THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 153 



tution and misery in tens of thousands of homes. Up to the 

 beginning of July this year all looked bright and fair for the 

 western farmer. His crops of all kinds were, as a rule, growing 

 luxuriantly; the prospect of a bountiful harvest was quite as 

 good as usual. After that date, however, sooner or later in 

 different localities, all these bright prospects were over- 

 clouded, in many instances utterly destroyed. The following 

 extracts from various newspapers will abundantly tell the 

 tale. As early as the 19Lh of July a correspondent of the 

 ' Prairie Farmer' writes from Howard County, Nebraska: — 

 'Corn and potatoes were doing well until recently, when the 

 grasshoppers [locusts] put in an appearance, and the result 

 undoubtedly is, at the present moment, that there is not ten 

 per cent, of these crops and of late oats left in this and the 

 two neighbouring counties; and it is very doubtful if the 

 countless millions of Vandals will leave a vestige of any 

 green thing. The result must be almost certain starvation for 

 new-comers, and must retard the development of this beautiful 

 country for many years.' A lady correspondent of the same 

 paper writes a few days later from Butler County, also in 

 Nebraska: — '"The low-hung clouds have dropped their 

 garnered fulness down." But alas ! and alack ! they were 

 not the long-looked-for rain-clouds, but grasshoppers. They 

 passed over on the 23rd, only a few alighting; iDut a strong 

 south-west wind on the 24th brought back countless millions ; 

 and on the 25th their numbers were fearful to contemplate. 

 They would rise in the air when the sun shone hot, but as it 

 grew cooler they came down like the wolf on the fold. They 

 settled like huge swarms of bees on every living thing. Fields 

 of corn that had been untouched before were now stripped of 

 tassel and blade. A field of early corn was being eaten so 

 fast that the girls went to save a (ew ears, instead of going to 

 visit a sick schoolmate according to promise. Trees were so 

 loaded with the pests, that those four and five feet high bent 

 down till the tops touched the ground, and in some instances 

 broke off; for three dreadful hours they dashed against the 

 house like hail. So many came in at doors and windows that 

 every aperture was closed ; but not till they were so thick on 

 the windows that we were forced to make a business of 

 slaying. The 25th of July will be remembered by the 

 citizens of this and some other counties as the dark day, 



