50 CONNECTICUT GEOL. AND NAT. HIST. SURVEY. [BuU. 



suggest at this time for reducing their numbers, and, judging 

 from market prices, the turkeys could be disposed of at a fair 

 profit. 



The eggs of the Acrididoc are readily killed by plowing the 

 land in which they are deposited in the fall. Possibly the most 

 apparent damage by the Orthoptera is in the tobacco fields. The 

 writer has seen strips around the edges of fields where the 

 leaves were badly eaten. This is more liable to occur where the 

 fields are bordered by wild vegetation than where the tobacco 

 adjoins cultivated fields or where the edges are kept cleaa 

 Species oi Scudderia, the Carolina locust {Dissosteira Carolina), 

 and the red-legged locust (Melanoplus femur-rubrum) , have been 

 observed in the center of fields ; but species of Xiphidium and 

 the majority of the individuals of the above-named species work 

 principally on the edges of the fields. Clean cultivation, or 

 poisoning the native growth and the tobacco around the edge 

 of the field, will prevent much of this damage. 



The cranberry crop is often damaged considerably by katy- 

 dids. Professor J. B. Smith of New Jersey has studied these 

 insects on the bogs, and finds that two species, Scudderia texensis 

 and S. curvicauda, cause much of the damage. These insects, 

 eat into the berries to get the seeds, after which the berries 

 dry up. 



Clean culture on the bogs and around the margins, keeping 

 the bogs flooded as much as possible, especially late in spring, 

 and burning the bogs to destroy the leaves in which the Scudderia 

 eggs are laid, are the methods of treatment recommended. 



NATURAL ENEMIES. 



The Orthoptera have many natural enemies which greatly 

 reduce their numbers, and prevent them from over-running our 

 farms and destroying everything that grows. 



One of the important parasites is a fungus, Empusa grylli 

 Fres. This is especially common in a wet season. Locusts at- 

 tacked by this fungus climb the stems of grasses and weeds, 

 where their dead bodies are seen late in the season. This pe- 

 culiar habit is an important aid in the distribution of the disease, 

 as from this elevated position the spores of the fungus may be 



