SUBFAMILY ARCIDINAE 83 
When these great flights of “Colorado hoppers’’ as they were 
termed, first appeared the scattered populace was dazed and awed, 
while repeated visitations left them discouraged and actually destitute. 
The problem was too great for individuals or for states and the Fed- 
eral Government appointed a special commission to study the pest and 
devise means of relief. Their work was carefully carried out and 
their reports are filled with data as to the life of the pest, its natural 
enemies, and the means by which man may control its abnormal in- 
crease, but the real solution of the problem came with the advance of 
civilization, more thorough and ever-increasing cultivation of large 
tracts in and near the natural breeding-grounds of the species, together 
Fig. 10. Normal Habitat of Melanoplus gladstoni C. W. Howard 
with climatic changes and changes of soil conditions which must fol- 
low the zone of cultivation. As stated above the species is now appar- 
ently extinct although specimens are sometimes taken which may be 
referred to this species by certain characters, but all which we have 
examined appear to be merely more or less aberrant forms of 
M. atlanis. There appears to be a rather general idea, frequently 
expressed by the older people, and especially by some of those who 
were settlers here when the Rocky Mountain locust swept this and 
adjoining states, that the pest so widely dreaded was of much larger 
size than, and of different appearance from, M. atlanis, which has 
proved a serious pest at various times within recent years. This opin- 
ion is, however, erroneous and to the student who wishes an idea as 
