examinations made by Mr. Berckmans in 1875.
June Sth, 1875.—At Redcliffe, South Carolina, the residence of Harry Hammond.
Esq., examined Pauline, Black July, Warren, White Chasselas, several varieties of
Muscat and Malvaisia, soil a very stiffred clay, very compact; vines planted in 1859-60 ;
cultivated three or four years, then abandoned; no culture for eight years, during
which time vines were much injured by wagons running over them; ground plowed
and vines received a working in the winter of 1874-75, the first in ten years. Growth
luxuriant and most healthy, some of the foreign vines having canes of the new growth
from four to seven feet; fruit scattering, but healthy; no trace of Phylloxera. N. B.
The foreign vines are on their own roots.
August 12th.—Received to-day from Mr. Hammond, thoroughly ripe and perfect
bunches of Chasselas from above vines. Wood and foliage perfect, notwithstanding
most unusually hot and dry month of July.
166 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
June 7th, 1875.—Examined at Sandhills, Augusta, Concord, Ives, Goethe, Wilder,
Lindley, Maxatawney, Eumelan, Cynthiana, Brant, Cornucopia, Canada, Senasqua,
Croton, Catawba, Warren; vines from two to seven years old; soil almost pure sand,
kept well cultivated and fertilized with annual top dressings of bone-dust and leaf-
mould; growth moderate in most varieties, owing to vines being closely planted and
defective pruning; not a trace of insects. This vineyard is now yielding a heavy crop
of perfect fruit.
July 50th—Examined a vineyard of alittle more than one acre; vines trellised
and kept in cultivation annually ; vines four, six and eight years old. Catawba, Con-
cord. Delaware, Diana, Wilder, Lindley ; soil a compact whitish clay subsoil, com-
monly termed here crawfish land; top soil sandy ; situation very low, and soil reten-
tive of humidity, but well drained; vines very luxuriant; fruit abundant, sound and
not a trace of Phylloxera.
August 10th—Dug up to-day a vine of White Chasselas, planted in 1858; vine
was injured several times and repeatedly broken ; first growth of the year was broken
off when it had attained six feet; grew off vigorously, and set fruit on second growth ;
canes of latter six feet, very vigorous and healthy, and after submitting the rootlets to
close investigation, failed to find a trace of insect; soil a rich, gravelly loam, two feet
deep, and subsoil stiff, red clay.
From these notes it is evident that the presence of the Phylloxerais still unknown
here; the vines examined at Sandhills had been received from various sources, north
and west. Mr. Hammond’s foreign vines were brought by him from the garden of the
Luxembourg, Paris, in 1859. My foreign vines, of which I cultivated, in 1860-61, nearly
400 varieties, came from various sources; some from Paris, Angers, Nice, Hungary,
Crimea, and a large portion from Algeria. Nota trace of Phylloxera has ever been
discovered on any of them.
These reports are most interesting, and while they confirm the
absence of Phylloxera in the vineyards examined, they also most elo-
quently support the views so repeatedly urged in my writings.
Where the Phylloxera occurs, I have shown that the European vine
Janguishes and by the third or fourth year perishes, while many of
our own varieties also suffer and some of them succumb. Here we
have instances, where no Phylloxera exists, of the Kuropean vines
flourishing and bearing healthy fruit, as also many native varieties
and hybrids, which in vineyards infested with Phylloxera, suffer or en-
tirely succumb. One other fact comes out clearly from Mr. Berckmans’
report: it is that the insect was not brought from any of the various
parts of Europe from which he imported his foreign varieties. Facts
like these are what we want, and not prejudiced opinions.
While it is made clear, therefore, that the Phylloxera does not
occur around Augusta, the following letter from the Secretary of the
Atlanta Pomological Society will show that it occurs about 160 miles
westward of Augusta, in the same State; and I have little doubt but
that the investigations of Mr. John T. Humphreys, who has recently
been appointed State Entomologist of Georgia, will show us that it
occurs more or less throughout the State:
C. V. Riney—Dear Sir: Your letter of Sept. 18th, and parts of 6th and 7th An-
nual Reports, were received, and my excuse for so long a delay in replying is absence
from home and pressing business engagements. Early in October I took four vines
from our vineyard that had the appearance of being unhealthy. Allen’s Hybrid, Maxa-
tawney, Walter and Delaware; all but the Walter had been planted three years—that
two years.
Upon examination, with an inferior single leos glass ([ could not get a good one
in our city), I discovered insects, answering to the Phylloxera, on the roots of Maxa-
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 167
tawney and Walter, in considerable numbers, but failed to find any on the others,
though the roots had every appearance of being affected. It was my intention to have
anade further investigations, but absorbing engagements prevented.
Atlanta Nurseries, Atlanta, Ga., Dee. 8, 1875. M. Cores.
In a subsequent letter Mr. Cole writes:
I regret that it is not in my power to furnish you with roots of the Maxatawney
‘grape vine upon which I discovered Phylloxera, detailed in my letter of 8th December.
The examination was made early in October, and the subjects destroyed by burning.
The examination was carefully made, and the insects clearly defined in considerable
mumbers, and their movements observed.
AMERICAN GRAPE VINES IN EUROPE.
The demand has steadily increased in France for American vines,
and especially those varieties which most resist the Phylloxera.
Messrs. Jules Leenhardt, and M. Douysset, of Montpellier, who have
‘been large importers, state that the orders during 1875 exceeded
fourteen million cuttings, and though the orders have been largest
for varieties of wstivalis, as Cunningham, Herbemont, Jacquez, many
others, including wild vines, as the wstivalis of our woods, and the
Mustang of Texas,* have also been sent over. There has also been
quite a demand from Germany for our cuttings, as well as for seed
of our different varieties.
The reason for this large demand is obvious. In spite of the liberal
national reward offered in France for a remedy; in spite of the well
directed and persistent efforts of the Government, and of the National
Academy of Science; in spite of the fact that improved methods of
employing the sulpho-carbonates have been discovered, and that the
use of these compounds is declared by the Phylloxera Commission of
said Academy to be satisfactory—the only remedy which has been
applied on a large scale is submersion, which is not everywhere
practicable, and the disease has steadily continued to spread.
During my visit to South France last July,I found that in many
parts of the Department of Hérault, where four years before the whole
country was one vast vineyard relieved only here and there by an
live orchard, the ground was devoted either entirely or partly to other
crops, and the vineyards were fast disappearing. Yet right in the
midst of this desolating work of the insect, the American vines were
generally flourishing, and those who had carefully grafted their own
varieties on to the roots of ours were elated at the prospect.
I made numerous notes and observations in different vineyards
around Montpellier; but Messrs. Planchon and Viala have since, on
* Mr. Onderdonk in a letter to Mr. Isidor Bush, expresses the belief that the vinifera will not
graft upon the Mustang. He has tried it repeatedly, and the grafts have always died the second or
third year, after making a luxuriant growth.
168 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST.
behalf of a special committee appointed to report on the condition of
American vines there, gone over the ground so thoroughly, in their
report submitted last December, that I refer the reader more particu-
larly interested to that paper,* as also to one by my friend Isidor
Bush on “American Grape Vines in Europe,” read at the last meeting
of our State Horticultural Society. This last was published in the
Rural World of February 23, and March 1, last, and isa valuable
and temperate presentation of the case.
There has naturally arisen a good deal of feeling and discussion
as to the merits of different varieties, and this was especially notice-
able between the champions of the Concord on the one hand and
those of the Clinton on the other; the latter making as much capital
as possible out of a statement of mine, made at a special meeting of
the Central Agricultural Society of Hérault, to the effect that while
the Concord is hardy and prolific and resists the Phylloxera so well
that it is the popular grape with us, I have nevertheless found vines.
dying in exceptional instances and evidently from Phylloxera.
The demand for some varieties has very much exceeded the sup-
ply, as the Summer of 1875 was unfavorable to the growth and ripen-
ing of grape wood; and I very much fear that the French recipients.
will experience some disappointment in 1876 in the growth of some of
their cuttings, and in the nature of others, especially those sent from
the South supposed to be the Jacques. ‘
As a large portion of the grape wood sent over to France has been
sent from Missouri, our grape-growers are interested in knowing what.
the prospects may be for future demands. It is evident that while the
demand will not cease entirely, it will never be as great as during
1875, for even on the supposition that the varieties of wstivalis will
be grown extensively throughout the Phylloxera district for their own
grapes, and that the Clinton, Concord and Taylor will be as exten-
sively used as stocks, the French nurserymen will be able from this.
time forward to measurably, if not entirely, supply the demand.
California grape-growers will find it advisable to adopt the same
course as have the French; and a good deal of grape-wood from the
East may yet find its way there.
*Etat des Vignes Americaines dans le Départment de ’Hérault, pendant 1875. Messager Agricole,
10 Vecembre, 1875.
INNOXIOUS INSECTS.
THE YUCCA BORER.—Megathymus yucce (Walker).
(Ord. Leprporrera ; Fam. Hesrerip&. ]
The following paper from the Trans-
actions of the St. Louis Academy of
Science (Vol. III, p. 323-43) treats of
an insect that is structurally interest-
ing, and at the same time injurious to
g the stately Yuccas that are so esteem-
? ed by the lovers of the beautiful in
parks and gardens. Though the nar-
{i row-leaved Yucca (VY. augustifolia)
AE naturally extends into southwest Mis-
Arie souri, and the insect may yet be dis-
covered there, I reproduce the paper,
not as treating of a species that is now
injurious in other States and may some day become
so in Missouri; but as a contribution to entomologi-
i \ cal science, in accordance with my custom of devot-
\
\N ing, under the head of INNOXIOUS INSECTS, a small,
~ closing portion of each Report to the consideration
N of some insect or insects that do not particularly
N
iio
LAN |
G Z
y
\ )
rey SE iS
SUE, LY
SF
oe aN,
LE. 6 BNE
pr at bay :
YZ
Ff
4A
fe
VA
LL 2
. LEE IE
affect the agriculturist, but may nevertheless inter-
% \ est other classes of readers. In order to adapt it
N to this Report, I have omitted some parts of the
original paper, and shall add a few observations,
made since, at the end. This is the only North
American butterfly which is so far known to have
YL,
ss
Y
LE,
Ly
YY,
170 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
/
““He who, by a minute analysis of any animal, enables us to solve any dubious point connected
therewith, does more for the elucidation of this much abused natural system than the greatest and most
angenious theorist who has yet taken the subject in hand.’?’—WerstTwoop.
The study of aberrant forms in Nature is always interesting. They are continually
confronting the naturalist. They baffle the systematist and constantly remind him of
the necessarily arbitrary nature of his classificatory divisions. Few divisions seem
more natural at first glance, than that of the Lepidoptera into Rhopalocera (butterflies
or day-flyers) and Heterocera (moths or night-flyers). It was no sooner proposed by
Boisduval than it was recognized as a most convenient arrangement, and adopted very
generally. The antennz in this Order are always conspicuous, and their clubbed or
non-clubbed tips are easy of observation, and associated with other important charac-
teristics which separate the two groups. The Sphingidze, however, by their crepuscu-
lar habit and their antenne thickening toward the end, though terminating abruptly
in a point, bring the two groups in close relationship and diminish their value; while
the Castniidz on the one hand and the Hesperid on the other so intimately connect
them, that it becomes almost a matter of opinion as to whether the former should be
considered butterflies, or the latter moths. Urania and other abnormal genera* make
the relationship of the two groups still more perplexing. On antennal structure alone
—whether we consider the clubbed or non-clubbed tips according to Boisduval, or the
rigidity, direction, and length, which Mr. Grote deems of greater importance t—two
primary divisions cannot be based. If we take the spring or spine on the hind-wings,
which is so characteristic of the Heterocera, we meet with the same difficulty ; for a
large number of moths do not possess it, while an accepted Hesperian (Huschemon
Raffiesie, Macl.) from New South Wales is furnished with it. Nor is there any one set
of characters which will serve as an infallible guide to distinguish moths from butter-
flies ; and the number of moths described as butterflies, and the fact that Kirby con-
siders the position of Barbicornis, Threnodes, Pseudopontia, Rhipheus, Argiale, and Eus-
chemon, included in his * Synonymic Catalogue of Diurnal Lepidoptera” as doubtful
butterflies, gives suflicient proof of the truth of the statement. Between all classifica-
tory divisions, from variety to kingdom, the separating lines we draw get more and
more broken in proportion as our knowledge of forms, past and present, increases.
Every step in advance toward a true conception of the relations of animals brings the
different groups closer together, until at last we perceive an almost continuous chain.
Even the older naturalists had an appreciation of this fact. Linnzeus’s noted dictum,
“Natura saltus non facit,” implies it; and Kirby and Spence justly observe that “ it
appears to be the opinion of most modern physiologists that the series of affinities in
nature is a concatenation or continuous series; and that though an hiatus is here and
there observable, this has been caused either by the annihilation of some original group
or species * * * or that the objects required to fill it up are still in existence but
have not yet been discovered.’? Modern naturalists find in this more or less gradual
blending their strongest argument in favor of community of descent, and speculation
as to the origin, or outcome rather, in the near present or remote past, of existing
forms, is naturally and very generally indulged, even by those who a few years back
were more inclined to ridicule than accept Darwinian doctrine. Shall we then say that
the old divisions must be discarded because not absolute? As well mignt we argue for
the abolition of the four seasons because they differ with the latitude, or because they
gradually blend into each other! Entomologists will always speak of moths and butter-
flies, howsoever arbitrary the groups may come to be looked upon, or however numer-
ous the intermediate gradations.
* Westwood (Intr. ii, 359) figures Barbicornis Basalis, God. as an Erycinid butterfly with tapering
and ciliate antenn.
t Proc. Amer. Assoc. Ady. Sci. xxii, B. 111.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. — - 71
These thoughts naturally present themselves in considering so osculant a species
as the Yucca Borer.
BIOLOGICAL.
The reader of these Reports is aware that the queenly Yuccas cradle and nourish
avery curious and anomalous Lepidopteron—the Pronuba yuccasella (cf. Rep. V, pp.
150-60; Rep. VI, pp. 131-5). The genus is further interesting, from the entomological
side, as giving us the insect under consideration.
In the home of the Yuceas, and more particularly in the home of the caulescent
species, like Y. aloifolia and Y. gloriosa,* persons who have occasion to dig up the
roots, or subterranean trunks, often notice that these are bored and hollowed out along
the axis (Fig. 49, 5), the burrow cylindrical, and lined at its upper end with silk, which
is generally intermixed with a white glistening, soapy powder. These tunnelings are
made by our Yucca Borer, which dwelis therein ; and their presence may generally be
detected by masses of excrement observable among the leaves, and by certain chimney-
like projections made by the twisting and webbing together of the more tender heart-
leaves, or even of the flower-stalk, after they have been partly devoured, into a sort of
funnel, from which the excrement is expelled (Fig. 49, a, a). The tunnelings weaken
the trunk and induce rot, so that the plant is not unfrequently prostrated thereby; and
as the insect is sufficiently common in the Gulf States to sometimes be found in every
third plant over extended regions, its work renders the Yucca worthless as a hedge
plant, for which it has been tried.
[Fig. 50.]
MEGATHYMUS YUCCH:— Female.
In the months of April and May, in South Carolina, but earlier in more southern
latitudes, the parent Megathymus may be observed, where the Yuccas abound, passing,
with very rapid, darting flight, from plant to plant, remaining but a few seconds at one
place, during which she fastens an egg (Fig. 51, 55) to some portion of a leaf. She is
generally seen at this work in the morning hours. The eggs, which are well-developed
when she issues from the pupa, are laid singly, though several are often attached to
the same leaf, generally near its tip and on the upper or under side indifferently. In
the course of about ten days the young, reddish-brown larva (Fig. 51, c) gnaws its way
out through the crown of the egg, and conceals itself in a web between some of the
more tender terminal leaves. Generally, it will be found at first near the tip of a leaf
* Though I have positive proof of its working in aloifolia, gloriosa and jfilamentosa, its range does
not seem to be co-extensive with this last species, as I believe the insect has not yet been reported north
of latitude 36 degrees,
172 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
where the sides naturally roll up and afford a safe retreat. It then gradually works to
the base, feeding the while and rolling and shriveling the blade as it descends. Other
blades are often joined, and, in fact, the insect lives among the blades till it is about
[Fig. 51.]
MeGaTHYMUs YUCCH:—a, egg, side view, enlarged; b, egg from which the larva has hatched;
bb, bbb, unhatched eggs, natural size; c, newly-hatched larva, enlarged; cc, tull-grown larva, naturat
size; d, underside of head of same, enlarged to show the trophi.
one-fourth grown, and seldom enters the trunk before that time. How soon, in the
larval development the white powdery secretion already spoken of appears, or how
many larval molts occur, has not been ascertained; but the more mature larva
is always more or less covered with this powdery matter, which doubtless serves
as a protection from the mucilaginous liquid which the tissues of the Yuccas
contain and freely exude upon interference or maceration. Pupation does not take
place till the subsequent Jate Winter or Spring; there being, from all that I can
ascertain, but one brood each year. The burrow often extends two or more feet below
ground, and during the coldest weather the larva probably remains in a partially dor-
mant state at the bottom. Occasionally two larvae inhabit the same trunk,in which
case their tunnelings are kept separate, side by side. The pupa state (Fig. 52) is gen-
erally assumed just below the chimney-like funnel at the top of the burrow, and no
other preparation is made for it than partial closing, near head and tail, to insure sus-
pension. This funnel is, in reality, built and extended by the larva, and what little
[Fig. 52.] matter besides silk goes to make its exterior has been added and
worked in from the outside. In the several larve that I have had
feeding in breeding-cages, this habit of building up and making tubes,
for which remnants of leaves and other extraneous substances are
“~¥ used in its construction.
In the issuing of the imago the pupa skinis rent on the middle of
the notum and across the eyes, and the casings of the legs are never,
and those of the antenne seldom, severed from their solderings in
the exuvium.
The imuago rests (Fig. 53) with its antennze, slightly diverging and
MrGcatHyMus YUC- '
cm :--Pupa. generally directed forwards; with the wings elevated, closely ap-
~
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. ie
pressed, and with the costa of primaries at an angle of about 45° from the body. Re-
garding the flight, which is diurnal, Dr. J. H. Mellichamp, of Bluffton, S. C., was im-
pressed with the extremely rapid and [Fig. 53.]
darting motions of the insect as it
passes from plant to plant; and Mr.
EK. A. Schwarz, of Detroit, who has
had very excellent opportunity of ob-
serving the species in Volusia county,
¥lorida, informs me that, when start-
led, Megathymus flies directly up-
ward 20 or 50 feet, then horizontally
for along stretch—sometimes out of
sight—and descends as directly as it
rose. It frequents open places, is MrEGATHYMUS YucC®:—Walking.
very shy, and generally settles near the ground.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL.
The first notice of this insect that we have any record of is that by Boisduval and
LeConte, who figure it under the name of Eudamus 2 yucce on Plate 70 of their Icono-
graphie.* Though there is no text accompanying the plate, it is evident, from the
generic reference, that the insect is considered Hesperian, and no one could hesitate to
so consider itif guided by the figures. In those of the imago the head is unnaturally
broad, the body too slender, and the antennz with the club too slender and too much
hooked. The wings, in repose, are thrown forward asin Thecla; the antenne erect,
and the legs too slender. The larva has the large aud nutant head, narrow thoracic
joints, and green, yellow and white longitudinal stripes so characteristic of Hesperid
larvee. The pupa has much the form and color of Epargyreus Tityrus (Fabr.) In short,
these figures, in many respects, and those of the larva and pupa more particularly, are
so unlike the insect considered in the present paper, that the question might justly be
raised as to whether lam dealing with the Vucew of Boisduval and LeConte, if the
figures in the work in question were known to be generally trustworthy. But I have
already showny+ how inaccurate and unreliable some of the said figures are; while the
food-plant, as indicated by the specific name, and the size, markings and color of the
perfect insects in the plate, leave no doubt as to the identity of Yucce B. & L., and the
species here considered. Too much imagination entered into the composition of that
plate, and the probability is that after LeConte’s figures were received in Europe by
Boisduval, the latter, by mistake, coupled with Yucce the larvaand pupa of some other
large Southern Hesperian.
The next reference to this insect is by Walker,{ in 1856, who is the first to briefly
describe it as Castnia yucce. In 1871, Kirby referred it doubtingly to Zgiale, Feld. in
Hesperidx.2 In 1872, Scudder made it the type of a new genus (Megathymus) in Hes-
perid||, without further diagnosis than the incorrect figures in the Inconographie
alluded to. This reference is followed by Wm. H. Edwards in the Synopsis accom
panying the first volume of his work on N. A. Butterflies (1872). Scudder subse-
* Hist. Gén. et Icon. des Lépid. del’ Am. Sept, 1833.
t+ Sixth Rep., p. 186.
} List of the specimens of Lep. Ins. in the Coll. of the British Museum, Part VII., p. 1583, No. 43.
§ Synonymic Cat. Diurnal Lep., p.608. W.F. Kirby : London, 1871.
{| Systematic revision of some of the Am. Butterflies, etc., p. 62. S, H. Scudder: Salem, 1872.
174 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
quently states that ‘it is not a butterfly,’’* and Mr. A. R. Grote, after an examination
of specimens collected in Florida, regards it ‘‘as belonging to the Castnians, where it
is placed by Walker.’’y
it will thus be seen that this insect has sorely perplexed systematists, having been
bandied from the butterflies to the moths; and that the balance of opinion withdraws
it from the butterflies and places it with the Castnians—a family which. in some
respects, combines the characters of the two great Lepidopterous divisions, but is
regarded, and justly, as having most affinities with the moths.
I shall endeavor to show that this opinion is not well-founded; that Megathymus
is a genuine butterfly, and that its greatest affinities are with the Hesperians. Together
with one or two other species it forms a small, abberrant tribe; but, in order to more
fully discuss its affinities, it is necessary to give an exposition of its characters, as no
detailed descriptions have yet been published.
DESCRIPTIVE.
Eaa—Subconical, the top flattened or depressed, and with a slight central dimple
the attached base concave; smooth but not polished. Color, pale green when laid, in-
elining to buft-yellow or brown before hatching. Diameter at base 2.5 mm.; height
1.8 mm.; the traverse diameter often varying slightly in two cross directions. Four-
teen examined that were naturally deposited and many more in the 9 abdomen.
Larva—Newly-hatched larva (Fig. 51, c); Length 6 mm. Color dark brick-red
with pitchy-black head and cervical shield; the abdominal joints showing two prin-
cipal transverse folds. Six longitudinal rows (2 dorsal on anterior fold, 2 subdorsal, and
2 stigmatal on posterior fold) of black stiff hairs, arising either directly from the skin
or from very small tubercles, longest posteriorly where they often exceed in length the
diameter of the joint bearing them; some less conspicuous stigmatal and subventral
hairs. Head larger than first thoracic joint, rounded, but rather flat in front ; cervical
shield narrow and in one piece; both minutely punctate. No anal plate. Full-grown
Larva (Fig. 51, cc—Average length 2.60 inches; diameter 0.40 inch. Color edematous.
white. Surface faintly aciculate, and sparsely armed, ‘dorsally, with minute, evenly
distributed, short, rufus bristles, springing from the general surface, and not very
noticeable with the naked eye ; covered more or less copiously with a white, glistening,
powdery secretion.{ Cylindrical, the abdominal joints with 8 annulets, the first 3
occupying anterior half, the 8rd most prominent and widening laterally, and the other
5 on the hind half of the joint—all best defined dorsally. The thoracic ‘joints some-
what larger than the rest, more deeply and irregularly wrinkled; the substigmatal
region with longitudinal folds. Head black, perpendicular, and asperous or deeply
shagreened; epistoma and labrum brown, small, and usually with a transverse median
ridge. the 4-shaped mark white, forking before the suture, and the forks having the
shape of U: mandibles stout, subtriangular, non-dentate: antennw (Fig 51, £)2 jointed,
exclusive of bulbus, the terminal joint twice as long as the basal, sometimes showing a
faint constriction, and with an apical nipple and long seta: maxillz and labium and
mentum forming a subquadrate piece, bulging out prominently from beneath, the parts
seemingly soldered together and separated only by deep sutures, the maxillary palpi
(Fig. 51, e) consisting of two broad joints, the second surmounted by two stout nipples
squarely docked at tip, the inner one stoutest and both armed with bristles (the parts
not clearly shown in figure): the labium small, trapezoidal, highly polished, with the
spinneret (2) twice as long as palpi (g) which are small, recurved and 2-jointed, ex-
clusive of bulbus: a few stout bristles on labrum, on palpigerous piece of maxilla, om
Mentum, base of mandibles and around the ocelli, which are not easily distin-
guished from the more globular of the shagreenations. Cervical shield more glabrous
than head, and scarcely darker than the body except around hind border. Thoracic
legs very short but stout, with the horny parts deep brown, and sparsely armed with
bristles. Proleges well developed, the hooks in double row and forming a distinct pur-
ple-brown, transversely oval annulus, but slightly broken at the narrow ends. Anal
shield rounded behind, coreaceous rather than corneous, and with a slight increase of
bristly hairs, especially around border. Stigmata large, with a purple-brown, oval
annulus.
* Historical Sketch of Generic Names proposed for Butterflies, p. 213. Salem, 187).
+ Canadian Entomologist, September, 1875, p. 173.
} This secretion is of a waxy nature, analogous if not identical with that secreted by so many
Homopterous and some Hymenopterous larve. It is soapy to the touch, and dissolves readily in alco-
hol, leaving however a distinct scum on the surface.
\
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. _ 175
Pupa—Average length 1.50 inches. Cylindrical; broadest at shoulders, the abdo-
men large, recurving ventrally toward anus, and terminating in a broad, flattened,
posteriorly rounded, transverse, slightly decurving flap, the borders thickened basally
and extending ventrally so as to surround the bilobed anus. Eyes prominent, with a
transverse carina: wing-sheaths reaching hind part of 4th abdominal joint, ventrally ;
hind tarsi to about the hind third of these, and the elub of antennsze—which forms a
prominent bulge but tapers to a point—nearly as far. Surface but slightly polished
and faintly corrugate; a few extremely minute bristle-like spines distributed over the
abdominal joints, dorsally, and the two or three terminal joints with stiff rufous hairs,
increasing posteriorly and thickest on the flap. Chitinous covering delicate, and all
the members clearly defined. Prothoracic spiracle showing as an opaque, dull fulvous
elliptic-ovoid wart. Color brown-black anteriorly, paler on the abdomen, and more or
less densely covered with a white powdery secretion like that which characterizes the
full-grown larva. ;
ImaGo.—Generic Characters—Head small, the width, including eyes, not much
more than half that of the mesothorax; the antennal bulbus large, and the inter-
antennal space not wider than one of the sockets ; covered with rather evenly shorn,
dense hairs, and flattened scales not overhanging the eyes. Eyes small and smooth,
No ocelli Labial palpi (Fig. 54, c) stout and short, not reaching to top of eyes, 3 jointed,
the basal joint broad but short, the middle joint 4 times as long, the terminal joint tu-
berculous and one-sixth as long as the preceding: clothed in short and thick hair-like
scales. Tongue filiform, rather more than one-half the antennal length. Antenne
rigid, cylindrical, terminating in an elongate knob (Fig. 54, a) which is slightly flattened
and slightly tapering and recurved at tip, but without apical spine or tuft: having
rather more (,j') orrather less (2) than half the costal length ot primaries, Thorax
very robust, recalling that of Xyleutes ; clothed with close-lying hair which becomes
longer and looser behind; the patagia rather broad, forming two crescent-shaped,
slightly raised layers ; the tegulie closely appressed. Legs (Fig. 54, e, f, 9, front, mid-
dle and hind) with brushy hairs beneath the femora ; the tarsi all studded beneath with
minute reddish spines, the hind and middle tibiz still more strongly spined, and each
with a pair of more prominent spine-like, apical spurs of equal size, and hardly longer
than the other spines in <j‘ and not longer” than the diameter of tibize in 9: the front
tibiz unarmed, the nodule on the inner apical third ovoid and dark: tarsal claws with
avery small pulvillus between them: front femora 5.5 mm. long ; tibiz rather more
than half as long; tarsi as long as femora: middle femora 7.4 mm. long; tibiz and
tarsi but slightly shorter: hind femora same length as front ones; tibiae one-fifth longer.
[Fig. 54.] Wings, with the scales small but mostly long,
narrow and dense, with long hair at base supe-
riorly and with the general shape and venation
(Fig. 54, a, 6) of Hesperia, the primaries with
the apical angle more acute, but less so than in
Thymele ; anal angle not produced but rounded:
secondaries narrow and more rounded than in
any other Hesperid genus known to me: veins
quite stout. Abdomen 9, very stout and heavy,
thickening behind, blunt at tip, and truncate
below; <j more slender and gradually taper-
ing. ‘Specific Characters.—Average expanse
2.50 inches; length of body 1.12 inches. Gen-
eral color, above, deep umber-brown, the body
more grayish, especially the tegulz ; the longer
hairs of the mesothorax and base of abdomen
inclining to ferruginous : whitish in front and
around the neck and back of the eyes. Prima-
ries with a notched ferruginous band on the
outer fourth bounded by veins 1 and 4; a nar-
rower mark running from the posterior margin
of this between 4 and 6; a paler mark in a line
with the first band between 6 and 9, and a ter-
ruginous mark again just within the discal area’
—the veins traversing the spots showing dis-
tinctly black: an apical shace, a costal streak
between veins 8 and 9, and alternate marks on
the tringes, are pale yellowish ; while the basal
hairs are ferruginous. Secondaries with a fer-
ruginous border and straw-yellow fringes. In
the (f\ the antennal stem is paler, the spots on
Mreatnyuus:—a, b, venation of front and P™™aries smaller and paler, and the border on
hind wings; c, labial palpus, denuded; d, club secondaries wider 3 while in the 2 the seconda-
of antenna; e,f,g, front, middle and hind legs. ries have from two to four ferruginous spots
176 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
just outside of the disc and between the inferior veins.* Beneath, the whole coloration
is brighter, the spots between veins 6 and 9 being pure white, the others saffron-yellow,
and the posterior portions of all the wings, and a broad costal streak on secondaries,
pearly-gray ; a spot of the same color is observable on the outer third of secondaries
below vein 2, a more distinct and triangular mark on the inner third just below the
costal vein; while the orange superior spots in Q show dark brown. ‘The antennz
are white with the exception of theclub; the palpi and front trochanters whitish-gray,
deepening posteriorly. The legs are brown with the tarsi but faintly tinged with gray.
The ten specimens that have come under my observation show considerable vari-
ation, aside from that which is sexual, in the depth of color and size of the spots, as
well as in the distance between them and the hind border of the wing; but none of
them have the spot on primaries, indicated in one of Boisduval’s figures, just within
the middle of the wing and below vein 2.
AFFINITIES.
Let us now compare the foregoing detailed characters with the Castnians on the
one hand and the Hesperians on the other.
Scudder, who has certainly given more attention than perhaps any other author
to the Hesperians, divides them into two groups, which he considers of tribal value.7
The first to which he applies Liatreille’s name Hesperides is characterized chiefly by the
primaries in the ( having a costal fold (often inconspicuous, however;) by the posterior
extremity of the alimentary canal being protected beneath by a corneous sheath, which
extends beyond the centrum or body of the upper pair of abdominal appendages, some-
times nearly to the extremity of the appendages; by the club of antennez being elon-
gate, roundly bent, or with a sinuous lateral curve; by the prevailing color being dark
brown with white or translucent angular spots ; by the stout body and swift flight; by
the eggs being distinctly ribbed vertically ; and by the larve generally feeding on legu-
minous plants and living in horizontal nests made with the leaves. The second tribe,
to which he gives Hiibner’s name Astyci,} the front wings of ¢ have no costal fold ;
the extremity of the alimentary canal is not protected by any extruded sheath ; ‘‘ the
prevailing tints of the wings are tawny and black, marked also but often feebly with
pale, sometimes vitreous, spots;’? the antenne have a stout club, which either tapers
rapidly or is devoid of a crook; the hind wings are usually horizontalin rest; theeggs
are smooth, usually broader than high; and the larve “feed on Graminex, and gen-
erally construct vertical nests among the blades.”
The eggs of the Castnians are, so far as [am aware, unknown and undescribed.
In both butterflies and moths they present an infinite variety in form, in sculpture, and
in the manner in which they are laid. As arule, however, those of the larger moths
are either ovoid, spherical or flattened, and rarely subconical or sculptured ; while those
of butterflies are more often conical, and present greater variety in form and sculp-
ture. The eggs of Hesperians are subconical, and those of the Astyci, as we have just
seen, in being smooth and broader than high, agree exactly with those of Yuece.
The larve of the Castnians are, according to Boisduval?, endopbytous, boring the
stems and roots of Orchids and other plants, like the Sesians and Hepialians, and like
Yuece. But they are ornamented with the ordinary horny piliferous spots or warts
which characterize Heterocerous larve, and have a horny anal plate. Butterfly larvee,
on the contrary, rarely possess these warts, but frequently have the body uniformly beset
«The secondary sexual characters are confounded by Boisduval, as quoted by Morris (Synopsis
of Lep. of N. A., p.113,) though, as there is no text in the Iconographie; the error doubtless originated
with Morris in making descriptions from the figures.
+ Bulletin Buffallo Soc. Nat. Sei., p. 195. ‘
}I think such diversity of ending in terms used for divisions of the same value should be avoided.
§ Suites 2 Butfon; Sphingides, Sesiides, Castniides; Paris, 1874.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. | 177
superiorly with close-shorn bristles as in Yucca, such bristles generally springing from
minute papilla. The newly hatched larvz of the two divisions approach each other
more nearly in general appearance, as all animals do, the farther we go back to the
commencement of individual life; but though the newly hatched larva of Yucce bears
a general resemblance to the same stage in many endophytous Heterocerous larve (e.g.
Xyleutes, Cossus,) yet in the stiff hairs springing from the general surface, or from very
minute points, instead of from distinct tubercles, it agrees with the Rhopalocera. The
legs, both false and true, together with their armature and the trophi, are so extremely
variable in both divisions that comparisons can hardly be instituted. The endophytous
habit, though very exceptional, is found in butterflies (e.g. Thecla Isocrates, Fabr.: see
Westwood’s Intr., ii., p. 3869.) None of the Heterocerous borers, so far as my expe-
rience goes, line their burrows continuously with a matting of silk; but use the silk
very sparingly, or not at all, till about ready to pupate. The larva of Yucce, for the
most part, lives in a tube of silk, which it builds and extends often several inches be-
yond the trunk or stem in which it burrows. and from which it often, especially when
young, issues to feed. In this, again, it approaches the Hesperians, which are partial
concealers, and live, when not feeding, within silken cases or tubes constructed among
the leaves of their food-plants.
The pupz of the Castnians, like those of all Heterocerous borers known to me, are,
according to authors, armed with 1ings of minute spines on the hind borders of the
abdominal joints—the spines serving a very useful purpose in assisting the pupa out of
its cocoon. Heterocerous borers also pupate in a more or less perfect cocoon, made
either within or without the burrow ; and, in the issuing of the imago, the mesothora-
cic covering generally collapses, the leg-cases become unsoldered, and those of the an-
tennz are always separated and often curled back over the head in the exuvium. The
Hesperians pupate within the silken cavity occupied as larva, or else in a separate
slight cocoon: the pupa is generally attached to a silken tuft by the hooks of the cre-
master, and sometimes by a silken girth around the middle of the body besides ; it is
not unfrequently covered with a slight powdery bloom, and is characterized by the
prominence of the prothoracic spiracle*; the exuvium more nearly retains its form,
the leg-cases remaining soldered, and even those of the antenne being rarely separated.
In not having a well-formed cocoon, in being covered with bloom, in the characters of
the exuvium, in the conspicuity of the prothoracic spiracle, but more particularly in
the want of minute spines on the borders of the abdominal joints, Yucce is again Hes-
perian and not Castnian. Indeed, except in the broader anal flap, densely surrounded
with stiff bristles, in place of an apical bunch of hooks, in the smaller head and larger
body, it resembles Nisoniades in general form, color, and texture.
The typical Castnians, in the perfect state, have the wings large with loose and
very large scales, and the hind-wings invariably armed, at costal base, with the long
stout spine, or spring, which serves to lock the wings in flight by hooking in a sort of
socket beneath the primaries, and which is so characteristic of the Heterocera. The
venation resembles more nearly that of the Hepialians, and is totally unlike that of the
Hesperians. The veins are slender ; in the primaries 1a and 5 areas stoutas therest; the
discal cell is short, connected transversely with 3 and with an areolet above: in the
secondaries the cell is nearly obsolete, and the independent or vein 5 of secondaries is
as stout as the others. (Comp. Fig. 54 a. 6. with Fig. 55) The antenne, though thick-
* In Msoniades Juvenalis (Fabr.) this spiracle takes the form of a prominent sooty-black horn or
tubercle.
E k—831.
178 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
ened at tip, are generally long and more or less supple, and there
are two distinct ocelli between the eyes, behind the antennz. The
/ Castnians vary much in general appearance, but whether we
deal with the Brazilian Castnia Linus (Cram.) with its narrow,
elongate, rounded, clear-spotted wings, and its remarkably elon-
gate and swollen basal joint of the middle tarsi; or with C. Licus
(Cram.) which has broad, angular wings; or with the genera
Ceretes, Orthia, Gazera, and Synemon—we find the characters
above mentioned constant: they are typical of the Family and
are Heterocerous characters. Yucce, on the contrary, has none
AN ; of these characters, but in the smaller wings, in their venation, in
Venati f Castnia Pha- ome
Gao nen (Fabr.) the closeness of the small and narrow scales and hairiness at base,
in having no ocelli, and in the unarmed secondaries, entirely agrees with the Hesperi-
ans. I attach much less importance to the antennz, size of head and body or even the
spurs of tibize; because they are all more variable. Thus, while most of the Castnians
have the antennal club tipped witha spine or a bunch of bristles, others (e, g. Castnia
Orestes, Walker, from Surinam,) have it of the same shape as in Yucce, and unarmed
or even moreshort and blunt (Synemon Theresa, Doubl.) Again, in most Hesperians
the club tapers, or is curved at tip; but there are all degrees of variation, from the ex-
tremely curved club of Epargyreus Tityrus (Fabr.) to the straight and blunt club of
Oarisma Poweshiek (Parker). The small head and subobsolete spurs in Yucce are abnor-
mal compared with either family ; for most of the Castnians have the spurs much as in
Hesperia, and the head almost as broad as the thorax. In thestiffer, relatively shorter
antennze, with large club; in the spines which stud the tibize,* as well as in the stout-
ness of the thorax and abdomen, Yucce is again Hesperian rather than Castnian. The
Castnians, like the Uranians, and many other exceptional moths, resemble the butter-
flies in being day-flyers ; but the position of the wings in repose, which is a more im-
portant character, is said by all observers to be similar to that of Catocala, Drasteria,
and other Heterocera, viz.: deflexed or incumbent. Yucce, both in manner of repose,
in color, and in pattern, is a staunch Hesperian.
In short, a careful consideration of the characters of our Yucca Borer shows that
in all the more important characters it is essentially Hesperian; and that in most of
those characters by which it differs from the more typical species of that family—as in
the small spurs, in having only the apical ones on the hind tibiz, in the tibial spines,
and difference in size of legs—it is more Rhopalocerous than Heterocerous. The same
holds true when we consider the adolescent states. In the small head of both larva
and imago, and in the very large abdomen, it is abnormal; but these characters are
traceable to the abnormal larval habit, and are very unimportant compared to the pter-
ogostic and other characters cited. I have long since concluded that general larval
form and appearance is so dependent on habit and so variable according to habit, that
it is less valuable than more minute structural characters, and that for purposes of
classification it has even less value than egg. structure, and infinitely less than imaginal
characters. All endophytous Lepidopterous larve, of whatever family, have certain
general resemblances that are a consequence of similarity of habit ; and I give it as my
emphatic opinion that Yucceer is a large bodied Hesperian, which, though approaching the
*In the Castnians that [have been able to examine none of the tibise have spines, while those on
the tarsi are very minute; the middle tibiw have a pair of unequal, prominent sub-apical spurs, and the
hind tibiz have two similarly unequal pairs, the anterior pair from about the terminal fifth.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 179
‘Castnians through Synemon, has no real relation with them. In certain marked charac-
ters it departs from the Hesperians as at present understood, and the only question
which a careful study of the species gives rise to in my mind is—not whether it should
be considered a Castnian, but whether it offers characters that necessarily separate it
from the Hesperians. Families should, I think, be made as comprehensive as possible
and not unduly multiplied ; and in considering aberrant forms, the objects of classifica-
tion are best subserved by retaining them in whatever division can claim the balance of
characters. It is better to widen than to restrict in the higher groups. LeConte does
better service in bringing Platypsylla among the Coleoptera than does Westwood in cre-
ating a new Order—Achreioptera—for it. Phylloxera, in Homoptera, is much more
wisely retained in the Aphidid than made the type of a new Family. Let Yucce,
therefore, be retained in Hesperidie. By its aberrant characters it may constitute the
type of a third tribe, for which I would propose the name Castnioides. This Tribe con-
sists at present, in addition to Megathymus yucce, of two other good species,* the one
from Mexico, the other from Costa Rica. Itis very probable that the number will be
greatly increased as we become more familiar with the Lepidopterous fauna of Mex-
ico and Central America, where the Yuccas and Agaves abound; for I have little
doubt that the last-named plants will also be found to nourish other species of the
Tribe.
ENEMIES.
Ihave reared from the Yucca Borer eleven Tachina flies, all belonging to the
species which I have designated anonyma, and which infests the larvae of a number of
other Lepidoptera. The fact that Yucce is attacked by such a parasite is further proof
that it is more or less an external feeder, since it is hardly probable that the parent
Tachina would enter the burrow, and I know of no genuine endophytes that are simi-
larly attacked.
CONCLUSION.
Whether we have in our Yucca Borer a remnant of more ancient and synthetic
types from which the Castnians on the one hand and the Hesperians onthe other are
derived, or whether we have in it amore recent variation from the more typical Hespe-
rians, are questions which, with present knowledge, permit only of a speculative an-
swer. The former hypothesis is, however, the more plausible. The Castnians, while
occurring in Mexico, find their greatest development in Central America and Brazil.
The few Castnioides known, inhabit the southern part of North America. During the
tertiary period, when the ocean reached over the whole Mexican plateau northward,
the fauna of North and South America was much more similar than at the present
time. It is not difficult to conceive how a Lepidopterous family that was then common
to both divisions of the continent, may since that time have deviated in the two direc-
tions indicated, and yet have left some less modified forms in the intermediate
country. Weare assisted in this conception if we view, with some botanists, the Yuc-
cas as remnants of an ancient flora.
We may learn from the history of this butterfly, as from that of the Hackberry
butterflies,t how unsafe it is to describe, and particularly to create genera, from mere
drawings. Megathymus, as founded on Boisduval’s figures, is very much ofa myth. It
*Zgiale Kollari Felder and 2, indecisa Butler and Druce.
t4th Rep., p. 129.
6th Rep., p. 150.
180 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
i
is so with all genera erected by the mere coining of a name without recognizable defi-
nition; and while a Hiibner, in making a number of divisions on superficial grounds,.
may accidentally hit upon relationships which subsequent research proves cor-
rect, he certainly does not greatly benefit science by his work. Again, we may
learn the necessity for the adoption by entomologists of some rules for guidance im
matters that do not come within the scope of present accepted rules. Can names con-
nected solely with published figures be accepted? Shall we write Yucce Boisduval or
Yuccee Walker? Such questions become the more important when two different names
are employed. A figure, however good, cannot be considered a definition ; and, whilst
most entomologists would consider that the species in question had not virtually bee
named until described by Walker, others take a different view, and perhaps with rea-
son, since a good figure, so far as recognition of the thing intended is concerned, is
infinitely more definite than the majority of the earlier descriptions of species in ento~
mology.
In conclusion, I take pleasure in expressing my obligations to Mr. W. F. Kirby, of
Dublin, Mr. John a. Ryder, of Philadelphia, and Mr. Herman Strecker, of Reading, Pa.,
for kind assistance in my studies of this insect; and more particularly tomy esteemed
correspondent Dr. J. H. Mellichamp, of Bluffton, 8. C., for his efforts in furnishing
material, and to my friend Mr. S. H. Scudder of Cambridge, Mass., for valuable aid,
always freely given.
Since the above article was written I have been able to make
some further observations on the manner of pupation, on the flight of
the butterfly and on the early larval habit.
The exposed portion of the blackened, chimney-like funnel, made
by the larva, has a length of from four to six inches; but the funnel
virtually extends from one to three inches below the still green and
growing leaves before it reaches the more solid portion of the trunk
where the true burrow may be said to commence. Throughout this
entire length the funnel is elastic with a tendency to contraction. It
is within the hidden base of this elastic funnel, or just above the bur-
row proper, that the pupa state is generally, if not always, assumed.
A more careful study of Yucca tops in which the pupa was naturally
formed—i. e. in plants not cut till after pupation—shows me, also, that
the partial closing of the burrow near head and tail is due solely to
the elasticity of the funnel. No additional silk is used, and nothing
that can well be called a cocoon is constructed. Just above the natu-
ral contraction that occurs at the junction of the more elastic with
the more firm and solid portion of the burrow, the pupa rests—the
cast-off larval skin generally helping to close up the lower pas-
sage. Here the pupa has perfect freedom of motion, and readily
twirls the lower part of the body when disturbed. The natural
recurvature of the abdomen, as shown in the figure, presses the
bristled, dorsal and terminal portion of the body on the one side, and
the ventral, middle portion on the other, against its elastic confines,
and holds it securely. A few muscular movements, aided by the
leverage and hold which the aforementioned bristles insure, bring the
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. . 181
pupa, when the imago is about to issue, toward the top of the funnel,
which readily opens under the pressure, since it is closed only by
contraction. In the issuing of the imago the pupa remains within the
tube.
Having let several of the butterflies loose in a spacious cham-
ber in order to watch their movements, I can confirm what has been
said of the rapidity and strength of their flight. I would further add,
that, in resting or walking, as in all their actions, they have the char-
acteristics of the larger bodied skippers. When the wings are not
used in flight, the inferior portion of the secondaries is folded along
vein 1 and tucked in under the submedian, as is, I believe, the case
with all Hesperians. At rest, the outer portions of primaries are
brought closely together. The favorite position of the insect when
at rest is vertical, or even hanging from beneath an oblique object.
In walking, the wings open more or less, but the hind ones are not
held horizontal. In walking on a flat surface, the fore body is strongly
raised on the legs, while the end of the abdomen, especially in the
female, generally touches the ground, so that the costz of primaries
are nearly on a plane with the surface. The antenne& are most often
on a plane with the body, and strongly diverging.
About the middle of April I had a number of larve hatch, and
-have been able to watch these on two plants of Y. alotfolia in-doors
and on one out-doors. The habit of living at first within a cylinder
made by one of the rolled leaves, webbed across with silk, is very
marked, and even where the Jarva at first works at the base of a leaf
it will web the leaf up and feed along up to its tip before entering
into the more solid portions of the plant. In extruding the excrement
the larva backs up to the end of the retreat which is kept only par-
tially closed. One specimen I have kept from the time of hatching
‘in a tin box, occasionally supplying it with fresh leaves. It forms a
retreat of these and appears to thrive as well as the others. It went
through the first molt the 10th day after hatching, and through the
second molt 11 days subsequently, and, judging from the size of the
head in this third stage and of the insect, there will be two more molts
or four in all. Toward the end of the third stage the larva measures
1.20 inches.
In the second stage the head is deep gamboge-yellow, with dark jaws—not polished
but faintly chagreened: the cervical shield is narrow, entire and polished black ; and an
anal plate is obvious, also polished, dark brown, with the hind borders thickened and
black. The body is olivaceous-brown. the stiff, black hairs of the first stage are very
much shortened and pale, and the whole surface has a faintly pubescent appearance,
-caused by numerous minute points, each giving rise to a short soft hair. The wrinkles
-of the mature larva are already well defined. In the third stage the head is chesnut-
182 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
brown, and the stiff, piliferous hairs are scarcely longer than the other minute ones om
the general surface. ‘The larva has now all the characteristics of the last stage, except
in lacking the white powder, and in being of a pale olive-brown color. The cervical
and anal shields are still highly polished and black, and the skin, instead of looking”
faintly pubescent, as in the previous stage, is translucent and glossy.
Where several larvze hatch out on the same plant (which not un-
frequently happens,) there is a struggle as to which shall usurp the-
privilege of entering the stem, and the first one to do so generally
keeps the others out on the leaves, so that in the end they doubtless
perish. The parent is by no means particular as to where she fastens.
her eggs, for Dr. Mellichamp has sent me dry leaves of Quercus fal-
cata that had accumulated around his Yucecas, and that have eggs
fastened to them.
Regarding the boring habit in butterflies I learn from Prof. P. C.
Zeller, of Stettin, Prussia, that there is also a Hesperian (Hrynnis-
alceew, Esp.; malvarum, Hoffm.) which Kirby gives as common to
Europe, Asia and Africa, whose larva bores in Autumn into the stems.
of its food-plant, (lalva sylvestris) in which it hibernates, and in
which it goes through its transformations the following Spring.
THE ARMY WORM.
ADDITIONAL NOTES ON THE MODE, PLACE AND TIME OF OVIPOSITION.
COMPLETION OF THE INSECT’S NATURAL HISTORY.
It gives me pleasure to announce ere closing this Raport that,.
since the article on the Army Worm was written and printed, I have
been able to settle by direct observation the questions therein dis-
cussed as to the time, place and manner of oviposition. By persist-
ently searching during the early part of April for the moth, I was.
rewarded by taking a number of specimens at sugar and others at
large and while engaged in the act of laying. All the latter speci-
mens have been found in an undisturbed blue grass plot behind the:
St. Louis fair grounds. As they are not easily disturbed while in the-
act of oviposition, it is only occasionally that one will fly up from the
disturbance of walking over the grass. They fly low and soon bury
themselves in the grass. By carefully watching I have ascertained
that the favorite place to which the female consigns her eggs in such
grass is along the inner base of the terminal blades where they are-
isl OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 183
yet doubled. The compressed, horny ovipositor, which plays with
great ease and tentative motion on the two telescopic subjoints of the
abdomen, as described on p. 32, is thrust in between the folded sides
of the blade, and the eggs are glued along the groove in rows of from
five to twenty, and covered with a white, glistening adhesive fluid,
which not only fastens them to each other, but draws the two sides of
the grass blade close around them, so that nothing but a narrow glisten-
ing streak is visible. I think also, that the two edges of the grass
blade are sometimes clasped by the opening hind border of the ovi-
positor, so as to give the insect a firmer hold, and fold the leaf more
closely on the eggs. Finding it difficult to make satisfactory observa-
tions in the field, I transferred living moths to glass cages which were
furnished with blue grasssward. Here again most of the eggs were
laid in the manner described, and on the green and dry blades indif-
ferently : some were, however, thrust in between the sheath and stalk,
as I had anticipated they might be, while others were thrust into the
crevices on the sides of the sward, which had been cut with a knife.
The female having once commenced to lay, is extremely active
and busy, especially during warm nights, and [ should judge that but
two or three days are required to empty the ovaries, which have a
uniform development. A string of 15 or 20 eggs is placed in position
in two or three minutes, and by the end of ten more I have known
the moth to choose another leaf and supply it with another string.
Many must be laid very soon after vegetation starts, as some moths
taken in the middle of April had already exhausted their supply ; yet
the bulk of them are not laid till toward the end of April. Very few
of the moths and only those captured at sugar looked at all fresh,
while all those having the eggs fully formed showed unmistakable
signs of having hibernated ; in fact most of those found laying had the
wings so tattered and rubbed that they were scarcely recognizable.
The moth perishes within a day after having exhausted her supply of
eggs. The egg is glistening white when first laid, and only becomes
tarnished or faintly dull yellowish toward maturity. Just before
the hatching of the larva which, in a uniform temperature of 75° F.
takes place from the 8th to the 10th day after deposition, the brown
head of the embryon shows distinctly through the shell. The newly
hatched larvais dull translucent white in color, with a uniformly
brown head, and the two front pair of prolegs are so atrophied as to
necessitate the looping of the body in traveling. The development
of my larve, reared in a uniform room temperature of about. 80°, has
been remarkably rapid. They underwent five molts and but three
days intervened on an average between each. Yet under the same
184 EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT
conditions, the issue from the same string of eggs will manifest con-
siderable variation, and some of them have passed through the last
before others have reached the fourth.
It is thus evident that the conclusions arrived atin the body of
this Report on such points as had not been settled by direct observa-
tion, are essentially correct so far as the above recorded facts bear on
them. The only part needing correction is on pp. 35-36, where
the statement that the moth will not oviposit in confinement, should
be qualified by adding, “ when reared indoors from the larva,” which
was indeed implied. When the ovaries are fully developed the moth
will oviposit under any circumstances, and will thrust her eggs into
any recess whatever, or even scatter them on the ground. I doubt
very much whether she can well deposit her eggs in the favorite po-
sition, except where the grass is quite thick, or where there is a mat-
ting of old grass, as she could not well support herself where the
blades are single and sparse; and from this view we get another rea-
son why burning all tbe old and prostrate blades and stalks prevents
the origin of the worms, in such burned places. Iwill conclude these
supplementary notes with descriptions of the egg as laid, and of the
different larval stages,
Egg—When first laid, spberical, 0.02 in diameter, smooth, opaque white; covered
with a glistening adhesive fluid ; shell delicate, becoming faintly irridescent and more
sordid before hatching.
Immature Larva—When newly hatched 1.7 mm. long: dull translucent white in
color, with very minute piliferous points giving rise to pale hairs. Head largeand uni-
formly brown-black. Two front pair of prolegs atrophied so as to necessitate looping
in motion. Drops by means of a web. In the second stage it is quite active, still loops,
and spins a web and drops at least disturbance. Head copal yellow, with six black
ocelli (the two inferior somewhat separated from the others) the brown jaws, and brown
marks on the legs conspicuous. Color of body yellowish-green ; darker anteriorly, the
venter being quite pale. The lines of mature larva barely indicated in faint, rose-brown ;
the most conspicuous being the broad stigmatal, a narrower one above it, and two
which are medio-dorsal. In the better marked specimens, the body above the pale
substigmatal line consists of 8 dark and 7 pale lines, the middle pale line medio-dorsal,
the second dark one from it most faint and most often obsolete, and the lower or stig-
matal one broadest and most conspicuous. Black piliferous dots distinct and normally
arranged, i.e.,on the middle joints 4 trapezoidally on dorsum; 2 in stigmatal dark
line, one just above, the other just behind stigmata; one at lower edge of pale substig-
matal line near the middle of the joint, and several that are ventral: the dorsal ones
on joints, 1 and 12 forming a reversed trapezoid to those on middle joints; on jt. lla
square, and on jts. 2 and 38a transverse line. In the third stage there is little change.
The head has still a copal yellow aspect, being pale with faint yellowish, brown mot-
tlings, the ocelli still conspicuous. The body is more decidedly striped, the dark stig-
matal and pale substigmatal lines more strongly relieved and all the lines approach
more to those of laststage. The pale hairs from piliferous dots are still quite noticeable
especially before and behind, and the dots themselves are generally relieved by a pale
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 185
basal annulus. The looping habit is lost, but the front prolegs are still somewhat the
smallest. It nowcurls round and does not spin in dropping. In the fourth stage the
aspect is quite changed, the general color being dull, dark green. The head has the
mottlings of a deeper brown and the characteristic brown lines appear. The second
pale line (from above) is obsolete, and the other five are narrowed, pure white, and
sharply relieved by dark shades. The prolegs are of nearly equal size; the cervical
shield better defined: in short, except in the lighter substigmatal stripe and more
greenish color, the characters of the more normal, mature larva obtain. In the fifth
and sixth stages the changes are mainly in the increasing prevalence of the brown
and ferruginous colors, and the greater relief and intensity of the black, especially
above the upper white lateral line.- The front prolegs in the last stage are, if anything,
longer than the hind ones. I reproduce herewith, with a few additions, my original de-
scription of the
Mature larva.—General color dingy black, appearing finely mottled and speckled
under a lens, with the peliferous spots placed in the normal position, but scarcely visi-
ble, though the soft hairs arising from them are easily seen with a lens. Four lateral
light lines, of almost equal thickness, and at about equal distance from each other, the
two uppermost white, the two lowermost yellow; a much less distinct medio-dorsal
white line, frequently obsolete in middle of joints, and always most distinct at the
divisions: a jet black line immediately above the upper lateral white one, the dorsum
near it, thickly mottled with dull yellow, but becoming darker as it approaches the fine
dorsal white line, along each side of which it is perfectly black. Space between lateral
light lines 1 and 2, from above, dull yellow, or reddish, the white lines being relieved
‘by a darker edge; that between lines 2 and 3 almost black, being but slightly mottled
along the middle; that between 3 and 4 yellow, mottled with pink brown, and appear-
ing lighter than that betweenland 2. Venter greenish-glaucous, mottled and speckled
with neutral color, especially near the edge of the 4th lateral line. Legs glassy and of
same color as venter, those on thoracic joints with black claws, those on abdomen with
large shiny black spot on the outside, Stigmata oval, black, and placed in the 3d la-
teral light line. Head highly polished, pale grayish-yellow, speckled with confluent
fuscous dots; marked longitudinally by two dark lines that commence at the corners
of the mouth, approach each other towards the centre, and again recede behind ; on
each side are four minute polished black eyelets, placed ona light crescent-shaped ridge,
and from each side of this light ridge a dark mark extends more or less among the
confluent spots above. Cervical shield polished and mottled like the head, with the
white medio-dorsal and upper lateral lines running conspicuously through it. Anal
plate obsolete.
These descriptions apply to the average specimens, and, as stated on page 45, there
is considerable variation in all stages.
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Eschna—Oviposition of........,....2.---eee ees 37
BANG LOLE: Wave oie feievercre evra © eis/0 Meravals hctanats svstaretestaitis/reajels 170
SMA IOLLOND clayek esaiorel ora scleteate' siete siete claiateloia/eratsisioisiete 179
PR EIUIDLECES Cin ay eeictorele vivieteiaveiersioatials serciave eis elaisfete 179
SA CHUATUTT CAMETUCAMUNY «5.6.5. 6 indice icieisis sie oieisle's 103, 104
ao (VIPUL Co OLA LO DDE BON OCOS 144, 145
PAA TaA CLL Dorman ce re ey sisiet cvs leyafoie/s/eysisverste avereraie e7afers\ 115, 128
DANGTI GL OFoeN Sey tice sie sieteleielcieVeley cselateisiejaisratere'sielersvele 144
Agrion- —Oviposition ON eer eerste tates cieciats 37
PAG MOULSUEM CTTIUUS vias tol 5) cie)aie\cteleieusleieieie’ #19 exc) aiaierainl elapse 37
LORI TO TES app OILOUCUS 1a) fara le aiat sie) siesale hes ele ieie'elo/sini= sive] 54
Aletia ar gillacea Sebo SHG CSeRK co nno osEnHoSonGoseead 23
AMOR IYO ODOR Ceb abou OARCG BODE SDOEOUOOUOND 182
PARTUM MO UMOUSTOLO) o's aic'e in alc + s\eleie ays classe eieisise' sie.ae 92
DAMON AICS PEALULUME. eiciely sie\sicters cies stete 61, T19; 121, 123
PATTER CAT A CLIO UII ae -fapreie le vic, sieve otereforsioveis ofs(o/ayele 03
se grape-vines in Europe............... 167
PATIUCIUGOMUUS T UOCCH LIS! sie wrstel nis ajsinejeisius eles sicis) ov a> 8 124
Andrew County—Locust RTS TOW; ys ves eieinisi< 62
Anisopter. yx pometaria.......... By 14, Galil e
LSCULUREM te Ws ns takveersieiaiayel cer siccecatensht
LO SHU LEL eANIEELT CU stover sia avereictatain’ avalos stelotejelsialelsas oleh ers 58
BA TOTUISDY LULU eritels eiaiciaie < aieiats /ace stew 'elelc: sonrs.e)Saswisia\siers 23
EZVOTY TIVO DLC LUTUD «aise wit siejs gaint oicings oie ave eiatere sidies® ® 179
IDR DUTT BABS oOo SB ORB OO OOS AACE Ona CoOe bere 119
Aristida oligostachia..............e seve eee eeeees 122
Army Worm Lachinaqflyn ices ce se cc eee 53
cectemel CHMEUINON=LHiyiawcts-inictactetiasteta cere. le 54
/MGTAS? MOINES Aad Sap ee gk CB EA Oman Manes poae 22, 182
‘Raditional Notes on Mode, Place and Time
OMON APO SLULON = peisisje ales civ clsis «Nsrslets orate wots 82
Are there one or two Broods each Year ?. 47
Completion of its Natural History.......... 182
Description Ofte HHS Pe acieci Auielats tielele syerreis Bro
sf Larval Stages ........... 184
ab Its Of thewViOrmMe nec ccceteecescs se. + e6 45
In what state does the Insect hibernate ?.... 43
USVI 8 btsi oy Pye tinal y/o) ao eeinn a: $0 CUO USE OCUOOe 28
Its History in Missouri in 1875.............. 30
Its sudden Appearance and Disappearance, 50
Natural MMNeMmiiess es eleteret tee rime cle w\neiatals cue oe 52
INGIMENC] AUER. cy. lesest sels he metas t te etoile « « 22
Natural History of the Army Worm........ 32
Past History of the Army Worm........... 24
VOTIVE CLUES stoyevcieyercls eraloie if lctentral- erate etateictetaialaxeiar 54
Sexual Differences: jcc vine. cindesizres siveincisicis'sis 30
PS LERN ANID BV oie avs pares scree fa fopevaraae ane ie tsi ete soataneioes 56
Mbveg Hal A ramnys |MVOTIN =. \-\scnceteene terse suetencys 49
The term ‘‘Army Worm’? applied to vari-
RUS MUSE CLS eran eievess<farelscorsls se atieetanaleraleia apart 23
Time of Appearance of the Worm.......... 46
Where are the Eggs laid? .................. 38
When are the Bggs laid?...............---- 40
‘Are Potato Bugs poisonous ?’’ ............... 11
Asclepias. Beene Te iin) create chacelnvavs ‘aceiieroyabadd auaraiaete 6), 19
FACHOXED: SSIS dO US SC eee eae ear eae 176
Atchison County—Locust History in 1875...... 62
Atlanis, Caloptenus ..113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 153
INACY MAK ILO Ho SU gt Monee Oe eneOn nS 150
Atomizer for applying Paris Green Water...... 4
GUtWMNGIIS, PrOMENIA., 0.202000. .c cece eee senes 48
B
Bates County—Locust History in. ............. 63
BUT DUCOTMAS Eye ic cite e tie ae eeeeisiee ee oe a ieee alee 170
rf USO GAR SHG Sno STAD OC TOCOURS GOOD Oe 170
PAGE
Barton County—Locust H istor VLMN stays leleieve seers 63.
Benton ee ee. boy Lameustesienicteheyaaee 63
Black=hellied! eb ias: 5/55 cere ers «16 orarainnrs vieistsia tele Pate
Bhitum, Amarantus: 05.0. .c ees es 61, 119, 121, 122
Black Larva of White-lined Morning Sphinx... 122
Brachy Pepys} MAGNUS .<0 deleieiacissic\slalaa oleae ielelerets 148
Buchanan County—Locust Histor NALIN Sooda boos 64
C
OUGHT OG. ON LOXOT CS ABROAD GOO RM OOONROD OU DOO 0000 §2
COG TIOSUS MLC TIO LUE ins a)cls)o o)elaie' shes) =s)eteraeetereierelat= 52
SAO COM AT) TARR orition carcabn bdotnous L0oTb bc 23
Caldwell County—Locust History m........... 6k
California—Phylloxera Ravages in............. 163
(CHG D AAUP AU Ope CITA SE CBO OnE poSnadoD nada tice 115
Caloptenus spretus....57, 109, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118.
ATIQTUUS) eit Its lia eis 117, 118, 153
sic femur-rubrum. 114, 113, fie. 117, 118, 153
bt ML GILCUS! shrseearaeratsid elas les chelotteteinetetetree 140
ce OCCUACTULGIIR 5 teres os. cre erete eschet rs tentetote ote 116
GG PETE A US ects Vator e evctateloxshevauatersie acetereotalereknaete U7
Gy CORA OHIGIES GARE pce canon EacaOK Ct 150, 153.
COlOSOMAISCHALLELO Ie. Nels emis aisle isteiieieiaierte eitekeleiet 52
ze WU ULCORY an casa salts oxinenistserys ible oes 52
Canker- -worm Moths—Oviposition of........... 37
CORN De etna ane rarnccs eoa0n on done 20, 21
Canker- WW ORIINS sia cicseverels maa efatatlatstalstoist cis ierelsre-oysteansiete 12
ce Pwo Species defined. (2... Bo
us ie UREMECLES TOR ares. ielosieis 17, 20, 21
CanolinensissMUMus) sai wonere cose ae eeieirs 24
ss SOLOTUUM UE teers cal Herelsiesl tela eters steratets 122
Cass County—Locust History in................ 64
Gat indict eitr celtic cl olatsistclseverstarce le cieteveleleteterereds 124
(OH OOCULEG pep oencounuebuenecues scbeaebaudods ss 179
(CO ATMOS 5 papa nObosonaoUoroonseGaododOoa0e> 173.
DOS Al OU SAE EOC GOR CE SOU AOCOS AR OH OGDORe CaCO 178
OSE RTED CUS sce tetne rue cis ote eie(orsteiele ieresieciebers eierolerenstste 178
GOTO CHILO Hair ste oko riciala Mee achat aioe eine ease 1%8
UCL eS Hearne telco le lorelorelore's ote erece eeystatnte ciess! Siefe/atersict 178
Ghaletsvalbtfromssccerccscet near niccascnclclonsr 54
Changes that followed Locusts ................. 121
GH ITCH Uy yaar omicier cio tiave eretetelieleistorer= eisverel sere 142, 145
CICA REIS. Birk icectertcvalolaielte cietale te amierearis alan ootereteretet 38
Cicin delay ep anda en ven caters a tnisrcnaic sae oer tes 52
Clay County—Locust Histor VALS aetys aseepete 67
ONTOS re aA MN ee C8 A aatereueve mate aeterte 68
Colorado—Locust History in...............+.-- St
Colorado) Potato=peetler.s240.. asn5.secencse eee 1
Damare Guring; the years 06. olen cceclis.s vere 1
Further Experience with Paris Green...... 5
ESHA CLE Mb Gm AN Clears, crc ciessvatever aces ctenakelclatetsiete 2
Machine for sweeping it off Vines.......... 4
Native GLOMe i oi\a amiseireidalaaeteste tates. here 8
Natsu memiies)G ccvacrisieytrietsreinays saiscte octets 3
Nowellemedies|forws.. a cccnce ener enone 3
Occurrence in the Atlantic States........... ul
Ofher Matures Or eh. vs cijemrectenteteie)=/eislaicrerstels 7,8
Becks Sprayevachine ee cic) elie e veislel 4
IR GINO GIES asia Sates disercelsk, ars ete learn ciatslaerel since 3
Use of Straw as a Preventive............... 4
INTIS VA O CUBE ae) ofetcle alain cit sieves clase lace arefohaln|lefersl oes 145
COMLMO SIG CUCOMAG clei. jorecee selene eealers erate tac 45
Coral= wine Cd WO CUBES.) ok care) ciel aie)aisie sieisje)eioreisieleres 104
OSS SI oe crac aoyatalevaubs eet ee etetelerahe cictel aboiares shelve 177
CP OTUEUS NUL ON CLAUSA, ciate etetey terete clete sein oie) oslenefortictel sisi 125
Crow eats Colorado Potato-beetle .............- 3
CE ACK DING ae Nitrerne ci crave teres ornloeeisTe ois joeheiere 124
Cuckoo—-Yellow-billed................c0eeee08- 124
aI INDEX.
D PAGE
pace | Harpalus pennsylvanicus............ Uolsrertepteteeite 52
Dakota—Locust History in...................-. x5 | Helianthus tuberosus......... s\8/a\piain's.0,wisla'sieipisie ls sie 143
Dade County —Locust History TR slain Uh ear 68" | leliophitlan.. nee sca poe e eae eee eee Bact ere
Damage done in Missouri by Locusts........... 89 | History of the Army Worm in 1875 ....... seve 28
AECONOANO Ey LOLAeCIn an. he hale Nan ae ecienGincs 122 Mo. in 1875..... 30
DeKalb County—Locust History, ns eee 69 Aibetaation of the, Army Worm: 2.2... e.ecese 43
Destitution in Missouri from Locust Injuries... 91 | Hybernia...... 2.2... eee eee cence ees Biss 17)
Destination of depar bmeyOCUStS) 4 ee cLeene 107 Habits of unfledged WOCUSstS ..\. 0. oes omnerhete ne 100
Differential WOCUste nl. er ee 150, 153 FTES ETUC 8 eos Se icin Sos Pane Sots maior eee eee 176
MOMMSDIe S tO fe. hen ey PEt oe 154 | Henry County—Locust, Injury i TDi. eeecrcisl aes 69
Different Methods of fighting Fall and Spring Hickory County—= (°2°) 0s eso, aes 69
Cankeronmsss: 25.2. oveeseeceue cd acne 18, 19 | Holt County— ee 60 8 naples ee cee ees 69
Diminished bezomAchusi..-...sesss se eteeee ee 54 | How toavert Locust Injuries.................. ,» 131
Direction in which young Locusts travel....... 101
ae taken by winged Locusts............. 105 It
ID ODD ANE Prete yaloieaisis + cists cisrooeiae wsinramisglanieiatie sniniee 119
TOY VUNG a 5 ae en 173 | Tchnewmon leucani@. .... 20.200. .secccceseneccess 54
Doliconye orizivord.........05.0ccc scence cc cuese 52 | lllinois—Locust Flights in PsA, Ce 151
Doryphora l-linedta.... 0.0.02... see vee sence impura, Leucania.......... AaeH Toe AEC OTI S00 ISS 38
“ Not in New Grenada...... 10 | Incian 'Territory—Locust AI BtOny, Ines ee 88
ce CONCHLONGED Se LE ae ee ee 2 indecisa, Egiale Sine (alete/us=e lela a em ce neces esecesces 179
es undecimlineata...................... TO | BerMIS, AGTOLIS . - cane =pocls cciescneains ore aes 37
Influence of Food in determining Sex.......... 19
E Injuries of Native Locusts. ....).c:..= eects 150
-Innoxious lugecls o 's'di sls os tele o's a6 eeleratoele Poeisletates 7
ya—Locus istory.IM....<1 Kshs eeee one
Eggs of the Army Worm Meth 00.0.0... BA, 188) |e aiet ec ee ee ham
ays: ae es =» Wherelaid’ ..34; 182) talicus. (Caloptenus. sc 22: -csay d- +02 eee 140
wea Jo se re «¢ When laid ...40, 183
cela) et ar es «¢ Description of 34, 184 a
geese ee rf ‘« Laid mostly in ‘s
Sindlitins Jere same et ner Pan Ina 41, 142 | Jackson County—Locust Injury AAR fever. feealieees 70
Eggs of Ditierential Locust...................-. 154 | Johnson County— “© *© ga e 72
PROD UTUSE TUS COPULS atl acic ste hele s\cleiele aise oes 52 2
CLONGALUS, PASIMACHUS... 0. eee e cece ee cecssscecss 52 K
EPO OYTUUS: LUYPUS ss a3 «3,5 Sis bne's ciseidedcicesscee ees Te : ;
Baraat enti bape es Reape Cok neck a shit 19 Kansas—Locust History in .........-+-+--.000 76
erythrocephalus, Melanerpus..................+- 124 Ss State Relief Work......... aaiieke terete 78
IOUT LEY THe ee aR as eee Oe ig2 | Katydids—Oviposition Of... . ei. eee nee 37
‘6 malvarum....... SERED ISON E Ys Re jsz | Kayser, A.—Experiments on poisonous quali- 6
esculeutus, Cyperus ...... bre os Rtanibemo aisle etalon eGseice 143 ties of Doryphora........-.+..-+:-s-s000 i
EUS CHETROM Ne eho a Bete cib(apaie ar a nrataieneie srethe visto esse 170 | Kenzie, R. C.—kxperiments with Paris Green __6
“ RUPles ico sh oe RE ee ecenee 170) OLA, ALG VELe rar. elects tanoveialele elstetcl te aie foetal taieiee 179
CLOUT COLOCOUMD GS. siic ae ave talosiote tae heehee te 23 |
JBURONRAIGRT LTOOCOUIE Tne od spd ocbianan enononeanood..bd 53 | L
OG leucani@ ...... aha etaralele Miatt ates eca hata metons ere 53 |
Exodus ot Locusts ‘iw levelslelelvleleleiWevets se clele/eio.e ce e\cle/steis 104 Lafayette County—Locust Injury iN: vi eee 73
externum, Calosomd...... 0.0... eececsecnceeee 52 | Leat-hoppers mistaken for Locusts............ 150
Xperience With (ParisiGreenk. sj. sce... scenes 5 | Lebia atriventris 3
** grandis 2 3
10 | Legislation against injurious Insects........... 132
WGC PLIMOCATS OL. Baie. tarete a siots'e ere visto shee enero etehelstele 2
Been, VU OTIN. 2 ack a eas ey ee 37, 48 | Lessons of the Year... .........-..s.sssseeeees oe
‘« _ How to distinguish from | Leucania CONV ai alatose oF lefas alee olelele acl = stator stale lose 43
iRHe PARI yAVWOLM er hee ene acne ee ne: 48 | be CEPIGMEG a's ou si5s.S oiels ine at sian ieee aan ou
False Opinions and Predictions about Locusts . 148 He He CLE LODE ES SIO SEB BORIS Sed) 3.<.905 Hee)
femur-rubrum, Caloptenus 114, 115, 116, 117, 148, 153 i Uthar gyi... ...- eee eeeeeeeees - 38, 43
Plavicauda, Exorista.............- 0:0. c.ccceee, 53 ; UUICO. 6.0. s eee eee ee eet eee eee eeeer ee 4B
ly -catcher) Great-crested in vs... 2. scieicleeiels\cnis 124 | 5 UNUPUNCEA'. oe. eee eee eee eee e rere ees 22, 24
Fruit ‘ree s—-Injury LOND yaWOClISis ei Reeeeeeeees 1p] | lewcania@, Ichnewmon..............0 sree ere ceeee 54
PTUGUPCNAG,, PHOLPNG. «incur cafes ses) Gat me ctero.sars 48 Lif ; _ pean gee Ganon Scarmnte. Lae ae
ulvosa. VE —uoinerda g Life-history of Fall Canker-worm.............
ieoee, % ir. of ELE Rig Ae See | inarganeGs TSGUCONUG - x. .15)sinci0\crstele eles ates 38, 45
G Locusts—The Green-striped..............---++- 149
Sif HMlights cin: Win 0185.4 <cjsent selemtersieelerees . LL
=. se Prospects. in 18765. a eee elec aineerettes
‘COEDS 5556 BO ORRDORROR COUT ROU DROS GOED aon Or On 178 | s =
Gentry County—Locust History in............. Fon heele man. aii RPP ERS ia
ee ee ie Army Worm........02. 0.002. ee | Locusts n not a sere ISIGALIO Ni yes G52 <a crete ia
3 Fat a yy a I a eg me as as) Hood for Mami cin: dicctetietssiicicl- «le eietees >
Gee VUTAASCENE 0.60. eee sees ess eeeeeser eens pe Lodi Potato Pest POiSOM eo. se vce «asc orciorelesane q
EON TE ENTLULEL IU etme aoe « ctctavs (sr vitule ere ere eetesioteiete 37 M
BO MOIUL LLL, mL CLUUsE s rslsis eas mers to onc\nin rots Aleie ers Molnlels eaiats 150
Granulated Grouse-locust. .....5..00..6c086 ssn 150 |
(CUBE opel el all ba 2) ea en RE En 157 | Magnus, Brachypeplus Aravarele 121 Nelo ove tidy abe yerate renee Ronen 148
Completion of its Natural History.......... V7 | Muda sylvestrts .. 0. cere eve e cece e eevee eee e ees ++. 182
Sex cdein dividuals rns knee fae Gn 158 malvarum, Erynnis. sje slnine (ole: cieoiotelo1e ls Cie ecoleloteieeerete 182
Practical Considerations growing out of Manitoba--Locust Injury In..... .............. 89
late DiScOVeLrieS «<<< coccecccccet. oeccoek 1G3 | LAr UtT: Saas lee chattels aersicts o's «4's elsin.e cideitvede Chapin 100
Green larva of White-lined Morning-sphinx.,. 122 | Wegathymus yucc®. .........see cece ee eee nee ce ees 169
Sel SOLU UD EC UO CUB Grae cteisscrersieictarsieroron ie ain'rele s-acerete 149 | Melanerpus erythrocephalus 124
Great-crested Fly-catcher ............0....0000. jv4 | Merchants’ Exchange—Relief Committee from 93
Grote, A. R.— Experiments on poisonous pro- NICSOCHLOTUS! VUNCUS Fo... oe winjne vinie Celolare eteielstale sie 53
perties of Doryphora. ..................-- Mimus Carolinensis...........0....-seeeeeeees . 124
INLUCTOG U8 LOT E ckey crete at clot laleln's/o%= 015. <(ehnie eive oisieee alot ates . 54
H a MULE OTES | sci sto clot ce aseete store . 53
| MAGratorid, GLAIDOAG 225). acres sieleloie ok viele teiieee 145
ELab1is Of Army, WOU ei. «aise plots esis 45\| Military microgaster.c..\...\.seteeaewceneeoee é 488:
BLOTPULUS COLLGLIOSUS!., oi; oe sleds ye le ors 0 selsiei alee BQ mibbiaris, Mrcrogasters n\n «cle os nia wire eters 53
-_e ye
INDEX. Ik
PAGE PAGE
Tin eye visa evevets ser eiele rer eisiaie laitvelajare alejelaticie leisnstoin’ete 119 | pometaria, Anisopteryx........ 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18
Mimus Caroltinensis..... Pe a Peels dra oe ncbsta tana leet NOES POWOUMES ETUC TOSTISE of. nee se niaic oln/n w/cie « shale pharoualarere 122
GIUUUNILIES = PEZONULCIUS = 2 mick tele lcieie soe) < avalele sis ase 54 | Potato-beetle—The Colorado..................- 1
Minnesota—Locust History in.................- 81 HO Je@sih EIS Ol ls AAAS onidinaiee bode dea abge ences iv
6c MAOCs te COMMMISSLON os) cee Daveieleie se RAN PP OWESILTEK | OOTISTIUG heyociare = <oincim, «| minia sein oleol= miele 178
Montana — Locust History in................... 87 | Proclamation of Gov. Hardin relating to Lo-
PANU OF CRAUSTOTIUIODLUS = orm v5 3fs esa tiais w 0/0 w/o) onneri= 92 =)e/*10 . 124 a a custs Cg eis OEE SE pean oie ie
ie) enta GALE UNTUN VER rere icin shes via' ho pono chnysi. 5's :6/> efsieiete 3
N : fs MMe LLU OSE victasistatsia stort ceeiere iste 49
. SS VOUSCURG vosfotia asevsie seers Se 49
Natural History of the Army Worm........ 82, 182 | Pseudopontia ..........ecocesenceccesncesecccens 170
‘* Rocky Mountain Locust.. 97 | purgatus, Ophion...... 0.2. sees erect eee e eens 54
ps a ‘© Grape Phylloxera.......-. 157
oS Enemies ofthe Army Worm............ 52 Q
og SV IOCUSt ace aeeeeieieerer 124
Native Home of the Colorado Potato-beetle. . 8 : ; <
‘© Rocky Mountain Locust.. * 409 Guercus Juleaies Seales et eine siuene aisle Porte sees aoe
Nebraska—Locust Historv in.............-.... 79 Gus SES eS cOIe BR Shee 6 ea Male en 194
Newton County—Locust History in............ 13 Cee URCURECP DRE Hania ada eae pus ‘
PURLC LC GOT YIUW).. <vciocicio'sie er» sicieialsyainie)= oleidtoisielselais/s\o° 37
INGORE Re Ren a Eo Ober oe boo xo mee apen e 177 K
PEO TCLD CR OLUESzcrterie olcva/s cialeforaierel diagereefnlete!'= ol avol li7
IMA QITI ROE DG DUT CAEN SATO SA CHa ete rHO.0> OUD DOUCS SEW Rafleste,, PUSCHeMO I he\eloresei ajo cleie eta teleeiovele reat 170
Nodaway County—Locust History in.......... 73 | Rate at which young Locusts travel............ 102
INQUIRER OE SOS Vee es BOIS CORR COA OOCSOOOS 38 | Ravages of Phylloxera in California........... 163
noveboracensis, Vernonia... .......0.eeeeeeeee 119 | Ray County—Locust History in................ 74
Novel Methods of fighting the Colorado Potato- ; Red- eyed Vo sca DS ay cyavclavovs.avelevchoyaternye atereratatoes 124
CGE Sco R Be dn tine Noob acon adobe coor : ae AT CO ap Heres hate sitters nstas siaketom otoratetoval tetetatere 124
O Red sheen eererane PNaeatie wlatoioee PGA Soars 53
/ WRedalepmedsbhOCusti. stein es sens cleteete weiss serene atete 150:
re anda, Cucina elaeris osteo tacos eee eee . 52
RAVE IEL OLE ESILUC Ks toc crereia a eietoyesereia ais'e ele e/elaloreiecis 178 Remedies for Colorado Potato -beetle...... 3) 4205
obscura var. of Laphygma frugiperda........... 49 Canker-worms...... Borne 18,20, 22
WEGTOCNENUS. CULOPLENUS 2 ic. mi vice vie cles lale welnle o's 116 on Armiya WiOrmn: cigs siedtat teases 54
Occurrence of chy Doxers in Southern States... 164 Bi Rocky Mountain J.ocust.......... 125
COT AOLIUS Ba dale onuee Sn eOOe Teco Hongereod 103, PAST OG MUGS Bn Boned ua oeC Adon bon boune Loacmnucoosase 170
se ph enicopter (is a DOA TCOOMBMCD: GH Ocon NY ROUSSE G Been son aban dcasnnconsiousconecpoupesebho 38.
ne ALIKE PRUAMO POU Ae Bao WB Dh d0 Dae UB OLUALOOD 145 Rice Cn BAU nhittrivict eiagoremmddrecomoa opoD.coceoS o2
oligostachya_ Aristida........... Ac SehEnonoobade 122 | Rocky Mountain Locust...........20.......00. soe
MPL ULGLUS VIL TCO! tates sera fot clciss spy la char /ailesotsiel a\eia’s lleys (ere 125 Account of Damage done in Missouri... ... 89
Ophion purgatus as LAA eae COR ABOU IDIECE ODT SAG 54 Artificial Means of Destroying the Eggs ioe 125
ener a, MV OUVCOMY LD? ierysonicy leo eisters iohelsleroer ish «te 52 Bounties for catching and destroying Lo-
MMOD 1.3 TRO eS Be COBDS BENE COCHEROOIE: BEA UnTOD DT 18 GUISES! oie: atareyaudeierae olovayehcicns nialeta aye aicneteeiare aletatare 138
Other Remedies for Doryphora................ 8 Changes that followed the Locusts......... 121
Ovipositor of Female Army Worm............ 32 Condition of Things in other States........ 76
CANS CLIO eM cel aco aaie aie olaverateley a mtovolen 36 Conditions which prevent the permanent
he OE ale HO as Onn) An BEET Tee 36 Sertlement of the Species in Missouri.... 113
es of Army Worm Moth....... 338, 39, 182 Gonditions' of Migration... J.22...2+-ns occ 112
oS of Canker-worm Moths............ 37 Contrast between. Spring and Fall.......... 119.
of of Fall Army Worm..............: 37 Detinition of the Species................... 114
ae Of Katydids. 0... nc0te-e-sieceeeene 37 Destijution ini Missounilcss.--snteeeee ete 91
sis Otel, (CULCuliOn waret. ese s oesicieies 36 Destination of the departing Swarms...... 106
of Unarmed Rustic................ 37 | Destruction of the untledged Young........ 126
os OPV CC ENLO LIers. rape ojceraiela fh iale essie’e ei 37 | Directions in which the young Locusts
PAVE Sea cick olin heeeebolaisie aie ister elsere 101
P | Directions taken by the winged Insects..... 105.
WBp-corohitsjsbenibeviahe sh enoccucodsdo se ucgocbanOTG 104
Paleacrita-- A new Genus for the Spring Cank- Experience im the Springs. once < ocsic de ee 118
Sra MOLT yaa ee sais tis sence eae 13 | General Outlook in duelspring ot 18750).
set ‘ g TD e arstaicts
Panidumn sanguinate, IIIT Lage] Gowemnor’s Proclamation... .......1.++. a
PAStMachus ClONGALUS. 2.05... cses cece seer ecsces 52 Habits\of the umtled eed TOCustss xs se-hecac Beh
Paris Green—Cost of Application per Acre. . 3 How to avert, Locust. Injuries eerslecierstelstereerere 131
‘© _ Further Experience with 6 Injury to Fruit and Fruit Trees............. 121
Mic —Dyof i .Cokedzie? Das Legislation, bom national and local........ i
SettiT a ete CSSONSIOL TEV VENT. 10 <5. <ieieicle ties veal cies eee . 142
Gees ae spar Ree Locusts as Food for Man............. .....- 143
aqettes MeMurtries Experiments 7 Bours ee St Aes een ner bac 124.
spp TE Sep ee SS 2 Sam ca me Le a 5S Natura [SLOG ers s seis. see eens schemes 97
Porieiapiey Machine... Worm............5. 7 Native Home of the Species...... Bee oh 109
Pettis County—Locust Injury in............... 73 Nota Spacer eae ale GOTay aan qos ae
pennsylvanicus, Harpalus............000eeeee ees 52 ee ed by ‘‘Kings’’ and *‘ Queens ’’.... 103
See ays seas = o Evil without some compensating Good. 120
erg) imum, Acridiwm............+.2+.s.05. 144, 145 Outlook in Missouri 61
eee DRIER. 2 Oo ahs A ae eae Waits inane a Previous Experience in the Spring of 1867.. 57
Phalena frugiperda.....................s sss. 48 eo at wine thewvoune travell7a.cactae . 102
Se ee Oe eae ed aL ea ree MPO ESL OMS aerate sieis ateialsie isi loledelatetentiniele ete fateteme ee
ee: BEI DOTII S092 Fa OS Scag i fi The Locusts did not return in the Fall...... 124
hylloxera—Ravages in Califormmia............ 163 Ti Or
6 mathe Southern) States, lo. 164 Time of leaving of the winged Insects. ..... 125
Phyllowera vastatriv......... Batigey caruiessa oe ey 157 aby ue but afew Miles East of where :
aa SET oo, a eR 153 | they hatched. ......... 060... sees eens ees 02
Pat eet MR nl oo a a 15g | PuScarius, LOD US Cm eelatram ot atciciate ceva cei eee 52
PETE LOLUC CO MAC COMET Crem y yori nras oot ieFei0/« Seiois\s «+ wie 122
Binns preferred by the Army Worm.......... 49 r)
Platte County—Locust History in..... ........ 73
Poisonous Qualities of Colorado Potato-beetle 10 | Salvia trichostemmoides............ eee eeeeeeeee 119
Poisons for Potato-beetle—Trial of............ 7 | St. Clair County--Locust History in........... 75
PORE WiGEU iar iirc eae eieiaea/orme sia eieter sisinisicvets ¢ ALS BI W= PLES escy, sasare tio ata lace siciee falar etabe voles Ntwete/olee tee 38
Unnecessary Alarm caused by native Locusts.. 148
AIv INDEX.
PAGE V
Ssangninale, PANicum.........cceceerreeeeseenre 122 PAGE
Nida pepe cbs un akanncn ade cna dod peeoeudn no sac 23, 24! yagineflora, Vilfd.........-.sceesseess Bisralsretaten . 122
Scrutator, CalOsOMG...........ecvenremecescicicies O24 wastairia , PRY LOWE, «dove aisiess stone nisine.scemeceee 157
Sex--Stunted Larve do not produce the male.. 19} vernata, Paleacritd......... 0c. cee e een eveneee eens 13
Sexed Phylloxera..........0. +s sss seeeeeeerees 158 | Vernon County—Locust History in............. 16
Sexual Diilerences in the Army Worm......... 30] Vernonia noveboracensis...........0+ ee 119
PS TIMKG Wy OLS Serre iaeiaitieinierajciale wielasyeelejaimtessi=ii6 24 |i Dersicolon, |QUISCALUS: Jee. ot ste coves eeeisseiiene 124
SOLEIL PEUDET.OSIUID -relacieje%e |e a'a's «0 /0)5 » o10.ele'sieie\e! ofan sche Oil piridascens, Glyple. ie tatmoee nee decon cemeteries 53
6 TOSTTOIUM. 2... over e eee eee secs eee: OA22) SV ALD OOLNAILON OA lene wowasiclsciisice ms «ee naeneee 122
rs «0 — Spread of.............4..- 10) \ asin dis Calo ptents iia), serine cue neerenen mene 117
CE Clin gO Ge AAR Npsreeenn rian and 2e01ee 122 | viridifasciata, Tragocephald.............0.e0005 149
Spray Machine—Peck’s..........-..-.s2eses 20s 4 Nireo—Red=eV. Edi csi «iol. ciee denn lng tose taemaens 120
~Spretus, CALOPLENUS ........eecseerevoecen 57,109); AVL | Vareos OMUaceus suite: duis aoene wcttnctyeeiesatneectinee 124
Spread of Sand Burr..........-...sesee esse eee LO) patrewss NTeSoCHOTUSs a ees eue sen seh uaan see 53
Spring Canker-WOIM. .. 2.060. sccese eee eee ees 17, 18
DRAPE EDI URL Oe hat stat syain) lciehes nisl slaictedsiersleieiririelerveisrsiere(ate 20 Ww
Sauder SP DESTADEE and Disappearance of Dy:
SITU MAVY OUI ieyejeciam ric uioste cla saseh oleae 5 as ; ent
Summary of what is known of the Army Worm. fe blr np ae Eggs of the Army Worm Moth
; PED IER ee istates sicls oie (ete! shales! s «1 c\e(siny= #)=\0/a\# mal oye jovani 78 Ua ae OC UDA CISA ONE CS
Rica et ee 178 Whose ate the Bees of the Army Worm Moth
UGS aa ea ial cieteloielelelotels mialctattjeleioisty etels eietsiale lee 38
T White-lined Morning Sphinx................... 123
18 eis oe —-Green Larva of.. 122
i ae cs of —Black Larva of.. 122
DOCKING «sje +, «,90 ix bodapbontiedatcacdtonoe aennoes Wilcoxi, Calosoma,........+++ cd te Oe 52
£6 ANONYM. vce r eve rene ereeeeeeneneeenees Woodpecker—Red-eyed............-.0.escecees 124
Tachina-flies of Army Worm Wyoming—Locust History in.................. 83
Tent-caterpillar of the Forest........ ....-..+.
Term ‘‘ Army Worm’? applied to various In- x
OCLC: SRS BE Ge SHED aa eas domncos Hoa Tau aemraae 2 =
Tetti@® GTCNULAI. . 2.0 ccceccccceeessscssseesceese 150 : :
Mexas—Locust History in.........c.0scseseeees 88 | TYTINA, ANOMIS .......eereee sees eeee es cec senses 23
FTP PHCTAD GI Ha err et Ee ee UZ Ov | RY LCUL OS er aiaa ce ore ores ialeje ola oroletelahelele'e obeiviele e\cevaletelersterete 175
LICE GL varied rai aisfatote ale nin = olotasoteln'aje etels oi srose\o(o/a'=\ol-=tais V7
BEAOTESTU IS YIU ETO cio fa) cialare a\ajeinls) <jalaiate fs els else «meieteie 178 Y
Time of Appearance of Army Worm.......... 46
Time of Leaving of winged Locusts........... 104 | ¥ellow-Dilled: Cock00).<2:22. ccc: cee deee ewer 124
Tityrus, Epargyrius sete eee e cece eee ence es arcce 173 Yellow-tailed Tachina—fly.............0....0.0° 53
Traps for Canker-Worms..........+..+e0+++- 20, 21} Yucea Moth—Oviposition Of............cceeeee 37
Tragocephala viridifasciata.........s..seesseeee 149 | Yucca Borer............ Ueciee acme secrete 169
drichostemmoides, Salvid............0eeceeeceees 119 IMR ES a ee OY TES A a aera
UMC OMMISC ICANN UG aan cioet cieicciaeisiecaciione melee 43 Biolomicalessc<. cases ke ee ee een
BELO CHOSUS = ISOLATE wercrsjo1e, spats eloicts siel<ie ei ciel e/=|sieiciolalals 143 Bibliographical SOREN Ee ee
TE O=SELIPEC MUOCUSts ag z.cc.¢ cuecee yeaeris clereeie oe 150 Descriptive. 22 sacscacvce ee eee ‘
PETTY TANTS ele ceteiot efate’ cf stole retarole tote leleiete eteietel ere retetet= peters
U GOMGCLUST ON a ots si olaie oie sl clalaloleelelotetetote tale inieliatika :
UUCCE, MEGALNYMUS:. 0... civ aie sicicieis +isis.eishe cleiaje clele vee ea
unipuncta. Leucania...........seceecens seen: 22, 24 CEN COSUMU Ss ioreter ole sta(sieteiatelere nope hciele hare stateheielacts 173
| Dice nue: Gad hay.
‘Page 34, line 6, for ‘‘Noctulitées *? read ‘‘Noctuélites,”’
Page 34, line 6, for ‘‘ three-hundredths” read ‘“ two-hundredtas.”’
Page 38, line 6, for ‘‘ glass’ read‘ grass.”
Page 121, line 18, add ‘‘and ’’ before ‘‘ except.”
7
|
\ Pe
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eS
NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
ON THE
NOXIOUS, BENEFICIAL,
AND OTHER
INSECTS
OF THE
STATE OF MISSOURI,
MADE TO THE STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, PURSUANT TO AN APPROPRIATION
FOR THIS PURPOSE FROM THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE.
Bye CHARLES V.-RILEY;
State Entomologist.
JEFFERSON CITY :
REGAN AND CARTER, STATE PRINTERS AND BINDERS.
1877.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1877, by Cuarutrs V. Rivey, in the office of the
Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
fle a oy a,
To the President and Members of the Missouri State Board of Agricultnre:
GENTLEMEN :—The following pages constitute my Ninth Annual Report on the
Noxious, Beneficial and other Insects of the State of Missouri, laid before you in
synopsis at your last annual meeting. |
During no year since I have been studying the habits of the insects of our State,
have the farmers enjoyed such general immunity from insect ravages as during the
past year, if we except the work of the Rocky Mountain Locust toward the end of the
growing season. This immunity was largely due to the wet character of the summers of
1875 and 1876 ; for it is a fact that I have frequently laid stress on, that the larger num-
ber of the cultivator’s worst insect enemies thrive and multiply most during dry
seasons. While there was general immunity from insect ravages throughout the
State, it was all the greater and more noticeable in the western counties which, in 1875,
had been so sorely afflicted. The native locusts were scarce, the Chinch Bug was
searcely heard of, and the general freedom from noxious species, there, which I had
anticipated in my Highth Report, was the subject of remark with all close observers.
It is unnecessary to call particular attention to the subject matter of this Ninth
Report, further than to state that a preponderance of space is devoted to that West-
ern scourge, the Rocky Mountain Locust, which again invaded, from the Northwest,
most of the fertile country between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains, and laid
eggs over a larger area than ever before. Reaching our western counties late in the
season, the insects did comparatively little damage in Missouri, except to Fall wheat,
which was mostly eaten down and killed. They left their eggs, however, and much
injury may be anticipated this Spring, A repetition of the ravages of 1875 is probable,
but not in the counties most ravaged that year, which will not materially suffer.
The particular counties in which injury may be anticipated are detailed on p. 67.
In order that the Report may be distributed among the farmers in those counties in
time to be of service to them, I have hastened its publication by omitting articles
on the Hessian Fly, the Grape Phylloxera, and some other insects which I had more
particularly studied the past year.
In proportion as this Report, and the preceding one for 1875, are circulated in the
western counties ; in that proportion will the labor bestowed upon them and the expe-
rience contained in them prove profitable to the State. I sincerely hope, therefore,
that the illiberal spirit manifest in the Twenty-ninth General Assembly, in the attempt
to abolish the State Board of Agriculture, and the refusal to make any appropriation
therefor, will give place to more generous and enlightened action that will increase
rather than diminish the means for usefulness of the only State organization created
especially for promoting the farming interests of the State.
IV PREFACE,
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, I 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 italics 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 generally given under each heading. The
dimensions are expressed in inches and the fractional parts of aninch. Where so small,
however, asto render such measurement inaccurate, I have adopted the milimeter—
one milimeter (1 mm.) not quite equaling twenty-five hundredths of an inch (0.25 inch.)
The sign 3, wherever used, is an abbreviation of 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 ot such is also given
or indicated by a hair-line, except in the representation of enlarged structural 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, I have adopted the following plan: When the specifie
name is coupled with the generic name under which it was first published, the de-
scriber’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—Acrodasis 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
Respectfully submitted,
CHARLES V. RILEY,
State Entomologist.
St. Louis, Mo., March 14, 1877.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
IPREPAGKE:..02<<< HOA ECE EE EECA cree wilde onaie ce eeiou: adeatemeawaeseeetlesceoeueeec tet cee epoeens 5
NOXIOUS INSECTS.
CURRANT AND GOOSEBERRY WORMG........ Loa uheu tebe toansescanteeees Sateen aidelehooesthe
There are several Species having different Habits, 1—Three which may be destroyed by
similar Methods, 1—Botanical Details as to the Currants and Gooseberries, 2.
THE GOOSEBERRY SPAN-WORM.........006+ SR FERS ERROR ers Bae nares jas Siewert Oe peiteccese
Its Natural History, 3—Most destructive Gooseberry Insect in Missouri, 3—Generic No-
menclature, 3—Characters of the Moth, 4—Description of the Egg, 4—Where the
Eggs are Laid, 4—The Insect single-brooded, 5—How It spreads, 5—A native Spe-
cies, 5—Its past History, 5—It prefers the Gooseberry to the Currant, 6—The Moth
is closely imitated by one which greatly differs structurally, 6—Parasites, 6—Reme-
dies, 7—Other Currant Span-worms, 7.
THE IMPORTED CURRANT WORM. ......cccssccccccsscsceee Raydeeeeetens aa eSavonce aacevsan setae Aaenies
Belongs to the ‘‘ False-caterpillars, ’? 7—The different specific Names it has received, 7—
An imported Species, 8—Its Introduction and Spread, 8—Independently imported
at several Eastern Points, 9—Its Natural History, 9—How the Eggs are laid, 10—
Nature and Habits of the Worm, I1—Characters of the Parent Flies, 12—Preventive
Measures, 13—Remedies, 13—White Hellebore the best, 13—How best used, 14,15—
The Worm is not poisonous, J6—Natural Enemies; 17—It furnishes a forcible Exam-
ple of Arrenotoky or the power of producing Male Offspring without Impregnation,
18—Results of Parthenogenesis in different Insects, 18—It also furnishes an interest-
ing Instance of Defunctionation of special Parts, 19—The Saw of the Female imper-
fect, compared to others, 20—Evolutionary Bearings of this Fact, 21—Descriptive,
21—Variation in the Antennz and Wing Veins, 22.
TAKEN ADVE, CURRANT WiORMbsceses ccotadsccdscnossccsveseseee yee see laed Ser deabintsSeadadesecesacsecs eae
Wherein it differs from the Imported Species, 23—Its Habits, 24—Where the Eggs are
laid, 25—How the Winter is passed, 25—Its Ocurrence in Missouri, 26—Remedies,
26—Descriptive, 26.
THE STRAWBERRY WORM ......cccescseees BR dose HOA Eeee Umahecdesccuves te Seoeee net eocenennee Paes
Also a False-caterpillar, 27—It has a wide Range, 27—How the Eggs are deposited, 28—
Characters and Habits of the Worm, 28—Remedies, 28—Descriptive, 28.
ABBOT’S WHITE PINE WorM........ See Abee Res eae here a eTadevsucobh/oceteveesscts eaee
Destructive Power of the Insects of Its Genus in Germany, 29—Evergreens which It pre-
fers, 30—Habits and Characters of the Worm, 30—Characters of the perfect Flies,
30, 31—Variation in the Antenne, 30—How the Eggs are laid, 31—Natural Enemies,
31—Remedies, 32—Descriptive, 32.
2T
9
oe
=
9,
VI PABLE OF CONTENTS.
LECONTE’S PINE WORM......00-00000 See se tod SAME Aha ye Salar li teats wie BD
A more general Feeder than Abbot’s Species, 32—The close Resemblance of the Worms,
33—How they differ, 32—Descriptive, 33—Other Species of the Genus, 34.
THE COLORADO: ROPTATO-BEB TIE Escts-cccnccheesectecceeeeccees SA EER EA eee GONE IeoseoeaS aoe
Injury in the West in 1876, 34—Spread of the Insect during the Year, 34, 35—Its great
Abundance on the Atlantic Coast, 35—Rate at which It traveled since 1859, 37—An ~
Average of 88 Miles a Year, 39—How it traveled, 37—Principally in the Beetle
State, and greatly assisted by Man, 37—Its Migrating Habit, 33—Area invaded by It
nearly 1,500,C00 square Miles, 383—Causes which limit Its Spread, 88—Will It reach
the Pacific Slope?, 389—How It affected the Price of Potatoes, 889—The Modification
It has undergone, 40—A Mite Parasite added to Its Natural Enemies, 41—Its Intro-
duction to Europe, 42—A living Specimen found last Summer in the Bremen Dock
Yards, 42—Could It live and multiply in Europe?,483—Action taken by Europern Goy-
ernments to prevent Its Introduction, 44—Consideration of the Kearney ‘‘ Potato
Pest Poison,’’ 45.
-
THe ARMY WORM....... i dawae Seauctesouceseonsieessareess eudatchaccasostacees 225 eiateihc Soest eee 47
Further Notes and Experiments thereon, 47—Two Generations produced annually at St.
Louis, anda probable third Generation, exceptionally, 48—Summary of Its Natural
History, 49.
GEES SAV VEER AT ELEVA PAURIVEY? VW OR Maccansssnedeccecsecs cnasneneeetee menat commonest Pe ee eh Mee 50
A new Enemy to Wheat, 50—First Complaint of It in the East, 51—First Appearance in
Kansas, 51--Habits and Natural History, 52—The Egg differs from that of the Army
Worm, 53—Wherein the Worm is distinguished from Its destructive Congener, 54—
Two Broods each Year, 54—Natural Enemies, 54—Remedies, 55--Descriptive, 55.
Tae Rocky MounraAIn LOCUST.............0.0- Rene rinen etn seaceaccomuertese Ae BS a seseecacentenok
It continues to interest the People of the West, 57—Previous Opinions justified, 57—The
Invasion of 1876, 59—Few in British America, 59—Condition of things in Montana,
59—In Wyoming, 59—In Dakota, 59—In Minnesota, 60—In Colorado, 62—In Iowa,
63—In Nebraska, 64—in Kansas, 65—In Missouri, 66—In Indian Territory, 76—In
Texas, 76—In Arkansas, 76—Locusts and Alcali Soil, 61—Good done by Goy. Pills-
bury of Minnesota, 61—F lights in opposite Directions at the same Time, 66—Counties
in Missouri that were overrun, 67—Detailed Reports from Counties in Missourl, 68—
Andrew Co., 68—-Atchison Co., 68—Barry Co., 68—Barton Co., 69—Bates Co.,
69—Benton Co., 69—Buchanan Co., 69—Cass Co., 69—Cedar Co., 70—Caldwell
Co., 70—Clay Co., 70—Dade Co., 70—DeKalb Co., 70—Gentry Co., 70—Greene
Co., 71—Harrison Co., 71—Henry Co., 71—Hickory Co., 71—Holt Co., 71—
Jasper Co., 72—Jackson Co., 73—Johnson. Co., 73—Lafayette Co., 73—Lawrence
Co., 73—MeDonald Co., 74—Newton Co., 74—Nodaway Co., 74—Pettis Co.,
74—Platte Co., 74—Polk Co., 75—Ray Co., 75—St. Clair Co., 75—Vernon Co., 75—
Red-legged Locust troublesome in East Missouri, 68—Destination of the depart-
ing Swarms of 1875, 77—They reached into British America, 75—Source of the
Swarms of 1876, 79—Eastern Line reached, 80—Rate at which the Insects Spread,
80—Direction of Flight, 81—Influence of Wind in determining the Course of Locust
Swarms, 81—Locust Flights East of the Mississippi, 81—Geographical Range of Spe-
cies, 82—Causes which limit the Spread of the R. M. Locust, 83—Flights of Acridium
Americanum, 84—Does the Female of the R. M. Locust lay more than one Egg-mass,
85—How the Eggs are laid, 86—Philosophy of the Egg-mass, 87—How the Young
Locust escapes from the Egg, 88—How It escapes from the Ground, 90 -Additional
Natural Enemies, 91—Animals which destroy the Eggs, 91—The Anthomyia Egg-
parasite, 92—The Common Flesh-fly, 95—Other undetermined Enemies of the
Eggs, 96—Insects which destroy the active Locusts, 98—Experiments with the
Eggs and Conclusions therefrom, 99—Experiments to test the Effects of alternately
Freezing and Thawing, 98—Experiments to test the Influence of Moisture upon
TABLE OF CONTENTS. aut,
Rocky Mountarn Locust—Continued.
the Eggs, 104-~-Experiments to test the Effects of burying at different Depths and
of pressing the Soil, 104—Experiments to test the Effects of Exposure to the free
Air, 104—The Omaha Conference, 106—Remedies and Suggestions, 108—Destruction
of the Young or unfledged Locusts, 108—Protection of Fruit Trees, 110—Legisla-
tion, 111—Act passed by the Missouri Legislature, 111—Acts passed by the Kansas
Legislature, 112—Act providing for the Destruction of Locusts in Minnesota, 114—
Area in which Eggs were laid, 116—Condition of Eggs, 117—Temperature of the
Winter of 1876-7, 120—Prospects for 1877, 121.
INNOXIOUS INSECTS.
AUER MMI IET: GR ANEMONE ce ves econ ec teese cscs: secs sseccsccesesncecs Ree a nrc ae Saglehccumetist Leas bw anuateses eno
Its curious Egg-mass described, 126—Resembling Bird-dung at a distance, 126—Where laid,
127—The Egg-burster, 127—Characters and Habits of the newly hatched Larva, 127—
Difficulty in rearing It in still Water, 128—The Eggs that have been hitherto mistaken
for those of Corydalus, 123—They are probably those of Belostoma grandis, 128.
BRE PYAUC CAN DORM Res lords ss ssccesasctoccesceeces Pee ev ethiareaiecatauen Joe aes secias Hoacbaccevereseule®
It is single-brooded, 129—Will thrive in the latitude of St. Louis, 129—The larva molts,
quite often, 129.
Rae
Ree iia pitt a a
NOXIOUS INSECTS.
- CURRANT AND GOOSEBERRY WORMS.
The Currant and the Gooseberry, though not among the choicest
of our fruits, yet possess, with their peculiarly sub-acid or their spicy
flavor, qualities which make them invaluable for the manufacture of
jellies and conserves, and render them most grateful and healthful in
the hot summer months. Their cultivation is somewhat neglected in
Missouri, and though more general farther north and east it has there
fallen off within the past twelve or fifteen years, principally on account
of the increase of those insects which injuriously affect the plants.
Those, therefore, who desire to successfully grow the Currant and
Gooseberry must familiarize themselves with, and learn how to effec-
tually deal with the insect enemies which attack them. Chief among
these are several so-called “ worms” which prey upon the leaves, and
by repeatedly defoliating the bushes, not only prevent the fruit from
maturing, but eventually cause the death of the plant. In some sec-
tions the injury has been so serious that the culture of these fruits has
been abandoned.
It is the common but misleading practice for writers in our horti-
cultural journals to refer to any of these insect enemies of the Currant
and Gooseberry as THE Currant Worm or THE Gooseberry Worn, as
though there was but asingle species injurious to these plants; whereas,
in reality, there are quite a number of species that affect them in
stem, leaf and fruit. Asarule each requires a different mode of treat-
ment, according to its habit; but I shall here consider only the three
principal leaf-feeders, which may all be destroyed by one and the
same means.
These three species formed the subject of an editorial article pub-
lished some years ago in the American Entomologist (Vol. II, No. 1)
E r—1
2 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
which is now so scarce that it cannot be had in the market. The por-
tion on the Gooseberry Span-worm was written by myself; that on
the Currant worms by my associate, B. D. Walsh, the facts in posses-
sion of either being interchanged, as was our custom. While I am
able to record some interesting observations made since that time,
the article was to that extent exhaustive of the subject, that I shall
quote liberally from it, rather than recast the facts in different lan-
guage.
Notwithstanding that the Currant and Gooseberry differ so much ~
in general appearance—the former being a smooth-stemmed shrub,
bearing its flowers and fruit in a raceme, while the latter has, as arule,
thorny and prickly stems,and bears its berries singly—they are placed
by botanists in the same genus ( /?z7bes). Our common Garden Goose-
berry (/ibes grossularia) was imported from Europe, but we have four
wild species commonly found in the Northern States ; and besides these
four there is a Californian species, the Showy Gooseberry (7. specio-
sum) which is sometimes cultivated as an ornamental plant in our
gardens, for the sake of its fine, deep-red, pendant flowers. On the
contrary, our common Red Currant (2. rubrum), of which the White
is a mere variety, is indigenous inthe more Northern States, from New
Hampshire to Wisconsin, though also a native of Europe: while on
the other hand, the Black Ourrant of our gardens (/2. nigrum) is a
European plant, considered by botanists to be distinct from the Ameri-
can wild Black Currant (72. foridum). Besides these, we have three
other currants peculiar to America, the Prostrate or Fetid Currant
(2. prostratum) foundin cold Northern woods, the Missouri or Golden
Currant, (/?. awreum) and the Red-flowered Currant (2. sanguineum)
both of which are natives of the Far West, and are cultivated chiefly
for ornament.
These botanical details will not be uninteresting by way uf pre-
face to what follows; for the three worms to be described, while they
are found indiscriminately on the Red Currant and Gooseberry, are
not found on the Black Currant.*
Our Wild Black Currant has a Lepidopterous borer peculiar to
it; while the common Currant-borer of our gardens (4 tipuliformis)
which belongs te the very same genus; and the Common Currant
Plant-louse (ApAis ribis) both confine their attacks to the Red Cur-
rant, and do not affect the Black Currant or the Gooseberry. These
facts are not only Asblemraaaee as showing the slight discrimination
*Mr. Saunders records (Can. Ent. IY. 147) having found the Imported Currant-worm in the act of
feeding not only on the Black Currant, but also on * the Plum; but the fact that all laryze which he
endeavored to rear on such leaves eventu: ully died,shows how exception: 11 and abnormal is their feed-
ing on those plants, and that they cannot, in the tine sense of the word, be considered Black Currant or
Plum feeders,
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 3
which insects sometimes make between plants of the same genus; but
they are of much practical importance, as a knowledge of the peculiar
tastes and preferences which insects frequently manifest for different
species, or even different varieties of plants, will be of much value in
guiding us what to plant.
THE GOOSEBERRY SPAN-WORM—E£Eufichia* ribearia (Fitch.)
[Ord. Lerrporrera; Fam. GEOMETRID£. |
ITS NATURAL HISTORY.
In the month of May, in the latitude of St. Louis, gooseberry
bushes, and more seldom currant bushes, are sometimes suddenly
stripped of their leaves by a yel-
low, black-spotted worm which
generally remains unnoticed dur-
ing the early part of the month,
when small and hidden by the
foliage. It is the most common
S and destructive of the gooseberry
leaf-eaters in Missouri, and, being
\ ai?
Sr eee,
a looper or span-worm, is at once
distinguished, by its mode of pro-
\ S gression, from the other worms to
<S be mentioned. When full grown
it measures about an inch, and is
of a bright yellow color, with lat-
eral: white lines and numerous
‘ black spots and round dots, as
GOOSEBERRY SPAN - WORM a, b, larvae; c, pupa. shown in the accompanying fig-
ures. The head is white, with two large black eye-like spots on the
outer sides above, and two smaller ones beneath. The six true legs are
black and the four prolegs yellow. It drops readily by a web and
attains its growth from the end of May to the middle of June, when
it descends to the ground and either burrows a little below the surface
or hides under any rubbish that may belying there; but in neither
case does it form any cocoon. Shortly after this it changes to a chrys-
*This insect was originally described by Fitch under the generic name Abrazas, with a guestion
as to the correctness of the genéric reference. It has also been very generally referred to Ellopia, but
Dr. Packard in his recent admirable Monograph of the Geometrid Moths, very properly deiines the
genus under the name Eujiichia, the insect in question being the only species belonging to if.
4 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
alis (Fig. 1, ¢c), of the usual shape, and shining mahogany-brown in
color. After remaining in this state about fourteen days, it bursts the
chrysalis shell, and in June and the forepart of July appears asa
moth (Fig. 2). This last is of a pale nankeen-yellow, the wings
Eso zo! rather gauzy and shaded with faintly dusky or
; leaden-colored spots. These are arranged in no
f very distinct pattern, but form a more or less
conspicuous band across the outer third of all
the wings, and give a soiled appearance to the
rs we basal portions. The spots are always largest
Female Moth of Gooseberry
Span-worm. and most intense in the middle portion of each
wing. The under surface repeats the upper, and the legs, body and
feelers are somewhat brighter, or orange. In the male the feelers are
feathered or ciliated; in the female they are simple. These moths
may invariably be noticed hanging listlessly about the bushes two or
three weeks after the worms have disappeared, and even where the
latter have not been numerous enough to attract attention, the moths
they have produced may generally be noticed in the month of June,
moving with languid flight about the bushes, or darting somewhat
more actively from place to place when disturbed. Like the rest of
their family, they are nocturnal and, except when aroused, or in cloudy
weather, usually remain quiet during the day. ‘The females, soon
after issuing from the ground, begin to lay their eggs, fastening them
simply to the twigs and more permanent parts of the plant, and prin-
cipally on the main stems near the ground and beneath the branches.
The preference for the inner, more basal and protected portions of
the plant, ever the terminal or more exposed parts, I have found quite
decided. From being laid singly and from possessing protective color-
ing, these eggs are with difficulty noticed, and have never hitherto
been described. I had on several occasions, in years gone by, obtained
what were evidently, from comparison with those found in the ovaries,
the eggs of this species, but not until last spring did I succeed in
hatching therefrom the larvez, under conditions where they could be
watched, or in getting the females to lay in confine-
ment. The eggis irregularly ovoid, slightly com-
ie ee? pressed, 0.7 mm. long, 3 as wide, pale bluish-green
incolor, with irregular, sub-hexagonal reticulations,
so as to give a rather deeply pitted appearance
something like the surface of a thimble, there being
15 or more longitudinal rows of these pits. It re-
IGG Or GoosEBERRY
Span-worm:—@, eplargeds minds one in fact of the pitted grain of the berry
b, natural size,
of Atropa belladonna. It is attached as often on one side as on end.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 5
This insect is single-brooded, and the eggs are exposed to all the
heat of summer, and the vicissitudes of winter, without losing their
vitality. Aft length, when the proper time arrives, and the Gooseberry
and Currant unfold their leaves so as to afford plenty of food, these
eggs hatch, and in little more than three weeks the worms attain their
full larval development.
HOW IT SPREADS.
Owing to the above peculiarity and to the fact that the eggs are
attached to the permanent parts of the plant where they are with
difficulty seen, the species is frequently carried in the egg state upon
transplanted bushes from one neighborhood to another; which ae-
counts for its sudden appearance in parts where it was before unknown.
A NATIVE SPECIES.
This Gooseberry Span-worm is a native American insect, not to
be found on the other side of the Atlantic. There is, however, an
allied species (Abraxas grossulariata), which in Europe infests Cur-
rant and Gooseberry bushes in much the same manner as our species
does here. The twoinsects were at one time supposed to be identical,
but the European species is at once distinguished by its black, white
and yellow markings in the larva and imago states; and by forming
its chrysalis above ground. It used to be very common in a dearly-
loved garden at Walton, England, where, in watching its metamor-
phoses I first, as a child, became interested in insect life—ths bright
colors and striking pattern of thespecies in all stages,and its external
habit, making it a most convenient object for study.
ITS PAST HISTORY.
Our species undoubtedly fed originally on some one or all four of
our indigenous gooseberries, but after the introduction of the European
gooseberry it very soon manifested its preference for the latter, and,
under the new conditions, multiplied so rapidly as soon to become a
serious pest. The depredations of this insect in some of the Eastern
States, particularly in New York and Pennsylvania, date back a great
number of years. In the West it was first noticed by myself ( Prazrze
Farmer, July 16, 1875) in the neighborhood of Chicago,in 1862, where
for a few years afterward it multiplied to an injurious extent.
In Missouri, my attention was first called to it in May, 1868, by
Mr. T. W. Guy, then living at Glenwood. His gooseberry bushes had
been entirely denuded of their leaves by it. Mr. Huron Burt of Wil-
liamsburg, on May 30, 1870, sent me specimens of the worms, with the
statement that they had been defoliating his gooseberry bushes, and
6 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
that where the foliage was insufficient they would finish up on the
fruit. Quite frequently, since then, I have in my travels found the
gooseberry bushes in thé eastern counties of the State defoliated by
this pest; but it is seldom complained of in the western counties, and
Mr. Walsh, in the course of twelve years collecting, met with buta soli-
tary specimen of the moth, near Rock Island, Illinois, although the
wild gooseberry was abundant in the woods in that locality.
IT PREFERS THE GOOSEBERRY TO THE CURRANT.
This insect shows a decided preference for the Gooseberry, always
attacking that plant first when growing side by side with currant
bushes. Hence, and because it is generally preferable to apply the
‘popular name of an injurious insect to the state in which it commits
its depredations, I have given it the distinguishing term of “ Goose-
berry Span-worm,” though Fitch originally called it the American
Currant Moth. The term “Currant Geometer or Measuring Worm ”
has subsequently been used without any particular reason.
THE MOTH IS CLOSELY IMITATED.
There is another moth common in Missouri and in most parts of
the country, which in flight and general appearance bears so close a
resemblance to the parent of our Gooseberry Span-worm that the
two at first sight are easily confounded, and furnish a remarkable
illustration of the fact that insects diflering widely in structural details
often have stamped upon them the same general appearance, where
what naturalists understand as “mimicry” could apparently have
had nothing to do in bringing about the resemblance. I refer to a
little moth often seen fluttering about the Fragrant Sumach (Rhus
aromatica) on which its larva perhaps feeds. It has precisely the
same color and very much the same markings and differs from the
Gooseberry moth only in details of venation, in the simple feelers in
both sexes and in the somewhat smaller size, more rounded and more
diaphanous wings. It has been referred to an entirely different
Family (Bombycida), but evidently belongs to the Geometers.
PARASITES.
No parasite has been mentioned by previous writers as attacking
the Gooseberry Span-worm, but I have reared an undescribed Tachina-
fly from its pupa.
REMEDIES.
Many different applications have been used to kill this worm. A
correspondent of the Country Gentleman (June 17, 1869) mentions
having used skim milk with good success. The Gooseberry Span-
worm of Europe, already referred to,is fought with a decoction of
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. f(
Hider leaves boiled until the liquid becomes black. Into this is then
mixed an equal quantity of tobacco water. Fox-glove leaves are also
used for the same purpose. Sulphide of potassium in dilute solution
(one part in 500) is also used in France, and even air-slacked lime is
found useful when the worms are young. The same remedies would
doubtless apply to our species, but white hellebore, as I shall presently
recommend it for the other worms, is most available and most effective,
though less satisfactory than when appliedto them. The habit which
the worms have of letting themselves down by a web when disturbed,
renders hand picking quite effectual if done when they are young.
It will be most effectual where the bushes are well-trimmed. By
shaking these with a forked stick, and then passing the stick under
the suspended worms, the latter may be drawn onto the ground and
crushed. It is a good plan also to dig around the bushes, after the
worms have entered the ground to transform, so as to expose them or
the chrysalides to birds. Where practicable, poultry may be used to
good advantage in this destruction.
Three other Span-worms * are mentioned by Packard and Saund-
ers as infesting currant bushes; but none of them are spotted and
marked as that under consideration, and none of them have ever been
known to multiply to the same injurious degree. They all occur in
Missouri, and the moths are more often met with than the worms.
THE IMPORTED CURRANT WORM—WNematus ventricosust Klug.
[Ord. HyMENopTERA; Fam. TENTHREDINID#].
The two insects next to be treated of belong to a class of leaf-
feeding worms not heretofore noticedin my Reports, namely, the false
caterpillars or slugs. With the exception of the wood-boring Horn-
tails (Uroceride), and a few of the Gall-flies (Cynipide), they are
the only insects of their order that injure vegetation to any
considerable extent. The false-caterpillars are so named on
account of their general resemblance to the ordinary caterpillars
*Angerona crocataria (Fabr.), Amphydasis cognataria Guen., and Endropia armataria (H—S.) .
+As with so many other insects, this species has received many names, and through the careless-
ne3s of describers, and the tendency to erect species on the most trivial differences, it has become
almost impossible to unravel its nomenclature. Mr. Walsh has, however, endeavored to do so (Pract.
Ent. 1. 125). The name which I employ, and which has been very generally accepted, was given to it
in 1819 by Klug; but as, according to Seibold, Klug’s name was what we call a mere museum name,
and Scopoli had described the # as early as 1763 (Entomologia carniolica, 280) by the name of ribesii,
the sticklers who allow nothing but the strictest law of priority, carried back to its utmost limit in
point of time, will have achance to fly in the face of modern authors who have employed Klug’s
name, by adopting Scopoli’s, albeit his ribesii was a description of but one sex and not of the species.
In 1823 the # was described as afinis and the @ as trimaculatus by St. Fargeau ; and itis under this
last name that Dr. Fitch published an extended article on the species (Trans. N. Y.St. Agr. Soc.
1867, pp. 909-932)—strangely overlooking the sexual distinctions atter they had been clearly pointed out
by Mr. Walsh. It has at diferent times been christened ribis by two different authors ; also ribesit
grossularié and grossulariatus.
8 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
of moths or butterflies. They are easily distinguished from the
latter, however, by never having less than six, and often as many as
eight, pairs of prolegs; whereas no true caterpillar has ever more
than five pairs. The prolegs also differ structurally in lacking the rim
of minute hooks which characterizes those of true caterpillars. The
perfect insects are termed Saw-flies, from the peculiar saw-like struc-
ture of the ovipositor, which will be more particularly referred to.
further on. ,
The species under consideration is one of the most destructive
members of the family,and though not so widespread as the Goose-
berry Span-worm, it is far more troublesome than any other currant.
insect in most of the Eastern States. JI have neither met with it, nor:
been able to trace its occurence, with any degree of certainty, in
Missouri; but as there is good evidence that it occurs already in IIli-
nois, and Mr. Jno. W. Byrket found it in 1870 around Indianapolis,
Ind., I have thought best to forewarn and forearm those of our citizens.
who are interested in berry culture, by laying before them a full
account of it.
ITS INTRODUCTION AND SPREAD.
It first began to attract attention in this country around Roches-
ter, N. Y., about the year 1857—the first explicit reference to it being
found in the Rural New Yorker tor July 24,1858. It was generally
supposed to have been imported along with some gooseberry bushes
from Europe, by the celebrated Rochester nurserymen, Messrs. Ell-
wanger and Barry: but Mr. Barry informed me, while at his beautiful
place in 1871, that it was first known to occur around Toronto, in
Canada, before it appeared around Rochester.
“In nine years time, besides colonizing in other directions, it had
gradually spread to Washington county, N. Y.,on the east side of the
Hudson River—a total distance of about 225 miles. Thus, asit appears,,
it traveled at the average rate of some twenty-five miles a year,
establishing a permanent colony wherever it went, and not passing
through the country as a mere moveable column of invaders. In 18€0
or 61 it appeared at Erie,in the N. W. corner of Pennsylvania. In
1864 Prof. Wincheli found it at Ann Arbor, Michigan. In 1866 it was
generally distributed over the N. E, counties of Pennsylvania. And,
judging from a conversation which we had in October, 1868, with Mark
Carley, of Champaign, in Central Illinois, this gentleman must have
had it in great numbers upon his currant bushes in the summer of
that year. At all events he described the worm which had infested
his bushes as being green, with many black spots, and as not being a
looper.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 9
“ But besides the principal centre of distribution at Rochester, N
Y., this Currant-worm seems to have been imported from Europe at.
one or two other points in the Eastern States, and, as at Rochester, to:
have spread therefrom as from a focus. Unless our memory greatly
deceives us, Mr. Geo. Brackett, of Maine, described this same insect
many years ago, as existing in that State, though he gave it a different
specific name, and was not at all aware that it had been introduced
from the other side of the Atlantic. We also heard of it in the summer
of 1867, from Mr. A. H. Mills, of Vermont, as being very destructive in
his neighborhood. Not improbably,it was independently imported at
other points in the East. Wherever it is introduced it spreads with
great rapidity, and as there are two broods every year, it soon multi-
plies so as to strip all the currant and gooseberry bushes bare and
utterly ruin the crop, besides eventually destroying the bushes, unless
proper measures be taken to counteract it.”
According to Dr. Fitch, who, in the article already alluded to, has
given a very full account of its spread over the Western States, it
kept the bushes so destitute of leaves in most of the gardens at Water-
town, N. Y., that in three years they were nearly or quite dead.
lt now occurs in all the New England States, and according to.
Mr. Wm. Saunders, throughout Canada from Halifax to Windsor.
ITS NATURAL HISTORY.
The perfect insects come out of the ground soon after the leaves
of the current and gooseberry bushes put forth in spring. The female
lays her eggs along the principal yeins on the underside of the leaf,
(Fig. 4,1). These eggs, though but slightly attached, yet increase in
[Fig. 4] bulk after deposition, as is the case
i of all Saw-fly eggs known to me,
when inserted into the plant-tissue.
Such swelling has been explained
heretofore solely on the principle of
A 4 7\ endosmosis, and if such were the
; EE Om only explanation it would strongly
y, 2 argue that the eggs in this instance,
‘must be slightly inserted in the leaf
tissue. Indeed Siebold, in some
elaborate observations on this in-
sect, which I shall more particularly
refer to further on, finding that the
ImporteD Currant Worm:—Leaf showing C828 shrivelled and died in measure
ae a holes which the young worms as the leaves upon which they were
deposited dried up, investigated the subject very carefully, and
10 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
declares that the female ruptures, with her weak saws, the epidermis
of the leaf-ribs, and thus brings the surface of the egg in very close
connection with the exposed parenchyma.*
He further remarks that the rupturing or scratching (Verlet-
zung) which Nematus ventricosus causes in ovipositing is “probably
confined to the epidermis and may therefore be easily overlooked.”
This may account for the fact that Mr. Saunders} states, after carefully
looking into this matter, that heis fully satisfied that the eggs are not
embedded in the leaf tissue at all, but fastened very slightly to the
surface. Upon subsequently questioning Mr. Saunders more particu-
larly about it, he wrote (May 25, 1874): “Whatever Siebold may say,
I cannot help. My microscope does not show me the egg as pushed
through the epidermis—it appears distinctly on the surface—it is very
different from the Rasberry saw-fly in this respect.” Dr. A. S. Pack-
ard, Jr., also states (Himbryological Studies in Mem. Peabody Ac. of
Sc., Vol.1, No.3,) that the eggs are simply glued to the surface, and
this is the experience of all other American writers on the subject.
The investigators named are all most careful observers and good
microscopists; yet either there is error somewhere, or else, which is
an interresting possibility, the insect has been modified in habit since
its introduction to America.
While in the majority of cases in America, as observed by Saun-
ders and Packard, the abortive saws of the female may not rupture
the epidermis; in some cases, however, they certainly do; for in most
but not a]l the specimens which I have examined, I have detected the
slight rupturing mentioned by Siebold. It is still plainly discernible
in a dried leaf now before me from Mr. J. A. Lintner, of Albany, N.Y.,
and yet containing well formed eggs that were parasitized. Never-
theless, when made, it is so slight as to be altogether insufficient to
support the egg without the adhesive fluid that accompanies it. The
eggs, while attached, appear no more inserted than are those of the
genus Zyda, and differ materially in this respect from those of all
other Saw-flies known to me.
Siebold himself remarks that there can be, with such slight
skinning of the epidermis, but little vital intercourse between the egg
and the plant, and the facts that I have recorded as to the swelling of
the eggs of our Katydids when fastened to perfectly dry and dead
substances (Rep. V, 124,) would indicate that the swelling is not due
solely to endosmosis from the attached parts of the plant, but depends
on another principle, difficult to analyze, but evidently more or less
atmospheric.
*Beitr. zur Parthenogenesis der Arthropoden, 1871, p. 123.
tAm. Entomologist Il, 2743; Can. Ent, I, 112.
4
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 11
Mr. Saunders has found as many as 101 eggs on three contiguous
leaves.
The eggs hatch within a week or ten days according to the
weather, into pale 20-legged larvae with a large dull whitish head,
(Pie. 5. having each side the black spot
ae so characteristic of Saw-fly lar-
ve belonging to the same genus.
The color soon becomes green,
jg] and as the worms molt they ac-
7, quire black, shiny spots on the
~ body, and a black head. After
the last molt the spots are shed
again, and the color i; entirely
grass-green, except the dark
head-spots, and a yellowish tinge
on the first and the anal joints.
In the annexed Figure 5, a, a, a,
a, Show larvee of different sizes
IMPORTED CURRANT WORM:—a, a, a, larve; b,a mag- , ae 4
nified joint of body, showing black tubercles. in different positions ; and } gives
an enlarged view of one of the abdominal joints in profile, so as to
exhibit the position of the black spots. ‘ When full-grown the larvee
are about three quarters of an inch long, and from their greatly
increased size, make their presence readily known by the sudden dis-
appearance of the leaves from the infested bushes. Shortly after-
wards, having attained a length of fully three-quarters of an inch,
they burrow under-ground, generally beneath the infested bushes,
or, if there are many leaves lying on the ground, simply hide under
those leaves. In either case they spin around themselves a thin oval
cocoon of brown silk, within which they assume the pupa state.”
Frequently, however, as has been fully proved by Mr. Saunders, and
as has been recorded by European observers, they form their cocoons
in the open air, on the bushes, or under any extraneous shelter that is
at hand. “About the last week in June or the first part of July, or
occasionally not until the beginning of August, the winged insect
bursts forth from the cocoon and emerges to the light of day; when
the same process of coupling and laying eggs isrepeated. The larvz
hatch out from this second laying of eggs as before, feed on the leaves
as before, and spin their cocoons as before; but the perfect fly from
this second brood does not come out of the coccoon till the following
spring, when the same series of phenomena is repeated.” At least
such is the case ordinarily, though a third generation is sometimes
produced.
12 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
Mr. Saunders has given some reason to believe that a few of the
second brood of larvee may exceptionally hibernate as such.* This
in itself is not impossible, but cannot, by any means, be looked upon
as proved. The impression rests on the fact that on the 31st of May,
[Fig. 6.] 1869, he found a cocoon attached to a
bag which ke had tied on a gooseberry
bush on the 22d of the same month. We
all know that the Gooseberry is one of
the first plants to blossom and leaf, and
that in all ordinary seasons a worm such
as our Currant-worm would have ample
time to acquire full growth by the last
of May at London, Ont. In point of
fact Mr. Saunders himself found worms
feeding the very next year in the very
same locality, as early as the 10th of
May.t Yet he could not suppose these
, had hibernated because he at the same
Importep CuRRANT Worm :—a, male;
female fly, the hair lines showing nat. size. time found eggs upon the leaves, some
of which must have been laid two weeks earlier. The flies are known
to issue in April even in Northwestern New York, where, though on
about the same latitude, the opening of spring is later than at Lon-
don, Ont. Moreover, in the very first article appearing upon the
insect in thiscountry (Rural New Yorker, June 24, 1858), the worms
are described as appearing “in succession occasionally from March
till October, but in greatest numbers in June.” And, allowing the
spring of 1869 to be unusually late, I cannvt see why a cocoon found
the last day of May should not have been made by a worm hatched
from an egg deposited by an early developed fly ; for it is more likely
that an early female should deposit a few eggs on the yet unfolded
buds than that the worm should, as such, weather the winter’s severity
except when shielded by its cocoon,
‘From the drawings of the male and femalet fly given herewith
(Fig. 6), the reader will see at once that the two sexes differ very
widely. This is very generally the case among the Saw-flies, and it is
a remarkable and most suggestive fact that, when this takes place, the
body of the male is almost invariably darker than that of the female.
Nor does our species, as will be observed at the first glance, form any
exception to the rule.” Indeed, as with several other species and
*Can. Ent., II, pp. 16, 48.
tIbid, p. 112.
{The abdomen in this cut should show only 9 joints.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. © 13
notably the saw-flies (genus Lophyrus) which affect the White Pines
and which will be treated of further on, the body of the male is almost
entirely black and that of the female almost entirely yellow.
PREVENTIVE MEASURES.
“The mode in which this Currant-worm has been transmitted, first
from the European nursery to the American nursery, and afterwards all
over several States of the Union, can be easily explained. As has been
stated just now, it usually passes the autumn and winter in the ground
under the bushes, where it has fed, housed ina little oval cocoon from 4
todinchlong. Hence if, as often happens, infested bushes are taken up
in the autumn or early in the spring, with a little dirt adhering to their
roots, and sent off to a distance, that dirt will likely enough enclose a
cocoon ortwo. A single pair of cocoons, if they happen to contain
individuals of opposite sexes, will be sufficient to start a new colony.
The first and probably the second year the larvz will not be noticed;
but increasing as almost all insects do, unless checked from some
extraneous source, in a fearfully rapid geometric progression, by the
third or fourth year they will swarm, strip the bushes completely
bare of their leaves, and ruin the prospect for a good crop of fruit.
Of course, like other winged insects, they can fly from garden to
garden in search of a suitable spot whereon to deposit their eggs; so
that any point where they have been once imported becomes, in a
few years, a new centre of distribution for the immediate neighbor-
hood.
“*Nurserymen and all others, importing Gooseberry and Currant
bushes from a distance, should be particularly careful, before they
plant them, to wash the roots thoroughly in a tub of water, and burn
or scald whatever comes off them. Any cocoons, that may happen to
be hidden among the dirt attached to the roots, will then be
destroyed.”
By adopting these precautions the dissemination of so mischievous
a pest throughout the country, and especially its introduction into
Missouri, might be prevented for many years to come.
REMEDIES.
White hellebore, which can be had at a comparatively low price,
has proved an infallible remedy for this worm.
‘“ All that is required is to dust it lightly over the infested bushes,
taking care to stand to windward during the operation, as if taken
into the nostrils it excites violent sneezing. For this purpose, the best
plan is to put the powder into a common tin cup, tying a piece of very
fine muslin over the mouth of the cup; or the powder may be simply
14 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
enclosed in a bag of muslin of convenient size. In either case, the
apparatus must be jastened to the end of a short stick, so as to avoid
coming in too close quarters with it. It is best to select a moderately
still day for the operation; as the powder is so exceedingly fine that
on a windy day it is apt to get wasted.”
It may be more safely and agreeably, and just as effectually
applied in solution, by syringe or sprinkler, in proportion of one
pound of the powder to 20 or 25 gallons of water.
“To test the genuineness of the article, a very small pinch of it
should be applied to the nose. if it is good and has not lost its
strength by keeping too long, it will immediately produce a tingling
sensation in the nostrils; if it does not produce this effect, it is worth-
less and should not be used. There is every reason to believe that in
those cases where men have u3ed White hellebore to kill Currant
Worms without any preceptible effect, they had been deceived
into buying an adulterated or worthless drug. Although, like almost
all our medicines, hellebore, in large doses, is poisonous, yet in
minute doses there is no reason to be afraid of it; for, according to
Dr. Fitch, it has long been in use as the basis of those snuffs, which
are designed to excite violent and continued sneezing.”
The following interesting experience with hellebore in solution,
and with hot water, is given by Mr. Saunders in the Canadian Ento-
mologist (Vol. Il, pp. 18-15), and will prove instructive.
The larva of Nematus ventricosus, alas, too well known under the popular designa-
tion of ‘‘ currant-worm,’’* has been very abundant in this neighborhood during the
present season. In my own garden it has been a continual fight as to who should have
the currant and gooseberry bushes, the worms or their rightful owner. During the
early part of summer, anticipating their attack, I was on the lookout for them and by
timely doses of hellebore, preserved the foliage with but little damage. In abouta
fortnight later, having omitted inspection for a few days, [ was surprised to find the
bushes being stripped again ; and this time the enemy had got so far ahead as to dam-
age their appearance considerably. Another prompt dosing of hellebore brought relief.
After this [ hardly ever found all the bushes entirely free trom them; a walk around
the garden would reveal a few here and a few there, and I was perpetually hand-killing
and brushing off these smaller detachments. Four times during the season [ found it
necessary to apply hellebore freely, for the foes were a legion.
During the middle of August, being occupied with other matters, the garden was
neglected tor a few days, when on visiting it again on the 19th, [ found many of the
bushes entirely leafless, and the foliage remaining on the others was rapidly disap-
pearing. I felt discouraged and began to have some misgiving as to whether hellebore
was after all such an untailing panacea for this almost universal pest as we had sup-
posed. I resolved if possible to satisfy. myself fully on this point, and having
mixed about 1} oz of powdered hellebore with a pail of water, was ready to proceed.
I selected a leaf from two bushes, marked them and counted the number of their
inhabitants—one was occupied by forty-four worms of different sizes, crowding it
above and below, and it was about half eaten ; the other jeaf had twelve nearly full
grown onit. Having transferred the mixture of hellebore and water, to a watering
pot, the bushes were sprinkled with it. [returned to examine the results in three-quarters
of an hour, and the leaf which at first had forty-four on it, had now only two, and
these were so far exhausted that they were unable to eat, and could hardly crawl,
* After this admission, it seems to me that the popular distinguishing term of ‘‘ Imported Cur-
rant-Worm,’? first given it by Walsh, is preferable both to that of ‘‘ Imported Gooseberry Saw-fly,’”
given by Mr. Saunders (Rep. Ent. Soc. Ontario, 1871), and to that of ‘‘Currant Worm and Saw-tly’?
bestowed by Dr. Fitch. '
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 15.
while on the other leaf out of the twelve there remained three, but in the same enfee-
bled condition. All around under the bushes, the ground was strewed with the fallen
foe, and I felt perfectly satisfied that entite reliance might be placed on this means of
defense.
I did not anticipate such speedy action on the part of the hellebore, or should have
returned to the examination sooner, and the bushes were so entirely cleared, that,
excepting on one I had reserved for another experiment, I had no means of repeating
the dose.
There was one thing that struck me as somewhat remarkable, the portion of leaf
on which the greatest number were feeding, appeared to be of the same size as before
the hellebore was applied; if smaller I could not perceive it. When the leaves dry,
which have been sprinkled with liquid, a very thin coating of the powder, more or less
regular, is found over them, and I had always supposed that death resulted from eating
a portion of the leaf thus coated. Such is undoubtedly the case when the hellebore is
applied dry, but in this case a meal however small made by forty-four caterpillars on
half a leaf, must have materially diminished it. I am disposed to believe then that the
death of most of these must have resulted from their imbibing or absorbing some of
the liquid as soon as applied. Many of them showed symptoms of the violent
cathartic action of the remedy, having a mass of soft excrement hanging to the extremity
of their dead bodies.
[ had reserved one bush, on which were a good number, for another experiment.
It sometimes happens, especially with those who live in the country, that hellebore is.
not at hand when the worms are first observed at work, and a few days’ delay in pro-
curing it is perhaps unavoidable. In such cases the bushes may be entirely leafless,
before the remedy can be applied. Hot water suggested itself to my mind as likely to
be of some service, and being also an article readily procurable in every home. It is
well known that many plants will bear such an application without injury, provided
the heat is not too great. Taking some in a watering pot, a little hotter than one could
bear the hand in, I showered it plentifully on the affected bush, and it was amusing to
see how the caterpillars wriggled and twisted and quickly letting go their hold, fell to
the ground, which was soon strewed with them. After the first excitement produced
by the sudden heat was over, they remained as if wishing to ‘‘ cool off” before com=
mencing work again. A few did not recover from the application, but most of them
were soon aS active as ever.
Now what I would snggest is this, that where the hellebore cannot be at once pro-
cured, no time should be lost in applying the hot water, and when once on the ground
the creatures may have the life trodden out of them by the foot, or beaten out with
the spade or some other implement. In any case many of them would never reach
the bush again, for enemies beset them on every side.
If used in powder, a perforated tin cylinder, such as is commonly
used for the purpose in England, will be found useful to push into the
bushes and reach every part thereof, and particularly the under sides
of the leaves. Itis generally made about 24 inches wide and 10 inches
long. The cylinder has a fixed bottom, with a socket to receive a
handle and a brace to strengthen the socket, and a tight-fitting cover
completes it.
As the well known editor of the American Agriculturist writes
from his own experience: “A pound of white hellebore, costing about
forty cents, will clean any ordinary garden, and keep it clean for a
season. If applied in the liquid form with a good syringe, the whole
labor need net exceed an hour. There is great satisfactien in seeing
clean bushes and clean clusters, and though it may be an evidence of
depravity, we confess to a feeling of consolation at the sight of the
enemy, stupefied, coiled up, and laid out in rows upon the brown
earth. We always did have a private interpretation of Cowper’s senti-
ment about ‘needlessly setting foot on a worm,’ ”
Numerous other remedies might be detailed, some of which, as cop-
peras water, decoction of poke weed root, etc., have doubtless proved
!
16 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
more or less effectual, but most of which are founded on isolated
experiments and on results due to other causes which the experiment-
ers did not understand. Indeed, one can searcely pick up a horticul-
tural journal without finding during the summer months some new
remedy for THE Currant-worm recommended. But nothing equals
those I have referred to, and-even carbolate of lime, which is quoted
by many authors as having been used with success by Dr. E. Worces-
ter, of Waltham, Mass., and as being less disagreeable, less costly and
perfectly safe, was, after thorough trial, found by Mr. Saunders, who
is himself a chemist, and doubtless obtained the pure article, to be of
little or no avail. The only manner in which it can be successfully
employed, as Mr. M. W. Armington, of Providence, R. I., maintains, is
by sprinkling it on the ground, and then shaking the worms down,
when,if of full strength, it will prevent most of them from getting back.
From the habit which belongs to this species of laying the eggs
in large numbers on a single leaf, we can employ another means of
counter-working its injuries which will not apply to the other two
worms. The newly hatched larve can find “ plenty of food without
wandering off, and they have the habit when very young of boring
small holes through the leaf, as shown at No. 2 in Figure 4, and when
they become a little older, holes that are a little larger, as shown at
No. 3. It is evident that such holes as these may be readily recog-
nized, and the leaf be carried, larve and all, far away from any cur-
rant or gooseberry bushes, and left to winter there, or—to make assur-
ance doubly sure—thrown into the fire. If, however, the young larve
are removed a few rods away from any plant belonging to the botani-
cal genus /2zbes, they will besure to die of starvation. For they can-
not feed on anything else, any more than the common Locust-borer
can live on an appletree. As the eggs are laid in such large groups,
there will be but a few leaves bearing these newly hatched larvez to
remove from every bush,” and early in the season they will be found
principally on the lower parts of the bushes, nearest the ground.
“Wherever this Currant Worm has been introduced, there has
prevailed, from some cause or other, a popular superstition that the
currants grown upon the infested bushes are poisonous. ‘This isa mere
delusion. They may be, and very probably are, unwholesome, just as
any Other fruit would be perhaps more or less unwholesome, if grown
under such unnatural conditions as to seriously affect the health of
the tree; but we have the authority of Dr. Fitch, himself a physician,
for believing that the common notion on this subject is entirely erro-
neous.” }
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 17
NATURAL ENEMIES.
It is not probable that any of the natural enemies which attack
this insect in Europe have been imported with it into this country;
but several of our indigenous species have learned to prey upon it.
Besides such indiscriminate feeders as ants and some of the cannibal
beetles which Mr. Saunders has observed to attack the worms when
they fall from the bushes, or are the least helpless or injured, it is
attacked while on the bushes and in vigorous health by a Half-wing
Bug, first noticed at this work by the same gentleman. This species
(Podisus placidus Uhler, Fig. 7, a, enlarged; 3, natural size) which
may be called the Placid Soldier-bug, is marked with yellowish-brown
[Fig. 7.] and dark brown, and attacks the worms in the same
well known manner in which the Spined Soldier-bug
spears and sucks toe death the larve of the Colorado
Potato-beetle. Mr. Walsh bred from this Currant
worm a small Ichneumon-fly (Brachypterus microp-
terus, Say) which has such small wings that it much
resembles an ant. Mr. 0. J.S. Bethune also reared
from its cocoon another Ichneumon-fly (emiteles
nemativorus, Walsh)* closely allied to that which
oy \ Z infests our common Bag Worm (Rep. I, p. 150.) ‘This
Cea same fly was captured a number of years ago by Mr.
size. Walsh around Rock Island, Illinois, “and as the Im--
ported Currant Worm has notas yet been introduced into that region,
we must conclude that this Ichneumon-fly could not have been
imported into America from Kurope along with this Currant Worm,
but that in all probability it is an indigenous species. Hence we have
additional proof that, under certain circumstances, native American
parasites can, and actually do, acquire the habit of preying upon
Kuropean insects when the latter are imported into America. Itis
certain, however, that they will not do so in all cases without excep-
tion; for although the Wheat Midge, or Red Weevil, as it is incorrectly
termed in the West, invaded our shores some forty or fifty years ago,
not a single parasite has yet been discovered to prey upon it in this
country, although there are no less than three that prey upon it in
Europe.”
Lastly, Mr. J. A. Lintner has discovered that even the eggs are
inhabited by a minute Hymenopterous parasite which, I believe,
remains undescribed; and he informs me that he has also bred a
Tachina-fly from the larva.
* Can. Entomologist, Il, page 9.
ER—2 |
18 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
IT PRESENTS A FORCIBLE EXAMPLE OF ARRENOTOKY.
Parthenogenesis, or the production of offspring by virgin females,
has long been recognised as a zoélogical fact, occurring with many of
the lower forms of animal life, and not unfrequently with insects.
With many of the latter, e. ¢., the plant-lice, as we have so fully seen
in these Reports in the case of the Grape Phylloxera, it is the normal
form of reproduction; while with many other insects, as with some,
and perhaps with most gall-flies (Cynzpide), it occurs regularly at
every alternate generation. It also occurs occasionally with insects
which normally cannot or do not multiply without direct sexual inter-
course, as in the common Mulberry Silk-worm. As I] have remarked
elsewhere: * ‘What in some species is the exception, becomes the
rule in others, of which the hive-bee is an example. The male element
may be said to possess all degrees of potency in its influence on the
reproductive functions of its immediate issue, as the embryo in ova
not directly fecundated, attains all degrees of development before
death. In cases of parthenogenesis it is potent enough—vital enough,
to cause full development of the offspring for one or more generations,
though in the majority of instances, and especially where this mode
of reproduction does not occur as a rule, this offspring is most fre-
quently male.” In other cases females instead of males are produced.
The power possessed by the virgin females of certain species to pro-
duce male offspring, has been called Arrenotoky by Leuckart; while
the parthenogenetic production of females has been designated as
Thelytoky by Siebold, who has elaborately shown} that our Imported
Currant Worm possesses the former power, and that the unimpregnated
eggs hatch into larvee which produce male flies. Further, that this is
the rule with all its eggs non-impregnated, which seem to hatch fully -
as well as those which are impregnated. This power, as Siebold
shows, had been observed as far back as 1831, by Robert Thom, who,
in Loudon’s Gardener Magazine (Vol. VII, p. 196), states, that “the
ova of the female produce caterpillars, even when the male and female
flies are kept separate ;” but who, loth to believe in anything so extra-
ordinary as luctna sine concubitu must have seemed in those days,
thought that there was “ reason to suspect that there is a connection
between the male and female caterpillars,” from the fact that these,
as is so often the case with the Saw-fly larvee, are not unfrequently
found with their tails curled around each other. Thus arrenotoky
occurs in our Currant Worm (Fam. Zénthredinida@), as it does in the
Hive-bee (Fam. Apidaw). It is also. known to occur among wasps
*Am, Naturalist, Vol. VII, p. 520.
+Beiltr, zur Parthenogenesis, §c., 16—130.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 19
(Vespide). With certain moths belonging to the family Psychide,
and with certain crustaceans, only thelytokic parthenogenesis takes
place.
IT ALSO FURNISHES AN INTERESTING INSTANCE OF DEFUNCTIONATION OF SPECIAL
PARTS.
As already remarked (ante p. 8), the Saw-fly family to which our
insect belongs, derives its name from the peculiar structure of the
ovipositor, which looks like the blade of a saw.
“ Under the microscope—and in the larger species, even under a
good lens—it will be seen that the lower edge of each of the two
horny blades, of which this instrument is composed, is furnished with
very fine teeth, the shape of which differs in different species. With
this tool the female fly saws into the texture of the leaf or of the twig,
in which the instinct of each particular species teaches it to deposit
its eggs; and—wonderful to relate—it was demonstrated long ago that
the eggs thus deposited inside the substance of the plant, which is to
supply the future food to the young larva as soon as it hatches out,
actually grow and derive nourishment from the sap of that plant, so
as often to attain double their original size.* Hence we may see at
once why the eggs are deposited by this group of insects in such situ-
ations as these, and why Nature has provided the female Saw-flies with
saws in their tails. But—as the thoughtful reader will perhaps have
already observed—our Currant-worm Fly lays its eggs upon the sur-
face, and not in the interior of the leaf, glueing them thereto by some
adhesive fluid, which it secretes for that purpose.” At the most in
some instances, she scratches the epidermis. ‘And we may add
that there are a few other Saw-flies—such for example as the Rosebush
Saw-fly (Selandria rose)—which do the very same thing, and conse-
quently, as well as our species, can have little use for any saws at their
tails. If, therefore, as was formerly the almost universal belief of the
scientific world, each species, whether of animals or of plants, was in-
dependently created, with all its present organs and instincts, and not
derived, as is the more modern doctrine, from the gradual modifica-
tion of pre-existing species through a long series of geological ages,
we might naturally expect our Currant-worm Fly, and the Rosebush
Saw- fly and such few other Saw-flies as practice similar modes of laying
their eggs,to have no saws at all. For why should Nature, when she
is creating new species, bestow an instrument upon a particular spe-
cies which has no occasion whatever to use that instrument? In
point of fact, however, all female Saw-flies, no matter what their habits
*T have already siated my opinion that this enlargement is not due solely to nourishment from the
sap.
' 90 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
~-
may be, possess these saws, though in one genus (Xye/a) the saws,
instead of being hard and horny throughout, are said to be soft and
membranous above and below,;* and in certain other Saw-flies, though
they are as hard and horny as usual, they are degraded and—to use the
technical term—‘ defunctionated.’ This will be seen at once from an
inspection of the following drawing (Fig. 8), copied by ourselves from
nature and very highly magnified. Here a represents the two saws of
the female of the Willow-apple Saw-fly ( Vematus salicispomum
Walsh), which belongs to the very same genus as our OCurrant-worm
Fly. Now, we know that the female of the Willow-apple Saw-fly depos-
its a single egg inside the leaf of the
Heart-shaped Willow ( Salix cordata) about
the end of April, probabiy accompanying
the egg by a drop of some peculiar poison-
ous fluid. Shortly afterwards there grad-
~ ually develops from the wound a round
OV Poste tts by imperieet, fleshy gall, about half an inch in diameter,
and with a cheek as smooth and rosy as that of a miniature apple; in-
side which the larva hatches out and upon the flesh of which it feeds.
In this particular case, therefore, as the female fly requires a complete
saw with which to cut into the willow leaf, nature bas supplied her
with such saws, as is seen at once from Figure §,a. Now look at
Figure &, }, which is an accurate representation under the microscope
of the two saws of our Currant-worm Fly. It will be noticed at the
very first glance that, although the blade of the sawis there, the teeth
of the saw are almost entirely absent.
What, then, are we to make of these and many other such facts?
Manifestly the teeth of the saw are in this last species degraded or
reduced to almost nothing, because the female fly, laying her eggs
upon the surface of the leaf, and not cutting into the substance of the
leaf, as does the female of the Willow-apple Saw-fly, has no occasion
to perform any sawing process. But why, it will be asked, is the blade
of the saw there in its normal size, and with the exception of the
degradation of the saw-teeth, as completely developed as in the other
species, when such a tool cannot be necessary for the simple process
of glueing an egg on to the surface of a leaf? The modern school of
philosophers will reply, that this is so, because the primordial Saw-fly,
in the dim far-away vista of by-gone geological ages, had a complete
pair of saws, and our insect is the lineal descendant of that species,
slowly and gradually modified through a long series of years, so as to
*See Westwood’s? Introduction, Il, p. 95.
=~
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 21
conform more or less to the change in its habits. On the other hand
the old school of philosophers, who believe that every species was in-
dependently created, will argue that this is so, in order to ‘complete
the System of Nature, and ‘ carry out the Plan of the Creation,’ and
‘give full and free expression to the Thoughts of the Creator.’ Pos-
sibly this may be the true solution of the difficulty ; but—and we say
it in no irreverent spirit—what should we think of a Potter, who made
all his teacups, without exception, with handles ; those for which han-
dles were required with complete ones such as you could put your
finger through,and such cupsas were not wanted to have any handles
at all, with solid unperforated ones, such as would be nearly useless ?
And what should we say, if the Potter’s friends were to gravely argue,
that he took all this unnecessary trouble in order ‘to complete the
System of Art, and ‘carry out the Plan of the Tea drinker, and ‘ give
full and free expression to the Thoughts of the Potter? ”
DESCRIPTIVE.
I repeat the following descriptions as originally drawn up by Mr.
Walsh from many specimens, as the publications in which they occur
are not now very accessible.
As I have already stated, the larva is pale green just previous to
spinning its cocoon, having thrown off the tubercled skin with the
last larval molt. Indeed this habit of throwing off the armed or
ornamented larval skin before preparing for the pupa state is almost
universal with the Tenthredinide. The comparatively naked condi-
tion, between the full grown larval and pupal states, may be likened
to the semi-pupa state of some other insects, for the Saw-fly larvae
in this condition shrink somewhat in size and do not feed, as far as I
have observed, though they may be active for a few days.
NEMATUS VENTRICOSUS—Larva, nearly mature-—Length ? inch. Pale green,
verging on yellow towards the tail. Head black, polished, with numerous short hairs
proceeding from minute tubercles. Mouth, except the mandibles, dingy green. Joints
of the body above with rows of small shining black tubercles placed crossways, and
each bearing a hair in the less mature specimens, but in the largest and most mature
ones bearing no hairs at all, except the larger tubercles on the sides. First joint
behind the head with a singie row of dorsal tubercles ; joints 2 and 3 each with a double
row, the anterior one curved forwards in the middle in a semicircle ; joints 4—12 with
a treble row; the anal plate black, polished, and prolonged at each posterior angle in
a slender acute thorn, and having, besides the triple row of tubercles before it, a group
of six or eight tubercles on each side of and partly before it. A longitudinal row of
larger lateral black tubercles on joints 2—12, one on each joint, beneath which there
is a geminate black tubercle above each proleg ; all these tubercles bearing many hairs.
Legs black, the sutures pale green. Prolegs fourteen, pale green, all but the two anal
ones with a few minute black dots towards their tip in front. Joints 4 and 11 without
prolegs.
92 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
Female Fly.—General color of body bright honey-yello. Head black, with all
the parts between and below the origin of the antennex, except the tip of the mandibles,
dull honey-yellow. Antenne brown-black, often tinged with rufous above, except
towards the base, and beneath entirely dull rufous, except the two basal joints; four-
fifths as long as the body; joint 3, when viewed laterally, four times as long as wide,
joints 3-5 equal in lenth, 6-9 very slowly shorter and shorter. In two females the
antenne are 10-jointed, joint 10 slender and 4 as long as 9. Yhorax with the anterior
lobe above, a wide stripe on the disk of each lateral lobe which is very rarely reduced
to a mere dot, or very rarely the whole of each lateral lobe, a spot at the base and at
the tip of the scutel, the two spots sometimes confluent and very rarely subobsolete, a
small spot at the outer end of each cenchrus and a geminate small spot transversely
arranged between the cenchri, the tip of the metathoracic scutel, the front and hind
edge above of what seems the 1st abdominal joint, but is in reality the hind part of
the metathorax, or very rarely its whole surface above, and also the whole lower
surface of the breast between the front and middle legs, or very rarely two large spots
arranged crossways on that surface, all black. Cenchri whitish. Abdomen with joints
land 2 very rarely edged at tip with black. Sheaths of the ovipositor tipped more or
less with black, the surrounding parts sometimes more or less tinged with dusky. The
triangular membrane at the base of the abdomen above, whitish. Legs bright honey-
yellow ; all the cox and trochanters whitish ; the extreme tip of the hind shanks and
the whole of the hind tarsi, brown-black. Wings glassy; veins and stigma brown-
black, the latter as well as the costa obscurely marked with dull honey-yellow. In a
single @ all three submarginal cross-veins are absent in one wing, and only the basal
one is present in the other wing. In another @ all three are indistinctly presentin one
wing, and in the other only the basal one and a rudiment of the terminal one. In a
single wing of two other 2, the terminal submarginal cross-vein is absent. And in a
single 9 there are but three submarginal cells in either wing, precisely as in the genus
Euura.—Length Q 0.22—0.28 inch. Front wing 9 0.27—0.33 inch. Expanse of wings
2 0.53—0.64 inch, (wings depressed).
Male Fly.—General color of body black. Head, with the clypeus and the entire
mouth, except the tip of the mandibles, dull honey-yellow. Antennze brown-black,
often more or less tinged with rufous beneath, except towards the base; as long as the
body, the joints proportioned as in 9, but the whole antenna, as usual in this sex, ver-
tically much more dilated, so that joint 3 is only 2} times as long as wide when viewed
in profile. Thorax with the wing-scales and the entire collare honey-yellow. Cenchri
whitish. Abdomen with more or less of its sides, the extreme tip above, and its entire
inferior surface honey-yellow. Legs as in Q. Wings as in Q. In two do the middle
submarginal cross-vein is absent in both wings, so that if captured at large they would
naturally be referred to the genus Huwra. In two other of this is the case in one wing
only. Another ‘has but the basal submarginal cross-vein remaining in each wing.
And in two other 3 the terminal submarginal cross-vein is absent in one wing. Length
3 0.20—0.22 inch. Front wing 3 0.283—0.25 inch. Expanse of wings co 0.44—0.54 inch,
(wings depressed. '
“ Described from 22 3 and 13 2,3 @ and 1 @ of the spring brood.
The fact of two 2, contrary to the established character of the genus
Nematus, having 10-jointed instead of 9-jointed antennz is a varia-
tion of a kind of which no other example in the whole family of Saw-
flies is on record. Had such a specimen been captured at large,
instead of being bred along witha lot of normal 2, from the same lot
of larvze taken from the same lot of bushes, it would probably have
been made the basis of anew genus.”
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 23
THE NATIVE CURRANT-WORM—Pristiphora grossularie Walsh.
[Ord. HyMENOPTERA; Fam. TENTHREDINID&. ]
WHEREIN IT DIFFERS FROM THE IMPORTED SPECIES.
‘“‘ Like the Imported Currant-worm, this worm produces a Saw-fly,
which, however, belongs to a different. genus, (Przstiphora), chiefly
distinguishable from the other one (Vematus) by the front wing lack-
ing what is technically termed the ‘first submarginal cross-vein.’ In
Figure 9, b,we give a magnified drawing of the female of this fly, and
(Fig. 9.] if the reader will look at this draw-
ing and compare it with that of the
=<—=— Imported ee -worm Fly Gite.
in each of them but one cell, or
a g i ‘pane’ as it might be termed, on
the upper edge of the front wing
i . towards its tip. This is technically
NATIVE eau Canc ret ar nat. size; > called ‘the marginal (or radial)
cell” Now let the reader look a second time at these two figures, and
he will see that, underneath this ‘marginal cell’ there is a tier of four
cells in the one genus (Vematus) and a tier of only three cells in the
other genus ( Pristiphora), the first or basal cross-vein being absent
or ‘obsolete’ in the latter, so as to leave the first or hasal cell extrava-
gantly large. These three or four cells, as they underlie the ‘ mar-
ginal cell,’ are technically known as ‘the submarginal (or cubital)
cells;’ and upon the difference in the number and arrangement of
these marginal and submarginal cells depends to a considerable
extent the generic classification of the Saw-flies. For example, in
another genus (Zuwra), which is closely allied to the two of which
we present drawings, there are, asin the second of these two, one mar-
ginal and three submarginal cells; but here it is the second, not the
Zirst (or basal) submarginal cross-vein that is obsolete; so that here
it is the second, not the “rst (or basal) submarginal cell that is
extravagantly large, being formed in this last case by throwing the
typical second and third cells into one, and in the other case by throw-
ing the typical first and second cells into one, just as by removing the
folding doors two rooms are thrown into one.
“Persons whoare not familiar with this subject are apt to suppose,
that the pattern of the curious network on every fly’s wing varies
indefinitely in different individuals belonging to-the same species,
94 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
As a general rule, there is scarcely any variation at all in this matter,
each species and even each genus having its peculiar pattern, and all
the individuals belonging to a particular species having the network
of their wings as exactly similar as the different photographs exe-
cuted by a daguerreotypist from the same negative plate. You may
take, for instance a thousand, honey-bees, and you will find that in
the front wing of every one of them there are exactly one marginal
and three submarginal cells, which, however, are all of them shaped
very differently from the corresponding cells in any Saw-fly, though all
the thousand honey-bees will be found to have them shaped exactly
alike, cell corresponding to cell, as in any particular issue of $5 bank
notes, vignette corresponding to vignette and medallion die to medal-
lion die. Among the Saw-flies, indeed, as was noticed in the descrip-
tion of the Imported Currant-worm Fly, the pattern of the wing-veins
in different specimens of the same species varies occasionally a little;
but this is the exception and not the rule, and is philosophically of
high interest, as showing how one genus may in the course of indefi-
nite ages change gradually into another genus.
“The Native Currant-worm Fly differsin another remarkable
point from the Imported Currant-worm Fly. The sexes are here
almost exactly alike in their coloration, and with the exception of the
legs of the male being a little more marked with black than those of
the female, it would not be very easy to distinguish one from the
other, but by the usual sexual characters. Hence we have not
thought it necessary to give a figure of the male as well asof the
female; whereas in the Imported species the two sexes differ so essen-
tially in their coloration that, as already observed, a figure of one
would give scarcely an idea of the other.”
ITS HABITS.
“The larva of the Native Currant-worm Fly (Fig. 9, a) is of a
uniform pale green color, without those black dottings which are
always found, except after the last molt, in the Imported species.
Before the last molt, indeed, the head is of a uniform black color,
though it afterwards has a good deal of green in front; but the body
remains throughout of the same immaculate green shade. It differs
also in its habits from the Imported species, never, so far as we can
find out, going underground to spin its cocoon, but always spinning
that cocoon among the twigs and leaves of the bushes upon which it
feeds.
“This species agrees with the other one in being double-brooded,,
the first brood of larvee appearing about the end of June and the
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 25.-
beginning of July, and the second brood from the middle of August
to the forepart of September. But insteadof the larvee of the second
brood lying underground in their cocoons all winter, they burst forth
in the fly state from the beginning to the middle of September.
Hence the female fly is compelled to lay her eggs upon the twigs
instead of on the leaves; for if she laid them upon the leaves, as is the
habit of the Imported species, the second laying of eggs, which has
to pass the winter in that state, would fall to the ground along with
the leaves in the autumn, and the young larvze would starve when they
hatched out next spring before they could find their appropriate food.
Consequently, in the case of this species, we cannot apply the
method of counterworking the other species which has been already
referred to. For we have particularly remarked that the very young
larvee were not gathered in great numbers upon one particular leaf—
as with the Imported species—but were distributed pretty evenly over
the whole bush. Neither did they bore the singular holes through the
leaf (Fig.4), which render the other species so easy of detection when
young.
‘As will have been observed from the figures given above, the
Native species, besides the differences already noticed, is only about
two-thirds the size of the otherin all its states. Like the other, it
infests both currant and gooseberry bushes, but appears rather to
prefer the Gooseberry. Indeed there can be little doubt that our
native Gooseherri+s formed its original food-plant ; for many years ago
we captured asingle specimen in the nighborhood of Rock Island,
Illinois, in woods remote from houses, where the wild gooseberry was
pretty abundant, and there was no wild red currant.” The species
was described in 1866 by Mr. Walsh, “from numerous specimens
found stripping the gooseberry and currant bushes in Davenport,
Iowa; and it has since been reported to us by Miss Marion Hobart, of
Port Byron, N. Illinois, asso abundant in her neighborhood in 1868 on
the gooseberries as to completely defoliate them three times over, so
that she inferred—but we think erroneously—that there were three
distinct broods of them, one generated by another. Mr. Jas. H. Par-
sons, of Franklin, N. Y., has in a letter to us expressed the same opin-
ion with regard to the Imported species. Probably both parties have-
been deceived by what is a very common occurrence with many leaf-
feeding larvae. There is often a warm spell early in the year which
causes a moiety of the eggs of a particular brood to hatch out. This.
is taken for the first brood. Then follows a long spell of cold
weather, which prevents the other moiety of the same batch of eggs
from hatching out till perhaps a month or six weeks afterwards.
26 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
When at last the moiety does hatch out, it is considered by inexpe-
rienced persons as a distinct second brood. ‘There is also very fre-
quently a great variation, probably from similar causes, in the time at
which the same batch of pup burst forth into the perfect winged
state. For example, out of a lot of 31 cocoons, of the second brood
of the Imported Currant-worm Fly, all received by us at the same
-timefrom Dr. Wm. M. Smith of Manlius, N. Y., most of the flies came
out between June 26th and July 11th, but a fewdid not appear till
towards the latter end of July and one lingered on till August 13th.”
As I have captured the female fly in East St. Louis, and as worms
which, from the description, could not well belong to any other spe-
cies. were noticed by Mr. T. W. Guy, of Sulphur Springs, on ais goose-
berry bushes in 1870, there can be little doubt that the species occurs
with us, as it is generally distributed throughout the country. Mr. L.
D. Votaw of Eureka, has also reported to me the occurrence on his
place of a ‘small green and unspotted worm” on his currant bushes.
REMEDIES.
The same as for the preceeding species.
DESCRIPTIVE.
I reproduce, from the Practical Entomologist (Vol. I, p. 123), Mr.
Walsh’s original descriptions, drawn up from many specimens.
PRISTIPHORA GROSSULARLE—Immature larva.—Length not quite reaching } inch.
Body pale green, with a rather darker dorsal line, and a lateral yellowish line above
the spiracles, the space below which line is paler than the back. Anal plate and pro-
legs immaculate. Head black, not hairy. Legs brown, except the sutures.
The mature larva measures } inch in length, and differs in the head being pale
green, with a lateral brown-black stripe commencing at the eye-spot, and more or less
distinctly confluent with the other one on the top of the head, where it is also more or
less confluent with a large central brown-black spot on the face. The legs are also
green, with a small dark spot at the exterior base of each, and a similar spot or dot
‘before the base of the front legs.
Imago—@—Body shining black, with fine, rather sparse punctures. Head with
‘the entire mouth, except the anterior edge of the labrum and the tip of the mandibles,
‘dull luteous. Labrum transverse and very pilose. Clypeus short, squarely truncate,
immaculate. Antenne ? as long as the body, joint 3 three and a half times as long as
“wide, joint 4 fully } shorter than joint 3, 5—9 very slowly shorter and shorter ; brown-
lack above, beneath dull luteous, except joints 1 and 2, which are black, tipped below
with luteous. Thorax with the wing-scales honey-yellow and the cenchri whitish.
Abdomen with the basal membrane whitish; ovipositor honey-yellow, its sheaths
‘black. Legs honey-yellow, or sometimes pale luteous, with the six tarsal tips of the
‘tibie and of the tarsal joints 1-4, pale dusky. Wings subhyaline, tinged with dusky ;
veins black; costa honey-yellow; stigma dusky, edged all round with honey-yellow,
especially below. Ina single wing of two females only out of forty-nine, the first sub-
marginal cross-vein, which in this genus is normally absent, is quite distinct: and ina
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. AG
single wing of five other females, traces of it are visible on holding the wing np to
the light. Length 9 0.17—0.2linch. Front wing 2 0.19—023 inch. Expanse @ 0.41
—0.45 inch, (wings depressed. )
The o differs from the female only as follows: Ist. The antenne are a trifle
longer, and as usual vertically more dilated, joint 3 being only 23 (not 33) times as
long as wide. 2d. The cox, except their tips, and the basal half of the femora, are
black ; and in the hind legs the extreme tip of the tibiz and all but the extreme base
of the tarsus, are dusky. Anal forceps honey-yellow. Length 3 0.17—0.18 inch. Front
wing ¢ 0.17—0.19 inch. Expanse ¢ 0 35—0.38 inch, (wings depressed.)
THE STRAWBERRY WORM—Zmphytus maculatus Norton.
[Ord. HyMENOPTERA; Fam. TENTHREDINID£. |
In connection with the foregoing aecount of the Imported and
Native Currant Worms, it will be well to give the history and habits
of a worm of the same family, which is the most conspicuous, if not
the most common defoliator of that more profitable and more gener-
ally cultivated fruit—the Strawberry. This is the Strawberry Worm
(Emphytus maculatus Norton) the natural history of which was first
given by myself in the Prairie Farmer for May 25, 1867.
The species appears to have a wide range, as I have met with it
in many parts of Illinois and our own State, have received it from
Pew ied Iowa, and it is reported from
various sections in the East
and from Ontario. In 1874,
Prof. Bessey, of the lowa Ag-
4 ricultural College, reported it
as devouring the Strawberry
plants in many parts of that
- State, and Mr. Hoffmeister, of
Fort Madison, wrote me that
in many sections the plants
had to be plowed under in
STRAWBERRY Worm : Ventral view of pupa; 2, side view COMnSequence of its devasta-
of same; 3, enlarged sketch of perfect fly, the wingson ,. P
one side detached; 4, larva crawling, natural size; 5, tions. Early In spring numer-
perfect fly, natural size; 6, larva at rest; 7, cocoon; 8,
enlarged antenna, showing joints; 9, enlarged egg. ous flies, as shown in Fig. 10, 2
may be seen hanging to, and flying about the vines, in fields which
have been previously infested. They are dull and inactive in the cool
of the morning and evening, and at these hours are seldom noticed,
28 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
They are of apitchy black color, with two rows of large, transverse,
dull, whitish spots upon the abdomen. The female, with the saw-like
instrument peculiar to the insects of this family, deposits her eggs by
a most curious and interesting process, in the stems of the plants,
clinging the while to the hairy substance by which these stems are
covered. The eggs are white, opaque, and 0.03 of an inch long, and
may be readily perceived upon splitting the stalk, though the outside
orifice at which they were introduced is scarcely visible. They soon
increase semewhat in bulk, causing a swelling of the stalk, and hatch
in two weeks—more or less according to the temperature—and
during the early part of May the worms attract attention by the innu-
merable small holes they make in the leaves. Their colors are dirty
yellow and gray-green, and when not feeding, they rest on the under
side of the leaf, curled up in a spiral manner, the tail occupying the
center, and fall to the ground at the slightest disturbance. After
changing their skin four times they become fully grown, when they
measure about ? of an inch.
At this season they descend into the ground, and form a very
weak cocoon of earth, the inside being made smooth by a sort of
gum. Inthis they soon change to pupe, from which are produced a
second brood of flies by the end of June and beginning of July.
Under the influence of July weather, the whole process of egg depos-
iting, etc., is rapidly repeated, and the second brood of worms descend
into the earth during the forepart of August, and from their cocoons,
in which they remain in the caterpillar state through the Fall, Winter,
and early Spring months, till the middle of April following, when
they become pupe and flies again, as related.
REMEDIES.
The same remedies recommended for the Currant Worms will
apply here. They are more satisfactorily employed, however, and
after the worms have been made to fall tothe ground, a mixture of
warm water and kerosene will destroy them as quickly a3 anything.
DESCRIPTIVE.
EMpPHYTUS MACULATUS:—IJmago.—Color piceous, with two rows of dull, dirty
white, transverse spots upon the abdomen. Wings hyaline; veins black; eyes and
eyelets black; antenne black and 9-jointed. Legs brown and almost white at the
joints. No particular difference of coloring in the sexes. Average expanse of female
0.53 inch ; length, exclusive of antenne 0.24 inch.
Larva—Length 0.60—0.65 inch when full grown, having changed but little in
appearance froin time of birth. Somewhat translucent. General color, pale, dirty
yellow, with a glaucous shade along dorsal and sub-dorsal regions, inclining in most
cases to deep blue green on the thoracic segments. Minutely wrinkled transversely.
Venter light glaucous. Legs—6 pectoral, 14 abdominal, and 2 caudal—of the same
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 29
color. Head of a more decided yellow than body, with usually a dark brown spot
above, one nearly of the same size at the upper front, and two rather smaller ones at
each side—joined by a brown line—the anterior spot being lower down than the other.
In certain specimens these two are blended, and there is but a triangular spot on the
top of the head, while the depth of shading on the body is also variable.
Pupa—Of a dingy, greenish-white color, the members being somewhat paler than
the body.
Numerous specimens in all states examined.
ABBOl’s WHITE PINE WORM—Lophyrus Abbotii Leach.
[Ord, HyMENoPTERA ; Fam. TENTHREDINID-® |
Belonging to the same Saw-fly family as the preceding species,
are certain false-caterpillars which are very injurious to pines. They
belong to the genus Lophyrus, so named from the plume-like anten-
nee of the males. In Germany whole forests of pine and fir trees have
(Fig. 11. | _ been destroyed by insects of
this genus, and D. E. Miller has
jj published a large volume on
the depredations of four spe-
cies which destroyed thou-
sands of acres of pines in Fran-
conia. Two species more par-,
ticularly occur in the Missis-
sippi Valley, and the one un-
der consideration is the most
3 : injurious of the two. The hab-
Se eee Se mae datas i its and transformations of both
different positions, natural size; 5, cocoon natural
size; 6,magnified antenna of male; 7, magnified an- were first partially made
tenna of female.
known by myself some ten years since (Prairie Farmer, Nov. 10,
1866, May 25, 1867, May 2, 1868, and P. F. Annual, 1869), and are more
fully given herewith.
Abbot’s White Pine Worm has been more frequently sent to me,
with complaints of injury, from Indiana and Illinois. Yet it occurs
over a wide extent of country, and in the columns of the Rural New
Yorker and American Agriculturist frequent records of its injuries in
the Hast are to be found of late years. While its injuries are reported
from the northern part of Missouri, it seems not to occur in the south-
ern part of the State.
30 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
The following passage from a letter received from Mr. Jos. T. Lit-
tle, of Dixon, Ills., in 1869, gives a very good account of the working
of the insect:
I find them on one clump of pines on my lawn, and in asmall lot of pines in my
nursery. Late last Fall, I discovered that those same trees had been attacked by some
worm or other, and that the foliage had been stripped off the young shoots, which
shoots dried up this Summer. We had a very hard freeze on the night of October 8th,
the mercury being at 38C degrees above zero; but still the worms do not seem to be
affected by the weather. They are very siuggish at any time in their movements. I
have Scotch and Austrian Pine, Arbor Vite, Balsam Fir, Norway, Spruce and Red
Cedar, in the immediate vicinity of the White Pines, but they are unmolested.
In 1872 Mr. A. W. Barber of Lancaster, Wis., lost some fine trees
by its injuries, and it was complained of in many sections the past
year. This worm, which is dingy white in color, with black head and
black spots (Fig. 11, 444) has, in every instance that has come to my
knowledge done its principal injury latein the Fall, and may frequently
be seen feeding into November, or after the ground is frozen abont an
inch deep. When full-fed, these larve enclose themselves in oval,
bright bronze, or gold-colored cocoons, spun up between the needles,
or in whatever sheltered situation is at hand. Sometimes the cocoon
is formed upon the tree, but more often among the fallen needles and
other debris and shelter beneath it. Within these cocoons the worm
is very tightly packed, and remains till toward the following Spring,
or even late Summer, when it becomes a pupa, with a dusky dorsal
line and pale brown eyes (Fig. 11,7, 7). The flies issue two weeks
afterwards, and the sexes differ so much that they would be declared
distinct insects by the uninitiated. The male, with the exception of
the underside and tip of the abdomen, is jet black, his average length
0.23 inch, and the expanse of his wings, 0.47 inch. The female meas-
ures 0.30 inch, and expands 0.65 inch. She is of a honey-yellow, with
the head and thorax somewhat darker than the abdomen; the thorax
blackish at the upper posterior sides, and the abdomen having a
lighter lateral stripe, with four or five blackish spots above it. These
distinguishing features are much more striking in the living, than in
the dried cabinet specimens. The antenne in both sexes are black,
those of the male 21-jointed and with 17 long and 17 shorter plume-
like branches: those of the female serrated, with one or two joints
less than the male, and 17 serrations.*
*Fitch, in the brief and summary account given of E Abbolii, says that the antenne are 17-
jointed; while another species, which he named L. Lecontei, and which he supposed was the parent of
worms, the description of which answers perfectly to the above, he says, has 21-jointed antenne. I have
éxamined dozens of L. Abbolii, and the antennz are usually 21-jointed in the @, and 19-jointed in the
@, counting the scape or bulbus as 2, and the terminal enlargement as 2.. In reality, however, the
“terminal joint frequently appears single, and the number of joints is found to vary in different individ-
uals in the same species, when large material isexamined. In Abbotii I have individuals with antenne
having 18, 19, 20 ard 21 joints respectively; in Abietis the number varies from 21 to 23 in @, and from
14 to 18 in 9, and in LeContei they are usually 21 in # and 19 in 9—always counting the seaye as 2.
Abbotit and LeContei cannot, therefore, be distinguished by the joints in their antennex, as, with
others, I myself once believed they could, and the relative number of antennal joints in this genus loses
all specifie value.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. ou
The eyes and eyelet are black, and the legs pale rufous in both
sexes ; while the wings are hyaline with prismatic colors. In escaping
from the cocoon, the fly makes a clean, somewhat spiral cut at one
end, always leaving a small hinge for its prison door to swing on.
These flies, in confinement, soon die without ovipositing, which
indicates that they nourish on something out-doors. As with most
saw-flies, the perfect insects are quite irregular in coming out of the
ground, many of them issuing in May, but others not till toward
the end of Summer. On opening cocoons that had passed the Winter
I have found many yet containing the larva the latter part of June,
while others of the same brood had become flies six weeks before.
The species has generally been considered single-brooded’; but as E
have had the eggs laid as early as May, and the young worms feeding
the latter part of that month, two broods are not improbably pro-
duced. In ovipositing, the female saws beneath the epidermis on one
of the flat sides of the leaflet and pushes into the slit an egg, which
is whitish, ovoid, 0.8 m.m. long onan average. As the egg swells it
forms a conspicuous bulging of the epidermis, and the mouth of the
slit opens and exposes more and more a portion of the egg. The young
worm has the black head and black-ringed thoracic legs of the full
grown individuals, but otherwise differs essentially from them, the
body being uniformly pale and unspotted. The worms are more or
less gregarious throughout their existence, and seldom leave a twig
or branch till they have completely strippedit. Inconspicuous at first,
they are seldom noticed till the denuded branches attract attention,
and when, after the last molt, they strip a tree with astonishing rapid-
ity. They have a habit of throwing back the head and tail when dis-
turbed, and if violently shaken many of them will fall to the ground.
They also use the tail end of the body to grasp more firmly the leaf-
lets upon which they feed. This isthe worm described by Fitch as
the possible larva of Lophyrus LeConte2, and the real larva of this
last will be described further on.
NATURAL ENEMIES.
The reason that this Pine-worm abounds at times and then sud-
denly disappears, is that it is extensively preyed upon by a parasitic
Ichneumon fly, belonging to the genus Limneria. The species, which
I have also bred from some wax-feeding larva (probably Ephestia
zew) does not fully accord with any of the descriptions of Norton,
Cresson, or Provancher. I therefore briefly define it herewith:
32 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
LIMNERIA LOPHYRI, N. Sp.—Q, length 0.30—0.35 inch. Head and thorax black with
silvery white pile. Antenne piceous, more than half as long as body; but slightly
paler toward tip; bulbus either yellowish or rufous. Ocelli either rufous or black.
Mandibles, palpi, front and middle cox trochanters and tibiw, pale yellow. Tegulee
almost white. Abdomen, with faint pile, rufous, the petiole and sides of next joint
usually blackish. Hind legs rufous, the base of tibize and of tarsi paler.
So somewhat smaller, and with more black on the abdomen.
Four 6s, 12 2’s bred from larvee of Lophyrus Abbotii.
REMEDIES.
As evergreens suffer more from defoliation than deciduous trees,
it is essential, during the proper season, to scan them very closely
every few days where this insect is known to prevail. When the
worms are noticed, a syringing of hellebore water, or a dusting of
fresh air-slacked lime, while the tree is bedewed, will destroy them.
‘Care should be taken to prevent theirinjuries by clearing the ground
around the trees late in the Fall, and burning the fallen needles and
rubbish, with such cocoons as may be among them.
DESCRIPTIVE.
Lornyrvus AxBporti :—Larva-—Average length 0.80inch, though many will measure
about an inch. A soft, dingy, white worm, having often a greenish or bluish line
superiorly. On all joints but the first, which is entirely white, two oblong square
black spots along the back, and another somewhat rounder spot each side. These
become somewhat diffuse on the three latter joints, forming on the last a single black
patch. Three black thoracic legs, fourteen abdominal, and two caudal prolegs.
Thoracic joints largest ; the three last, smallest and tapering. Some are marked very
regularly, while in others the white space on the back between the spots on joints 5, 6,
‘7 and 8, is much wider than between the others. This is probably sexual difference,
since those thus marked are shorter, thicker, and of a yellower white than those regu-
larly marked. After each change of skip the head is at first white like the rest of the
body, with the usual eye-spots black. No markings while young.
LE CONTEH’S PINE WORM—Lophyrus LeContei Fitch.
(Ord. HyMENorTeRA; Fam. TENTHREDINID~. |
Abbott’s Pine Worm shows great preference for the White Pine
and is seldom found on any other. It is, moreover, the most common
and destructive species of the genus in our part of the country. Le-
‘Conte’s Pine Worm is, on the contrary, a more general feeder and pre-
fers the coarse-leaved pines, such as the Austrian, Scotch and Pitch.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 33
It is also most abundant in the Kast. It was first sent to mein Octo-
ber, 1867, by my friend A.S. Fuller, present editor of the Rural New
Yorker, with the following letter.
[ send you by to-day’s mail 2 box of caterpillars found feeding on the Scotch and
Austrian pines in my nursery. Ican find nothing in Fitch or Harris which will ena-
ble me to identify them. These caterpillars have appeared in myriads in the last few
weeks, and they do not pass a leaf, but take them all clean, old or young. If you can
tell meall about this worm, please do so.
In arecent article (2. V. ¥., Nov. 25, 1876) referring to the inju-
ries of what is evidently the same worm, though confounded with the
preceding, Mr. Fuller writes :
We have already had some pretty hard frosts up to this date, Nov. 14, and yet a
neighbor has just brought us some of these grubs taken from his pine trees. For sev-
eral years past we have noticed that these Saw-fly larvee remained upon the trees till
very late in the Fall, and that it required a hard freeze to make them leave off feed-
ing and descend to the earth, where they spin their cocoons among the old leaves and
other vegetable matter.
These two pine worms have precisely similar habits, and, though
bearing so close a resemblance to each other as to be easily con-
founded, LeConte’s species is easily distinguished upon close exami-
nation by having the head reddish-brown, the spots differently shaped,
and an extra row on each side. The female fly is distinguished by
her black abdomen. For those interested the differences are pre-
sented more in detail in the following descriptions :
DESCRIPTIVE.
Loruyrus LECONTE! :—Larva—Average length, when full grown, about one inch.
Color, dingy or yellowish-white, and void of any greenish or bluish hue. Dorsal black
marks wider anteriorly than posteriorly, and usually broken transversely in the full
grown individuals ; also further apart than in L. Abbotii. Lateral spots sub-quadrate,
with an additional row of smaller black marks belowthem. Head shiny reddish-brown,
with black eye-spot each side. Jaws tawny. Anal joint entirely black above. Ven-
ter and prolegs (14 abdominal and 2 anal) immaculate. Thoracic legs black, with white
joints. When young it is without marks, and some of the full-grown specimens have
them more distinet than others,
Pupa—Uniistinguishable, except in the average larger size, fromthat of L. Abbotii.
Imago—The male fly can scarcely be distinguished at first sight from that of the
other species, though the average size is somewhat greater, and the brown parts, viz.:
venter, and tip of abdomen above, are of a somewhat deeper rufous-brown. The an-
tenn are more often and regularly 21-jointed than in Addotii.
The female is distinguished, however, by her body being jet black above, except a
small brown patch at the extremity and a transverse line of the same color just below
the thorax; and by her wings being smoky instead of hyaline. Venter with a black
longitudinal line, more or less intense, each side. Thorax and head as in Abddotii, if
anything, a little deeper in color. Average length 0.40, and expanse 0.70, though some
will measure 0.50 inch and expand 0.82 inch.
There are several other American Saw-flies belonging to the
same genus ( Lophyrus) whose larvie doubtless feed upon evergreens.
One ( Lophyrus abietis Harris) which is treatel of by Harris, depre-
ER—3
34 "NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
dates more particularly on the Fir, and, as a worm, is at once distin-
guished by being green, with darker green lines, but no spots, and by
making a grayer cocoon. The larvee of Lophyrus Americanus Leach,
L. Fabricit Leach, and of Z. compar Leach are unknown, and I sus-
pect that some of these supposed species will prove to be but varie-
ties of the three whose habits are here recorded.
THE COLORADO POTATO-BEETLE.
In some parts of Iowa, Wisconsin and the Northwest, this insect
was very troublesome again the past year, but from one cause and
another, though principally on account of the wet character of the
past two summers, it attracted little attention in Missouri and the
larger part of the Mississippi Valley. Yet on the Atlantic, and
especially in the New England States, it has been a most fruitful
theme of discussion and a constant object of warfare: nor have its
doings ceased to interest Europeans. A pretty full record of its move-
ments and of the more important and practical topics connected with
it, has been published by me from year to year, and quite a demand
has been made for back copies of these Reports from people in the
Kast, and even from Europe. The editions. of the earlier Reports,
which contained most information on the subject have long since been
exhausted, and in order to satisfy the demand, I prepared last Falla
small work entitled “ Potato Pests,” in which, with other insect foes
of the Potato, the Colorado Potato-beetle is treated of at length.
The work is published by the Orange Judd Co., of New York, and
what I have to say below is mostly taken from it, and will serve to
complete and complement what has previously been published in
these pages.
SPREAD OF THE INSECT DURING THE YEAR.
During the past year, 1876, the insect has swarmed in most of
the New England States, and especially on the sea shore. It has
extended north around Montreal, and was especially abundant as far
as Trois Riviéres;* while in its eastern progress it has overrun Con-
*L. Provancher in Naturaliste Canadien, Aug. 1876, p. 249.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 35
necticut, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire and extended
some distance into Maine. At Milestone and other places in Connecti-
cut the beetles were washed ashore in such numbers in September as
to poison the air, and the captain of a New London vessel found that
they boarded him in such numbers while at sea that the hatches had
to be closed. At many watering places, such as Cape May, Coney
Island, Long Branch, Rockaway and Newport, they proved a great
nuisance, being crushed and killed in large numbers by the continual
promenading along the beach. The New York Z7imes reported their
impeding the progress of a train on the Central Railroad at Grinnell
Station: “the rails were covered with them for a mile, and aftera few
revolutions of the drivers the wheels lost the friction and slipped as
if oiled; *** they had to be swept off, andthe track sanded before any
progress was made.”
The following items will further convey a goog idea of the preva-
lence of the pest along the coast:
A day or two agoa party of gentlemen fishing near the middle of Long Island
Sound, saw great quantities of potato bugs covering the surface of the water as tar as
the eye could reach. Every floating article, as well as the water, was packed with
them, and many were clinging to eel-grass and sea-weed under the water. The wind
was blowing from the south, and had “probably carried them from the island, and they
were being wafted toward the Connecticut shore. Inland on the island the bugs
appear to be i increasing in numbers, and, the potato vines being dry, they have attacked
the egg-plants, pepper plants, and tomato vines. —[Correspondence of N. ¥. Tribune
from Huntington, IPQ
The sea coast in the vicinity of this city and the shores of Long Island Sound
are, at the present time, undergoing invasion by countless myriads of potato bugs.
Where the insects come from is a mystery. They seem to Cling to the floating sea
weed and are left therewith on shore by the tide. At Coney Island and other points
directly on the ocean, the buys are most numerous, showing that they have been
brought hither by sea currents, and by similar means have been swept into Long
Island Sound. It seems hardly possible that the insects will now fail to reach the
other side of the Atlantic, as they may find transportation on vessels, or be carried ©
over in the drifting weed of the Gulf Stream.—[ Scientific American, Aug. 5, 1876.
While at Atlantic City, N. J., last Saturday, I noticed great numbers of the
Colorado Potato-beetle flying about on the beach. I have never seen thei so active
before. Their unusual activity there may be the result of hunger, as there is an entire
absence of the Solanacez, either wild or cultivated, in that vicinity. —[From a letter
from G. W. Letterman, Allenton, Mo., July 22, 1876
There were twice as many potato-beetles as all other kinds put together. They
evidently had been eastward bound, dropped into the ocean, and were “brought back
by the returning waves. We may infer also that many never reached the shore again
from which they had made their departure, but were gobbled up by the fishes ‘that
sometimes plentifully inhabit those waters. Nor is thisall: some distance up the Bay,
and nearer the town of ‘‘Lewes,” there is a tressel work—ealled the *‘Pier’’—which
extends a quarter of a mile out into Delaware Bay, upon which is a railroad track,
upon which the cars of the Junction Railroad daily run to discharge their cargoes into
sailing vessels and steamboats that periodically leave the outer end of the pier “for New
York, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore and other points. In the morning and the
evening, when less commercial activity reigns, the pier is esteemed a capital place to
fish. Well. all along this pier, from the shore to the extreme outer end, the ubiquitous
potato-beetle was present, and at the outer end far more numerous than nearer shore.
The State of Delaware at the time was full of these beetles, from one end to the other.
The fruit-growers were shipping their peaches to market, and every cargo brought
down from the interior also brought down a goodly number of the beetles, and it is
NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
36
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OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 37
not at all surprising that they should be carried aboard of the waiting vessels, and
transported to other parts of this country, if not to Europe.—[S. 5. Rathvon, in Lan-
caster Farmer, Aug. 1876.
RATE AT WHICH If TRAVELED.
Walsh estimated, from the rate at which it traveled in the earlier
history of its march, that it would reach the Atlantic in 1881. From
subsequent calculations I placed the date at 1878, but it in reality
touched the Atlantic seaboard atmany different places in 1874. It thus
spread at an average annual rate of about 88 miles. But the annual
rate was by no means uniform. Earlier in the history of its march
the rate was much lower, and until it got east of the Mississippi, did
not average fifty miles. A glance at the accompanying map (Fig. 12)
will suffice to show that the line of most rapid spread was along the
line of greatest human travel and traffic. In fact, after it had reached
New York it began to extend and swarm both north and south along
the coast, before many of the inland counties on similar parallels
were reached by the main line of the immense army.
HOW IT TRAVELED.
As the larva is sluggish and never leaves the plant from which it
is hatched, except in quest of more food, until it is ready to pupate,
all the journeys of this insect are necessarily made in the perfect
or beetle state by means of the ample rose-colored wings, which,
when the insect is at rest, are compactly folded up: beneath the
striped wing-covers. Its spread, however, over the more populous
portions of the country, is not to be attributed to its powers of flight
alone. It undoubtedly availed itself, to no inconsiderable extent, of
every means of transportation afforded to other travelers, and often
got a lifton eastern bound trains, and most probably crossed the
more barren plains bordering its native confines through man’s direct
agency, i. e. by being carried. There is a possibility that in some
instances it may have been carried in the egg state on living plants,
or in the pupa state in lumps of earth; but these modes of transit, if
they have occurred at all, have necessarily been exceptional. Even
the winds and waters aided its progress. Its invasion of Canada, for
instance, took place at precisely the two points where we should
expect to first meet with it in the Dominion, namely, near Point Ed-
ward, at the extreme south of Lake Huron, and opposite Detroit,
near Windsor, at the southwestern corner of Lake St. Clair; for all
such beetles as fly into either of the lakes from the Michigan side,
would naturally be drifted to these points.
Many insects that are subject to very great multiplication, though
not naturally migratory, often acquire the habit of migrating in
38 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
swarms from one part of a country to another; and the migrating
tendency has at times been quite marked in our Doryphora during its
eastward march. This tendency is particularly noticeable in the last
or Fall brood,and I have seen the beetles in autumn, swarming in the
air or traveling in immense armies on foot—all instinctively taking
the same direction, which is indeed a peculiarity of all animal migra-
tions. There can be little doubt, therefore, that the larger areas
have been traversed by this insect in the latter part of the growing
season.
AREA INVADED BY IT,
From the foregoing account it is manifest that this pernicious
beetle has spread over an area of nearly 1,500,000 square miles, or
considerably more than one-third the area of the United States. It
has traveled over two-thirds of the continent in a direct eastern line,
and at least 1,500 miles of this distance since 1859. It occupies at the
present time, more or less completely, the States of Colorado, Ne-
braska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michi-
gan, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, District of
Columbia, Virginia and West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New
Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New
Hampshire and Maine,in none of which it was autochthonous, except
the first mentioned. If we wish to outline the whole territory now
occupied by it, we must add to the above, parts of Wyoming and
Dakota, where it was native, a large portion of Canada and limited
portions of N. Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, Indian Territory, Texas
and New Mexico. The map given on page 36 (Fig. 12) tells the story
better than any words I can employ.
CAUSES WHICH LIMIT ITS SPREAD.
There are reasons why the Colorado Potato-beetle did not spread
as rapidly along the line of its southérn as along that of its northern
march. The first is, that the potato is not in such general cultivation
along the latter as along the former parallel, and potato fields-are>
therefore, more scattered; the second, that the insect was northern
rather than southern in its native habitat; the third, that it suffers
and does not thrive where the thermometer ranges near 100° F. The
larvee frequently perish under such a broiling sun as we sometimes
have at St. Louis, and during very hot, dry weather, it frequently fails,
as it did in 1868, to successfully go through its transformations in the
ground, which becomes so hot and baked that the pupa dries out, and
the beetle, if it succeeds in throwing off the pupal skin, fails to make
its way to the surface. For these reasons it may never extend its
range very tar south of the territory now occupied. Its northern
spread is not limited by any such cause, and the intensity or length
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. ' 39
of the winter will hardly affect it, except in reducing the number of
possible annual broods, and consequently its power of multiplication.
The state of dormancy once entered into may continue a month or
two, more or less, without seriously affecting most insects. We may
expect, therefore, tosee it push to the northernmost limit of the potato-
growing portion of the country—a limit which it has already well nigh
reached.
The question whether it will extend farther westward and reach
the Pacific, is a more interesting one. There is the best reason for
believing that the Rocky Mountains furnish an impassable barrier to
it, as they do to so many other insects. It has already been shown
(Rep. 7, p. 2) how potatoes in the mountains were for years less affected
than were those of the Mississippi Valley; but that in 1874 the insect
proved quite injurious to those of the mountain region of Colorado.
The fact is well established that it has not reached more than three or
four miles into the mountains, or to about the middle elevations—say
8,000 feet above the sea level. The reason is that the atmosphere
above that level is so dry and attenuated that, taken in connection
with the cool nights, the eggs, or the larvee that succeed in hatching
from them, shrivel and dry up. We have here, therefore, a physical
barrier to its further westward progress, and the beetle is no more
likely to reach California without man’s direct assistance and carriage
than it is to cross the Atlantic Ocean without the same means.
Whether it could thrive on the Pacific Coast, where the summers are
so dry, is another question; but I fear it would hold its own, in many
portions, if once introduced. In this connection it will be well to
state that geographical races of Doryphora 10-lineata, differing in no
very important characters from the typical northern specimens, occur
in S. Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Mexico, though they seem to
have no more acquired the potato-feeding habit than the D. juncta
has done.
HOW IT HAS AFFECTED THE PRICE OF POTATOES.
During the earlier years of the insect’s devastations in the Missis-
sippi Valley, it materially affected the price of potatoes, not only by
its direct ravages, but by discouraging farmers from attempting to
cultivate the crop on an extensive scale. In 1873 the price reached
the high figure of $2.00 per bushel (wholesale) inthe St. Louis market,
and many a family had to forego the luxury of a product which a few
years before had been one of the cheapest of the farm, and so abun-
dant as to enter largely into the feed of all kinds of stock. At the
present time, with the improved methods of fighting the enemy, there
is no longer the same dread of it in the Western States that formerly
40 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
existed: its management is considered part of potato-culture, and its
natural enemies assist man to that degree that its effect on the crop
is less felt. The quality of the tuber was very seriously affected
through the defoliation which the vines so generally endured, and it
was at one time difficult to get a non-watery potato on our western
boards,
THE MODIFICATION IT HAS UNDERGONE.
In previous Reports I have, from year to year, shown how the
species, as 1t spread over the country, became modified in habit, and
increased the number of its food-plants. It has also undergone con-
siderable modification in character. Specimens which I have exam-
ined from different parts of the country, show great variation in
the marks of the thorax, in size, in coloration, and even in the orna-
mentation of the elytra and legs. The yellow varies from deep gam-
boge to almost pure white, the black line along the elytral suture is
either very distinct or as obsolete asin juncta; while some specimens
have the pale legs and the femoral spot, more or less distinct, which
are so characteristic of this last. In northern Jowa and Wisconsin I
have seen millions traveling over the ground, the average size of the
individuals being not more than half that of the more typical speci-
mens; and the general ground-color being white rather than yellow.
In its southern range the colors tend to brighten and the black to
become more metallic. Indeed, the variation which it has already
exhibited furnishes interesting material for the close species makers.
AN ADDITION TO ITS NATURAL ENEMIES.
Among the many different enemies of this potato depredator that
I have treated of, only one true parasite (Lydella doryphore) was,
up to 1876, described, and that an internal one. In the summer of
1873, Mr. H. C. Beardslee, of Paynesville, Ohio, sent me a mite with
which he found Doryphora attacked, and last summer this same mite
was found by Mr. W. R. Gerard, to very generally infest the beetles
around Poughkeepsie, N. Y. It sometimes so thickly crowds and
covers its victim that no part of this last is exposed, and the beetle
thus infested languishes and eventually perishes. This minute para-
site is about the size of the head of a small pin, broadly oval, de-
pressed, the body in one piece, somewhat tough above, and yellowish-
brown in color. It is not uncommon on other beetles, and is closely
allied to a well known European mite parasite of beetles and other
Articulates—the Vropoda vegetans. This last is described by authors
as possessing the peculiarity of attaching itseif to the hard, shelly
parts of its victims by means of a thread-like filament that issues
from the posterior part of the body. A careful study of our American
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 41
[Fig. 13.]
A
Y,
‘
Uropopa AMERICANA :—a, Colorado Potato-beetle attacked by it—nat. size;
b, the mite, ventral view, and showing the penetrating organs lying between the
legs; c, the organs extended; d the claw; e, the excrementitious filament—all
greatly enlarged.
species has convinced me that the similar anal filament, which also
helps it to adhere to Doryphora, is in reality excrementitious, stick-
ing to the beetle and to the mite by a flattened disc at either end—
being quite fragile and easily broken. The true penetrating organs,
which enable the mite to hold tenaciously to its victim, and doubt-
less assist in obtaining nourishment, I have discovered to be a pair
of extensile processes, each armed at the tip with a bifid claw, some-
what resembling that of a lobster. When at rest these organs are
retracted and lie between the legs and just under the skin. When
extended, they are usually brought closely together and extend the
whole length of the animal beyond the head. They seem to be thrust
forward by a series of muscles at the base, and I have frequently seen
one extended while the other remained retracted. Thus, in addition
to the more fraii excrementitious and adhesive filament, this Uropoda
is provided with an organ that is beautifully adapted to penetrating
the hard covering of beetles, and of thus securing it to its slippery
support.*
* As willbe seen by the figure, these organs in repose extend so far back toward the anus that it
is difficult to believe that they compose part of the mouth structure. Yet in carefully studying them I
felt convinced that they were maxille, or rather the homologues of these organs in hexapods, and, in
June, 1876, so informed Dr. A. S. Packard, Jr., to whom I submitted specimens Through his cour-
tesy I have recentlv (Jan. 5, 1877,) had the pleasure of perusing an elaborate and admirable article by
P. Kramer, of Schleusingen, Prussia, on the natural history of certain genera in the family Gamaside,
published in the Archiv fuer Naturgeschichte, 42d year, Part I,1876. According to Kramer these hith-
erto undescribed organs (his Scheerentaster) occur in most Gamasid mites, though differing greatly in
length and considerably in form in different species He considers them 3-jointed, the basal joint simply
cylindrical, the second likewise so at base, but ending in a strongly chitinized claw, generally toothed
inside, and the third forming the inside finger of the claw, also generally toothed. In Uropoda Ameri-
cana no true joints are discernible in the body of the processes, though there ure restrictions. ‘These
maxillx are evidently elastic and the anterior portion may be retracted more or less into the basal. Nor
should I designate asa joint the thumb-like articulation of the terminal claw. Indeed, these claws
seem to me to both of them articulate on the end of the process. In the species under consideration
two teeth are sometimes discerned on the small thumb, but ordinarily they are not easily resolved.
42 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
ITS INTRODUCTION TO EUROPE.
While some Europeans have been unduly alarmed, and inclined
to take proscriptive measures to prevent the insect’s introduction,
others have ridiculed the idea that the insect could get to Europe, one
of them declaring that there is no more danger of the insect?s chance
transportation than that of our rattlesnake.
The opinion is also freely expressed by certain good authorities,
that the female could not retain her eggs during a whole passage.
They forget that the eggs are laid at different times, covering a period
of several weeks, and that the hibernating beetles are restless and
active, without inclination to lay, for several weeks in Fall and
Spring.
The actual occurrence of a living beetle on the Bremen Dock
Yards, in a cargo from New York, was extensively reported in the press
last Summer, but as the accuracy of the report was subsequently
questioned, I took some pains to ascertain the truth. The German
Consul at New York, H. A. Schumacher, obtained for me every
assurance of the fact; while Prof. Dr. Buchenau, of Bremen, confirms
il. The beetle was found alive in unloading a cargo of Indian corn
from the steamer ‘‘ Neckar,” and another specimen was found in mid-
ocean on the coat of a passenger of the same vessel.
Others, and among them some good entomologists, particularly
of the Belgian Entomological Society, continue to express the belief
that our Doryphora would not thrive if introduced. I have already
expressed my belief that “an insect which has spread from the high
table lands of the Rocky Mountains across the Mississippi Valley to
the Atlantic, and that flourishes alike in the States of Minnesota,
Wisconsin, Upper Canada and Maine, and in Maryland, Virginia and
Texas—in fact, wherever the potato succeeds—will not likely be dis-
comfited in the potato-growing districts of Europe.”—7th Rep., p. 5.
The more serious and weighty reasons against the possibility of
acclimatization, have been urged by H.W. Bates, F. L.S.,in a memoir
published in 1875, in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of
England, (Vol. XI, Part II). He argues, firstly, that no American
beetle has been acclimated in Europe, though several Kuropean
species are known to have been in America; secondly, that the group
to which Doryphora belongs is not represented in Europe, and is
remarkably restricted to elevated plateaux in the interior of this con-
tinent, and range toward the tropics rather than toward the north;
thirdly, that the insect has not passed west of the dividing ridge of the
Rocky Mountains, or got foothold on the Pacific Coast, which in climate
more nearly resembles Western Europe.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. : 43.
Mr. Bates lays some stress on.the fact that few American plants
and insects have been acclimated in Europe, citing only the Common
Water Weed, (Anacharis Canadensis), which has spread through
their ponds and canals, and the Grape Phylloxera, which has done so
much injury to French vineyards. He also says that no American
beetle has become acclimated. Whileit is true that we have received
many more species than we have given, enough more of our insects
and plants have established themselves there to weaken the force ot
the objection. The Horse Weed, ( Hrigeron Canadense), and the Grape
Mildew, (Oidium Tuckeri), may be added to the plants; our common
White Ant, ( Termes Havipes), has done much damage in some parts
of Germany; the Woolly Aphis, or American Blight, (Zriosoma
pyrt), is quite a pest in England and on the Continent; a minute
yellow ant, (Myrmica molesta), which so annoys our housekeepers,,
has, according to Fr. Smith, been naturalized, and is very troublesome
in England; while at least two of our beetles, viz., the Pea Weevil,
(Bruchus pisi), and the American Meal Worm, ( Zenebdrio obscurus),
have been naturalized in Kurope—the former doing some damage in
S. France; the latter being quite widespread and now sent back in
about equal numbers with the European Meal Worm, ( Zenebrio.
molitor), by those who make a business of rearing the worms for bird
fanciers.
There is some force in all of his arguments, but Mr. Bates does
not sufficiently appreciate the exceptional adaptive and migrating
powers which the species has exhibited. There are hundreds of North
American insects—and some of the most injurious too—which no one-
fears will ever reach Europe or establish themselves there, because
they are restricted, and have for years been restricted to certain geo-
graphical areas. They have exhibited no especial powers of adapta-
tion to new conditions. But our Potato-beetle forms one of those
exceptional cases that occasionally confront us. We mark and note
the exceptional vitality though we cannot give a reason for it. Why
has Doryphora 10-lineata overrun the country and become sucha
pest, while its scarcely distinguishable congener, Doryphora juncta,
feeding on the same genus of plants, has proved incapable of that
adaptation, and remained harmless? Whatever the reason, the fact
weakens the force of all generalizations based on geographical distri-
bution. The reasons why the species has not passed west of the Rocky
Mountains, find also their best explanation in the facts already men-
tioned in considering the causes which limit its spread.
The possibility of its importation, in a living condition, on
vessels, is now assured by the experience of the year 1876,and I
44 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
must think, with the facts before me, that the possibility of its accli-
matization is equally great, especially in South Europe. That it
would also hold its own in England and Ireland I have not much
doubt. It will rather enjoy the more temperate climate; for while it
thrives best during comparatively dry seasons, both excessive heat
and drouth, as well as excessive wet, are prejudicial toit. Letushope
that it never will become established in Europe, but that a sufficient
knowledge of it will be disseminated there to cause the speedy detec-
tion and extermination of the few that may, from time to time, be
carried over. Let the Europeans not neglect precautionary watch-
fulness, however, by virtue of the arguments of those who believe
that the insect could not stand their climate—lest they some day learn
to their sorrow that they have needlessly underrated our Doryphora’s
toughness of constitution.
It is gratifying to note that some of the governments are not
neglecting those precautions. The Commissioners of Customs in
Great Britain have issued an order, accompanied by a description
and figure of the insect, directing the officers of the Out-Door Depart-
ment of the Service to especially look for and destroy any beetle
answering the description given, which they may find “on board ves-
‘sels, or on wharves, quays, sheds, or packages landed from vessels,”
and to encourage other persons to do the same.
The German Government has also issued a fine colored placard, to
be posted on ships communicating between the two countries. Sur-
rounding well executed figures of the insect in different stages, occur
the following appeal and directions, the whole gotten up very much
as recommended in my 6th Report.
a
LOOK OUT FOR THE POTATO-BEETLE !
A warning and request, addressed to all who ean assist in preventing the importa-
tion of this beetle, and thereby make themselves Benefactors of their Fatherland.
Published by Order of the Royal Prussian Agricultural Department.
The drawing herewith presented shows the insect, with eggs and larvae, which is
known in North America as the Potato-beetle, Colorado Potato-beetle, Colorado bug
and Potato-bug ; and which, of late years, has damaged the potato to such an extent
as to render its cultivation, in some parts of America, almost impossible. Therefore
the importation of this beetle into Germany should be prevented by all possible means.
The Potato-beetle and its larve live principally on the leaves of the potato plant; but _
it has also been known to feed on the different species of night-shade, on the tomato,
and even on cabbages.
[Here follows a succinct and very good account of its natural history, and of its
spread over the continent ]
The only danger of importation of these insects into Germany lies in the maritime
intercourse between the two countries. Swarms of the beetles are carried out to sea
by the wind, and it is not improbable that numbers of them might fall onto ships, and
so reach, alive, the German sea-ports, it being proved by experiment that they can
exist for six weeks without food whatever. It is also possible that they might be
brought on ship-board singly through being packed in with vegetables purchased in
American sea-ports, such as cabbages or tomatoes, or other merchandise. Larve and
-egg's might be shipped in like manner. [This, as I have already shown, is unlikely.] In
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 45
the earth adhering to the potatoes there is also danger, as with it the pupx and even
the beetles can be imported.
Now, as ali remedies hitherto tried against this pest, such as hand-picking or
poisoning in the fields, have proved unsatisfactory [it is scarcely necessary to state to
the American reader that this is incorrect], the importation of the beetle into this
country would be simply the destruction of German potato culture, on which, in a
great measure, depends the subsistence of our population.
All captains, crews and passengers on vessels running between America and
Germany will. we hope, willingly Jend their assistance to the prevention of such a
calamity by keeping a sharp look-out for beetles, eggs, larve and pupx; by destroying
every specimen found on ship-board ; by avoiding all unnecessary trade in vegetables 5
by using all possible precaution in the matter of clearing ships, ete.—thus materially
helping the officers of our sea-ports.
All officers of German sea-ports are requested to inspect keenly all articles of
American export whereby the beetle might be unintentionally introduced into Ger-
many. The importation of potatoes from America, and the transferring of potato
peelings and kitchen waste from the ships to land, is herewith forbidden.
‘“POTATO PEST POISON.’
Several persons wrote last Summer to get my opinion of a pur-
ported new remedy for the Colorado Potato-beetle, then being exten-
sively advertised under the above name by the Kearney Chemical
Works, 66 Cortland street, New York City. I should,on general prin-
ciples, dissuade any cne from purchasing a secret remedy, when a
cheap, simple and effective one is well known. Yet, as there is always
room for improvement, and the inventor and discoverer of something
valuable has aright to profit by his discovery if he can, I am just as.
ready to commend as to condemn any insect remedy offered to the
public, according as it merits condemnation or approval—desiring to
do justice to the rights of the individual as well as of the public.
What, then, is this new “ Pest Poison,” and does it represent some
valuable discovery which deserves to be kept a trade secret? Or is.
it simply one of the many secret nostruws constantly offered to the
farmer by schemers who desire to fill their own pockets? Let a can-
did consideration of the matter decide.
The circular of the firm claims that this “ pest poison” is manu-
factured on “strictly scientific principles,” and that it is “the only
safe, sure and cheap destroyer of potato and tomato bugs, chinch
bugs, cut worms, wire worms and army worms, caterpillars, and all
insects which prey upon vegetation!” Whenever men are found mak-
ing the ridiculous claim, for any substance whatever, that it is a uni-
versal cure for all noxious insects, it is safe to set them down as ignor-
amuses or charlatans. The habits and modes of life of insects are so.
varied that what may prove a perfectly satisfactory remedy against
one species is often utterly worthless against another; while for
successful warfare special tactics are required in almost every case.
The circular further unqualifiedly claims on one page that the poison
“ig not injurious to vegetation,” while admitting in a special notice
on another page “that, if used too strong or too frequently, it injures
46 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
vegetation.” ‘The truth is that many tender plants are injured by it
even when used as recommended, while even stout leaved evergreens
are seriously injured when the strength of the solution is doubled. In
the ‘‘directions for use” we find brief accounts of various insects,
which show on their face that the authors of the circular and agents
for the poison know nothing about the insects they speak of, and
recommend their poison for species upon which it has never been
tried. The directions under the head “Army Worm” may be taken as
-asample. The passage, with the exception of the first and last sen-
tences, is taken almost word for word, without credit, from an article of
mine (New York Zizbune, November 16, 1875); and in the sentences
excepted, we are told that the army worm belongs to the “order of
noctua!” (Noctua is an old genus of the order Lepidoptera), and that
for this insect the solution must be made of double strength, whereas,
thus made, it will injure most grasses.
The special notice closes with the following paragraph:
Furthermore, lest a prejudice should be founded on the fears of some people that
the vines or crops will absorb the poison, we have before us detailed experiments
for several years past showing that not a trace of this poison has ever been found in
‘potatoes or grain which have been watered with this solution in much greater quantities
than was necessary to destroy worms or insects, and the opinion, also, of eminent
‘chemists, that once in the ground the poison is completely neutralized.
Here again the circular misleads, and I very much doubt whether
there is a particle of truth in the statement as to the years of experi-
ence or the opinions of eminent chemists. Such language would hold
true of the Paris green mixture, but not of the poison advertised.
‘This, upon analysis, proves to be a mixture of arsenate of sodium and
common salt, faintly colored with rosaniline; and as opposed to the
opinions of the unnamed “eminent chemists” of the circular, I will
‘quote the opinion of Professor Wm. K. Kedzie, of the Kansas State
Agricultural College, who says that “the great objection to the use
of these compounds is their extreme solubility in water. They are
offered to the plant in perfect condition for absorption into its circula-
tion; and while, in the case of Paris green, the minute proportion
‘dissolved is at once rendered inert by the hydrated oxide of iron in
the soil, it is by no-means certain that the proportion of the latter is
in every case sufficient to accomplish this when the arsenic compound
is applied in such large quantity and in complete solution.”
Last year,in my eighth Report, I had something to say of a ‘‘Potato
Pest Poison,” manufactured by the Lodi Chemical Works of Lodi, N.
J., showing that it did not work as effectually as the Paris green
mixture, and that there could be no advantage to the farmer in its
employment. It was composed of equal parts of salt and arsenic
(arseniate of soda). Experiments which I made last Summer show
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. AT
that the Kearney pest poison acts very much like its Lodi prototype,
the only advantage over which it can claim being the faint coloring.
The Lodi Company sold a 1 |b. package for $1, which was to be dis-
solved in 120 gallons of water or more. The Kearney Company sella
half pound package for 50 cents, which is to be dissolved in 60 gallons.
Of course either company could get any number of testimonials as
to the efficiency of their compounds. They herewith have mine. To
put forth the false claim of the circular I have noticed, is simple hum-
bug. There are plenty of farmers, who, rather than go to the trouble
of making their own mixtures, will send for such poison packages,
when they’ once know what the mixture is, where they would not
think of ordering a secret remedy. My advice tothe manufacturers
would be “do not sail under false colors, or claim more than your
mixture deserves: let people know that there is just asmuch danger,
if not more, in its use, as there is in the use of Paris green in the wet
method. Do this, and put your article up in more secure packages,
so that the poison in deliquescing does not soak and drip through in
hot weather as it now does; andI believe you will still do a good
business, and deserve noé to be ranked as charlatans.”
THE ARMY WORM—Zeucania unipuncta Haw.
FURTHER NOTES AND EXPERIMENTS THEREON.
In the article on this insect in my last Report, certain important
and mooted questions as to the mode, place and time of oviposition
were settled definitely by observation. I have made further observa-
tions and experiments during the past year which are of interest as
completing our knowledge of this insect’s natural history. They
were summed up in a brief paper read before the American Associa-
tion for the Advancement of Science at its meeting in Buffalo, and
what follows is mainly taken therefrom.
The eggs are thrust in between the sheath and stalk of well
grown grasses, whether cut or standing; or occasionally in between
the natural fold of the green leaf or the unnatural curl at the sides of
a withered leaf. On low blue grass, where my first observations were
made, they are, as stated last year, almost invariably laid in the fold
at the base and junction of the terminal leaf with the stalk. The
48 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
moth invariably endeavors to secrete them. They are generally laid
in single rows of from five to twenty and upward, and they are
accompanied with a white, glistening, viscid fluid, which glues them
to each other and to the plant, and, when laid in the fold of a spear,
draws the two sides securely over them, leaving but a glistening streak
along the more or less perfectly closed edges.
There is one other mooted question in the natural history of the
Army Worm which I have, the past Summer, been able to settle, viz.
whether the species is single or double-brooded. In the review of
the matter in my 8th Report, Il came to the conclusion that, in the
more northern States at least, or over the larger portion of the country
in which it proves injurious, it is but single-brooded; and I am still of
the opinion that such is the case. But I have proved that, like so
many other species which are single-brooded further north, it is fre-
quently, if not always, double-brooded in the latitude of St. Louis. By
carefully feeding the moths reared from my first larvee with sweetened
water, and supplying them with grass in spacious vivaria, I succeeded
in obtaining eggs from them. These eggs in due time hatched, and
the second brood of worms gave me the moths again early in August.
The worms were generally paler than those of the first brood, and
being the second generation reared in confinement, they were less
healthy. I obtained, in consequence, but five moths, all of them
unfortunately females. One of these escaped, three died without
showing any development of the ovaries, while the fifth died with
the ovaries so well developed that the eggs, in a state of nature,
would probably have been laid within a week. This was about two
weeks after issuing or about the middle of August, and would indi-
cate that a third generation of worms may exceptionally be produced.
Indeed, by dilligent search out-doors I found larvexe of different sizes
all through the month of August, and a few full grown individuals as
late as the z3d of September. Moths were also obtained as late as
October 9th from such worms. There is the greatest irregularity about
the development of individuals of the same brood and little doubt in
my own mind that while the production of a third generation of
worms is the exception it may some years prove the rule.
The male moths, reared and fed in confinement, lived on an aver-
age 10 days; the females which were impregnated, twice as long, com-
mencing to lay about a fortnight after issuing. What I have previ-
ously said as to the longevity of these moths applies therefore to the
last or Fall brood only. The worms obtained the latter part of Septem-
ber entered the ground and were found dead upon subsequent exami-
nation, but would doubtless have hibernated in chrysalis and confirmed
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 49
the conclusions which I have drawn (Rep. 8, p. 45) that the species
may hibernate in the chrysalis as well as the moth state.
All the observations I have made are in harmony with the prac-
tical conclusion arrived at a year ago, that the eggs of this insect do
not, as arule,if at all, pass the Winter. at the foot of grass stalks, as
was heretoforesurmised. Nevertheless, the burning over of meadows
and grain stubble in Winter will act as a preventive of Army Worm
injuries, for the reasons that the moth lays very early in Spring, that
she prefers the full-grown sheath and stalk, even when dry, to the
young green spears, and that she cannot well lay her eggs, for want
of support, where the grass is yet sparse and thin, as it is when first
starting in a burned meadow. In my last Summer’s experiments the
females, in secreting their eggs, invariably showed a preference for
old hay over fresh and growing grass. Finally, without entering into
further details, I give the following as a revised summary of the
history of the Army Worm:
SUMMARY OF ITS NATURAL HISTORY.
The insect is with us every year. In ordinary seasons, when it is
not excessively numerous, it is seldom noticed: 1st, because the moths
are low, swift flyers, and nocturnal in habit; 2nd, because the worms,
when young, have protective coloring, and, when mature, hide during
the day at the base of meadows. In years of great abundance the
worms are generally unnoticed during early life, and attract attention
only when, from crowding too much on each other, or from having
exhausted the food supply in the fields in which they hatched, they
are forced, from necessity, to migrate to fresh pastures in great bodies.
The earliest attain full growth and commence to travel in armies, to
devastate our fields, and to attract attention, about the time that winter
wheat is in the milk—this period being two months later in Maine
than in Southern Missouri; and they soon afterwards descend into the
ground, and thus suddenly disappear, to issue again two or three
weeks later as moths. In the latitude of St. Louis the bulk of these
moths lay eggs, from which are produced a second generation of
worms, which become moths again late in July or early in August.
Exceptionally a third generation of worms may be produced from
these. Further north there is but one generation annually. The
moths hibernate, and eviposit soon after vegetation starts in Spring.
The chrysalides may also hibernate, and probably do so to a large
extent in the more northern States. The eggs are inserted between
the sheath and stalk, or secreted in the folds of a blade; and mature
and perennial grasses are preferred for this purpose. The worms
E R—4
50 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
abound in wet springs preceded by one or more very dry years. They
are preyed upon by numerous enemies, which so effectually check
their increase, whenever they unusually abound, that the second
brood, when it occurs, is seldom noticed; and two great Army Worm
years have never followed each other, and are not likely to do so.
They may be prevented from invading a field by judicious ditching ;
and the burning over of a field, in Winter or early Spring, effectually
prevents their hatching in such field.
THE WHEAT-HEAD ARMY WORM —Leucania albilinea®
Guen.
There can be no more tangible evidence, in present time, of the
truth of evolution, and of the constant modification in habit, and con-
(Rig. 14.) sectaneous modification in structural and col-
orational characteristics among animals, espe-
cially among the lower classes, than the fre-
quent appearance, as destroyers of our crops,.
of insects that were never reported as injurious
before. When entomologists speak of a new
insect enemy, they are not to be understood as.
implying a new creation. Ina great majority
of instances the species has long before been
known to them, and has simply, for one reason
and another, become unduly multiplied so as.
to force itself upon the attention of the com-
mon observer. In other cases it is new only
to a particular locality to which, from some
other region, it has been introduced. Yet in
the most restricted and well worked-up locali-
ties, speaking either zoélogically or botan-
ically, new forms appear, and old forms some-
times disappear, in amanner which can scarce-
ly be explained, except by the extinction of the
i one and birth of the other through modifica-
WaeaT-uEAp Army WORM :— tion, Few naturalists at this day doubt that
a, a, larve ; b eggs—nat. size ;
oo * — . . .
cure top and side View new forms have thus originated in the past.
*As will be shown at the close of this article, this insect is quite variable and has received another
name. Iemploy the above name simply because it is appropriate and because the insect fully agrees
with Guenée’s published description. Yo say albilinea Huebn, carries no such detinite idea, and Harveyt
Grote is, in my opinion, but a variety. There is and always must be doubt_as to what a/bilinea Huebn.
virtually is, since 1t is founded mainly on a figure ; and where there is such indecision it 1s, In my Jjudg-
ment, and in that of many others, best to discard Hubner. It is for this reason that I consider Guenée’s
description original, as applying to the species under consideration, and that his name should not be
superceded by any other under which the insect may haye been subsequently defined.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 51
They are thus originating at the present, and we may occasionally get
a glance at the process by the phenomena just referred to.
In the Summer of 1874, reports were not unfrequent of injury to
wheat and timothy heads in Maryland and Pennsylvania by a worm
which, by rearing, proved to be Leucania albilinea Guen.
In June and July of 1875, complaints were again heard, particu-
larly in the two States mentioned, of a worm that injures the heads
of the small grains while in the milk. The Baltzemore American (see
Weekly N. Y. Tribune, July 13, 1875,) describes it as hollowing out
the soft grains, and leaving nothing but the shell and the chaff, and
says that “in some rye fields the heads are almost void of grains, and
the ground literally covered with chaff,” and that “late sowed rye
would not be worth the harvesting were it not for the straw.” <A cor-
respondent from York, Penn., (July 15, 1875,) describes it as playing
sad havoc with the wheat-heads here. Wm. T. Smedley, of Lionville,
Chester county, and S.S. Rathvon, of Lancaster, Lancaster county,
Penn., sent me specimens in 1875, with accounts of their attacking
timothy seed and wheat while yet soft. The complaints were more
numerous in 1875 than in 1874, though still confined to the Kastern
States.
In 1876 this worin suddenly made its appearance in Kansas,
especially in Dickinson, Douglas and Davies counties. ‘lhe first
specimens I[ received were accompanied by the following letter from
Mr. Jno. W. Robson, of Cheever, Dickinson county, and dated June
14, 1876:
Tinclose a number of catterpillars which are devastating the wheat fields of this
county and causing considerable alarm. It was first noticed about ten days ago on
Holland Creek, south of the Smoky Hill River, and along the east line of the county
north of the same river. Yesterday I discovered it in our wheat. I live close to the
north line of the county. ‘This insect is quite new to me, but I judge it belongs to the
order Lepidoptera, and strange to say, though a pretty close observer of insect life, I
have not noticed any unusual quantity of moths or butterfl es hovering over the wheat.
The catterpillars begin their depredations at the base of the ear, and sometimes near
the center of the ear. In one field that 1 examined to-day, the ceatterpillars were
abundant. They were mostly at rest, reclining at full length upon the straw, while
only a few were feeding on the ears. Any information will be thankfully received.
Farmers calculate that they will lose one-third of their crop.
In addition to the specimens received from Mr. Robson, others
were sent to me about the same time from different parts of Dickin-
son, Douglas and Davies counties in that State. The Salina (Kansas)
Herald refers to the ravages of this same worm in that neighborhood,
and the Kansas Farmer of June 28, publishes several items which
indicate that the pest created no little excitement. As grain began
to ripen in the East, the worm again attracted attention there, and
specimens were received from Mr. G. W. Shaw, with an account of
their ravages along the old Reading Railroad, in the immediate
52 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
vicinity of Philadelphia. The insect is also alluded to in the Country
Gentleman for July 15, as doing injury in York Co., Penn.
Now the interesting feature about this insect is that its appear-
ance in such destructive numbers and its habit of attacking wheat
heads-are modern phenomena. None of the early writers on economic
entomology in this country refer to anything of the kind, and the first
notice that I recollect seeing of this habit in this insect was in the
Summer of 1872, when, in the N. Y. Zribune, Mr. R. W. Hudson of Hunt-
ington county, Penn., described a worm which seriously injured his
and a neighbor’s oats fields by destroying the heads, and which was
erroneously supposed to bethe Army Worm. It is highly improbable
that the conspicuous ravages of a worm of this kind could have gone
unnoticed and unrecorded, either by farmers or entomologists, if they
had occurred; and the fact that the species shows a large degree of
variation, warrants the belief that it has been lately modified. Feed-
ing originally on some wild grass; undergoing modification, and first
acquiring the peculiar habit here described in York county, Pennsyl-
vania, this wheat-head-feeding race may subsequently have been car-
ried to Kansas either in the chrysalis or moth state, or, what is more
likely, in the egg state on grain and grass. This would account for
its attracting attention there before it was noticed in the intermediate
country. Yet a dark form occurs in the intermediate country, because
I reared such a dark form, answering to Hiibner’s figure, in 1870, from
larvee that had transformed in a rye field at Kirkwood, Missouri. The
wheat feeding race may be expected to widen the area of its devasta-
[Fig. 15.] tion until it spreads over the larger part of
the country, and, like its long and well known
7% congener, the true Army Worm, becomes un-
usually abundant and injurious, whenever the
conditions are favorable to its multiplication’
We may also expect an increasing tendency
Morty oF WHEAT-HEAD ARMY 3 5 4 ° *
Worm. in the species to vary, and give rise to still
other varieties and races that will perplex definers and describers.
HABITS AND NATURAL HISTORY.
As I have abundantly proved, by rearing one generation from the
other, this insect is double-brooded with us.* The first moths appear
*Tt is quite probable, however, that, as with the true Army Worm—which, as we have just seen,
is doub!e-brooded further north—this, its congener, produces but one brood annually in the higher
latitudes, the inseets hibernating mostly in the perfect state. Indeed, there would seem to be such
irregularity in this regard that both peculiarities may occur in the same locality ; for of a number of
chrysalides collected at Lionville, Pa., in August, by Mr. Smedley, from among the shatterings that
fell from the mow when threshing wheat that had been harvested early in July, a few only gave out
the moths, and the rest are hibernating. Moreover, it would seem that where one brood only is pro-
duced, the moths partake of the intermediate characters between the summer brood, which has the pale
secondaries and accords so fully with Guenée’s description, and the spring brood with carker secon-
daries, which accords with Grote’s Harveyi; tor specimens bred by Mr. Lintner, of Albany, New
York, in August, have, in both sexes, the intermediate size and the secondaries quite distinctly dusky
around the exterior border but not basally.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 53
during May, in the latitude of St. Louis, and the bulk of their larvee
are full-grown about the time wheat is in the milk. These produce
moths again during the latter part of July, and,in their turn, these
lay eggs which produce a second brood of worms in August. These
become chrysalides toward or during September, and hibernate as
such in the ground.
The habits of the worm, when full grown, are well set forth in
what has been already said, and the peculiarity of feeding upon heads
of the small grains is quite marked. It prefers the grain itself to all
other parts of the plant, and generally leaves the glumes, or gnaws
and lets them drop so as to cover the ground with chaff.
The horny outer parts of the ovipositor of the female have very
much the same form, appearance and structure as in the true Army
Worm (Rep. 8, Fig. 19), the compressed blade being somewhat less
robust and less produced and rounded at the upperend. The eggs
are also secreted as in that species, and as one might naturally expect
from the unity of habit that generally prevails in the same genus.
These eggs are, in fact, thrust, in single, double or treble rows of five
to fifty or more in a row, between the sheath and stalk of the grains
upon which the worms are destined to feed. They are generally
fastened, but very slightly, to the inside of the sheath, and are readily
seen upon pulling this aside (Fig. 14, 6). They are thrust in sidewise,
compactly pressed together, and not covered with any glistening or
adhesive fluid asin uwntpuncta. Hach egg, when examined closely, is
found to be very soft and yielding, so that its form is fashioned some-
what by the pressure it receives from its neighbors and from the leaf.
Normally, the form is of a compressed sphere. the depth from top to base
being about half the transverse diameter. The shell is corrugate
rather than granulate, the corrugations assuming upwards of thirty
more or less distinct ribs. Pale yellowish and translucent when first
laid, it becomes slate-colored before hatching, and the shell is so ex-
tremely delicate that every hair of the embryon may beseen through
it, and it coilapses and is scarcely visible after the young worm has
hatched. In its rougher and ribbed surface, compressed form and
other characteristics, it differs sufficiently from the egg of wnipuncta
to show that egg structure alone cannot be relied on as of much value
in generic diagnoses. The eggs hatch, in Summer temperature, in from
three to five days from date of deposition.
The newly hatched larva, as in wntpwneta, is quite a looper, the
prolegs on joints six and seven being still more atrophied, and those
on joint eight being short. The body is pale at first, with a black
head and shiny spot on top of first and last joints. It soon becomes
54 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
green, with a brown head; then striped, with five pale and six darker
lines, and after going through five and sometimes six molts, the worm
assumes the appearance of Fig. 14, a, a. When full grown, the best
marked specimens are prettily striped with sulphur-yellow and straw-
yellow, and with light and dark brown, as follows: A broad, dark
brown line along the back, divided along the middle by a fine white
line generally obsolete behind; beneath this broad line, on each side,
a straw-yellow line, half as wide; then a light brown one of the same
width as the last, and becoming yellow on the lower edge; thena
narrower dark brown one, containing the white spiracles; then a
sulphur-yellow as wide as the third; then a less distinct light brown
subventral one, the venter being pale yellow. The head is large,
straw-colored, and with two attenuating brown marks from the top to
the lower face.
This worm when newly hatched is, therefore, at once distinguished
from unipuncta or the true Army Worm, by its black head; later by
having superiorly five instead of seven pale lines, and six instead of
eight dark ones, and when full grown, by its brighter, more strongly
contrasting colors, and paler head.
The habit of feeding on the grain hecomes pronounced only after
the worms are half grown, and prior to that time they feed on the
leaves, and are seldom noticed.
The chrysalis is paturally formed just beneath the surface of the
ground, but frequently under weeds and other rubbish. It is of the
ordinary mahogany-brown color, terminates in a stout horny point,
with a corrugated base, and is at once distinguished from wnipuncta
by the stigmata being raised on a rounded prominence, and by other
particulars mentioned in the description at close.
The worms acquire their full growth in from three to four weeks
from hatching, those of the second brood developing somewhat more
slowly than those of the first. The chrysalis state in the Summer
brood lasts from ten to fifteen days. The parent moth (Fig. 15) has
the front wings pale, straw-colored, with a white line running along
the middle to the outer third, and shaded with brown and purplish-
brown as follows: A shade beneath the white line, intensified at each
end where it joins the white; another along the posterior border,
narrow at apex and broadening to the middle, where it projects along
the middle of the wing above the white line, fading away toward base,
anda fainter shade along the front or costal edge, intensifying toward
apex.
NATURAL ENEMIES.
The worm is subject to the attacks of three distinct parasites.
One, the very same species of Tachina-fly ( 7. anonyma) which I have
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 55
so often bred from other insects; the other a pretty Ichneumon-fly
(Anomalon apicale Cresson) which may be called the Dark-tipped
Anomalon.
Of alot of over a hundred chrysalides received from Mr. John
Davis, Junction City, Kansas, fully forty per cent. were destroyed by
this parasite, which undergoes its transformations within the chrysa-
lis shell, spinning but a very thin layer of silk on the inside thereof,
and issuing finally by gnawing and pushing off the anterior portion.
It is rather a pretty species, about 0.90 inch long, exclusive of
antennx. The wings are smoky-brown, with deeper brown veins, a
golden reflection toward base, and a clearer space at tip of front ones.
The face and cheeks are pale yellow, with the top of head and eyes
black. The thorax is marked with yellowish-brown and black and the
compressed abdomen is reddish-brown, with the truncated end more
or less black. The legs are generally pale, with the exception of the
thighs and tips of shanks, which are darker.
The third parasite is a genuine Ichneumon (Jchneumon brevipen-
nis) originally described by Mr. Cresson from Colorado. It may be
popularly called the Short-winged Ichneumon and is characterized by
its pale readish-brown color and short, smoky wings.*
REMEDIES.
It is quite evident from the foregoing history of this destructive
worm that the practical means of counteracting its injuries are
chiefly preventive. It cannot be successfully fought in the worm
state, and the wheat grower who has been troubled with it should
direct his attention to the destruction of the chrysalides by late plow-
ing and harrowing and to the capture of the moths in Spring by means
of lights and sweetened and poisoned fluids. We can hardly hope
that such preventive measures will be very generally adopted, espe-
cially as at best they would prove but partially successful; and I con-
fess that the species, from the character of its food and of its life-
habits must be, with our present knowledge, placed in the category
of insects whose management baffles man, and must be left to the
work of their natural enemies.
DESCRIPTIVE.
LEUCANIA ALBILINEA—Egg—0.5 m.m. wide, generally but half as deep, the top
and base being ouite flattened. Color pale-yellowish, translucent and less iridescent
than in wnipuncta: with rugosities which assume on upward of 30 more or less dis-
tinct ribs: becoming slate colored before hatching: shell extremely delicate and gen-
erally collapsing after exit of larva.
. *The specimen, which Mr. Cresson has kindly compared with his type, differs therefrom in hay-
ing the wings relatively longer and in the narrow black bands at basal margin of abdominal joints 2,
3 and 4, being obsolete. It may be distinguished as a variety of brevipennis for which I propose the
variety name obsoletua.
56 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
Larva—Newly hatched larva 1.9 m.m. long. Like wnipuncta quite a looper, the pro-
legs on joints 6 and 7 very much reduced and useless. Head, cervical shield, and
shield, thoracic legs, rings on prolegs, piliferous spots which are conspicuous and
normal in position, and bristles from them—black. General color sordid white, soon
becoming green. In the second stage the black parts become brown, and the body
above shows five pale lines on a ground of six dark ones, (in wnipuncta there are 7 pale
and 8 dark ones) generally indicated in the latter part of the first stage. In the third
stage the head is gamboge-yellow, and the dark lines are olivaceous and the contrast
with the five pale lines and the pale venter more decided. The looping habit is also
abandoned. In the fourth stage the head is honey-yellow with the mature markings
indicated in brown, and the five pale superior lines, especially the mediodorsal and the
next to it which is broadest, are relieved more strongly by a deepening of the borders
of the dark lines. In the fifth and sixth stages the characters of the mature larva are
approached by the narrowing of the medio-dorsal pale line, the deepening of the dorsal
and fading of the subdorsal dark space; by the separation of the subdorsal pale line
into two, and by the deepening of the stigimatal dark line.
Mature Larva—Average length rather more than an inch. Colors pale yellow and
brown. ‘The brighter marked specimens have the dorsum brown with a narrow medio-
dorsal yellow line, obsolete posteriorly ; then a subdorsal sulphur-yellow line 4 as wide
and suffused in middle with carneous; then astill narrower brown line, ill defined,
beneath ; then a yellow Jine of same width as preceding; then a somewhat broader
brown-black stigmatal line; then a substigmatal sulphur-yellow line as broad as
subdorsal and generally relieved below with pale brown—all the dark parts, except the
black stigmatal line, speckled with yellowish. Venter dull white. Head large, wider
‘than body, pale yellow—almost white, with brown tipped jaws, mottlings on the
cheeks, and two broad brown marks (with a tendency to fade in the middle) on top,
narrowing each side of V-shaped sutures. Stigmata white, with black annulus. (In uni-
puncta they are dark with a pale annulus). Piliferous spots though more conspicuous
than in wnipuncta in first stage, now less so. Varies considerably, some being quite
dark and others greatly suffused with rosaceous ; but the pale head, dark stigmatal line
and bright yellow lines are constant.
Hundreds of specimens examined. Chrysalis—normal form, and dark mahogany
brown. Distinguished at once from unipuncta by being more strongly punctate; by
the anterior border of the three abdominal joints immediately below the wing-sheaths
being but slightly ridged, and deeply, profusely and irregularly punctate all round ; (in
unipuncta these joints have, above only, a clearly defined ridge with a single row of
larger and regular punctations) by the stigmata being raised on a rounded prominence ;
and by the anal joint being much broader and more corrugate at base.
Imago—Average expanse 1.50 inch. Front wings either pale straw, or ochre-
yellow with a pale or white line along the median vein, broadening to the dise, and
sometimes extending more or less along: veins 3 and 4; tapering to base and blending
more or less with another pale line which extends a short distance beneath it and
fades away posteriorly, each sharply relieved below by a brown-black streak, shaded
with brown as follows: a broad pale costal border having a cinereous shade, with the
veins, especially towards apex, relieved and pale; a terminal shade with similar cinere-
ous hue, and tapering to apex; a broad shade beneath median white line, with fre-
quently a dark, elliptic streak at its lower border toward base; and generally (not
always) connecting more or less distinctly with the terminal shade; and lastly, a cunei-
form shade connecting with the terminal from vein 4 to apex, from which it curves
abruptly and tapers along the upper border of the median white line, which it helps
to relieve. A small discal dot. The tapering shade is generally very clearly relieved
by dark streaks at its borders. Fringes white, usually with a dark medial line, and
always with a pale inner line relieved by a dark terminal line. Beneath white, with a
faint dusky tint opposite the cuneitorm shade. Hind wings, satiny-white, with fre-
quently a faint dusky shade posteriorly in the @. Head oehraceous-brown with paler
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OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 57
palpi. Thorax of the same color, paler behind; the collar pale lilaceous, with a white
upper border strongly separated from the dark anterior border of tegul ; three white
streaks, one medial and one on each tegula. Anterior legs dusky in front, other-
wise, with body, ochraceous. Antenne simple; having but the faintest fringe of hairs
in the male. Eighty-four bred specimens from wheat-feeding larvee examined.
The above description applies to typical Western specimens of the Summer
brood.
As in every case where I have studied large material, the species proves quite
variable. The dark marks may have an olivaceous hue, or they may so predominate
as to form the ground-color of primaries, with the white medial line well relieved , but
the pale shades above and below it reduced to streaks. The discal spot is either obso-
lete, single, or double, and somewhat reniform; the orbicular spot is sometimes indi-
cated; the tapering dark shade inclining from apex reaches either to disc only, or
extends to base of wing ; the brown-black streaks may be sub-obsolete ; the apical angle
varies in acuteness, and the posterior border in obliqueness ; the terminal line may be
broken into more or less distinct dots; and finally, there may be a series of distinct
dots between the veins along the inside of terminal shade, and streaks between the
veins, recalling phraginatidicola.
Not one of the Summer brood has the hind wings ‘‘smoky, blackish” that char-
acterizes Harveyi as described by Grote; but two Spring-bred specimens, below aver-
age size, accord with his description very well, even to the narrower primaries and
scarcely obliquing posterior border. Harveyi (and perhaps also Hiibner’s figure) may,
therefore, be considered the Spring form of albilinea, just as I have proved by breed-
ing that Pieris vernalis is but the Spring form of P. protodice. Indeed the tendency to
smaller size and deeper color in broods that hibernate in chrysalis is very general.
THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN LOCUST—Caloptenus Spretus, Thomas.
[Ord. OrTHOPTERA; Fam. ACRIDID*®. |
This scourge has continued to vitally concern our people and the
people of the western country east of the Rocky Mountains. After.
the fearful ravages which it committed in 1874 and 1875, it will be
interesting to take note of its doings in 1876.
It will be remembered, that, in opposition to contrary opinion widely circulated, I
expressed my belief, a year ago, that in Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska, first, there
would not hatch as many iocusts in the spring as would naturally hatch in ordinary
seasons from indigenous species ; second, that, compared with other parts of the coun-
try, those States most ravaged by locusts in the spring and early summer of 1875 would
enjoy the greater immunity, during the same season of 1876, not only from locust inju-
ries, but from the injuries of most other noxious insects; that, in short, the people of
the ravaged section had reason to be hopeful rather than gloomy; that they certainly
would not sufferin any general way from locust injuries in the early season; and that
the only way iu which they could suffer from the migrating pest was by fresh swarms,
later in the year, from the far Northwest.—Rep. 8, 155-6.
Like the other opinions as to the future doings of this insect that
I have felt warranted in expressing in an unqualified way, this last
was fully justified by subsequent events.
58 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
From most of the Western States the crop returns were favorable,
though the harvest was in many sections impeded, as it was in 1875, by
too much wet weather. In no part of the country was the outlook
more flattering than in western Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, lowa and
the country so seriously ravaged by locusts the previous year, and the
farmers throughout that section of country had seldom been freer
from insect ravages, or more hopeful. The freedom from other noxious
insects was everywhere apparent in our own western counties. In
parts of the Northwest, as in the East,the conditions were very differ-
ent from what they were with us, and the crops suffered more or less
from excessive drouth. In Colorado, early in the season, there was
some alarm, as the insects hatched in many localities, but by no
means so generally asin the previous years. By persevering effort
the farmers generally got the mastery over them and have made good
crops. In Minnesota, again, in some of the southern counties, where
eggs were laid, considerable damage was done, though nothing like
as much as in 1875. During the second week of July the locusts took
wing from that region, and it is interesting to note that they instinct-
ively took a north and northwest course, just as the fledged insects
had done a few weeks earlier in the season from Missouri and the
adjacent country to the west the year before. 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 insects awaited a change.
Such was the condition of things up to the early part of August,
and I began to hope that the country that had suffered so much of late
years by locust devastations, was at last free from the scourge, and
would not be overrun again for some years to come. But the great
drouth which prevailed in the Northwest appears to have favored the
multiplication of the insects in, and their migration from their native
haunts, and no sooner had the people begun to congratulate them-
selves on the good riddance of the pests, than reports came of the
movement of new swarms from the north and northwest. From that
time on, till the approach of Winter, their movements were reported
and they overswept a large part of the Western country.
On the assumption that the hosts that went to make up the inva:
‘sions of 1878 and 1874 had made an exodus from their native breeding
places, and that those, if any, which returned thereto in 1875 were
more or less diseased, it was natural to conclude that a few years
would be required for the species to again become unduly multiplied
there and be constrained to migrate. The intervals that had elapsed
in the past between general invasions favored such reasoning. The
Q OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 59
fact that the insects had hatched out in immense numbers, in 1875, as
high upas British America, from 1874 swarms that had come from the
still further north and west,* was then not known to me; and the
experience of 1876 proves how little we know of the native breeding
haunts of the species, and that the past history of invasions is no cer-
tain guide as to the future.
THE INVASION OF 1876.
In order to give acorrect idea of the invasion of 1876, I will con-
sider it by States and Territories, and, as far as possible, in chrono-
logical order.
BritisH AMERICA.—In Manitoba, asI learn from Profs Dawson, the insects did
not appear in sufficient numbers to attract attention or do any harm to crops, which
were very good, nor were any eggs laid there. Far west of Manitoba, however, he has
reason to believe that the insect was produced from the egg over a pretty extensive
area north of the 49th parallel, and that such was really the case is substantiated by
Mr. Chauncy Barbour of the Weekly Missoulian, Missoula, M. T., who wrote me July
21st, that travelers in Spring from Ft. McLeod, British America, some 300 or 400 miles
northeast of Missoula, reported vast numbers of tie young insects there.
Montana.—The insects hatched extensively in this Territory and no doubt went
to largely make up the swarms that subsequently reached over the country to the
southeast. The Monthly Report of the Department of Agriculture for May and June
mentions them (in its usual inexact way, without dates) as occurring in millions and
damaging Spring crops, especially wheat, in Deer Lodge, Lewis, Clarke and Jefferson
counties ; and the following item is quoted by Prof. Whitman from the Bismark Tri-
bune of June 14, 1876:
InN THE FIELD, NEAR RoseBuD Buttss, May 29, 1876.
‘As we move westward the grazing improves, and here in the Little Missouri Val-
ley the season is at least a month in advance of the season on the Missouri. This
would bea splendid grazing region, were the water good. The grass is heavy and
nutritious, but the water is strongly impregnated with alkali. Millions of locusts are
just now making their appearance in this region. Too young to fly or do much
harm, ina few days, should the winds favor them, they will sweep down upon the
defenceless agriculturalists on the border, doing untold damage.”
The Signal Service reported them as being numerous all over the Territory in
June, as flying over Virginia City, southwest, during the middle, southeast during the
end of July, southeast in myriads from the lst to the 5th of August, and as continu-
ing to pass throughout the month until the 29th, when their numbers decreased. No
eggs reported.
WyominG.— Reports from Cheyenne show that the insects were abundant
throughout the month of August, passing to the southwest, and that swarms were also
passing south and southeast on a number of days in September.
Dakota TERRITORY.—AS already indicated,.the insects that had hatched in Min-
nesota, departed during the fore part of July, mostly in a northwest direction. Dur-
ing that time the winds were for the most part strong from the southeast, and the
locusts were carried over Southeast Dakota, aud were noticed to be particularly thick
at Vermillion. From the 10th of the month the wind was mostly from the northwest,
* See the facts mentioned in discussing the source of the swarms of 1876, further on,
60 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
and the insects poured from that direction into the same country that they had _ pre-
viously left. These swarms were doubtless made up of the very insects that had
shortly before left Minnesota, reinforced by others that had lived in the Territory ; for
they were flying at Pembina, mostly south and southeast from the 8th to the 20th of
July.
At the Omaha Conference Gov, Pennington stated that the young never hatched
in Dakota, founding his statement on the fact, doubtless, that individually he had never
seen them around Yankton. I stated at the time that the reports from Signal Seryice
eporters proved the statement incorrect, and the reports for 1876 from various parts of
the eastern and southern portions of the Territory show that the young hatched out
there early in the season, as they did in parts of Minnesota.* The Signal Service reports
them even far to the north at Pembina, as appearing in June.
From the reports, it is evident that after the first week in July the swarms took a
south and southeast direction; further, that until toward the beginning of August
they were scattering, did but little damage and laid no eggs—thus indicating that they
came from but ashort distance. By the first of August, however, and from >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. <A few
of the young were still alive and endeavoring to escape. ‘The rest had died in the
eflort. They haa made no progress upward through the pressed surface, but had
pushed horizontally as the looser earth permitted. :
Experiment 31,—From 10 egg-masses placed 2 inches beneath the surface the young
commenced issuing from the sides as inthe preceding Exp., Jan. 3lst. None issued
directly through the surface of the soil, and none issued after the border was pressed
more firmly to the tin. Subsequent examination showed the soil penetrated in devi-
ous directions, but none of the insects had reached higher than within 3 inch of the
surface.
Experiment 82,—Ten egg-masses placed 3 inches below the surface. The young
began, Jan. 31st, to issue from the sides as in Expts. 30,381. Upon pressing the ground
more firmly around the borders, none afterward issued, and subsequent examination
showed that the young had tunneled the earth in tortuous passages toward the sides,
and perished there ; without reaching nearer than within an inch of the surface in the
middle of the box.
Experiment 53.—Ten egg-masses placed 6 inches below the surface. On Feb. Ist
the young commenced to issue, as in the preceding Expts., from the side, and con-
tinued to do so till the 4th, when the earth was pressed more closely to the tin. None
issued afterward. Subsequent examination showed that some had succeeded in work-
ing their way upward through the soil to within two inches of the surface; but most
had reached the sides and there collected and perished between the tin and the soil.
Other experiments, made in glass tubes where the movements of
the insects could be watched, all produced similar results to those
above given, and all point to the conclusion that where the newly
hatched insect has not the natural channel of exit (described on p. 88).
which was prepared by the mother, it must inevitably perish if the
soil ke moderately compact, unless cracks, fissures, or other channels
reaching to the surface, are at hand.
From the above four series of experiments, I would draw the fol-
lowing deductions, which have important practical bearing:
First—F¥rost has no injurious effect on the eggs; its influence is
beneficial rather, in weakening the outer shell.
Second—Alternately freezing and thawing is far less injurious to
them than we have hitherto supposed, and tends to their destruction,
if at all, indirectly, by exposing them to the free air.
Third—TYhe breaking open of the egg-masses, and exposure of
the eggs to the atmosphere, is the most effectual way of destroying
them. Hence, the importance of harrowing in the Fall is obvious.
Fourth—Moisture has altogether less effect on the vitality of the
eggs than has heretofore been supposed, and will be of little use asa
106 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
destructive agent, except where land can be overflowed for two or
three days at the time when the bulk of the young are hatching.
fitth—Plowing under of the eggs will be effectual in destroying
them, just in proportion as the ground is afterward harrowed and
rolled. Its effects will also necessarily vary with the nature of the
soil. Other things being equal, Fall plowing will have the advantage
over Spring plowing, not only in retarding the hatching period, but in
permitting the settling and compacting of the soil; while where the
ground is afterwards harrowed and rolled, the Spring plowing will
prove just as good, and on light soils, perhaps better,
THE OMAHA CONFERENCE.
At the invitation of Governor Jno. S. Pillsbury, of Minnesota, a
conference of the Executives of those States and Territories which
most suffer from locust ravages, and of scientific gentlemen interested
in the subject, was held at Omaha, Neb., on the 25th and 26th of Octo-
ber last. The following gentlemen were in attendance:
Prof. Cyrus Thomas, of Illinois.
Gov. Samuel J. Kirkwood, of Iowa.
Gov. Thomas A. Osborne, of Kansas,
Gov. Silas Garber,
Ex-Gov. Robt. W. Furnas,
Prof. C. D. Wilber,
Prof. A. D. Williams, and
Hon. Geo. W. Frost, of Nebraska.
Gov. John S. Pillsbury,
Pennock Pusey, and
Prof. A. Whitman, of Minnesota.
Gov. John L. Pennington, of Dakota, and
Gov. C. H. Hardin, and
C. V. Riley, of Missouri.
After an interesting and instructive interchange of opinions and
experiences, the following resolutions, reported by the writer on
behalf of a committee appointed to express the sense of the Confer-
ence, were unanimously adopted :
Your Committee, appointed to draft resolutions expressive of the views of the
Conference, would respectfully report as follows:
The Rocky Mountain Locust, or “grasshopper,” by its migrations from Territory
to Territory and from State to State, destroying millions of dollars’ worth of the hard
earnings of the Western farmers, crippling the progress of the border States, and
retarding the settlement of the 'lerritories, has become a national plague. Its injuries
are of such magnitude that no effort should be left untried that will be likely to diminish
or avert them.
The work to be done is of a two-fold nature—State and National. From the
writings of those who have given the subject careful attention, and from our own past
experience, it is quite manifest that the pest in question is not a native of the country
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 107
south of the 44th parallel or east of the 100th meridian, but that it occasionally over-
runs the country south and east of these lines, from the extreme Northwest.
There are, therefore, two pressing questions which demand our attention:
Ist The best means of fighting the plague as it occurs in the States to which it
migrates, but in which itis not indigenous.
2d. The thorough investigation into its habits in its native home, with a view of
preventing, if possible, its migrations therefrom.
Toward the elucidation and settlement of the first we have the dear-bought ex-
perience of the past few years, and there has already been a large amount of valuable
information obtained and published in the proclamation of Gov. Pillsbury, in the report
of the special Minnesota commission, appointed in 1875, in the two last entomological
reports made to the State of Missouri, by its State entomologist, and in the writings
of Prof. Thomas and others. We, therefore, recommend the passage of the following
resolutions :
Resolved, That, as much valuable and practical advice has already been published
a committee of three be appointed to collect and issue in pamphlet form, as soon as
possible, all the more practicable means, based on experience, that we now have any
knowledge of, toward the destruction of the insect, whether as it pours down upon us
in the winged condition, or as it hatches out in our midst.
Resolved, That the official report of the proceedings of this Conference shall form
the prelude to this pamphlet, and that the following recommendations and statement
of our views, as to the possibilitv of contending with the locust shall form a part of
said pamphlet. [Here omitted. ]
Further, in order to meet the emergency that threatens next Spring, parti cular
stress should be laid on the best means of coping with the eggs and unfleged young
that will hatch from them in the Spring of 1877. Among these, we deem as most fea-
sible and best calculated to produce good results, a judicious bounty system ; and, as
that recommended by Prof. Riley, in his eighth report, is based ov the valuable expe-
rience gained in 1875, and correctly states the principles that should govern such legis-
lation, we recommend the following :
Resolved, That in our opinion it will be wise and politic for the legislatures of each
of the States and Territories most deeply interested in the locust question, to enact a
State bounty law, offering a bounty of——per bushel for the collection and destruction
of the eggs, and of——per bushel forthe destruction of the unfledged insects; that
the principles laid down by Prof. Riley for such a law should be kept in view; and that
we will use our influence to obtain such a law in our respective States.
Resolved, That we recommend to the several legislatures, that they authorize local
_taxation for the purpose of systematized effort in the way of ditching, burning, etc.,
- as the local authorities may deem necessary or desirable.
We further invoke our legislatures to adopt such practicable measures as have
proved efficacious, and such as further experience may suggest, including the repeal of
existing game laws, or such modification of them as will prevent the destruction of
birds which feed upon the insects; the prevention of prairie fires until suitable time
for the destruction of tie young locusts by firing the grass ; the encouragement of tree
culture for promoting moisture and harboring birds, and such other means as may
promote the great end desired.
Resolved, further, That in view of the danger that threatens, it is advisable that, as
far as posible, a survey be made of each State during the coming Winter, to ascertain just
those portions of each county in which the eggs are most thickly laid, in order to indicate
to the county and State authorities the amount of the preparatory work to be done
to prevent the threatened injury, and also in order to more thoroughly organize every
portion of each State on some plan of securing the intelligent co-operation of farmers
and others.
We also recommend the passage of the following resolution:
Resolved, That the Governors of each State and Territory be advised to appoint
a commission of one or more competent persons whose duties shall be to visit the
counties and towns of each State, and report the facts and observations to the Gover-
nors, an@ also to organize each county and precinct insuch manner as may be deemed
expedient, and also to appoint in said counties and precincts, suitable persons to
receive and distribute such documents and pamphlets, containing general information
and means of defence, as will be provided by this Conference, and to report such or-
ganizations and names of committees to the respective Governors.
For the solution of the second question, itis the evident duty of the Government
to make the proper investigation. We have looked in vain for this aid from our De-,
partment of Agriculture, and are satisfied that under its present management, such
aid, or any thorough investigations, are not to be expected. We therefore recommend
the following :
10S NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
Resolved, That we deem it the duty of the National Government to make some
effort to destroy or counteract this great pest, and thus prevent its injuries.
Resolved, That we believe the first step in this matter should be a thorough inves-
tigation into the history and habits of this insect, in its native haunts as well as in the
sections visited by it, and the search for all possible means of its extermination, and
remedial agencies which may be used against it.
Resolved, That we believe this can be accomplished in the shortest time, at the
least expense and most effectually by attaching a special commission for this purpose,
to one.of the Government Surveys sent out annually to the West; and, therefore, we
suggest that the following be added to that clause of the Sundry Civil Appropriation
Bill, making an appropriation for the geological and geographical survey of the ‘Ter-
ritories : ‘And also the further sum of twenty-five thousand dollars for the purpose of
paying the salaries and expenses of a commission to consist of three entomologists and
two Western men who have had experience with the locusts, to be appointed by the
Chief of said survey, with the consent and approval of the Secretary of the Interior.
It shall be the duty of said commissioners to examine into the history and habits of
the said locust, and make report thereon, and also suggest such means of destroy-
ing them or remedies against them as their investigations shall prove most practi-
cable.”
Resolved, 'That it is our belief that the Signal Service might materially aid such a
commission as here demanded, in performing the work, by regular observations made
of the time, direction, extent of flights, time of hatching and leaving of the young
locusts, ete.; also, by announcing in the daily weather reports the appearance and pro-
gress of the swarms; and we ask of Congress to grant to Gen. Myer such additional
assistance and means as will enable him to carry out this work.
Resolved, That the President of the Conference be requested to draw up and
present to the President of the United States, a letter setting forth the urgent neces-
sity for some action on the part of the General Government in behalf of the sec-
tions ravaged, in reference to the invasions of and destruction occasioned by the
locusts.
Resolved, That each of the Governors of the following States and Territories, to-
wit: Minnesota, Illinois, lowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Colorado, Wyoming,
Dakota and Montana, be requested to transmit to their respective delegations a record of
these proceedings, requesting them to urge upon Congress speedy action in this matter,
in accordance with the recommendations of this Conference.
A committee consisting of John S. Pillsbury, Pennock Pusey, and
myself, was appointed to prepare for publication the official report of
Proceedings, together with a summary of the best means known for
counteracting the evil; and 10,000 copies of a pamphlet of 72 pages
were accordingly published last Fall. By being widely distributed,
this pamphlet has undoubtedly done much good, and had no small
share in bringing about certain much needed State and National legis-
lation.
REMEDIES AND SUGGESTIONS.
As the people in the threatened counties already enumerated
(ante, p. 67) will, in all probability, go through much the same expe-
rience this year, that the farmers of the afflicted counties went
through in 1875, there will be a large demand for information as to
how best to manage and destroy the young insects. In the hope that
this Report will be distributed at an early day, I have thought best to
repeat here some of the recommendations made in my last Report,
and in the Omaha pamphlet.
DESTRUCTION OF THE YOUNG OR UNFLEDGED Locusts. — Heavy rolling, where
the surface of the soil is sufficiently firm and even, destroys a large number of these
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 109
newly hatched young, but is most advantageously employed when they are most slug-
gish and inclined to huddle together, as during the first eight or ten days after hatch-
ing, and in the mornings and evenings subsequently, ‘They then drive almost as
readily as sheep, and may be burned in large quantities by being driven into windrows
or piles of burning hay or straw. They may also be killed with kerosene, and by
means of flattened beating implements; wooden shovels being extensively used for
this purpose in Europe. :
But to protect the crops and do battle to these young locust armies, especially
where, as was the case in much of the ravaged country in 1875, there is little or no hay
or straw to burn, the best method is ditching. A ditch two feet wide and two feet
deep, with perpendicular sides, offers an effectual barrier to the young insects. They
tumble into it and accumulate, and die at the bottom in large quantities. In a few days
the stench becomes great, and necessitates the covering up of the mass. In order to
keep the main ditch open, therefore, it is best to dig pits or deeper side ditches at short
intervals, into which the ’hoppers will accumulate and may be buried. Made around a
field about hatching time, few *hoppers will get into that field till they acquire wings,
and by that time the principal danger is over, and the insects are fast disappearing. If
any should hatch within the enclosure, they are easily driven into the ditches dug in
different parts of the field. The direction of the apprehended approach of the insects
being known from their hatching locality, ditching one or two sides next to such local-
ity, is generally sufficient, and where farmers joint hey can construct a long ditch,
which will protect many farms.
With proper and systematic ditching early in the season, when the insects first
hatch, everything can be saved. When water can be let into the ditches so as to cover
the bottom they may be made shallower, and still be effective.
A ditch three feet wide, unless correspondingly deep, will be more apt to permit
the escape of the insects, when once in, than a narrower one. In hopping, the more
perpendicular the direction the insects must take, the shorter will be the distance
reached. Of course the wider the ditch, if it be correspondingly deep, the more effec-
tual will it prove. In exceptional cases, when the locusts are nearly full grown and the
wind is high so as to assist them, even the two-foot ditch loses much of its value.
Next to ditching the use of nets or seines, or converging strips of calico or any
other material, made after the plan of a quail net, has proved most satisfactory. By
digging a pit, or boring a post auger hole, three or four feet deep, and then staking
the two wings so that they converge toward it, large numbers of the locusts may be
driven into the pit after the dew is off the ground. By changing the position of this
trap, much good can be done when the insects are yet small and huddled in schools;
but all modes of bagging, netting, crushing with the spade or other flat implements
and burning, which can be employed to good advantage when the insects first begin to
hatch, become comparatively useless when they begin to travel in concert over wide
stretches of land. The same may be said of allthe mechanical contrivances to facili-
tate the destruction of the insects; they are useful if used in concert in a given
neighborhood soon after the young hatch, but subsequently do not compare to
ditching.
When the insects are famishing, it is useless to try and protect plants by any
application whatever, though spraying them with a mixture of kerosene and warm
water is the best protection yet known, and will measurably answer when the insects
are not too numerous or ravenous.
The best means of protecting fruit and shade trees deserves separate consideration.
Where the trunk is smooth and perpendicular, they may be protected by whitewashing.
110 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
The lime crumbles under the feet of the insects as they attempt to climb, and prevents
their getting up. By their persistent efforts, however, they gradually tear off the lime
and reacha higher point each day, sothat the whitewashing must be often repeated.
Trees with short, rough trunks, or which lean, are not very well protected in this way.
A strip of smooth, bright tin answers even better for the same purpose. A strip three
or four inches wide brought around and tacked to a smooth tree will protect it; while
on rougher trees a piece of old rope may first be tacked around the tree and the tin
tacked to it, so as to leave a portion both above and below. Passages between the tin
and rope or the rope and tree can then be blocked by filling the upper area between
tin and tree with earth. The tin must be high enough from the ground to prevent the
*hoppers from jumping from the latter beyond it; and the trunk below the tin, where
the insects collect, should be covered with some greasy or poisonous substances to pre-
vent girdling. This is more especially necessary with small trees ; and kerosene or
whitewash having Paris green mixed with it will answer as such preventives.
One of the cheapest and simplest modes is to encirele the tree with cotton batting,
into which the insects will entangle their feet, and thus be more or less obstructed.
Strips of paper covered with tar, stiff paper tied on so as to slope roof-fashion, strips of
glazed wall paper, thick coatings of soft soap, have been used with varying success ; but
no estoppel equals the bright tin; the others require constant watching and renewal,
and in all cases coming under my observation some insects would get into the trees so
as to require the daily shaking of these morning and evening. This will sometimes
have to be done when the bulk of the insects have become fledged, even where tin is
used; for acertain proportion of the insects will then fly into the trees. They do most
damage during the night, and care should be had that the trees be unloaded of their
voracious freight just before dark. ’
Finally, most cultivated plants may be measurably protected from the ravages of
these young by good cultivation and a constant stirring of the soil. The young have
an antipathy to a loose and friable surface, which incommodes them and hinders their
progress; and they will often leave such a surface for one more hard and firm.
Hogs and poultry of every description delight tg feed ou the young locusts, and
will flourish where these abound when nothing else does. Our farmers in the threat-
ened counties should provide themselves with as large a quantity as possible of this
stock. Where no general and systematic efforts have been made to destroy either the
eggs or the young locusts, and it is found that, as Spring opens, these young hatch out
in threatening numbers, the intelligent farmer will delay the planting of everything |
that cannot be protected by ditching until the very last 1moment, or till the insects
become fledged—using his team and time solely in the preparation of his land. In this
way he will not only save his seed and the labor of planting, and, perhaps, replanting,
but be will materially assist in weakening the devouring armies. Men planted in 1875,
and worked with a will and energy born of necessity, only to see their crops finally
taken, their seed gone, and their teams and themselves worn out. The locusts in the
end destroyed every green thing, until finding nothing more, they began to fall upon
each other and to perish, This critical period in their history would have been brought
about much earlier if they had not had the cultivated crops to feed upon; and if by
concert of action this system of non-planting could at first have been adopted over large
areas, the insects would have been much sooner starved out and obliged to congregate
in the pastures, prairies and timber. Moreover the time required for early planting
and cultivation, if devoted to destroying the insects after the bulk of them hatch out
toward the end of April, would virtually annihilate them.
Too much stress cannot be laid on the advantages of co-operation and concert of
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. _ 111
action, to accomplish which ought not to be difficult, with our present Grange system.
To insure concert of aetion, it would be well to authorize the supervisors of each schoo}
district to call out every able-bodied man and oblige him to work in a general system of
destruction as soon as the bulk of the young insects have hatched, and the same would
apply equally as well to the destruction of the eggs.
Many of the wheat fields have been injured principally on the
outside. I would recommend to plow up such injured portions and
sow torye. Finally, though insisting on ditching and the digging of
pits, as, all things considered, the hest and most reliable insurance
against the ravages of the young locusts; I would urge our farmers
to rely not on this means alone, but to employ all the other means
recommended, according as convenience and opportunity suggest.
LEGISLATION.
It is a gratifying indication of the increasing appreciation of
economic entomology that, while three years ago the mere sugges-
tion to enact laws for the suppression of injurious insects would have
been, and was received by our legislators with ridicule ; yet, during
the Winter of 1876-7, several States have seen fit to pass acts that have
for object the destruction of this locust, or the relief of the suffering
and destitution it so often entails. Even Congress has at last felt the
necessity of doing something to mitigate this national evil, and at the
last hour, made an appropriation to defray the expenses of a commis-
sion, whose duty it shall be to make a thorough investigation into the
matter. I give below the State laws that have been passed:
MISSOURI.—AN acT TO ENCOURAGE THE DESTRUCTION OF GRASSHOPPERS.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows:
: Section 1. Any person who shall gather, or cause to be gathered by any person
in his employ, eggs of the Rocky Mountain locustor grasshopper, at any time after they
are deposited in the earth in the autumn of any year, and before they are hatched the
following spring, shall be entitled to a bounty of five dollars for each and every bushel
of eggs thus gathered, or for any quantity less than one bushel, bounty at the same
mie, to ee paid, one-half by the State and one-half by the county in which they are
gathered.
Src. 2. Any person who shall gather, collect and kill, or cause to be so collected
and killed, young and unfledged grasshoppers in the month of March, shall be entitled
to a bounty of oie dollar for each bushel, and for the month of April, fifty cents per
bushel, and for the month of May, twenty-five cents per bushel, to be paid in the same
manner as in the preceding section.
Src. 3. Any person claiming bounty under this act. shall produce the eggs and
grasshoppers thus gathered or killed, as the case may be, before the clerk of the county
court in which such eggs or grasshoppers were gathered or killed, within ten days
thereafter, whereupon said clerk shall administer to such person the following oath or
affirmation: You do solemnly swear (or affirm, as the case may be,) that theeggs (or
grasshoppers, as the case may be,) produced by you, were taken and gathered by you,
ey person or persons in your employ, or under your control, and within this county
and State.
Sec. 4. The clerk shall forthwith destroy said eggs by burning the same and give
to the person proving up the same under his hand and seal, a certificate setting forth in
a plain handwriting, without interlineation, the amount of eggs or grasshoppers pro-
a»
112 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
‘duced and destroyed by him, and the name and residence of such person producing the
same, which certificate shall be in the following form:
STATE OF MISSOURI,
COUNTN OW rsccccenssecass==-
This is to certify that ............0. ah ae dae in the county Of ...........6. seoee Ass. CIGiuhis
day prove before me that he had gathered, or caused to be gathered, ..........eceeeseeees of
OES cogbsogsoadadb aocadesdon grasshoppers, and is entitled to the sum Of ..............0006 dollars,
Olicsscesses (A DUS See
bs doeva baila daneaeaesnees A. B., Clerk County Court.
Which certificate shall be received and taken by the collector of revenue of the county
in which the same was given, and such collector shall be allowed pay out of the county
and State ‘Treasury, one-half from each.
Src. 5. Such clerk shall keep a register of all such certificates given by him, in a
book which he shall keep for that purpose, in which he shall note down every certifi-
cate granted by him, the number and amount, and to whom granted, and transmit a
certified copy of such register, under the seal of the court, to the Treasurer of the
State, who shall not allow and pay any certificate, which does not correspond with
such register.
Sec. 6. Such clerk shall receive for his services as aforesaid, one dollar for such
certitied copy of the register, and the regular fee for the certificate and seal, and ten
cents for each certificate granted under this act, all to be paid out of the treasury of his
county.
Src. 7. As the object of this act is the rapid destruction of the locust the ensuing
spring, it shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.
Approved February 23, 1877.
This act is drawn up after the form recommended in my last Re-
port, and reprinted in the Omaha pamphlet. Section 3, requiring per-
sons claiming bounty, to carry from all parts of the county, the eggs
or young insects collected, is defective, as those living near the
county seat will have most advantage and inducement. It would be
better, as I suggested years ago, to empower the Township Trustee, or
the Street Commissioner, to receive and measure the eggs or young
insects, and to issue certificates setting forth the number of bushels
destroyed—the certificates to be filed with the County Clerk. But
even with this slight defect,the act will have a beneficial effectin the
counties subject to locust ravages:
KANSAS—AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF GRASSHOPPERS .-AND TO
PUNISH FOR VIOLATION OF THIS ACT.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:
SECTION 1. ‘That the township trustees of the different townships, and the mayors
of cities which are not included in any township of any county within this State, are
hereby authorized and it is made their duty, when so requested, in writing, by fifteen of
the legal voters of the township or city, to issue orders to the road overseers of the
different road districts within their respective townships or cities, to warn out all able
bodied males between the ages of twelve and fifty years within their respective dis-
tricts for the purpose of destroying locusts or migratory insects.
Src. 2. Itshall be the duty of road overseers, immediately after receiving said
orders, to proceed at once to warn out all persons liable under section one of this act,
giving notice of the time and place of meeting, and the toois to be used, and the kind
of work expected to be performed, and all work shall be done and performed under the
direction ot the road overseers.
Src, 3. Any persons over eighteen years of age warned out as is provided in this
act, May pay the road overseer the sum of one dollar per day for the time so warned
out, and in case any persons shall fail to perform labor under this act or paying the
sum of one dollar when so warned out, shall be adjudged guilty of a misdemeanor,
and on conviction, shall be fined the sum of three dollars tor each day so failing or
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 113
refusing, and the moneys so collected shall be expended by the road overseer in the
destruction of grasshoppers in their respective road districts.
Src. 4. For the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this act the road over-
seer is authorized to enter upon the premises of any person lying within the township
where such order of the township trustee is in force, with a sufficient number of hands
and teams to perform such labor as he may deem necessary for the public good,
Src. 5. Itshall be the duty of the Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture,
immediately after the passage of this act, to compile in circular form all information
relating to the manner and means heretofore used for the extermination of grasshop-
pers, and send at least ten copies of the same to each township trustee in the State.
Src. 6. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its publication
once in the Commonwealth.
Approved March 6, 1877.
AN ACT PROVIDING FOR A CONCERT OF ACTION BY SENATORIAL DISTRICTS FOR THE
DESTRUCTION OF GRASSHOPPERS.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas :
Section 1. That in any senatorial district in the State of Kansas, where trouble
is anticipated from the ravages of young grasshoppers, in the year 1877, and any sub-
sequent year thereafter. it shall be lawful for the counties in said senatorial district to
co-operate together in the way and manner herein provided, for the destruction of the
same.
Src. 2. The chairman of the board of county commissioners in the county having
the largest number of inhabitants in a senatorial district, where two or more counties
form said district, may notify the chairman of each of the boards of county commis-
sioners of the remaining counties in said district, of the time and place when the chair-
men ot the several boards of commissioners of the respective counties forming said —
senatorial district shall hold a joint meeting.
Src. 8. At such meeting two of their number shall be chosen to act as chairman
and secretary, and the proceedings of the meeting shall be published in all the news-
papers printed in the senatorial district. .
Src. 4. Said meeting shall designate the manner of procedure by road overseers,
and what day or days the young grasshoppers should be driven from the cultivated
land on the unburnt prairie or places of destruction, and shall also designate on what
day or days the grasshoppers shall be destroyed, by burning or otherwise, in said
senatorial district, giving at least ten days’ notice of the same by publishing in the
newspapers of the said district.
Sec. 5. The board of commissioners of each county shall notify the road overseers
of said county of the time fixed upon by the joint meeting for the driving and burning,
or destroying by other means, of the grasshoppers in the district; said notice to be
given to said overseers as soon as practicable after the same shall have been determined
by the joint meeting.
Src. 6. Said road overseer shall immediately notify the residents of his road dis-
trict of the time designated and the manner of procedure, in order to carry out the
provisions of this act. He shall also specify what tools or implements will be required
of each resident in performing the labor required of him; and such notice may be
enforced the same as in the acts authorizing road overseers to warn out the residents
to perform road labor; and a refusal shall subject such persons refusing to the same
penalties as are provided by law in such eases.
Src. 7. The road overseers shall direct the manner of performing the labor, and
have the supervision of the same, and shall keep a list of the names of those who shall
perform labor, and shall certify the number of days’ work performed by each, and
shall place such certified list in the possession of the board of county commissioners of
his county.
Src 8. It shall be lawful for two or more senatorial districts to co-operate together
under the provisons of this act, on a basis of action which they may agree upon.
Src. 9. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its publication in
the daily Comnonwealth.
Approved March 7, 1877.
Both these acts look to compulsory work and concert of action,
and in these respects are preferable to bounty acts, and will, without
doubt, be productive of more good to the community at less expense
to the State. The objects of the two acts should, I think, have been
combined in one.
E R—8
114 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
MINNESOTA.—AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF GRASSHOPPERS AND
THEIR EGGS.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota:
SEecTion 1. There shall be paid by this State, out of any moneys in the treasury
thereof, not otherwise appropriated, to any person or persons living within any of the
counties in said State afflicted by grasshoppers, the following bounties for catching and
destroying of the same, and the destruction of their eggs.
Src. 2. The sum of one dollar per bushel for grasshoppers caught previous to the
twenty-fifth day of May next. The sum of fifty cents per bushel from the said twenty-
tifth day of May to the tenth day of June. The sum of twenty-five cents per bushel
from the said tenth day of June to the first day of July, and twenty cents per bushel
from the said first day of July to the first day of October next.
Src. 8. There shall also be paid in the same manner, the sum of fifty cents per gal-
lon for any and all grasshopper eggs taken and destroyed by any person or persons.
Src. 4. There shall be appointed by the Governor a competent person in each
townsbip in the several counties so afflicted by grasshoppers, who shall be a resident
of the township for which he shall be appointed, to receive, measure and destroy the
grasshoppers and their eggs delivered to him by any person or persons catching and
taking the same, which said person so appointed shall take and subscribe an oath for
the faithful discharge of his duties, which oath, together with the certificate of appoint-
ment, shall be filed in the oflice of the county auditor, and he shall receive as compen-
sation for his services such sum as the county commissioner may determine, to be paid out
of the funds of the county, and in case of necessity, when he cannot perform the duties
of his office, said measurer shall have authority and be empowered to appoint a suit-
able and competent person his assistant, which assistant shall be required to take and
subscribe the same oath and be subject to the same penalties as the said measurer.
Src. 5. The person receiving and measuring the grasshoppers and their eggs as
aforesaid, shall measure and immediately and effectually destroy the same, and keep
an exact account of all the grasshoppers and their eggs received by him and the names
of the persons delivering the same, and shall issuea certificate for the amount of grass-
hoppers and their eggs to the person delivering the same. And he shall, at the end of
each week after commencing to receive and measure the same, and on the second day
of June, on the eleventh day of said month, on the second day of July,and on the
second day of October next, make a report to the county auditor of all the grasshop-
pers and their eggs measured by him, the number of certificates issued, and the names
of the persons to whom he issued the same; and the county auditor shall examine the
same and file it in his office, which report shall be subject to public inspection; and
the county auditor shall, at the end of each week after he shall have received the first
of said reports, transmit a copy of the said reports, to the Governor, who shall, as soon
as the sum hereby appropriated shall have been expended in the payment of said
bounties, notify all persons interested therein of such fact by a publication of such
notice in some newspaper printed and published at the city of Saint Paul, in said
State of Minnesota, for three successive days.
Sec. 6. For a failure on the part of said measurer to perform any of his duties -
under this act, orfor any mismeasurment of such grasshoppers and their eggs, he shall
be deemed to be guilty of a misdemeanor, and be subject to pay a fine of not less than
ten dollars nor more than one hundred dollars, or be imprisoned in the county jail for
a term of not less than thirty nor more than ninety days, in a suit or proceeding to be
prosecuted in the name of the State of Minnesota, in the same manner as is provided
by law in other cases of misdemeanor.
Src. 7. Upon the presentation of such certificate to the county auditor, he shall
issue a certificate to the person entitled thereto for the amount due him, (a form of
which certificate shall be furnished by the State Auditor,) and shall make an order
upon the State Auditor for the amount thereof, and the State Auditor shall draw his
warrant upon the State Treasurer for that amount, in favor of the parties holding said
certificates, which shall be paid by the State Treasurer on presentation : Provided, That
all certificates presented to the county auditor for payment shall be by him filed and
preserved in his office, and he shall present such certificates to the board of county
commissioners, who shall audit the same in the manner now provided by law for audit-
ing accounts against counties; and no money shall be drawn from the State treasury
until such certificates have been audited and allowed in the manner herein provided.
And that no money shall be paid under the provisions of this act at any time prior to
the fifteenth day of July, A. D, eighteen hundred and seventy-seven, and that the
money hereby appropriated shall only apply to certificates duly made and filed with
the Auditor of State on or before said day; that at the time after the State Auditor
shall ascertain the total amount of all claims and certificates so filed, and if the same
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 115
shall exceed in amount the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, then the said claims
shal! be paid pro rata, and no other or greater amount than said sum of one hundred
thousand dollars shall ever be paid under the provisions of this act: And provided
further, That if the amount hereby appropriated is not sufficient to pay the certificates
in full, the balance shall be paid by the counties respectively, according to the amount
due on said certificates as issued by such county.
Src. 8. Every male inhabitant of the several townships in the said afflicted coun-
ties, being above the age of twenty-one years and under the age of sixty years,
excepting paupers, idiots and lunatics, shall be assessed by the board of supervisors of
said township to work one day in each week in said township, during the period here-
inbefore mentioned, tor the paying of bounties for the purpose of catching and destroy-
ing grasshoppers and their eggs, for five weeks from the time said grasshoppers shall
become large enough to be taken; and the amount of work to be so assessed shall not
exceed five days in all.
Sec. 9. The supervisors aforesaid shall make a list of the names of all persons
against whom said tax shall have been assessed, and place in a column opposite each
name on said list, the amount of labor assessed against such person, and shall direct
the town clerk to make a certified copy of each list, after which the town clerk shall
deliver the several copies to the respective overseers of the highways of said town-
ships.
Goer 10. The overseers of highways shall give at least two days’ notice to all per-
sons assessed to work as aforesaid, living within the limits of their respective districts,
of the time and places where and when they are to appear for that purpose, and with
what implements.
Src. 11. Every person liable to work, as provided for in this act, may commute for
the same at the rate of one dollar per day, in which case such commutation money
shall be paid to the chairman of the board of supervisors, to be applied and expended
by him for the destruction of grasshoppers and their eggs, and he shall be authorized
and required to hire and engage some suitable and efficient person to work in the place
of said person so commuting, and to pay them the sum of one dollar per day for his
services; and every person intending to commute for his assessment shall, within five
days after he is notified to appear and work as aforesaid, pay the commutation money
for the work required of him by said notice, and the commutation shall not be consid-
ered as made until such money is paid.
Src. 12. Every person so assessed and notified, who shall willfully neglect or
refuse to commute or work as provided by this act, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor,
and shall, on conviction thereof, be liable to pay a tine of not less than two dollars nor
more than ten dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail not more than ten days,
or both, in the discretion of the court, in a suit to be prosecuted in the name of the
State of Minnesota, in the same manner as is provided by law for prosecutions of mis-
demeanors.
Sec. 13. There shall be appropriated, out of any moneys in the treasury of this
State, not otherwise appropriated, for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of
this act, the sum of one hundred thousand dollars.
Src. 14. The board of county commissioners of any county in this State afflicted
by grasshoppers, shall have the right, if, in their judgment they see fit, to employ one
or more persons in each township in said county with such implements or mechanical
contrivances aS may prove most efficient to destroy the grasshoppers, from the first
day of April to the first day of Augustin each year, paying such persons either by the
day or a specified sum for the amount captured and destroyed. ‘The compensation of
such person shall be paid out of the general fund of the county: Provided further,
That parties employed and paid by the county commissioners shall not receive any
other or further compensation under the provisions of this act.
Src. 15. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.
Approved March 1, 1877.
More complicated than the others, this Minnesota act has certain
special features which are intended to meet the peculiar emergency
in that State. Yet Ido not think the act is as clear or will prove as
effectual as the first Kansas act. In addition to this bounty act, the
Minnesota Legislature passed another appropriating $75,000 for the
purchase and distribution of seed grain to the sufferers from locust
injuries. |
116 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
If the States of Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado and Texas would enact
similar laws, appropriate to their respective requirements, there would
be such combined slaughter of the insects that in all the more thickly
settled portions of the country subject to invasion, they would be
virtually annihilated before they acquired wings. It is ky some such
uniform and concerted warfare, calculated to prevent the insects that
hatch out in said country from flying back to restock the Northwest,
that the people may hope to measurably conquer the foe and lengthen
the periods of immunity between the invasions.
AREA IN WHICH EGGS WERE LAID.
The locust invasion of 1876 was remarkable for the very large
area in which eggs were laid. This was almost coextensive with the
area invaded and is indicated in the map (Fig. 16), though the counties
of Murray, Cottonwood, Watonwa, Brown and parts of the adjacent
counties, in Minnesota, which are there included, should, as already
stated (ante, p.62) be excepted.
The eggs are most thickly laid in the eastern, more settled and
more generally cultivated portion of the belt, and less thickly in the
thinly settled prairie country. Another noticeable feature of this
invasion was, that, from Minnesota to the Gulf, egg-laying continued
till the females were buried in the first snows or killed by the first
severe frosts. Far into November and after the thermometer had fre-
quently fallen several degrees below the freezing point, I found them
rousing from the night’s benumbing cold, and, under the increasing
warmth of the sun toward noon, laying in exposed and sunny places.
Hiding in the dry grass or under other shelter where they were unseen
during the cooler parts of the day, one might pass through a country
at such hours without suspecting their presence; while at noon they
would start at every foot step. And only the day before the last one
was buried beyond recovery by a severe snow storm, I found females
not only laying, but many of them having eggs in the ovaries that
were yet quite small—thus showing that they prematurely perished
by winter’s chilling blasts.
CONDITION OF THE EGGS.
The farmers of the West have beer deeply interested in the con-
dition of the eggs during the Winter, and have naturally hoped that,
as the season advanced, the vitality of these eggs might in some way
orother be impaired. I have, from time to time, examined eggs from
many different localities, and the following inquiries, with my answers,
as published in the wral World at the time, will serve to indicate the
generally sound condition they were in, up to the first week in Feb-
ruary.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 7
I send you, by to-day’s mail, specimens of grasshopper eggs procured on my
farm, as follows: Specimen No. 1 was procured in house yard, where exposed to con-
stant tramping; No. 2 from loose soil, in an exposed position ; No. 8 from a foot-path,
on south side of hedge. Please examine and report upon condition of the several
specimens, and oblige. Dr. W. F. RUTBOTTOM.
Ruea’s Mitt, Coiirn Co., Texas, January 16.
All three lots were sound, and the embryon so far advanced that a week’s mild
weather would hatch the young.—[Since this was written they have all hatched. ]
-I have for sometime past been carefully examining the deposits of locust eggs in ©
this vicinity, and find them nearly addled, very few indeed being found, and those only
upon sod, in which segmentation cannot be detected with the aid of a small magnify-
ing glass. Other observers here report the same condition, and we are satisfied that no
fears need be entertained of damage from the young brood, provided the addled eggs
do not hatch. Can the development within the egg be arrested, and yet go on upon the
return of proper conditions? Some of us have been led to fear that such might be the
case, by the plump, fresh appearance of the little rascals, after repeated freezing and
thawing. Your answer to the above question will be thankfully received by many of
us here, who depend upon our farm crops for a living. A. ROBERTS.
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, January 13, 1877,
It is difficult to get at what Mr. Roberts exactly means. Eggs once ‘‘addled”’ of
course never hatch, but “segmentation” does not indicate an addled condition. On
the contrary, it indicates development. The best way to get positive information is to
send me specimens.
Herein find eggs of Rocky Mountain Locust. What is their condition ?
Lamar, Barton county, Mo. ACAD Ney.
The eggs are below the average size, and part of them dead. The probabilities are
that few of them will hatch.
Iam very much interested in this ‘‘ hopper question,’’ as great quantities of eggs
were deposited in this section last Fall. I have read carefully the proceedings of the
Conference in Omaha. Also, some of your articles inthe New York Tribune; but find
nothing on the point of what advancement the eggs make towards hatching in the
Fall. Of all the egg sacks examined (which were not addled), the eye of the hopper
could be discerned through his particular covering; and, on removing the covering,
the hind legs could be raised clear of the body, by the aid of a pin. Tbe question is,
after making that advancement, will they live through the Winter and hatch out in
the Spring? 8S. C. BASSETT.
Grppon, NEs., January 10, 1877.
Yes! Ihave had them in that advanced condition; kept them till the first of the
year; then brought them into a hatching temperature, and they hatched.
IT have just been reading the report of your meeting at Omaha, on the grasshopper,
and as I live in this great grasshopper country, and am a firm believer in your treatise
and sayings on the pest, I have some questions to ask. I made some observations last
Fall, and up to the time the ground froze up, of their eggs; and would ask, if young
eggs will hatch that were so far advanced that, in breaking open the egg-sack, you
could distinguish the hopper’s eyes and the shape of his legs? Now, it seems to me,
that eggs that far advanced must certainly be destroyed by the cold weather we have
had of late. AmTI correct? By answering this, you will confer a favor upon one who
is greatly interested. It is the prevailing opinion of most of the people that we won’t
be hurt much in the Spring. Thus far there has been very little prairie burned, and
am in hopes by your advice and others, who understand the nature of the hopper, to
give them a warm reception in the Spring, if they hatch to any great number.
MINNEAPOLIS, Ottawa county, Kansas. M. A. ARNOTT.
I would not dare to give hope without examining specimens. Send some along.
Little hope can be built on the advanced condition of the eggs. Better prepare to give
the young fellows a warm reception in Spring.
I have sent vou by mail to-day some hopper eggs, taken out of the ground on
Beats
December 25. They have been in my store ever since. Ihave some eggs that have
never been outside my store since September, and also some taken out of the ground
the same day that the ones I send you were. Iam watching them as closelv as L
can. WM. C. RALLS.
LE Srvuer, Minn.
118 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
The eggs are very small, as the pods also, and fully one-half of the eggs are
addled.
I wish your opinion in relation to a question under discussion here, viz: Will the
grasshoppers, that are now in a fleshy or larval state, hatch? The eggs that were laid
during the earlier part of the season that the ’hoppers were here, have developed into
a larval state, and many persons claim that, because of that development, they will
perish by the Winter. My opinion is, that they are all right and will hatch. What do
you say. The later laid eggs are yet in a fluid state.
Councit Buurrs, lowa. H. C. RAYMOND.
I am, as will be seen above, of your opinion.
Thave to-day been examining grasshopper eggs, and where they are thickest I
have found worms or larve like the enclosed. Are they the white worms that were in
the egg cocoons last Fall, or are they something else? The grasshopper eggs seem
in good condition; but we are having very warm weather now, and the frost is com-
ing out of the ground. The weather is much like that we had in ’67-8. I found no
worms in the cocoons with the eggs. WM. DUNN.
SyracusE, Otoe county, Neb., Feb. 1, 1877.
The locust eggs are yet sound, but Ihave some hope that the recent very warm
weather, if succeeded by severe cold, will cause the death of a large portion. [The
grubs preying on the eggs were the Ichneumon larva described on p. 96, Fig. 24].
Friend Clarkson, agricultural editor of the Iowa State Register, recommends that
grasshopper eggs be sent you for examination, and I send by mail to-day, in a tin box,
some eggs which have been taken from the ground under the following conditions :
As you will find, I have packed them in layers in the box, with paper between. The
top layer was taken trom black loam on a piece of ground apt to keep dry—that is, well
drained—and have never been completely thawed since frozen in the beginning of
Winter. The middle layer was taken from sand, and has repeatedly been frozen and
thawed out--the water from thawing snow running over and completely saturating
the sand daily for some days. The bottom layer is from low land, which was sub-
merged in five feet of water for ten days after they were deposited in the Fall, the
ground remaining muddy till frozen, afterwards covered with snow; the continued
thawing and evaporation of the last few days have removed the snow and left the sur-
face for two inches in depth thawed and dry. For the past few days we have had it
warm in day time, but freezing at night. The place is in Adams county, ninety miles
east of Council Bluffs, and forty miles north of the Missouri line.
WM. THOMPSON.
Mr. Erna, Adams County, Iowa, January 30, 1877.
The eggs from all three of the different positions are so little advanced in develop-
ment that it isimpossible to say positively that they are all sound. The liquids have
scarcely begun to thicken. So far as I feel warranted in giving an opinion, I should
say that they are all sound—those of the third batch only, giving some evidence of
injury by the weakening of the integument. [All hatched since. ]
By this mail I forward to you one box of the grasshopper eggs. Are they ina
good state of preservation, and will they hatch in the Spring if everything hereafter is
favorable?
Enclosed I hand you an extract from the Interior, You will see the question raised
there as to whether an egg can be partially hatched, as these are, and then the process
delayed for a long time, and afterwards resume the work and goon to completion, All
our people here regard this proposition with considerable doubt. In fact, they deny
that such a thing can be done. I should infer that you hold that these eggs will hatch,
BER Ome the interruption. Will you please enlighten us fully as to why this
is thus?
HurcHInson, Kansas, January 29, 1877. J. B. SHANE.
The article alluded to by Mr. Shane closes with the following editorial remarks :
Without arrogating to ourself any special wisdom on the subject, but reasoning
from analogy only, should decide that in the case of the eggs referred to by Major
Shane—and in fact, all the eggs in the country in the same condition—incubation has
been arrested, and that once arrested, it has ceased forever. In all life that emanates
from an ve (and what life does not, except the vegetable?) when its development is
arrested during incubation, it isa permanent paralysis; in other words, it is death.
We say that, analogically, this should be so, but we may be wrong.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 119
The advanced development of the locust embryo in the eggs sent by Mr. Shane,
argues nothing but very early hatching assoonas Spring opens, Their vitality is
unimpaired, as Mr. Shane may soon prove by bringing them into a warm room. Ihave
had such forward eggs hatch the present Winter after various periods of freezing.
Enclosed, please find eggs of Rocky Mountain Locust. They were taken on my
farm, on southeast quarter of section 19, township 28, range 27, county of Lawrence,
and State of Missouri.
February 2, 1877. W. R. GOODMAN.
Fully ten per cent. of the eggs are dead and more or less decomposed. Asin other
instances from Missouri, a number of the masses, as also the eggs, are far below the
average size, and, compared with those received from the farther West and South, are
evidently lacking in vitality. ‘They were doubtless the last eggs laid, just before Win-
ter, and when the insects were nearly exhausted.
_ I, like many others, desiring some information regarding our coming crop of
Grasshoppers, Wish to ask a few questions on the subject. In examining the eggs late
last Fall, I found many formed so one could see the eggs and form, and upon recently
examining them, I find they are in the same condition as three months ago. Now, will
those thus formed pass through the winter and hatch in the Spring, or will they be
destroyed? Other eggs are in the same state, forall I can see, as when deposited. Now,
is it likely the whole crop will mature in the Spring? Please inform me regarding it.
Any information you can give on the subject will be thankfully received by myself and
many others, who feel afraid of the results of the coming Spring,with the great amount
of eggs deposited.
Prymoutu, Nebr., Jan. 21, 1877. J. H. ROE,
There is no doubt but that the eggs will mature under ordinary Spring conditions.
The fact of some of them being so much more advanced than others, will not, in the
least, interfere with their hatching.
I send you this day a box of locust eggs packed in earth. Please tell us whether
they will hatch ?
Wicuita, Kans., Feb. 2, 1877. A. B. ARMENT.
The eggs were all sound and yet in the fluid state.
Eggs received and examined almost every day during February
and up to March 10th, were, like those examined earlier in the season,
in the main sound. A certain proportion of the young hatched during
the mild Fall weather we had in October, while the unusually warm
weather that occurred the last ten days of January and forepart of
February caused still larger numbers to hatch, not alone in the south-
ern portion of the territory occupied, but even as far north as Dakota.
The young that thus prematurely hatched perished by subsequent
frosts, for I have proved that while the eggs are unaffected by intense
freezing, the young insects are killed at 15° F. Asthe Winter was in
some respects remarkable, as well for the warm weather which thus
caused the eggs to hatch, as for the many and sudden changes of tempe-
rature; and as the eggs have not been injured thereby to any appre-
ciable extent up to the date of this writing, I will place upon record,
in this connection, the thermometrical observations made at St. Louis
from November 15, 1876, to March 10, 1877:
120 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
Ca
Temperature at St. Louis, Mo., of Winter of 1876-7.
1876. Max. | Min. |Mean. | 1877. |Max. | Min.
| | |
| |
November Ubsvc.sssc.c-s+| 41 | 30 OF. 1) pW ANUAPY Dl cceceece sc coen! 52 32
he gh ae AAS AEBS cdl beOOR le Din, oh octane A) oo ae
A Gesaseescere | 47 | 40 | 44 AG ee Se 27 lt lo
ASS eAeet BT SoBe ae Tae Oe ae 34 | 92
1 Ee Ree ere Be ed PP 15 sbA MBs cieeee
20.. CS aS IN tS 1 ae OB Ke
Dees meat Whigs SP hous iar ig eae aa Wie: oa ie?
a2h ON ee i aaah 39 1 ae ae 46 "| 35
Ze ae ana 45 | 31 36 OR i ae a 50 | 39
DAR eriat ic 8 BL a2" Tal AG BOSE sue 46°") Ot
Driseeacenities LAT sabe Tall 240A Dilheticeins kod ST ste
RS SShi | eA O Malye 34 DD RSS 37) |.a3
DaMewoes ste 45 | 31 39 | DB Goose's ah ale S2iw let
PS ae ere BO) Fu 28 2B sult 24 31.) .19
DADE apne 38 nT ia) 229). Md Die gee eee 48 | 22
TORE aia iD Goa DG 5.8 Sas tig 51 | 32
December 1...........6.. | 20 Ce ee one Ha Reeder tty Ear 50 | 31
Dee cesncsszei | 24 Bel AGa il DB siekeladonaat Sie enBs
Deecetcs wrenene ft DO SMD Urals Desi | Di: apes Sten 57 | 38
7 See ets B41 end 50 BOW ssaieunteencal 65 | 48
Dist cc testcet Paar SiO Clipad | Bil porate oe | 66 | 53
Saresccerenes | 47 33 2S |) MEPL ANY lesccccccqsmesces | 69. | 50
Piel ey CAT? RBG A SOU 2 BY Fal Tae CAR a | 56.) 44
Be tosaee ea 40 aye eras Bik abe meoestens | 48 | 35
De reescaeet ie eet Ae cede | 46 2
LOS: csscvneedes 37 Out set a Mya ak 40,74|" 38
ie Phe | 55 | 28 | 44 || Boao es whee 49 | 34
12 60 |} 36 | 48 Me Aasorce eae Boch es
eta eee a 50 | | -*38 i. 42) Sask eames 47 | 36
5 Sees EP (sees) <i itis eo Mee 27 SMe ne nae ed 50 | “38
i Sea he ae 45 | 12 | 386 | Us science ness 5S | 87
Gi eatecestce 44 A loan Ly Dee aN si 58 42
i eee eens OF aS. 515-20 ADIs ao ieee 52, | 225
i Bix oda Scwecces 22 yl iG USeis Aint eaey 360 28
OMe eens BT, ARS Eee 14 | eda a
Dean da As PalmOS eiesoea THe Ae eS Gaia bats
ales vette BYSTSO EES eis sii | UG sean satcebecotens 47. | 88
PER a BH 20" 26 LIfe PANS, 50 | 84
Oe arcu Mis el B45) IS leer TSie hake 66 | 34
CAE: Ni ae 19, oad 1b | 1G: corsets 58 | 84
Db Asean | 21 13 AS ith DD es cee 48 | 97
DOs tcscet Pal Ts, i AS: ala Dil csccucttastaess 65. | 34
Dineen \yeody Metige tamer DON a ceserrecee See
DOr sik ae 26g -fislie ty 2H 5) a ene ee 44°} 33
DOs laryscatenes 198 TOYS aa DAs aw ee 35 | 29
SDE ees 7 Nae” a gs | D5 een iets am ithe ss
BI cake SAraileede 245 )\\| OG. te eee oes |) 43" 498
|| Disccecsmuen nec | aS Th BB
1877. | | DR ita iS) ees 50° | 32
| March scsbascekeeeness 47 39
DANUMALY.” Lece.ceccanestecti 24 13 14 || Fe ARETE at 47 37
DE eae 21 Sclenda pee ee 49 | 18
Diid mo eres OG eld 21 A Se eee 32. 1.4
Gis hos Noees AD Ae | 38 Bh 5 ee 40 26
Bis aun aa 42 | 29 | 86 G5) een 55 | 30
HERS aD ES 48° Ab Boe sns7 (te iene BS Sgn We
Zion hes iret Geel Bee BO Per Oreck a 66...) 48
Bink ahs cae, 13 | —4 enh Se ich arte 23 9
ee ee, 28 tte | yy cen ce 41 16
10 BB OL) Aa
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 121
From meteorological data obtained at Lawrence, Kansas, and
furnished by Prof. F. H. Snow, and from reports from many other parts
of the country, it is evident that the high temperature of January and
February was general throughout the country between the Rocky
Mountains and the Mississippi, reaching its acme on the 18th of the lat-
ter month. Dr. Engelmann found the first maple in bloom, in St. Louis,
on the 19th of February, and has no notes of such early blooming in
the past forty years during which he has recorded observations.
PROSPECTS FOR 1877.
A large number of the readers of this Report would feel sadly
disappointed were I to conclude this review of our last locust inva-
sion without expressing an opinion as to the future prospects. To give
an opinion as to the happenings of the future is somewhat hazardous
where there are So many possible contingencies that are altogether
beyond man’s ken; yet one whois careful in his expressions and state-
ments need never hesitate to advance them. With a reputation at
stake, I have not hesitated to do so in the past, and wherever I have
felt warranted in making a positive prediction, or in giving an unquali-
fied opinion, subsequent events have justified the same. I will, there-
fore, give my views of the prospects for the year 1877, as they appear
from the condition of things at this writing (March 10th); premising
only that, in forecasting future events in connection with this insect,
I would rather err on the bright than the gloomy side.
The area over which eggs have been laid is, as we have have
already seen, unusually large. It was quite generally noticed that the
females were less particular than is their wont in choosing clear and
sunny spots for purposes of oviposition, and, after careful consideration
of the subject, I should say that, at the lowest estimate, two out of every
one hundred acres throughout the area indicated by the heavier lines
in my map (Fig. 16) are thickly supplied with eggs, and by this I mean
mean that the eggs will average 3,000 to the square foot. In other words,
throughout this whole country the southern slopes, sandy, gravelly,
and other bare spots, roads, paths, etc., in which the females prefer to
lay ; compare, on an average, as 2 to 100 with the northern slopes, tim-
ber, rank prairie, moist and recently cultivated lands, which are gener-
ally avoided. At these low estimates there would, under favorable cir-
cumstances, enough young locusts hatch out to devour everything
green, not only in the area stated, but over the whole United States,
were they evenly disseminated throughout the country. We have
already seen that the bulk of the eggs yet remain sound, and, notwith-
standing stich as have been destroyed by natural enemies and all other
122 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
causes, and such as have prematurely hatched, those yet to hatch
will give birth to locusts enough, under ordinary conditions of
weather, to lay waste the earth and render it as bare of vegetation as
it isin midwinter, before they take their departure. This is not over-
stating the case, and the farmers of the threatened region should
count on such a probability and do allin their power to avoid it.
The insects have already hatched out largely toward the Gulf,
and the bulk of them will hatch in lat. 35° about the middle of the
month. They will continue to hatch most numerously about four
days later with each degree of latitude north, until along the 49th
parallel the same scenes will be repeated that occurred in Southern
Texas seven or eight weeks before. In the S. W. counties of Missouri
hatching will-be at its height about the second week in April; in the
N. W. counties a few days later. Wherever they hatch in quantities,
the injury will at first be confined to particular fields and locations;
but as they increase in size they will become more and more injurious
and widen the area of their devastations until, if nothing be done to
prevent it, they will ruin most crops by the time the bulk of them
acquire wings—leaving, in extreme cases, no plant untouched but the
little Amarantus Blitum. This will occur in from six to eight weeks
after hatching, and the winged swarms in South Texas will be leaving
that country early in May or about the time the young are beginning
to hatch near the British American line.
The unfledged locusts will travel in no especial direction, but in
different directions, and they will not extend, on an average, more
than ten miles east of any point where they hatched out. The winged
insects, on the contrary, will take their departure in a northerly or
northwesterly direction—at least, this will be the prevailing direction
of those which rise during the months of May and June. The course
of those which rise later may not be so constant. Those that escape
from the many vicissitudes that, will befall them in the Mississippi
Valley, and which are free from disease or parasites when they start,
will, in all probability, eventually reach the extreme Northwest, and
be largely lost to view beyond our northern boundary. They will not
fly eastward so as to do any serious damage beyond the line indicated
in the map.
Such are the probabilities for the Spring and Summer. They are
not particularly encouraging!
I will now state a few of the modifying circumstances and of the
possibilities that will lighten the darkness of the picture and may
very materially diminish the prospective damage.
Firsily—The farmers are in much better condition to withstand
the temporary loss than they were in the Spring of 1874.
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 123
Secondly—They are far more thoroughly posted as to the pros-
pects and better organized to fight the enemy. Correct information
has been very widely circulated through the media of special reports
and of the agricultural press. The bounty laws enacted during the
winter will incite to action and will have a beneficial effect. The
people are anticipating and preparing where two years ago they were
comparatively indifferent. They are profiting by the experience of
1874-5. ‘This is more particularly the casein Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa
and Minnesota, and I regret to say less so in Missouri ; for in some of
our counties which are threatened, there is no organization and little
preparation to meet the enemy.
Thirdly—I could not help noticing, and the same thing was
remarked by many others, that quite a number of the insects observed
last Fall, were much beneath the average size and generally darker
than the typical specimens. Also a certain proportion of the eggs
that I have received during the Winter, were far below the average
size and much more predisposed to rot than the rest. I am strongly
of the opinion that such specimens belonged to the swarms which
developed in Minnesota and thereabouts, and which, after being
repulsed in their efforts to get N. W., joined and formed part of the
larger swarms which came from the farther N. W. The insects that
hatched in Minnesota were in many instances the 3d and 4th genera-
tion bred there, and their degeneracy was very generally observed.
Thus, expressions to the effect that the locusts there last Summer, were
“used up,” ‘‘tired out,” etc., were common among farmers, and Mr.
Whitman notes (Special Report for 1876, p. 12) the gradual decrease
in the extent of the breeding grounds from year to year. More eggs
have also rotted and the parasites have been more numerous there
than elsewhere; while the injury has not compared to what it was in
our State in 1875. The greater longevity of many of the insects of
1876 as compared with those of 1874, would also indicate that they |
were bred south of the region where the species is permanent and
comes to greatest perfection. We may therefore expect that, as com-
pared with 1875, a larger proportion of the young that will hatch in
1877, will be weakly and soon perish; for I know from my breeding
experiments that there is great difference in constitutional vigor
between them.
Fourthly—tThere is a bare possibility that, after the bulk of the
young have hatched, and before they have commenced to do serious
harm, we may have such unseasonably cold and wet weather as to kill
them by myriads, and effectually weaken their power for injury.
Fifthly—Let the destruction be as complete as it well can, and
124 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
there is every assurance that the insects will vacate the country in
which they were born, soon enough to permit the planting and harvest-
ing of a great many of the more important vegetables, and with a
favorable Fall, a good crop of corn. This is more particularly true of
Missouri, and the country S. of the 44th parallel and E. of the 100th
meridian, which country I have designated as outside the species’
habitat. It is less true of the country W. and N. of those lines.
As to the prospects later in the year, it is impossible to predicate
with the same degree of assurance. There were no locusts to do
harm in Manitoba in 1876, and it would seem that the Saskatchawan
country must have been more or less depleted by the swarms which
overspread our country. I am inclined to hope and believe that there
will not be another general invasion next autumn, and that the people
of Texas, Indian Territory, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska,
Iowa, South Dakota and even Minnesota, may expect immunity fora
few years to come; after the hosts which are about to hatch are
destroyed or wing themselves away. There may be partial injury
from their progeny in 1878, or even 1879,in parts of the country
named, especially toward the N. W.; but there will be no general
destruction. In Missouri we may confidently hope for immunity for
from seven to ten years.
In conclusion, I would urge our farmers in the threatened country
to prepare to carry out the recommendations given in this Report;
to provide themselves with northern grown, early-ripening, seed-corn;
to sell no hogs nor poultry; and to diversify their crops by growing
more tuberous and leguminous plants.
In the language of the Omaha Conference report: “Above all, do
not get discouraged! Come what may, do not ask for outside aid! We
do not believe there ever will be any need of it: itis, in the end,
demoralizing. * * 7 td A
“There is no part of the country that is not subject to meteoro-
logical or entomological excesses, and in the long run the locust is not
more injurious than are some insects in other parts of the country.
When we think of the famine and utter destitution that at times over-
take some of the Eastern peoples, we may well thank the Almighty
that we live in a land of such resources and promise. The threatened
country has prospered in the past: it will prosper in the future; and
in proportion as we meet this locust enemy with enterprise and con-
certed, intelligent action, in that proportion shall we vanquish it.”
INNOXIOUS INSECTS.
THE HELLGRAMMITE.— Corydalus cornutus (Linn).
[Ord. Neoroprera ; Fam. SraLip&®.]
[Fig, 30.]
Pocoe nae =
Fe,
a
Tur HELLGRAMMITE:—¢, larva; b, pupa; c, male fly; d, head and jaws of female.
The following paper “On the curious Egg-mass of Corydalus cor-
nutus (Linn.) and on the Eggs that have hitherto been referred to that
Species,” read by me at the last meeting of the American Associa-
126 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
tion for the Advancement of Science, will correct and supplement
the article on the same insect published in my 5th Report:
Our largest Neuropteron, belonging to the family Sialidze, is Corydalus cornutus.
It is not uncommon in the Eastern and Middle States, and is known in the Mississippi
Valley by the vulgar name of Hellgrammite. In the female the mandibles are quite
formidable, but in the male they are curiously modified, and form long, incurved,
smooth, prehensile organs of the form of the finger of a grain-cradle, and evidently
of use in enabling him to embrace his mate. The larva of this fly occurs in running
streams, living mostly at the bottom, and hiding under stonesin the swiftest parts.
It has strong jaws, and in addition to the ordinary stigmata, itis furnished with two
sets of gills, one set lateral and filamentous, the other ventral, and each composed of a
sponge-like mass of short rust-brown fibres.
[Fig. 31.]
CORYDALUS CORNUTUS :—4, a, egg-masses attached; b, one detached, showing lower surface—all rather
below average size; c, a few eggs of the outer row; d, the newly-hatched larva; e, labium ;
f, antenna; g, maxilla; , mandible; 7, tarsal claw; j, anal hooks—all enlarged.
Its body terminates in two fleshy tubercles, each armed with a pair of hooks. It
is best known in the full grown condition when, in seeking for a place in which to un-
dergo its transformations, it travels and climbs on the shores of our rivers, and some-
times to long distances. Called a ‘‘crawler’’ by fishermen, it is greatly esteemed as
bait. The pupa is quie:cent and formed in a cavity in the ground. The supposed eggs
of this insect were figured and described in the American Entomologist, and in the
Fifth Missouri Entomological Report, as oval, about the size of a radish seed, and de-
posited in closely set patches of fifty and upward upon reeds and other aquatic plants ;
and they have since been frequently referred to, no one questioning the accuracy of
the conclusion of their discoverer, the late B. D. Walsh.
About the middle of last July, in sailing up the Mississippi river between Bush-
berg and St. Louis, my attention was attracted by sundry white splashes on the leaves
of various plants that overhung the water; which splashes looked, at a distance,
not unlike the droppings of some large bird. Approaching more closely to them, how-
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 127
ever, they were seen to consist of sub-oval or circular swellings, with more or less
white splashed around them ; and upon still closer examination, they proved to be
egg-masses. They were generally attached one to the upper surface of a leaf either of
Sycamore, Elm, Cottonwood or Grapevine; but sometimes there were several on the
same leaf, and at others they occurred on both sides of the leaf. It was evident that
the leaves were objects of attachment only, * and from the fact that only those which
overhung the water were selected by the parent, it was natural to infer that the spe-
cies was aquatic in its larva state. Yet the egg-masses greatly puzzled me, as indeeed
they did all naturalists to whom I referred them; for the eggs of the larger water-
beetles were known, those of Corydalus were supposed to be known, and there was
only one other water insect in North America, viz: Belostoma grandis, large enough
to be capable of laying sucha mass. But these eggs were evidently not Heteropter-
ous.
Patiently waiting till the eggs hatched, I recognised at once, in the young larva,
the characters of Corydalus cornutus, with the full grown larva of which I was familiar 5
and upon dissecting the abdomen of a female Hellgrammite, the nature of the
curious egg-masses was fully confirmed in the perfect identity in shape and arrange-
ment of the eggs composing them, and of those in said abdomen.
The egg-mass of Corydalus cornutus is either broadly oval, circular, or (more excep-
tionally) even pyriform in circumference, flat on the attached side, and plano-convex on
the exposed side. It averages 21 mm. in length, and is covered with a white or cream-
colored albuminous secretion, which is generally splashed around the mass on the leaf
or other object of attachment. It contains from two to three thousand eggs, each of
which is 1.3mm. long, and about one-third as wide, ellipsoidal,translucent, sordid white,
with a delicate shell, and surrounded and separated from the adjoining eggs by a thin
layer of the same white albuminous material which covers the whole. The outer layer
forms a compact arch, with the anterior ends pointing inwards, and the posterior ends
showing like faint dots through the white covering. Those of the marginal row lie
flat on the attached surface ; the others gradually diverge outwardly so that the central
ones are at right angles with said object. Beneath this vaulted layer the rest lie or a
plane with the leaf, those touching it in concentric rows ; the rest packed in irregularly.
Before hatching, the dark eyes of the embryon show distinctly through the delicate
shell, and the eggs assume a darker color, which contrasts more strongly with the white
intervening matter.
The young crawl from under the mass, and leave the vaulted covering intact.
They all hatch simultaneously, and in the night.
The egg-burster} has the form of the common immature mushroom, and is easily
perceived on the end of the vacated shell. The young larve crawl readily upon dry
surfaces, with their tails hoisted in the air, and live for a day or more out of water;
but when hatching out over an aquarium, they instinctively drop to the water, where,
after resting for a while, with their bodies hanging down and their heads bent forward
at the surface, they swim to the bottom by whipping the body from side to side very
much as a mosquito wriggler does. Here they secrete themselves and remain until, in
the course of a few days they perish. They cannot be reared in confinement, and
running water is doubtless as essential to them as to the full grown larva.
The newly hatched larva is almost colorless and differs from the full-grown larva,
in the relatively longer legs and lateral filaments; in these last being smooth and not
* Since this was written, I learn from Mr. Lintner, of Albany, N. Y., that he has found these egg-
masses attached to rocks in the Mohawk river, though he had no knowledge of their parentage.
+ 1am not aware that this special structure has been named. It is generally, if not always, a part
of the ambien, and is common to many insects, though varying much inform. It may be known as the:
ruptor ovi. Dr. Hagen has called it the ‘‘egg-burster,’’ while erpetologists designate as the ‘‘ egg=
tooth,’’ a structure having the same purpose.
128 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT
clothed with short hairs ; in the abdomen not bulging at the middle, and in lacking the
sponge-like gills beneath. The head is wider than the rest of the body, which tapers
from the first to the last joints. The prothoracic is as long as, or longer, than the
meso-and metathoracic joints together, and the abdominal joints increase in length as
they diminish in width. The legs are nearly thrice as long as the width of the thoracic
joints; the claws are movable and about 3 as long as the tarsus; the tibia and tarsus
are sub-equal; the femur somewhat longer; the coxa and trochanter about as long as
the femur; there is a whorl of bristles toward the end of the femur and of the tibia. The
mandibles are stout, with two principle teeth, the basal with 3 notches and the terminal
one finely serrate: the maxille are elongate, reaching beyond the jaws, and witha
simple inner and a 2-jointed outer palpus, both having basal folds, which often look
like a basal joint: the antenne are 3-jointed, and reach beyond the jaws, the middle
joint longest, the terminal one nearly as long, and tapering: the Jabium is elongate-
quadrate, tipped with two small tubercles, and with the palpi 2-jointed—the joints sub-
equal. A few hairs occur on the sides of the abdomen between the filaments.
The fact that the young larva lacks the spongy masses of short
fibres which characterize the mature larva, and which have been
looked upon as accessory gills, would indicate that their purpose is
rather to assist the creature, when it gets large, in adhering to the
surface of stones at the bottom of swift-flowing waters. Though the
larva can live for some time out of water, even when young; yet, un-
til it attains its growth it is strictly aquatic, abounding most in rapid
flowing streams, and especially such as have arocky bottom, upon
which it crawls slowly about, feeding upon other aquatic insects,
especially Ephemerid larva, some of which, taken from the stomach,
I have been able to recognize as belonging to the genus Palingenza.
Mr. J. H. Comstock of Cornell University, Ufig: 33-4
(Fis. 32.1 who has for several years studied the ~~" ~
79 ri) numbers by turning over large stones
pe:
years in this larval condition.
{ By carefully studying the anat-
pronante OMY Of the species, he has also discov-
Bees ered an additional pair of rudimenta-
ry spiracles on the hind part of a prominent
fold between the meso- and metathoracic joints. 2 sg
As to the nature of the eggs (Fig. 32) that BELOSTOMA GRANDIS.
have hitherto been mistaken for those of Corydalus, I can only sur-
OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 129
mise. The specimens from which the figure was made were destroyed
with the Walsh cabinet in the Chicago fire; but I have a very distinct
recollection of them, and judging from the nature of the eggs of
Perthostoma, with which I am familiar, there is little doubt in my
mind that, these supposed eggs of Corydalus really belong to Belos-
toma grandis, (Fig. 33) whichis the only aquatic Heteropterous insect
of sufficient size to lay them.
THE YUCCA BORER—WMegathymus yucce (Walker.)
[Ord. LePIpopTERA; Fam. HESPERID ]
Having, during the year, reared this interesting butterfly from the
egg, so as to watch its growth, I can supplement the article published
a year ago by stating, positively, that there is but one generation
annually, and that the characteristic glistening powder that covers
the full grown larva, is not secreted till toward the last molt. The
larva referred to on p. 181 of my Eighth Report, as being kept in a tin
box, and fed solely on the leaves, lived till the 25th of September. It
formed a perfect cylinder of silk and excrement around the bottom of
the box, fastening thereto the ends of the cut leaves,so that the cylin-
der was necessarily broken each time the leaves were changed. This
specimen went through no less than seven molts at irregular inter-
vals of 10, 11, 24, 14, 61, 15 and 21 days respectively. It changed but
little in appearance, except in becoming somewhat paler, after the
second molt, and died when about three-fourths grown—death result-
ing, I think, more from the mould that formed from the excrement,
and which it was impossible to prevent, than from the nature of its
food. It is doubtful if so many molts are suffered in more natural and
healthy conditions.
Another specimen that entered a Yucca plant in the garden of
my friend, Dr. G. Engelmann, throve admirably, extending over a foot
beneath the ground, and attaining full growth by the end of Septem-
ber; while a third, in a potted Yucca alotfolia in-doors, hollowed out
the entire root, pupated on the 26th of January, 1877, and gave out
the imago on the 25th of the following month.
A
PAGE
Abbot’s White Pine Worm............... Sater 29
Descriptive...... Bis cactenayetatataua'e aie) Nayesarevehens isle a 32
INertuall HEDIS tomas. ciate ac c's cistee sete ore Risener 30
Natural sbmMemiles ere cecos cece cence. 31
ANEMIC CLES Galena ste eesie seals sesyaccvaeproiciare Aoisre cles 2
Act to provide for the destruction of Locusts
LMM Nes Ola mc ais nets sctalsiaacinies see 114
to encourage the destruction of Locusts in
IMUSSOURI crises cbc ac rita ude oeh 111
Acts to provide for the destruction of Locusts
INVCAMSHS A nee eh dao Secs eres ttee oe 12, 113
ACTION: AMECTICONUM. «5 acts se sanevnceuwees ws 84
EGE WUDULOTMISs 1s cacieee vile taiercte Nie ee eis cao 4's 2
ALDI CHILD CYLNATIFOTMIS <a. 25s cokes esses 98
FANRCT COME, UL OVOOG ¢ a Serapraroaaeleseiele tices isle sia 41
ATMETICANEACT ICOM iia cinco oiratens icierorsle ere 84
American Plants and Insects acclimated in
UNOPC xe a ewe cewek Gee Dea Reese ee 43
ANNDAY ASUSVCOONALATAG 0282s cee cee ee ces 7
Anacharis Canadensis............ Srcmesicdapogoee 43
Animals which destroy Locust Eggs........... 91
AMO CTOMAACTOCOLETUG <7. fecnicts's sisi e iris «eh ecisie so oer 7
Anomalon apicale...... See RGatnG + aaibotom caanoce 55
ALNOTRULGOVUSSOCUB Ie on. toe nae eto dene 95
oe (HG QGILI Ost nei patetsa PAE BOD OT OoAOOS 95
us TODA Pree scone er ekaa i eget 62 95
Be MUO LCWND fa evotere wey atieres oles ale asta wvers clerse 92
fe CU WAN COLODLEND. ecriccrn eters 92
Anthomyia Egg Parasite of Locust............ 92
WADTUUSIUDIUS sate cms, < 2 a vigl cist atela ecotale ainieielsia’ nye cvoioisys'sje are ie 2
MAMI TOTIVETUSH wees cose 555 48 Se ae el etalon era enoetaas ao Meces 98
Arkansas—Locusts in................- sen AG oak 76
Area invaded by Colorado Potato-beetle....... 38
“« in which Locust Eggs were laid.......... 116
PASTING AWVLOLINNG. “DG! | cts cielu si veniorn steverchaciolonslera aes 49
Further Notes and Experiments thereon... 47
Summary of its Natural History........... 49
Army Worm, The Wheat-head................ 50
Arrenotoky in the Imported Currant-worm.... 18
B
BS CLOSEOMUN OTA TULIS ©. aterm olol=inlainseletotaichetole/=/e\sl eiefehe) el ofoi=7- 128
BF UCHYDLETIULS) IMICT OPLETUS sisi) uialee Sale «ixisiw heiayore)e es 17
British America—Locusts in............. eee ees 59
SULCUS US Ua) Fan cia 2 laa sieve reapers ae otayeralelb eiseaiossieh<iaieiste 45
C
GAlOnLenUs SPTelits asiese a terreler isivolsis seiase' ee LOU
ETL IAL TUNG eer cettcteveleyajel= -) olat= #)sa}erer sie 86
ys EIS TAO AGOE Oh vn es BO Ce COC Ocoee 86
CClOSONT a GOSOLELUM 5 <2. ocs1~ oe eis elo ais ise se 98
COMNLTUO ISAT COMIOG Go: ra. «ie sin «ovo veiaeielessievelsy = ale siei= 95
Causes limiting the Spread of the Colorado
POtato—W Cte cise u je piacere ceelele sare are oyoieie 38
CUCU GETONDUOL CHIE saci ele ichersteieits te: siaietole s ajele iu op = ls 98
sig OS HURDLE Wr etek not ohsila lots <fase af ole ain cel stsei cist = 98
sie CURT UMS DCCL ee ees «A Veiclel ae tela teie! sie «lel = 98
ois OTINVOS Os Aare Ve ae ehh okr sakes einersesstosicts 938
oi UML OCU ni patamtersesetsiassieiinioreletsforaiestlpialere(e 98
ie [ERY OTT OEE BG AOU AS OBS ODO. Oot 98
ke CRUCIATE S Glas Cegene SOP COnd Veneer c ta 98
oe (UTE GOS Barge OOOO OO MOURNE. C20 ooo abe 93
MOLOVACO——IGOCUSHS AM lero: cere) «salle /asterwtalayeleda 62
ColonadowPotato-beeiles. sc... ve s-e wetiayieisr = 34
40
PAGE
Colorado Potato-beetle:
INE MECC! lye Mewes pewe duoc occeuouun 38
Causes which limitits Spread.............. 338
EVO wy; Ltt raviCLeUl eycwierays sete pests ccsrore eledateroe ciakctevarets 37
How it affected the Price of Potatoes...... 39
Its Introduction to Europe................. 43
Modification It has undergone.... ......... 40
Placard published by the German Govern-
TUNE INCE aie Ae epee ereteiel state ret alctel'er of eyetaxetera)enevenebata 44
Rotato Pest seOwsOn eer ciyale cle ielseterale eiteler siete « 45
Rate at which it trdveled..............0..- 37
Spread of the Insect during the Vear ...... 34
Common ebleshi Bly sible seca cristo. eereretare efalolelate 95
Condition of Locust Eggs..............---- oe elG
Corydalus COTNULUS «6. cc. eee eee eee eters 125
Counties in Missouri in which Locust Eggs are
Int ME 2 ba eo heen on smondn son sn mma Oo 67
County Reports on Rocky Mountain Locust.... 65
Currant and Gooseberry WOTmMmS..............-. 1
ae Wrox DheMinaponted’saacserce cette ers 7
as oe PN SFINGLIVIET chioseeisoreniels crerele elets 23
D
Dakota — Wo CUStS Maas ess eiecle pais ole ete) letaiotatolal 59
Defunctionation of special Parts in the Im-
ported @urrant Worm..................
Destination of departing Locust Swarms of 1875 77
Destruction of unfledged Locusts.............. 108
Direction of Locust Flights in 1876............. 8L
Does the female Locust form more than one
HIGS-MASS 2... cece ese cere c cess eee ee see
Doryphora 10-lineata...... 0.6... eee n eee ees 34, 43
sf FUTACUU! cclam donuadaane Oo bRasRgoomO00 . 43
E
Eastern line reached by Locusts in 1876........ 80
Egeg-Parasite, The Anthomyia.............-+-. 92
‘* otf Gooseberry Span-worm............-.. 4
‘« of Imported Currant Worm..........--+. 10
Je aN shiv Be GENE TE adn nn idioc 25
GG) “i eyphased cent edooseeosDe guboassah cee Gone Ua
Egg-Mass of R. M. Locust—Philosophy of.... 87
se 6 6of Hellgrammite ........-...+...--. 120
Egegsof R. M. Locust—How laid...... ge tkGoser 86
HG a Cen «¢ _Experiments with...... 99
G5. DGG) 9x ‘« _ Effects of freezing and
thawing on.. 99
CO Oe e eS ‘« _ ffects of moisture on. 101
Ch Pe cs Sols She ‘« _Effects of exposure
to air.. 104
ES ML AAC ‘¢ _ Pffects of burying at
different depths.. 104
66 66 Belostoma grandis?.........00.++eseees 128
Emphytus Maculalus .. 0.0.00 e cece e eee e eee eee PAS
Endropia armataria........- SU A Aatscs eee eraeeeiatore 7
Ephestid ZO@, .- 22.0. c ene seyret cece neste eens 31
Ephialles notand.......-- sere cee eens see eenes 98
Er OM BGSTOVGU. ooo un se nie yeiele * miss sole sgeit si 98
Ermophila cornutd......0.eeeer eevee eee eens 91
Erigeron Canddense ......+++se0e creer ceteris 43
EViOsoMa@ PyPi.....cccceeseeeeeer ees er eee eeeenns 3
EBufitchid vibearid.. occ. c. nce ee cece eee sree eee 3
Euphanessa mendica ........+++.eeere eect estas 6
Europe, American Plants and Insects acclie
jaatauistlilaly oneavernasbanwedomonoeaos. oto. 43
Experiments with Locust ES arsine. aaepomiereiars 99
‘
II INDEX. — -
F PAGE
PAGE Lophyrus PADD OUT eerie ciafaceiomateicts te Meats ate 29
Further Notes and Experiments on the Army a ODLONS oe Stewitiets tices daseeieie a cle tise aeee . 33
sik camel he ails Walser 47 AMETECONUS «22. ve ee reer ese reer scenes 8
ce COMPO os \oia-cro hese love, cin slerloletea teleost 34
' oh LRT HOUR SORROO GOED On oii eisyatete ele tet ietete 34
G Oss Bei Contet ea ad shine acerestooaneetionee ole oe
IEMA Soacosnaocs seteyoreistexsvelere evelakerelen atevefans Seats 98,
Gooseberr y Worms, Currant and........ weininete 1 Taal GOnypWore: =. eee Sarat aot sie eisjet, AO
: Span Worm, Whe. ..:.2.2.....-. ono
IAUNAaLIVe SPEClOBxa cic n-ieisliee cn eees aces 5
LO WHLUIS PTCAMS ne deine Ae meeule meena 5 M
1t prefers the Gooseberry to the Currant. . 6
Dis Natunal HAStOny ann asiectes siaee ek eet nee 3) Mantis Carolina........ i/scayslaiatore ey stsceiste scare crepes 98:
MES PASUPENISTOLY:. seisa) seerererel o ccecibovetelersterelere fle HO eMegathymusinjucee faeces cen ee eee one Bao e7.,
zines i retatenciaveliatcismisicte era\a nie) tem ereicteeeteieinietsrare re 6 en tere Invasion ao 187Gan. sens 60)
CMEMIES eee vic ssc oetatalteeiaietela Oa ine nant 6 —Legislation regarding Locusts..... 114
The Moth is closely imitated............ Stee. Mississippi—Locust Flights Castofathe:s eeeeee 81
GOTOLUS. COWALICUS dose mia ncomien tena samen ee 93) Missouri—Locustsiin. se sonal eee cee 66
Ground-beetle Larve preying on Locust Eggs.. 97 «« —Legislation regarding Locusts....... 112
oS) beetles preyingion! Wocusts.....20.2... 93 | Modification Colorado Potato-beetle has under-
OWE oyeacloteveyererates Pe Rosato oe c 40
H | NLU G ALE 2 raxactyecvere issn See eloeisieolee eel ee Sere eae 98
Nay rma ANOLEStG 5... «\<:0210.<vejsicieyorsicvoniale ele eles Sooo 5
TAIT WONG). 252 «<telalsiiteelaee atarclnvanvteeenracia see 98
Harpalus ? Larvz feeding on Locust Eggs..... 97 N
Harpalus pennsylvanicus..........cccccccccceees 93
Watching OL WOcusts:... «ssn ceccseseeescn cae. 89 | Native Currant Worm 23
Hieliprammite, (Mhe.... >. 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\«)=/<tevelemi sie cicieisleiete 91
eve antenna Saabs ote boNoncanaGbOman 9
Influence of Moisture on the Eggs.......... 101 1)
ye of Exposure to Air on the Eggs.. 104 : :
Sr of Burying the Eggs at different Undetermined Enemies of Locust Eggs........ It)
IDEN Se Seueoroocdsdodogaoomde NO4S | WMOP OC AKA MERC AIL I ie alaela)-\2)s1-4 #10ie1aPs)s1elevela le) 1st ole 41
£8 of Wind in determining the course YG MECDCLANS ot aas cvelehsvals sists elon oleh areas 40
of Locust Swarms............ 81
Inno Wii TeV son gnecgqaeoscs sacooS UCU CSnS 59 WwW
Kansas Acts to encourage the Destruction
of Locusts........-..eee seer eee ees 112, ine Wheat-Head Army Worm... .................. 50
ti ca ere Tpcinn tiie Minsisainpi. ai ese nipilyeses cy sec umerte eisiuetaisas aecaeteee 5D -
Minnesota Act for the Destruction of Lo- Hiapie and Nerul History.......--....-.. a
Riisentt Foe AG ROR as pea we Remedi esse Fee eee ne BD
ic coe Geass RES Hes 111 | Wherein the Native Currant Worm differs from
F SUS Glo naan gane IC SPHIOORCOSOO Lane ihewumporteduspecies:. sess ye aes 23
Ebro uy ot te IESSMNASS) cee cekielelsolereie se cet White Pine Worm, Abbot’s 29
ROSDECESHIUL ST anny naan mee nie sise 2 Fit aaa Onna glote ess ecciaeted ic
Rate at which the Insects spread............ 80 qe chore LOND) SIS NAD sy SEU OES
Remedies and Sugestions.. «--/-2..-----.+ 108 Wind, Influence of in determining the course
Source of the Swarms of 1876.............. 79 of Locust Swarms 81
‘The Omaha Conference.......... Wryoming—Docusts in. ...>......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.
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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.”
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