41 



foliage by the addition of lime water are given in tlio appendix to his 

 annual report of the present year. 

 Mr. Popenoe presented the following : 



NOTES ON THE RECENT OUTBREAK OF DIS30STEIRA LONGI- 



PENNIS. 



By E. A. PoPEXOK, Manhattan, Kaiis. 



LSecretary's abstract.] 



July 10 to 19 the author visited the northern part of Lincoln County, 

 Colo., on account of newspaper reports of the stopping of trains by 

 grasshop])ers. He found a strip of country 16 by 25 or 30 miles in 

 extent fairl^^ covered with locusts, which proved to be Dissosteira Ion- 

 gipennis, a western isotype of the eastern B. Carolina. They were con- 

 gregated especially in the boundaries of this area. The country is 

 ])oor and planted here and there to Corn and Sorghum, and there are 

 occasional patches of garden vegetation. The season has been favora- 

 ble and cool. The locusts are said to have come in swarms from the 

 South last fall and to have settled along the Big Sandy Creek in a patch 

 two or three miles in circumference, in which they laj'ed their eggs in 

 great numbers. Upon hatching this spring the young spread outwards. 

 At the time of his visit in the northern part of the strip the insects were 

 in the last larval and pupal stages, with very few Imagos. At the south 

 line, however, the winged individuals were very abundant and flew like 

 birds. The young hoppers had the habit of crawling up the side of 

 buildings for a few feet, presumably for warmth. They were not 

 strictly confined to roads, but traveled over bluff's and rounded hills, 

 eating the buffalo and gramma grass. The winged individuals flew 

 always to the south, but the others spread regularly outwards in all 

 directions. The line of march was quite visible at some distance on 

 the hillsides, and sheep-growers had to change the localities of their 

 flocks. In marching, as a general thing, they preferred to follow the 

 roads, moving quite rapidly, about 1 mile in G hours for 6 or 8 hours in 

 a day only. Thej'are credited with all the destruction which has been 

 done by all kinds of insects, and lie thinks that they did but very little 

 damage to potatoes and corn, although inarching through the fields in 

 great numbers. At the time of his visit they were marching through 

 wheat fields in the same way, but since he left they have done some 

 damage to this crop. Many dead ones were noticed in one locality, 

 but no signs of parasitism were found. It is su])posed that they were 

 destroyed by hail. In his opinion the insect occurs generally upon 

 low ground rather than ui)on high ground. 



Mr. Bruner said that this species is very seldom found below 3,000 

 feet or above 5,500 feet elevation. It occurs in Nebraska, Kansas, Col- 

 orado. Wyoming, and northeastern Xew Mexico. It preferably locates 



