306 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1952 



species of grasshopper, Melanoplus mexicanus mexicanus (Saussure), 

 has been identified as occurring frozen in the ice in large numbers, 

 and so the historical and biological details pertinent to its relation 

 to the glacier have been given. A related grasshopper, Melanoplus 

 rugglesi Gurney, was found numerous in 1949, alive on the snowfield 

 of the glacier. Because it was probably brought by air currents all 

 the way from Oregon or Nevada, where it is a rather remarkable 

 and at the same time an important migratory species, the story of 

 this grasshopper is also told here in some detail. As background 

 for the supposed long flights of Melanoplus rugglesi, records of ex- 

 tensive movements by other grasshopper species are reviewed, espe- 

 cially one flight of Schistocerca gregaria (Forskal) from Morocco to 

 Portugal, for which the supporting circumstantial evidence is partic- 

 ularly well documented. Those records are related to our subject 

 because they round out the picture, demonstrating that flights as 

 long as that from Oregon to Grasshopper Glacier have actually taken 



place. 



LOCATION AND APPEARANCE 



Grasshopper Glacier is situated in the Beartooth Range of Park 

 County, Mont., about 30 miles due west of Red Lodge and about 12 

 miles north of Cooke, an old mining town through which tourists 

 now pass on their way from Red Lodge to Yellowstone National Park 

 (fig. 1). Though several small glaciers containing grasshoppers 

 evidently occur in the same range, Grasshopper Glacier is the one 

 most often visited. It is in the Beartooth Primitive Area, which 

 is mainly within the boundaries of the Custer National Forest and 

 is one of the most rugged and scenic areas in the United States left 

 virtually untouched by man. Granite Peak, the highest in Montana, 

 rising to nearly 13,000 feet, is only a few miles from the glacier, and 

 the glacier itself is nearly 11,000 feet above sea level. 



Grasshopper Glacier is located in an old glacial cirque, which forms 

 a natural amphitheater just over the divide of the Beartooth Mountain 

 Front, and faces northward. West Rosebud Creek arises at the 

 foot of the glacier and flows northeasterly as a tributary of the 

 Yellowstone River. For several decades visitors have come by horse- 

 back from Cooke to Goose Lake, which is about a mile and a half 

 to 2 miles southwest of the glacier. From there they hike over a 

 rough path to the top of the divide, which is just above the glacier, 

 about a half mile beyond, spread before them amid a wild grandeur 

 which approaches the majestic proportions of the Swiss Alps. In 

 the 1930's the American Nature Association conducted horseback 

 parties to the area, and for years Yellowstone National Park guide- 

 books have briefly described the glacier as one of the natural wonders 

 to be seen on special side trips outside of the Park. Since World 



