ipO SECOND REPORT OF. THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



the insects skylarking on the beautiful snow. Having never seen such 

 a sight in midwinter, Sypher was at first inclined to take to his heels 

 and run for his life, fearing that something had got wrong in his head. 

 But finding that he had full control of his senses, he began an investi- 

 gation of the strange phenomenon, and when he had satisfied himself 

 that there was no fiction about the grasshoppers, he caught half a dozen 

 of them and introduced them to Mr. Thorne. The gentleman was also 

 surprised, and immediately started for the field to carry on a more 

 thorough investigation. There he found scores of the insects, skipping 

 around in the sunshine, and after securing a bottle full, went among his 

 neighbors exhibiting them. They were all greatly astonished at the 

 hoppers' appearance, declaring that such an invasion was never heard of 

 before in the winter in that region. 



Since their appearance on Mr. Thome's place, they have been re- 

 ported in a number ot localities in that vicinity. The farmers express 

 alarm lest a new pest should make its appearance next summer, of 

 which these hoppers are the advanced guard. The insects are jet 

 black [.''] and somewhat smaller than a cricket. Nothing like them was 

 ever seen before at any time. 



No Cause for the Alarm. 



Other notices of the general character of the above appearing in sev- 

 eral of the newspapers of the State, and my attention being called to 

 them, — in a communication to the Albany Evening Journal of Febru- 

 ary 2^th, I gave the assurance, that although these grasshoppers had ap- 

 peared '"'by millions," yet the farmers need entertain no apprehension 

 that their occurrence at this time indicated extensive depredations from 

 them the ensuing season. It was not unusual for specimens of the spe- 

 cies in moderate numbers to emerge from their winter retreats in stone- 

 walls and elsewhere during a continuance of warm weather in winter. 

 They had never been known as a particularly injurious species, as the 

 red-legged grasshopper, Caloptenu>i femur-ruhrum, at times, proves to 

 be. Their appearance in immense numbers at this time should be re- 

 garded as a favorable omen, as promising diminished numbers during 

 the summer months, for very many of those which had been prema- 

 turely aroused from their winter sleep would fall victims to the cold 

 which sharply followed their awakening. 



The Attendant Meteorological Conditions. 



As will be more fully stated hereafter, it is the habit of this species 

 to pass the winter in an inactive state, in the form of larvas and pujjse, 

 in sheltered places in old stone-walls, beneath roots of grasses, under 

 piles of rubbish, etc. Under the ordinary temperature of the winter 

 months, their quiet hibernation would not be disturbed, nor their "win- 

 ter's sleep broken until the warm days of early May aroused them from 



