46 



DESTRUCTIVE LOCUSTS OF NORTH AMERICA, TOGP^THER WITH NOTES 

 ON THE OCCURRENCES IN 1891. 



BY LAWRENCE BEUNER, LINCOLN, NEBR. 



In introducing this subject it is my intention to speak shortly upon the various 

 sprcies of locusts which have appeared in injurious numbers within the limits to be desig- 

 nated with each species. Some of these species have covered a vast area of territory, and 

 have caused extensive injury from time to time, while others have appeared over limited 

 areas and have caused but slight injuries; yet these injuries have been sufficient ta 

 necessitate their mention among the destructive species of tiie country. Taking them all 

 together we have exactly twelve destructive locusts within the territory designated. 



Selecting the species as they occur to me, I will mention first the Long-winged 

 Locust, Dissosteira longipennis. During the early part of July reports came from the 

 dastern and south-eastern portions of Colorado of locust depredations. The first of these 

 was that trains had been stopped by grasshoppers getting on the rails of the Santa F^ 

 Railroad 100 miles or thereabouts east of Deaver. Shortly after this reports appeared 

 in the newspapv-^rs of serious damage being done around the point where they were first 

 mentioned as stopping trains. About this time other reports of dejjredations came in from 

 North Dakota and Minnesota and other portions of the West and North-west. On the 

 strength of these reports Professor Riley instructed me to visit the localities for the pur- 

 pose of ascertaining the extent of country over-run, the actual and possible future injury 

 which might result, and the exact identity of the species concerned. Being a Nebraska 

 man and looking out for first interests, I naturally went to Colorado, the nearest locality 

 to my home from which reports had been received. I first visited Akron, Colorado, the 

 nearest point on the Burlington and Missouri line to the region infested. There securing 

 a team and driving to the south only about six miles, the advance guard of the enemy was 

 encountered. Imagine my surprise at finding here an entirely new insect as far as destruc- 

 tive locusts are concerned. Here in Colorado, and in immense numbers, was the 

 Dissosteira longipennis, an insect usually considered rare in collections, and one heretoffre 

 only known to occur over the higher portions of the plains lying to the eastward of the 

 Rocky Mountains, in the States of Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. This insect, 

 as ascertained from inquiry, covered an area of about 400 squai-e miles of territory in 

 sufiicient numbers to materially injure the grasses growing on the ranges of the entire 

 region, and amongst these grasses the species of Bouteloua or Cramma grasses, and the 

 Buffalo grass, Buchloe dactijloides. Grains and other cultivated plants did not appear to 

 be es|)ecially attractive to it. In fact very little or no injury was done by it to the culti- 

 vated crops growing within the region infested. About the same time that 1 was investi- 

 gating this insect upon its northern line of injury. Professors Snow and Popenoe were 

 studying it upon the southern border of its range, and they found practically the same 

 food habits there that I had noted in the north, and by inquiry found that the insects 

 had come into that country from the south last fall and had laid their eggs over a large 

 area. This year when the eggs hatched, the young began to move from their breeding 

 centres in all directions, seeking open places and the edges of plowed fields and following 

 roadways. This trait of seeking open spots this season is probably due to the habit of 

 the insect of naturally living on open ground, where grasses are short and scattering. 

 The present year was very wet in this particular region and caused an undergrowth of 

 grasses ; hence the desire to find the natural conditions under which the insect lives. 

 The young began moving, and, finding these open places, congregated there. Having 

 thus congregated, they must naturally feed, and they swept the grasses clean around these 

 spots. So noticeable was this that, in certain spots where they had gathered about the 

 hills of a species of ant which raises mounds of small gravel and cuts away the vegeta:- 



