REPORT OP THE ENTOMOLOQIST. 307 



arc partial to wild ground, and bnt seldom venture upon cultivated 

 tracts. Their food consists of wild grasses and weeds which grow 

 away from cultivation — in fact many of these locusts are partial to a 

 siu^ile one or some special group of plants upon which they feed to the 

 exclusion of all others. Of these species there are many, all of which 

 are more or less variable according to their distribution with reference 

 to latitude, altitude, ajid climatic conditions; and to note these varia- 

 tions is one of the most interesting features to the student of this family 

 of the Orihoptcra. 



In this brief report, all that I have to say in reference to future proba- 

 bilities is that there do not appear to be any indications of immediate 

 danger, although if there should be a succession of a few more years 

 as favorable to the increase of this group of insects as have been the 

 past three or four, there is need to fear another general locust scourge. 

 However favorable these conditions should i)rove, there never can be 

 another such a general and destructive spread of locusts as the country 

 experienced during the years 1873-'77, inclusive, for reasons which there 

 is no need at present of discussing. That the several species of de- 

 structive locusts are now on the increase throughout the Eocky Mount- 

 ain region and portions of the liorthwest is quite evident, from the 

 fact that numerous reports to that effect are continually being received 

 from different portions of those regions ; and that the " native" species, 

 as well as various insects, are likewise on the steady increase is also 

 evident, since tlio causes which permit of the one's increase will also 

 assist or favor that of others of like nature. 



By referring to the following list of locusts which were noticed in 

 larger numbers than usual while in the Northwest this time, it will nob 

 be surprising that much injury was done to the grasses u])on the ranges ; 

 on the contrary, the surprise will be that every spear of grass was not 

 taken : 



Mcrmiria neo-meoncana, Thos., common ; Opomala hrackyptera, Scudd., 

 not rare ; Oxycorypliv^ obscurus, Thos., common ; GhloealUs viridis, Thos., 

 common ; Chloealtia punctulata, Thos., common ; Acrolophitus liiriipes, 

 Say, common ; Stenobothrus maculipennis, Scudd., common ; St. ctqualis, 

 Scudd., common ; St. gracilis, Scudd., common ; St. coloradus, Thos., very 

 common ; St. curtipvnnis, Scudd, common ; Qompliocerus clepsydra, Scudd., 

 common ; Camnula pellucida, Scudd., very numerous ; Arphia teporata f , 

 Scudd., common; A. tenebrosa, Scudd., common; Aulocara elUottii, 

 Thos., very common; Aulocara sp., common; Spliaragemon cequale, 

 Scudd., common ; >S'. collare, Scudd., common ; Gircotettix carlingianus, 

 Thos., common; 0. undulatus, Thos., common; Trimerotropis fontana?, 

 Thos., common ; Bissosteira Carolina, Lin., common ; Kippiscus rugosus, 

 Scudd., common; R. corallipes, Hald., common; S. (?) neglectus, Thos., 

 very common; Phlybostroma parva, Scudd., Stenobothrus A.-maculatus, 

 Thos., quite common ; Madrotettix trifasdatus, Say, common; CEdipoda ? 

 haydenii, Thos., common ; Mestobregma liiowa, Thos., common ; Boopedon 

 nubilwn, Thos., common at one or two localities ; Fesotettix albus, Dodge, 

 common ; Fez. nebrascencis, Thos., common ; Fez. borealis, Scudd., com- 

 mon; Hesperotettix wndis, Thos., common; Melanoptus femur-rubrum, 

 De Geer, common ; M. atlanis, Eiley, quite numerous ; M. spretus, Uhl. 

 (MSS.), swarming in some localities ; M. cinereiis, Scudd., common ; If. 

 pacJcardii, Scudd., common; M. bivittatus, Say, common; M. luridus, 

 Dodge, common; If. gladstouU n. sp., common, Sully County, Dakota; 

 M. infantilis, Scudd., quite common ; 31. kennicottii, Scudd., rare, feeds 

 on sagebrush; M. devastator^ Scudd., common; and Brachystola magna, 

 Girard, common. 



