B.C. Entomological Society. 



feet at a sweep will cover 40 to 50 acres in a day, and will thus handle a 

 large area. As there is no expense to the operation except a team and a 

 man to drive, or preferably two small boys to ride the horses, the cost per 

 acre is trifling. If the tin front is kept bright and shining the grasshoppers 

 are apparently not able to see it at all and fly against it readily. From 6 to 

 10 bushels in an hour have been collected with one of these machines where 

 the hoppers were numerous and conditions favourable, and 30 to 40 bushels 

 per day taken from fields where they did not appear to be very abundant. 



Other Machines. — Another form of hopper-catching device used in the 

 States, principally against the migratory swarms of the pellucid locust 

 (Camnula pellucida), is also described by E. D. Ball in the same bulletin, 

 and as C. pellucida is one of the most destructive species which occurs in 

 swarms from time to time in this Province, it may be of interest if I give 

 Mr. Ball's description of the contraption known as the balloon hopper- 

 catcher. 



" The balloon consists of a light frame 12 feet long and 2 feet high, with 

 two or three cross-bars to give it more rigidity. This frame has attached 

 to it a bag, of which it forms the mouth and which tapers back to a praint 

 about 10 feet back of the frame. The point is open and when in use is 

 fastened with a string tied round it like a sack is tied. In fact, a seamless 

 sack makes a good point to this big bag. The bottom of the bag, which 

 drags on the ground, is -often made of heavy canvas, while the upper side 

 is of ordinary sheeting. The frame is usually made of i-inch by 4-inch 

 !^tufl^ and the whole thing is drawn by a single light rope, which forks 

 to the two ends and forks again to each corner. This rope is either 

 fastened to the pommel of a saddle or else to a light whiffletree of a light 

 harness. The pony is started off at a fast trot. The air inflates the open- 

 mouthed sack, which 'balloons' up and draws along the ground, over the 

 meadow-grass or grain-crop. The bottom of the frame draws along on 

 the ground, and as a young hopper jumps to avoid it it slides under him, 

 and as he jumps again and again each time he finds himself farther and 

 farther back in the sack until he comes to rest with his fellows in the tip. 

 The rider of the pony starts off at a good pace, swinging back and forth 

 across the swarm until his sack has a bushel or so of grasshoppers in the 

 apex. Then he dismounts and helps his partner to lift up the frame and 

 shake all the hoppers back into the ape.x of the sack; then another sack is 

 held over the end, the string untied, and the hoppers sacked. Where the 

 ground is rough the lower side of tlie frame catches and the top flops over 

 and closes the mouth. To obviate this a rope is fastened to the top of the 

 frame and a small fence-post is drawn along back of the sack, thus serving 

 to pull the top back and keep the mouth open. Practically all the wear 

 conies on the bottom of the sack, so this is made of heavier material, or, 

 better still, a second strip is fastened to the frame and draws underneath 

 the sack and protects it from injury. Old binder-canvas and such material 

 make excellent material for this use." 



