EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 567 



GRASSHOPPERS. 

 Melanoplus femur-rubrum and M. attanis. 



In spite of the wet spring weather, grasshoppers did considerable 

 -damage in the western part of the State. Numerous reports of invasions 

 reached us, although in few cases was the injury great. Specimens of 

 the hoppers sent from the infested districts proved for the most part to 

 be Melanoplus atlanis and M. femur-rubrum. These are known as the 

 lesser migratory and the red-legged locusts respectively. (Fig. 1.) 



Fig. 1. Red-legged Locust (Melanoplus femur-rubrum). 



The best known remedy for grasshoppers is fall plowing for the de- 

 struction of the eggs. Where this practice can be regularly carried on 

 over large areas the grasshoppers are not likely to become trouble- 

 some, but there is always some stump-lot or neglected lane which would 

 be difficult or impossible to plow, or else there is some farmer who 

 will refuse to plow his land, and these lanes and unplowed lots will 

 furnish places for the hatching of enough locusts to infest an entire 

 neighborhood. , I 



The eggs are laid in pods containing about twenty-five or thirty eggs. 

 These pods are made of mucus, which is given out with the eggs during 

 the process of laying and dries down hard, becoming brittle and im- 

 pervious to moisture. The eggs are thus provided with a water-proof 

 covering about three-fourths of an inch long and smaller in diameter 

 than a lead-pencil. The pods are concealed in holes in the sod in which 

 they were formed. These fragile little pods of eggs are open at the upper 

 end, providing a place for the escape of the young locusts. Now if the 

 sod be plowed under, most of the egg-pods are turned wrong side up, 

 besides being buried so deep that the young locust will never be able to 

 escape; then, too, many are broken, and moisture thus gains entrance 

 and leads to the destruction of the eggs. It is likely, also, that the plow- 

 ing will expose many to their natural enemies, such as birds, shrews, 

 mice, etc. A good rolling after the plowing and dragging will pack the 

 dirt so tight that very few will escape. To be of the most value, the 

 plowing must be general; no strips along fences, no lanes of any size, 

 and no clearings containing brush and stumps should be allowed to seed 

 the rest of the farm. When it is absolutely impossible to turn the sod 

 under in these places, recourse may be had to another remedy, viz., 

 {poisoned baits. Bran mixed with Paris green, using 1£ to 2 lbs. of the 



