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Government has shown au interest in their afflictions. What they want 

 is directions as to how to proceed, and they will do the work cheer- 

 fully and thoroughly as far as can be done in a hilly and mixed country 

 by a small population. 



NATURAL ENEMIES AND PARASITES. 



Prior to this summer but few of the locusts appeared to be troubled 

 by any insect or other enemy, nor have any been observed to succumb 

 to fungus diseases, and perhaps but few to other contagious ailments. 

 During the month of August and also near the close of July many of 

 the hoppers were found to contain maggots of some Tachina fly, which 

 eventually killed them. Some contained as many as three or four of these 

 grubs each. Others were attacked by the locust-mite, while a host of 

 them were captured by digger-wasps and robber-flies, these latter being 

 exceedingly numerous in individuals at the time we were in the country. 

 In looking over a number of fields and portions of the prairies we were 

 surprised to see how many of the hoppers had really been destroyed by 

 these agencies. In some localities as many as one half dozen dead were 

 counted on a square yard ; and taking the prairie over it was estimated 

 that there were enough dead on the ground at the time to mitke one to each 

 square yard. Aside from the insect enemies noticeable there were evi- 

 dently many others at work in thinning out its ranks. Birds, fowls, and 

 small mammals, together with the few reptiles that are native to the re- 

 gion also did much towards their diminution. In addition to all these 

 there appeared to be some disease extant among the hordes, which ren- 

 dered the victims sluggish of movement, and dark in color, containing a 

 sort of viscid brownish substance throughout the body. A very large per- 

 centage of all the hoppers seen upon the prairies appeared to be affected 

 in a greater or less degree by this disease. It was probably due to this 

 disease that the majority of all the hoppers of the region owed their 

 torpidity. 



FUTURE OUTLOOK. 



My impression, after having visited the region and having carefully 

 looked over the entire field, is that this plague is rapidly on the 

 decline, and that with ordinary climatic conditions but little fear need 

 be entertained for the future. As we have observed, the locusts have 

 become diseased the present year, numerous insects and other enemies 

 are at work on them, and the eggs are for the most part laid in the 

 valleys. Many of these egg-areas will be flooded with water from the 

 ditches during this month so as to cause them to swell this fall, and 

 the young will accordingly hatch earlier in spring, and can be handled 

 with water when water is abundant, and before the grain has started 

 much. Then, too, we must no forget to mention the almost miraculous 

 appearance of toads that came so universally and numerously over the 

 region during the past summer. Millions of these batrachians hatched 



