Experience ivith an Outbreak of Grasshoppers. 273 



mixture about. Owing to a comparative scarcity of the grass- 

 hoppers in the fields — which condition afforded an astonishing 

 contrast with the former abundance of the insects — only a 

 few individuals could be collected in a weedy and grassy corner 

 of the planter's field, where a stop was first made in search of 

 a thickly infested place in which to apply the infection. While 

 the slight occurrence of the insects here offered a scant pros- 

 pect for a successful introduction of the disease, the captured 

 specimens were nevertheless dipped in the infected solution 

 and then released. 



On driving farther into the back fields and finally reaching 

 a weedy area adjoining the bank of a bayou, where the grass- 

 hoppers had formerly abounded in the most teeming swarms, a 

 considerable number of adults were found remaining there. 

 Being fairly numerous enough to offer a good chance for the 

 spread of disease among them, several dozen of the insects, be- 

 longing to different species, just as they occurred, were caught, 

 dipped in the infection, and released in a course surrounding 

 the rankest and most heavily infested vegetation. 



Why the pests had become so reduced in numbers could not 

 be definitely explained, but the supposition may be ventured 

 that they had normally fulfilled the functions of life shortly 

 after attaining maturity, and then perished, leaving their 

 deposits of eggs to hatch out into new broods during the sue- 

 ceeding spring. The planter stated that the reduction in num- 

 bers began soon after the time of the writer's last visit in June, 

 and since then the hosts had steadily diminished. He also re- 

 marked that if the fungus had been applied at about the time 

 when the hoppers became less numerous, one might easily have, 

 believed that the disease had caused them to die and disappear. 



General observations made on this visit in regard to the con- 

 dition of crops showed that no additional damage had been 

 done by the grasshoppers beyond what had resulted from their 

 earlier attacks as previously mentioned. While much silk had 

 been eaten off from the ears of corn, no appreciable stunting or 

 lack of development of the latter had yet come to notice. Al- 

 though all of the growth was still green and had many ears 

 with fresh silk, the grasshoppers had completely deserted the 

 fields and could be found only in the weeds outside. A great 

 shortage of cowpea growth, however, proved to be a matter 

 of the most concern. Early planted cowpeas had suffered se- 



18— Sci. Acad.— 2163 



