No. 3.] DAWSON — THE LOCUST INVASION* 131 



4 bushels per acre. Oats and barley nearly all destroyed. Pota- 

 toes not much damaged. Turnips half* crop. Peas uninjured. 

 Carrots nearly all taken. Onions one half. Beets and mangolds 

 hardly touched. 



The grasshoppers made their appearance, especially in the 

 western part of the province, earlier than ever before. Mr. 

 McKenzie was informed by the half breeds that the insects 

 hatched at Qu'Appelle and other western localities, and that 

 very few were left there to deposit eggs in the autumn of 1874* 

 Mr. McKenzie also writes, " I was at Lake Manitoba, twelve 

 miles north, about August 10th. Grasshoppers were dead and 

 dry on the shore from four to ten inches deep, and from 

 twenty to thirty feet wide as far as I could see all along the 

 beach." 



Portage La Prairie, M. — (Charles Mair). Not produced 

 from the egg here. Swarms first seen about July 3rd, coming 

 from the west. Left about July 10th, going eastward. Many 

 eggs deposited. Crops destroyed. Oats seven-eighths, barley 

 three-fourths, wheat one-half. Potatoes not much injured ; 

 gardens much damaged. 



Mr. Mair also observed the grasshoppers to be covered with 

 parasitic mites, and the presence of the larva of an ichneumen in 

 the bodies of many of the insects. 



Poplar Point, M. — (L. W. McLean.) Not produced from 

 the egg here. Swarms first appeared July 12th from the west. 

 Insects left about the last of July, going east. Eggs were 

 deposited. 



Barley and oats totally destroyed, wheat one-third. 



Pembina Mt., M. — (Lt. Col. French, Commissioner N. W 

 M. P.) First met large flights of grasshoppers at Pembina 

 Mt., July 11th. They were going eastward, and continued to 

 appear for several days while Col. French travelled westward 

 but were afterwards no more noticed. The grass from La 

 Roche Percee to the Old Wives Lakes, and possibly to the 

 Cypress Hills, appeared to have been eaten down by grasshop- 

 pers. In the vicinity of the Three Buttes, no such appearance. 



They nearly destroyed a field of grain sown by the Mounted 

 Police at Fort Ellice. 



