THE OKTIIOPTERA OF MINNESOTA. 3 



TIIK ORTHOPTERA OF MINNESOTA. 



It is well known to all farmers, gardeners, fruit-growers 

 and others that locusts, or grasshoppers, and all their allies, 

 are the worst enemies they have to fear and to combat, 

 especiall}^ if the}' belong to the migratory species and 

 occur, as is usually the case, in vast numbers. Our state 

 is so situated that armies of these devouring insects can be 

 expected from time to time, and it is well to be always pre- 

 pared. Since we possess a largenumberof native species of lo- 

 custs, grasshoppers, cockroaches, etc., besides the migrator}^ 

 locusts, it is well that not alone the agriculturist, but all en- 

 gaged in producing food and dealing in such should be able 

 to distinguish between them, and for this purpose all the 

 species known to occur in Minnesota have been described, 

 and, if necessary, illustrated. All locusts, in fact all orthop- 

 terous insects found in our state, are more or less injurious, 

 because all live mainU' from plants, some of which we grow 

 for our own use; but some species are moredestructive than 

 others, as the^^ prefer cultivat?d crops, and the farmers 

 should be able to recognize such insects at a glance. 



In the First Annual Report of the U. S. Entomological 

 Commission we can find an excellent description of the de- 

 structive power of locusts, and many of our farmers know 

 to their cost how correct this description is. No one who 

 has not witnessed the ravaging power of locusts can fulh' 

 conceive of or appreciate it. The organization and habit of 

 the typical locust admirably fit it for ravenous work. Mus- 

 cular, gregarious, with powerful jaws, and ample digestive 

 and reproductive systems; strong of wing and assisted in 

 flight by numerous air sacs that buoy — all these traits con- 

 spire to nicike it the terrible engine of destruction which his- 

 torv shows it to have been under conditions favorable to its 

 excessive multiplication. Insignificant individually but 

 mighty collectively, locusts fall upon a country like a plague 

 or a blight. The farmer plows and plants. He cultivates 



