shown in figure 4, which ilkistrates the oviposition of the Rocky 

 Mountain grasshopper or locust. The females seem to prefer a mod- 

 erately compact, rather damp but not wet soil which is rarely dis- 

 turbed by the plow or other cultivating implement. It will thus be 

 seen that the alfalfa fields throughout the irrigated sections consti- 

 tute an ideal breeding ground. Winter is passed in the egg state, 

 the young hatching in spring and reaching maturity in summer, and 

 there is but one annual generation. Neither of the two species is 

 migratory. Their flight is rather clumsy, and they do not remain 

 long on the wing before alighting. 



NATURAL ENEMIES. 



Upward of 100 species of birds are known to feed to a greater or 

 less extent upon grasshoppers, but probabh- the most useful in this 



^^ direction are quails, prai- 



// 



rie chickens, the sparrow 

 hawk and S w a i n s o n 

 hawk, the loggerhead 

 shrike, all cuckoos, the 

 cowbird, all blackbirds 

 and meadowlarks, the 

 catbird, and red-headed 

 woodpecker. That do- 

 mestic fowls are espe- 

 cially fond of these in- 

 sects goes without saying. 

 Skunks are very fond of 

 grasshoppers, and are es- 

 teemed by the Bureau of 

 Biological Survey as the 

 most useful of mammals; 

 they therefore deserve 

 protection rather than destruction by the farmer. Toads and prob- 

 ably some of the snakes add these insects to their bill of fare. 



Of the insect enemies, the grasshopper mite {Tronibidium locus- 

 tarum Riley) is often fomid infesting grasshoppers in great numbers. 

 It collects under the base of the wings, sometimes causing them to 

 stand out from the body. "Wliile these mites probably destroy many 

 grasshoppers, it is possible that their value to the farmer has been 

 overestimated. There are several species of parasitic flies that fre- 

 quently destroy immense numbers of these grasshoppers. Of these 

 Sarcoj^haga cimbieis Towns., 8. hunteri Hough, and S. geopglna 

 Wied. (fig. 5) sometimes sweep these locusts off in myriads. Under 

 date of August 7, lOOG, Mr. John Tlunton, of Fort Laramie, AYyo., 

 forwarded to the Department a (juantity of dead differential grass- 

 hoppers that he had found on different weeds and grasses over an 



[Cif. 84] 



Fig. 4.— Rocky Mountain grasshopper or locust (Melanoplus 

 spretus): a, a, a, female in different positions, ovipositing; 

 ''i egg-pod extracted from ground, with the end broken 

 open; c, a few eggs lying loose on the ground; d, e show the 

 earth partially removed, to illustrate an egg mass already 

 in place and one being placed; /shows where such a mass 

 has been covered up. (After Riley.) 



