26 Transactions of the Kansas 



THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN LOCUST. 



{Caloptenus spretus Uliler.) 

 By Prof. F. H. Snow. 



Now that this scourge of vegetation has taken its departure, I desire to put upon 

 record a few observations of the past two months. 



Upon tlic sixtli of x\pril 1 discovered the first young locusts, upon tlie southern 

 slope of Mount Oread, just beyond the limits of the city of Lawrence (hxtitude 88*^ 

 58 ' ; longitude 95° 16 '.) This elevation is the termination of the high prairie, 

 forming one of the bluffs at the intersection of the valleys of the Kansas and Waka- 

 rusa rivers. When first observed, the young locusts in myriads were at rest upon 

 tlie ground, some of them, however, feeding upon the leaves of the Indian Plantain 

 {Cacalia tuherosa). They were very diminutive in size, and when disturbed by my 

 walking among them, would hop only two or three inches high, looking very much 

 like the grains of sand in rapid motion upon a vibrating acoustic plate. The hatch- 

 ing took place, I soon learned, not only on the slopes of the blutfs, but also in many 

 spots in the "bottom" land, along roadsides and in fields of grass and grain. It 

 was two weeks after the first hatching of the Mount Oread colony that Mr. W. 

 Osburn caught one hundred and ninety individuals at one sweep of the hand. 



Not until about the tenth of May did the young locusts begin to move from 

 their hatching grounds and cause serious apprehension among the farmers for the 

 safety of their crops. At this time combined and systematic effort in neighbor- 

 lioods infested would have prevented a large portion of the destruction which 

 ensued. By the twentieth of May it became evident that the various colonies of 

 locusts would consume everything in the line of their march, and that their rav- 

 ages would only be arrested by their departure upon gaining their wings. Even at 

 this late day, however, many were able to save portions of their crops by the ditch- 

 ing process. By this method three determined farmers uniting their efforts, 

 destroj-ed three hundred and twenty bushels of locusts by actual measurement 

 in ten days' time. On tlie twenty-fifth of Maj' the destroying armies were entering 

 the citj' of Lawrence in all directions, and soon the desolation of gardens was 

 almost complete. In two days beautiful lawns of blue-grass were transformed into 

 desert spots, as if they had been subjected to the burning heats of a long and rain- 

 less summer. The leaves upon the trees, however, did not share the general destruc- 

 tion, as the wingless gluttons could easily be kept from ascending. One citizen, by 

 persistent combat, successfully defended his beautiful grounds, destroying in six 

 days some seventy bushels of locusts. About one-sixth of the city, between the 

 principal (paved) business street and tlie river, was not reached by the iwvading 

 hordes, as was the case with occasional fiirms in the surrounding country. 



In order to obtain a more correct idea of the immense numbers of the locusts, on 

 the first of June I caught upon my own premises, in a comn^on butterfly-net, one- 

 half bushel in one-half hour. One quart of these contained, hy actual count, 4,000 

 individuals, or at tlie rate of 128,000 to the bushel. - Five days later, June sixth, they 

 had nearly doubled in size, as one quart contained only 2,100 specimens, these being 

 full grown pupae, just ready to pass into the " imago " form. 



The first winged locust was seen on May thirtieth, its final transformation having 

 been carefully watched in the University building. This gives a period of fifty-five 

 clays from tlie first appearance of the larva to the first observed "imago." The 



