ORTHOPTERA. 165 



cloth, carried by four persons, two of whom draw it rapidly 

 along, so that the edge may sweep over the surface of the 

 soil, and the two others hold up the cloth behind at an angle 

 of forty-five degrees.* This contrivance seems to operate 

 somewhat like a horserake, in gathering the insects into win- 

 rows or heaps, from which they are speedily transferred to 

 large sacks. A somewhat similar plan has been successfully 

 tried in this country, as appears by an account extracted from 

 the " Portsmouth Journal," and published in the " New Eng- 

 land Farmer." f It is there stated that, in July 1826, Mr. 

 Arnold Thompson, of Epsom, New Hampshire, caught, in 

 one evening, between the hours of eight and twelve, in his 

 own and his neighbor's grain fields, five bushels and three 

 pecks of grasshoppers, or more properly locusts. " His mode 

 of catching them was by attaching two sheets together, and 

 fastening them to a pole, which was used as the front part of 

 the drag. The pole extended beyond the width of the sheets, 

 so as to admit persons at both sides to draw it forward. At 

 the sides of the drag, braces extended from the pole to raise 

 the back part considerably from the ground, so that the grass- 

 hoppers could not escape. After running the drag about a 

 dozen rods with rapidity, the braces were taken out, and the 

 sheets doubled over; the grasshoppers were then swept from 

 each end towards the centre of the sheet, where was left an 

 opening to the mouth of a bag which held about half a bushel ; 

 when deposited and tied up, the drag was again opened and 

 ready to proceed. When this bag was filled so as to become 

 burdensome (their weight is about the same as that of the 

 same measure of corn), the bag was opened into a larger 

 one, and the grasshoppers received into a new deposit. The 

 drag can be used only in the evening, when the grasshoppers 

 are perched on the top of the grain. His manner of destroying 

 them was by dipping the large bags into a kettle of boiling 

 water. When boiled, they had a reddish appearance, and 

 made a fine feast for the farmer's ho2:s." When these insects 



* See Annales de la Soci6t6 Entomologique de France. Vol. II. pp. 486-489. 

 t Vol. V. p. 5. 



