50 



unsuccessful, the only information received there being the statement of 

 railroad men as to the occurrence of hoppers on the railroad in Col- 

 orado (the case investigated by Professors Snow and Popenoe), and of 

 some in Arizona, along the line of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe 

 Kailroad. 



At Topeka I went first to the office of the State Board of Agriculture. 

 The Secretary, Mr. Mohler, was absent, but the gentlemen present, 

 Messrs. Longshore and Nyswander, kindly gave me a full statement as 

 to the information the office contained. 



They receive reports from over 600 corresjiondeuts who are scattered 

 over the entire State, the western portion being well represented. 

 They assured me that not a single report had been received by them 

 which mentioned injury from grasshoppers, and they were positive that 

 no damage was being done. 



At the newspaper offices I received similar replies, except that in the 

 office of the Kansas Democrat I learned of a report that some damage 

 had been done in Kearney County. As this report, however, was some- 

 what indefinite, I hesitated to make it the basis of a special trip to the 

 extreme southwest part of the State, and Lawrence being so near at 

 hand, I concluded to go there to see if Professor Snow had any recent 

 information. 



Professor Snow was absent, but his assistant, Mr. V. L. Kellogg, 

 kindly gave me all the information he could. He said that they had 

 heard nothing from the region that had been examined by Professors 

 Snow and Popenoe in Colorado, except that the winged insects were 

 moving south, and he was sure that none of these had entered Kansas. 



He also informed me that they had received information of injuries 

 at Garden City, and showed me specimens of Caloptenus differential is 

 and Mvittatus received from there. 



This information tending to substantiate the report of damage in 

 Kearney County, I decided to visit Garden City, and took the first train 

 for that place. On the way I kept careful outlook for any signs of 

 damage, and improved the opportunity of occasional stops to collect 

 specimens and inquire of residents as to the prevalence of grasshoppers. 

 All answers agreed in denial of any unusual numbers of grasshoppers 

 or of injury from them, and it was not till I reached Garden City that 

 I learned of any damage. Here I was told that the alfalfa fields were 

 being ruined, and it was only a short time after my arrival that I was 

 in afield a mile from town where the conditions showed at once the 

 state of affairs to be serious. 



The alfalfa was badly stripped, the blossoms and seed entirely eaten 

 up, and in many patches the stems were stripped bare of leaves, look- 

 ing brown and dead. 



The grasshoppers, mostly differentialis, with a considerable number 

 of Mvittatus, when rising in front of me as I walked through the field, 

 formed a cloud eight or ten feet high and so dense as to hide objects 



