No. 1 6.] ORTHOPTERA OF CONNECTICUT. 49 



the locusts (Acridida:) have been recorded as doing great damage 

 to agricultural crops. Certain migratory species would pass in 

 great numbers over a portion of the country destroying all the 

 cultivated crops and even defoliating the shrubbery and trees. 

 It is within the memory of many when the Rocky Mountain 

 locust caused millions of dollars' worth of damage in the west. 

 Even New England, in her early days, did not escape the ravages 

 of an allied species, Melanoplus atlanis* Smith in his report 

 to the Board of Agriculture states, " In 1743 and 1756 they 

 threatened to destroy the whole vegetation in some parts of 

 the country, and so great was the alarm they occasioned 

 among the people, that days of fasting and prayer were ap- 

 pointed on account of the threatened calamity." While no 

 such invasion is likely to occur in these days, much damage is 

 done each year by these insects. This will be impressed upon 

 any one who walks through the meadows and fields at any time 

 from July until frost, and notes the members of this order that 

 are hopping around on every side ; and the possible damage 

 that may be done will be appreciated when one remembers that 

 each of these little insects is " born with one earthly desire — 

 a voracious appetite — and with one valuable possession — a pair 

 of strong, broad jaws, which move in and out like the blades of 

 a pair of scissors ; the little hopper soon begins to use the latter 

 to appease the former, and for twenty-four hours a day and 

 seven days a week, he gnaws away at the soft, green, succulent 

 grass which surrounds him on every side." 



Numerous as the Orthoptera are, very little attention is paid 

 to them by the farmers of the state. It would be difficult to 

 estimate the damage to mowing-lands and pastures from these 

 insects ; and, while the yield must be considerably reduced each 

 year, their work probably escapes unnoticed excepting in very 

 dry seasons, when the conditions are the most unfavorable for 

 the growth of the grass and most favorable for the development 

 of the Orthoptera. 



In 1872, Professor Sidney I. Smith recommended a flock 

 of poultry, especially turkeys, as one of the best means of 

 destroying grasshoppers. Probably there is nothing better to 



* This species is mentioned by Smith as being M. femur-rubrum, but it was prob- 

 ably atlanis, as the migratory habit is peculiar to the latter species. 



4 



