THE ORTHOPTERA OF MINNESOTA. 5 



in the air like swarming bees. If a passing swarm suddenly 

 meets with a change in the atmosphere, such as the ap- 

 proach of a thunder storm or a gale of wind, they come 

 down precipitately, seeming to fold their wings, and fall by 

 the force of gravity. At other times, in alighting, they circle 

 in myriads about you, beating against everything animate 

 or inanimate; driving into open doors and windows; heap- 

 ing about your feet and around your buildings ; their jaws 

 constantly at work biting and testing all things in seeking 

 what the}' can devour. In the midst of the incessant buzz 

 and noise which such a flight produces, in the face of the 

 unavoidable destruction everywhere going on, one is bewil- 

 dered and awed at the collective power of the ravaging host, 

 which calls to mind so forcibly the plagues of Egypt. The 

 noise their myriad jaws make when engaged in their work 

 of destruction can be realized b\' an}- one who has 

 fought a prairie fire, or heard the flames passing along be- 

 fore a brisk wind, the low crackling and rasping — the gen- 

 eral effect of the two sounds is very much the same. Noth- 

 ing, however, can surpass the prophet Joel's account of the 

 appearance and ravages of these insects. 



While the destruction of crops by the winged insects is 

 often sudden and complete, the unfledged insects still more 

 effectually, though more slowly, denude a countr\^ of vegeta- 

 tion, sometimes rendering the ground as bare and desolate 

 in midsummer as it is in the Mississippi Valley in midwin- 

 ter. The little creatures are often so thick, soon after hatch- 

 ing, that the\' blacken everything, and their hopping, as one 

 passes through a field or piece of prairie, gives the impres- 

 sion, at a short distance, of heat flickering in the air. 



Minnesota has been frequently visited by locusts in j'cars 

 previous to those in which such occurrences were historic- 

 ally recorded, and the traditions of the Indians mention that 

 these insects had formerly taken possession of the country, 

 holding it for seventeen years, and that in times past the}' 

 had consumed all vegetation as far east as Stillwater. The 



