422 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1925 



in an address before the Third National Irrigation Congress, in 

 Denver, 1894, said :' 



After our grain had been sown and our fields looked promising, black 

 crickets came * * * by the millions and devoured our crops. I have seen 

 fields of wheat as promising as they could be in the morning and by evening 

 they would be as bare as a man's hand — devoured by these crickets. * * * 

 To us who lived in Utah about that time it seemed there was a visitation 

 of Providence to save us. Sea gulls came by hundreds and by thousands, and 

 before the crops were entirely destroyed these gulls devoured the insects, so 

 that our fields were entirely freed from them. 



This testimony is corroborated by that of a correspondent of the 

 first entomologist of the United States Department of Agriculture, 

 Dr. Townend Glover, who records * that " Mr. James Mclvnight, who 

 lives in Salt Lake City, states that when the Mormons first emigrated 

 to Utah this cricket appeared in immense swarms, destroying their 

 whole crops of wheat, etc., and that the second year they also 

 appeared, but providentially, or miraculously, as it was deemed by 

 the Mormons, vast flocks of white gulls suddenly appeared and 

 destroyed the crickets to such an extent as to almost eradicate them 

 for the time being, thus saving the remainder of the crop, upon 

 which alone the half-starved Mormons had to rely for food for the 

 next season. Since that time these birds are held almost sacred in 

 Utah." It may be added that a monument commemorating the 

 valuable aid of the gulls has been erected in Salt Lake City at a cost 

 of $40,000. 



CICADAS, PLANT LICE, ETC. (HOMOPTBRA) 



Among entomologists, Dr. John B. Smith, Prof. F. M. Webster, 

 and Dr. C. K. Marlatt agree that the periodical cicada is practically 

 doomed to extinction in city parks or other localities where numerous 

 English sparrows have a chance at them. Five cases of practically 

 complete local extirpation of this insect by these sparrows are on 

 record for the States of Illinois, Ohio, New York, and the District of 

 Columbia. Doctor Marlatt also records the absolute failure of these 

 insects to establish themselves even after artificial planting of 

 enormous numbers in the Agricultural Grounds, because of the at- 

 tacks of crow blackbirds. 



For the pear psylla Prof. M. V. Slingerland gives an instance of 

 control by birds in New York, Mr. E. H. Forbush one of the sup- 

 pression in Massachusetts, and Mr. H. A. Surface another for New 

 York State. An account of the latter instance is of value in showing 

 how birds were put to practical use in solving a problem in economic 

 entomology. 



' Irrigation Age, Vol. VII, No. 4, pp. 188-189, Oct., 1894. 

 * Rep. Commr. Agr., p. 79, 1871. 



