THE DIFFEEENTIAL LOCUST. 19 



LACHNOSTERXA FAKCTA Lec. 



This .species has been reported as injuring- cotton in southwest Texas 

 b\' planters in Uvalde County, where it is occasionally quite abundant 

 on young- plants. According- to previous accounts/' the feeding habits 

 of the l)eetles seem to be mucli the same as those of LdclnuMerna erib- 

 rosa Lec. November 3, 1895, Mr. E. A. Schwarz sent from Beeville, 

 Tex., a larva of this species taken in a cotton field. Another larva, 

 received from him from San Diego on December 14, was placed upon 

 grass roots and was still active the following April. It was then given 

 fresh sod and remained alive until September. In the Report of the 

 Commissioner of Agriculture for 18T!> Professor Comstock mentions 

 an outbreak of this species on beans in Bexar County, Tex. The feed- 

 ing habits of the l)eetles as described by him are similar to those of Z. 

 cr!hr(m(. 



It should be noted that the larva^ of none of these species of "May 

 beetles"' have ))een observed in injurious num])ers and that very little 

 is known of their habits. 



THE DIFFERENTIAL LOCUST. 



{MelunuphiP: iJiffireiitialia Thos. Figs. S, 9, 10, and 11.) 



More or less injur}" is done by this k)cust every year in some locality 

 in Texas. In the spring of 100-1 an exceptional outbreak occurred in 



<JNB 



Fig. S.—Mdanvphis difftrcntiuiits: adult — enlarged (author's illustration). 



the south-central part of the State, along the Brazos River and its 

 tributaries, being especially injurious in Grimes, Waller, Washington, 

 Lee, Brazos, and Burleson counties. 



Owing to the very careful studies of the habits of this species made 

 by Prof. H. A. Morgan in Mississippi in 1899 and 1900,* it did not 

 seem necessary to devote much attention to that subject. Therefore, 

 although a few observations on the life histor}^ are noted below, we 

 were chiefly concerned in finding the most feasible means of combating 

 the young hoppers over large areas. 



The eggs commenced hatching about the middle of March, 190-t, and 

 young nymphs continued to appear for about three weeks, the majority 



"L. c, p. 107; and 1880: Kept. Comm. Agric. f. 1879, p. 247. 



ft 1901: Bui. SO, n. s., Div. Ent., U. S. Dept. Agric, pp. 7-27, 12 tigs. 



