11 
but I am inclined to think that very heavy poisoning of all grass along the ditches 
and elsewhere frequented in numbers by the grasshoppers, if accompanied with a 
dusting of the cotton plants by the poison, as practiced for the cotton-leaf worm, 
will be the more profitable and feasible course. It is difficult to advise in the 
absence of direct knowledge of conditions, and I am, therefore, in response to your 
request, which has been seconded by the Hon. T. C. Catchings, M. C., of Vicks- 
burg, Miss., and the requests of several other correspondents, about to send one of 
my assistants, Mr. James 8. Hine, to make a personal investigation of the case and 
give such directions in regard to remedial work as, in his judgment, will be deemed 
most worth while after a personal investigation. Mr. Hine will proceed to Vicks- 
burg and call on you there. 
Yours, truly, L. O. Howarp. 
Mr. P. M. Harpine, 
President Delta Trust and Banking Company, Vicksburg, Miss. 
As the differential locust matures as early as June 25 in the latitude 
of the section infested, nearly all of the grasshoppers had reached the 
adult condition by the time Mr. Hine arrived at Dahomy, and little if 
anything could be accomplished, save to carefully investigate the con- 
ditions likely to precipitate such an outbreak, and to recommend 
measures looking to the suppression of a similar or even more exten- 
sive occurrence of these locusts the following year. 
In the fall of 1899, the writer, fearing the spread of this destructive 
Fie. 1.—Melanoplus differentialis—natural size (after Riley). 
locust into the Mississippi Valley of Louisiana, began, through the 
assistance of Mr. Harding, an investigation of the Mississippi situa- 
tion. Specimens of eggs sent from Dahomy were placed in breeding 
cages and in the spring of 1900 some of the habits and the life history 
of the differential and other species were observed. During the win- 
ter, as the managers of Dahomy were following out the instructions 
given by Dr. Howard and Mr. Hine, to have the infested fields 
plowed and thoroughly cultivated, additional eggs were secured in 
sections of soil, thus augmenting our breeding-cage operations and 
making it possible to anticipate by cage data the development and 
habits of the grasshoppers in the field. 
LIFE HISTORY AND HABITS OF MELANOPLUS DIFFERENTIALIS. 
The following observations were made in the fall and winter of 1899 
and during 1900 in breeding cages of the laboratory of the Louisiana 
State University, and in the fields upon and in the vicinity of Dahomy 
plantation, Bolivar County, Miss. 
