229 



"While scratching up the corn they waked np the beetles and devoured 

 them greedily. He states that his fowls showed no injurious influence 

 from their new diet. 



In West Virginia, Jeiferson and Harrison report the presence of this 

 pest. They were also more or less destructive in Shelby, Harrison, and 

 Spencer, Kentucky. In Harrison their eggs were destroyed in great 

 numbers by a long, reddish worm. The beetles were numerous and ac- 

 tive in Fairfield and Perry, Ohio. In Orange, Indiana, they are resisted 

 by shaking into i^ans; they are also reported in Clay. They had just 

 appeared in Carroll, Illinois, and were plentiful iu Marion, but less 

 numerous than usual in Montgomery, Jasper, Tazewell, and Hancock. 

 They are reported in Crawford, Lafayette and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 

 In Tama, Iowa, they were as numerous as ever. 



Potato-bugs (CantJiaris, Epicaiita sp.) were very numerous and destruc- 

 tive in Orange, Indiana. They seemed to defy Paris green and other 

 X)oisons. Our correspondent will find the remedy he asks for indicated 

 on page G4 of the Annual Eeport of this Department for 1867. 



Caterpillars {CHsiocampa) injured forest and fruit trees in Oxford and 

 York, Maine. They appeared iu countless numbers in Carroll, New 

 Hampshire. They were also noted among late apples in Saint Francis, 

 Arkansas, and Wood, Texas. 



Grasshop>pei's or locusts. — The species designated as Caloptenus femur- 

 ruhrum is reported at isolated points east of the Mississippi, but not as 

 being very injurious. They were noted in Carroll, New Hampshire ; in 

 Conecub and Madison, Alabama ; in Knox, Tennessee; in Grant, West 

 Virginia ; in Livingston, Kentucky, and in Cass and Dodge, Wisconsin. 



The far more destructive species, C. spretus, has recommenced its 

 depredations west of the line of the Missouri, and in some counties to the 

 east of that river. It was reported that they were hatching in immense 

 numbers in Blue Earth, Wright, Sibley, Renville, and Todd, Minnesota. 

 In some cases they were burned in great numbers in piles of straw. In 

 Missouri they were very destructive in the northwestern part of Vernon 

 County ; iu Platte they swept all the grain and grass crops ; they were 

 also a terrible scourge in Lafayette, Bates, Henry, Clay, and the north- 

 western part of Daviess. In Kansas they had eaten all the stacked tame- 

 grass hay and all the old meadows, 25 per cent, of the wheat, and most 

 of the growing corn-plants; in Marshall they destroyed wheat, oats, and 

 gardens; Leavenworth records the most terrible visitation yet known; 

 the popular dismay is indescribable. Similar rei^orts come from Miami, 

 Anderson, Franklin, Jefferson, Lincoln, Jackson, Republic, Allen, Doni- 

 phan, Nemaha, Brown, ('herokee, Crawford, Atchison, Labette, Neosho, 

 and Johnson. In some villages the streets are covered with these in- 

 sects. Fruit-trees have in many cases failed to bear from the fact that 

 they were last year-deprived of all their foliage and young-wood growth 

 by these pests. From some counties come bitter complaints of the false- 

 hoods of newspaper writers and others, palliating or denying the real extent 

 of the disasters. These false representations are made in the interest of 

 speculative property-holders who fear a depreciation of their investments. 

 In a few counties, such as Howard, Lyon, and Montgomery, the injuries 

 have as yet been small, but all such places are yet liable to destructive 

 visitation. The cotton-plant was especially relished by these insects. 

 In Nebraska they had destroyed 20 per cent, of the small grain and were 

 still at work. In Merrick and Otoe they were preparing for extensive 

 destruction. In Colorado they were numerous and destructive in Park, 

 El Paso, and Douglas. • 



