REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 309 



These traps were placed along the side of the channel. A board ran 

 across the channel at an angle of about 45°, and 2 inches below the 

 vrater. In this way all the hoppers were swept into the box, and men 

 were continually at work taking them out into bags. In this way 200 

 bags of the insects were collected, or about 20 tons, and 4,500 were 

 (•(•vHited to a pound. More than twice this number were destroyed by 

 lire. The expenses of collecting them in the ditch were 8200, while 

 .'hose of destroying them by fire amounted to $3,000; and yet no one, 

 in seeing the numbers that remained in June, would have sui^posed 

 iliat they over had been molested. 



Very little could be done after the locusts became winged. The best 

 success, and that very good, in destroying them in this State was by a 

 process everywhere used in July, viz, by the use of a mixture of 1 part 

 arsenic and 3 parts bran, moistened with sirup diluted in water. In 

 consequence of this, from 75 to 100 dead insects were counted inside of 

 four hours after it had been set out, on every place in which the poison 

 had been left, and a few days afterward about a quart of them was seen 

 at every interval of about 10 feet. This poison was only made use of 

 by the Natoma company amongst young and non-bearing vines, as there 

 would be great danger in using it amongst bearing plants, since the 

 locusts will always give out a brown substance after eating it and soil 

 everything around them, and as there is no rain to wash it from the 

 fruits it might have serious effects. It should be kept away from bear- 

 ing plants, or if it is used there no use should be made of the grapes. 



The winged insects began to leave their feeding- ground at the begin- 

 ning of July, although large numbers were still in the Xatoma vine- 

 yards when I left there (July 28), but none in the fruit orchards. They 

 always began to migrate during the hottest part of the day, from 10 to 

 4, generally letting themseh es be driven with the wind at first, and 

 after a little while turning against it, to rise not in swarms, but ahcays 

 scattered^ more like a snow-storm ; those going high are soon lost out of 

 sight. They were observed going south, in this way, when a mild wind 

 was blowing from the southeast, during several days after the middle 

 of July. They could be seen at and after midday by looking closely 

 and protecting the eye from the sun, some as low as 50 feet, and others 

 it was impossible to tell how high. Looking through the opera-glass 

 one could be seen passing at every moment. 



Mr. Chapman, of TVhite Eock, told me that late in October, last year, 

 when nearly half way up in the Sierra IN'evada Mountains, one evening, 

 every little while he saw one of these hoppers come straight down as if 

 from the clouds, but none could be observed flying about. This would 

 prove that they sometimes must rise very high. 



"WTiile this year they had already hatched early in March, they ap- 

 peared somewhat later last year, not before the end of April, and chiefly 

 around White Eock. There they then destroyed everything, as they 

 remained all summer, while this season they disappeared as soon as they 

 became winged, and on my visit to that place (July 14 and 15), I was 

 told that no locusts were around. I visited all those bare hills 2 miles 

 to the east and G miles to the south, and found the locusts still scattered 

 everywhere ; but in the valleys, where some water and green grass could 

 be found, they were still very numerous ; even all the dry grass was 

 hanging full of them, feeding on the seeds as well as on all the dry plants. 

 As I came across Clarksville and over the woody hills toward Marble 

 Valley, I found them plentiful, feeding on leaves of the various oaks 

 and on everything green. I have seen a large patch of pines [F'lnug 

 gabiniana) almost entirely stripped of their leaves, but the most of the 



