298 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



buds that ordinarily would not have developed until the following sea- 

 son: in these cases the only injury sustained through the attacks of the 

 locusts was a partial arrest of the growth of the trees and vines, and 

 in many cases a loss of the fruit ux)ou fruit-trees and grape-vines in 

 bewaring. 



(Jrape-vincs that had been stripped of their leaves, buds, and much 

 of their bark, sent out new shoots from the base of the vines, the (](;- 

 niided ]);ut dying l)ack as far as the buds and bark had been rcn)ovcd. 

 hi cases where the bark had been removed but the buds had not been 

 iniiired, these buds developed a new set of leaves, and a new l)ark 

 seemed to be iorming in those places where the old bai^k had been re- 

 moved. 



Several vineyardists plowed under their young vines to save them 

 from receiving furtlier injury from the attacks of the locusts, and also 

 to prevent them from drying out, and tlie majority of the vines treated 

 in this manner, in the course of three or four weeks, sent up a new 

 growth through the thin covering of earth that had been thrown upon 

 them by the plow. 



The devastations committed by the locusts in the grain fields and 

 vegetable gardens were in most cases irreparable. Alfalfa, fields were 

 in most cases kept eaten down so closely by the locusts that not a sin- 

 gle crop of hay was gathered from them. 



NATURAL ENEMIES. 



Besides several kinds of domestic animals, such as hogs, dogs, cats, 

 chickens, ducks, turkeys, &c., I have also seen several kinds of wild ani- 

 mals, birds, and insects preying upon thclocusts. Among these is a large, 

 ground-lizard, or iiu-ift^ as it is commonly called, whicli I have twice 

 seen catch a locust in its mouth, springing upon it somewlmt as a cat 

 would spring upon a nuouse. I have also seen the following birds feed- 

 ing upon locusts: Bullock's oriole {Ictcrns hulkycldi), a sparrow resem- 

 bling the Eastern Song sparrow {Mclofipiza tnclodia), and a larger spar- 

 row having a i)atch of red feathers on the head. 



Among insects I saw two different species of wasps preying u})Ou the 

 locusts. The most common species is the Friononyx atrata. When a 

 locust takes to its wings one of these wasps will pounce upon it, seize 

 it in her legs and bear it to the ground, after which she thrusts her 

 sting into it ; the ])art of the locust into which the sting is thrust is the 

 under side of the thorax, between the insertion of the first two pairs of 

 . legs. Soon after being stung the locust becomes motionless, when the 

 wasp gets astride of it, seizes its antenufe with her jaws, and drags the 

 locust to her burrow, the body of the locust being under and directed 

 in the same direction as that of its captor, three of the wasp's logs be- 

 ing on one side of the locust and three on the other. The wasp leaves 

 the locust at short intervals for the purpose of finding her Imrrow, after 

 which she returns to it again and drags it a short distance fartiier in 

 the <Urection of her burrow. 



I have seen upwards of two dozen of these wasps thus dragging lo- 

 custs to their burrows, which are always made in loose, Sandy soil, an«l 

 in every instance the victim was a Devastating Locust. How and why 

 they always select this species for their victims is a mystery, since there 

 were always three or four other species of locusts of the same size and 

 neai-ly of the same color — among which may be mentioned the Ash- 

 colored Locust — always associated with them ; still I never saw them 

 attacking any other species than the Devastating Locust. 



After dragging the locust into her burrow the wasp stations herself 



