REPORT OP THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 291 



The locusts were coufiued to the trees and grape-vines growing along 

 the outer edges of the orchards and vineyards, but later in the season 

 they gradually spread all over the plantation. They seemed to prefer 

 the leaves of poplar trees and grape-vines to any others, and wore espe- 

 cially fond of the tender bark of grapevines. Wliile they would eat 

 the leaves of almost every kind of tree, shrub, and i^lant growing upon 

 the plantation, yet they manifested an evident preference for certain 

 kinds. The leaves of peach trees Avere not much relished by them, but 

 the fruit was eagerly eateu, and upon bearing peach trees that had been 

 much infested by the locusts it was no uncommon sight to see nothing 

 but the leaves and naked pits remaining. Fig and pomegranate trees 

 suffered but little from their attack, as did also gum and evergreen 

 trees. I saw a small, barrel-shaped cactus which had its inside eaten 

 out by the locusts. 



Plants covered \^ iili s;)ckiiig <liil not escape the attacks of the locusts, 

 which gnawed holes into the sacking and then entered and devoured 

 the leaves of the inclosed plant. One lady wsought to save a favorite 

 plant by turning a \va«htub over it, but upon removing the tub a few 

 days later she found that the leaves had been entirely .stripped from the 

 plant. 



Fields of alfalfa suffered very severely from the attack of the locusts ; 

 the latter were also very destructive to beans, cabbage, and tomatoes, 

 but corn, melon, and pumpkin vines were not much injured by them. 



The pyrethrum plants — from the flowers of which the insect powder 

 known as " Buliach " is produced — were not much injured by the locusts. 

 Id j>laces where the plants had been considerably eateu I found many 

 locusts wliicii acted very much as those do that have been sprayed with 

 a solution of buhach and water ; they had completely lost the use of 

 their legs and were lying upon the ground in a very helpless conditioa, 

 occasiopally jerking a leg or moving a foot. Several of them were dead, 

 evidently having partaken too freely of the leaves of the pyrethrum 

 plants, as no ])oison had been put out up to this time. 



"Wheat fields, as a rule, were but httle injured by the locusts, the 

 principal injury being done by biting off a small proportion of the heads 

 and allowing them to fall upon the ground. Late-sown wheat suffered 

 the most, and sevciral fields were injured- to such an extent that they 

 were not harvested. 



Eye fields were generally much injured by the locusts, which devoured 

 the exposed kernels in the heads ; 1 have examined manj^ heads of rye 

 in which every kernel had been devoured. Mr. D. W. Swain estimated 

 that he had lost fully one-third of his crop of rye on COO acres through 

 the attacks of locusts. The reason that they were more destructive to 

 rye than to either wheat or barley is to be found in the fact that the 

 kernels of wheat and barley are wholly inclosed in a husk, whereas the 

 kernels of rye are exposed to view. 



SPECIES OF LOCUSTS MOST DESTRUCTIVE. 



1 cai)tured in the San Joaquin Valley no less than twenty diJl'erent 

 species of locusts belonging to the subfamiUes Acridincu and (Edipoclincc, 

 but the priuciijal damage was coimnitted by four s]iecies, three of which 

 belonged to the Aci-idincc or Spine-breasted Locusts. 



The species which appeared in the greatest numbers was the Devas- 

 tating Locust {Melanoplus devastator Scudder), which outnumbered all 

 of the other species combined, in the proportion of at least seven to one. 

 It was accompanied by the Ash-colored Locust {Melanoplus cinereus 



