442 FOBTY-EIGHTH KEPOKT ON THE STATE MUSEUM 



veritable plague. About the middle of July, even while M. femur - 

 rubrum was yet in its wingless larval stage, their abundance, and 

 damage caused by them, began to arouse apprehension and alarm. 

 From that time up to the last of August their destructiveness con- 

 tinued to increase, until certain crops were entirely ruined, and of 

 others only a small portion escaped. Fortunately, after a heavy rain- 

 fall on the 28th and 29th of August, amounting to over five inches* in 

 some localities, a material diminution in their number was observed. 



They appear to have been particularly injurious in the more western 

 counties. Mr. J. A. McCullom, of Niagara county, writing toward 

 the latter part of August, states that most of the crops have been 

 destroyed entirely by the ravenous insects or so damaged as to be 

 worthless. From Erie county it is reported: "Grasshoppers have 

 settled down on this section of Western New York and eaten every 

 green thing in sight. The loss will be very large. Acres on acres 

 which a short time ago were fresh and green with ripening crops are 

 now barren was^tes of leafless stalks and bran-hes. At first but little 

 attention was paid to the flying and hopping pests, but as they 

 increased in number hourly, the farmers became alarmed and steps 

 were taken to drive them away. A strong mixture of salt and water 

 was used, but had little effect." 



In Chautauqua county fields of oats were stripped of their grain 

 early in August and " garden truck " wholly destroyed, while in 

 Cattaraugus and Allegany counties they were very numerous at the 

 same time. In Wyoming county, after consuming the corn, they 

 began to eat the leaves of the fruit-trees. In Genesee county they 

 were reported as " eating every grean thing." In Orleans county 

 " they had never been seen in such numbers before." 



Along the southern range of counties they were quite destructive in 

 Steuben (many oat crops were cut prematurely for fodder in order to 

 save it), in Chemung and Tioga. In Central New York they inflicted 

 much damage in Madison county and northeasteily toward the lake 

 shore in Oswego county, where, among others, the cabbage crop 

 suffered severely. In the northern part of the State, as in Franklin 

 county, they were less destructive, but pastures and meadows were 

 reported as suffering from them. Even in the Adirondack Mountains 

 of Essex county they were observed by me in July and August in far 

 greater abundance than I had ever before known them to occur in that 

 region. In walking through the meadows hundreds were continually 



* A.t the stations of the N. Y. State Weather Bureau at Sacketts Harbor and at Watertown 

 in Jefferson county, the rainfall at this time was 5.25 inches and 5.51 inches. 



