145 



At this place, Riovillc, I havo snccoedocl iu killiuj; ott' the hoppers so that they 

 have not been able to do much damage yet. This season I have had a vast quantity 

 of them, Inigiuniug to show with the second cut of hay iu May in alarmiug num- 

 bers; I then had 3 or 4 men follow the mower with shovels, striking th(! hop])er8 

 down and crushing them, and, early each moruing, I followed along the ditches 

 where they would collect on any grass or brush hight-r than the rest like roosting 

 chickens, and I got large numbers iu that way, probably 500 to 1,000 each moruing. 

 By this means a very formidable swarm, whose increase in a season would havo 

 amoTintcd to an overwhelming and all-destructive mass, has been reduced so that it 

 is now difficult to find specimens. All attempts to drive thesa lioppers into rivers or 

 to any safe distance are wholly futile; no way rcuiains but to kill them, aud to make 

 sure that they are dead; for they will often bear a full stroke with a shovel, especially 

 if any grass is under them, aud still live and prosper, aud it is no inconvenience to 

 them to go without a head for a day or two at least. 



It is quite comuiou to talk of them as ''millions," and they look formidable enough, 

 but if a man kills 500 a day the swarm looks less in a few days; those that are gone 

 are not seen fiftj' times a day looking like 10,000, and shortly they are perceptibly 

 decreased and become wary aud shy, needing extra diligence to catch. If moru- 

 ings are cool they become numb and are easily got, though unfortunately only about 

 daylight, when unluckily many men are "numb" too. This process has, however, 

 succeeded with me on 40 acres of alfiilfa, and it is simply a question of putting on 

 eflfort enough; will probably fail with hired ''help" only, as it requires an unyield- 

 ing determination to win. Probably a roller of 800 to 1,000 pounds' weight and 

 about 5 feet long, so as to just cover the swath of the mower, aud to follow directly 

 after it, would crush the bulk of them, and one mau following up could dispatch such 

 as escaped the roller. As each female hopper lays from 75 to 100 eggs, and they 

 breed two or three times in a season, it is of the utmost importance that the first 

 appearance in spring should be followed by instant action. 



No. 1, large green, and the smaller one of half growth are, I think, the Arabian 

 locust. The No. 2, reddish-brown above aud yellow underneath, is the toughest. 

 The No. .3 is a kind generated, it seems, in the middle patch and chiefly found there. 



A small, crimson-colored, round insect sometimes attacks and kills them, but not 

 usually before the hoppers have leveled the field and left a brown desert behind 

 aud deposited the eggs of a coming generation. 



Some chemical substance of practicable application would be a boon to this 

 region; the mechanical means I have indicated are too tiresome for general use, 

 as many farmers are too busy to apply them. — [Daniel Bonelli, Lincoln County, 

 Nev., August 2, 1891. 



Reply. — The green locust is Acridium ahoHhone, while the yellow one is Caloptenus 

 differentialis and the slender one is Caloptenus bivittatus. All are comparatively local 

 non-migratory species. The mechanical means mentioned in Bulletin No. 25 of the 

 Division of Entomology will be the most satisfactory method of destroying them. 

 No thoroughly easy way is known. You are advised to get some genuine arsenic 

 and to try the bran-arsenic treatment, which yon seem to have tried with a spurious 

 substance. * * * — [August 24, 1891.] 



The Grasshopper Plague in Michigan. 



I take the liberty to write to you in regard to a grasshopper plague. In some 

 parts of this country they are destroying everything in the line of grass, oats, corn, 

 "wheat, rye, aud vegetables, even potatoes. At present writing they have infested 

 about one-fourth of the cultivated area, but they are on the wing aud spreading 

 rapidly. Our stock will havo to go. We havo no pasture now and can not raise 

 anything to winter it. I haye read of Professor Snow's method of disposing of 

 chinch bugs and have thought the grasshoppers might be reached in the same way, — 

 [James Dodd, Manistee County, Mich., June 27, 1891. 



