122 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. viJL 



the province also tends to exempt it from a double visitation, 

 first from southern, and then from northern and north-western 

 broods. This Mr. G. M. Dodge shows, has occurred in Nebraska, 

 southern swarms arriving as early as May and June, and others 

 in July and August. The number of grasshoppers borne to Mani- 

 toba is, however, more than sufficient, and in the neighbouring 

 State of Minnesota, according to Mr. Solberg, the grain destroyed 

 in 1874 by the insects is estimated at over 5,000,000 bushels ! 



The years in which the locust has appeared in Manitoba in 

 great numbers, are as follows, as far as I have been able to learn : 

 — In 1818, six years after the foundation of Lord Selkirk's 

 colony, they arrived on the wing in the last week of July, and 

 destroyed nearly all crops except wheat, which being almost ripe 

 partly escaped. Eggs were deposited, and in the following 

 spring wheat and all other crops were destroyed as fast as they 

 appeared above ground. In 1819 eggs seem again to have been 

 deposited,* and in 1820 the crops are said once more to have 

 suffered greatly. The next recorded incursion is that of 1857, 

 from which it would seem that for 36 years the insect had not 

 appeared, or at least not in numbers sufficient to attract atten- 

 tion. In 1857 the crops are said to have been so far advanced 

 as to escape great damage, but eggs were left, and in 1858 all 

 the young grain was devoured. We do uot now hear of them 

 for five years, but in 1864 they again appeared, but neither the 

 adults nor the young of 1865 were sufficiently numerous or wide- 

 spread to do much injury. They did not visit the province in 

 1866 ; and in 1867, though numerous swarms poured in, they 

 arrived late in summer, and did little damage, showing a practi- 

 cal exemption for nine years, or since 1858. In 1868, however, 

 tVe young brood devoured everything, causing a famine. They 

 left Portage La Prairie in a southerly direction. Foreign 

 swarms again arrived in 1869, but too late for the crops, which 

 were very bountiful. The young in 1870 did much harm, but 

 were, I am told, chiefly confined to the vicinity of the Red 

 River, not extending up the Assiueboiue as far as Portage La 

 Prairie. In 1872, fresh swarms arrived, but as usual too late 

 to do much damage to wheat. Eggs were, however, left in 

 abundance in the northern part of the province, and about 

 Winnipeg and Stone Port the farmers did not sow in 1873. 

 The young grasshoppers were migrating southward up the Red 



* Hon. Mr. Gunn states from fresh swarms in August. 



