5G 



o. It would be well for the States visited to offer rewards for the 

 eggs and young, for although it might do but little toward thinning 

 the pests, it would do some good in this direction, and would afford a 

 means of subsistence to the unfortunate. 



6. These States should make stringent laws protecting the insect- 

 eating birds, and adopt a method of enforcing them that would be 

 carried out. It will pay them well to employ a naturalist to deter- 

 mine the species which should be preserved and those for whose de- 

 struction a reward should be offered. In addition to this, farmers 

 raise an abundance of domestic fowl, which will furnish food as well 

 as assist in destroying the locusts. 



7. It would be well for the farmers to raise more hogs wherever the 

 grounds are protected by fences, and they can be allowed to range. 



8. Ditching against the young larva and driving into ditches and 

 fire, and such other local remedies as the situation and the means at 

 hand may suggest, should be employed, and the farmers should 

 bravely fight the battle. 



Although the resulting brood generally proves more destructive in 

 the mountain regions than the incoming swarms, yet this does not 

 appear so far to have been the case in the Mississippi Valley, and 

 as a preventive or remedy for the original hordes, dispenses with the 

 necessity of battling with their progeny. It is against these the 

 general government should direct its efforts in an earnest and a deter- 

 mined numner. 



In closing I would again remark that I am satisfied that C.*prctu* 

 will never become a permanent resident of the immediate valley of 

 the Mississippi ; and if it should, it would no longer be migratory, 

 but would sink back into what may be supposed to be its normal con- 

 dition ; and if it is but a variety of C femur-rubrum, would probably 

 revert to that form. I do not think the grasshoppers of Kansas and 

 Nebraska should prevent any one from migrating to those States more 

 than the chinch-bugs and droughts should prevent farmers locating 

 in Illinois, as the actual loss caused by the latter is probably much 

 greater than the former. 



The mite which is mentioned in the letter was not received. It is 

 probably the Trombidium sericeum of Say, or Astoma gryllaria of Dr. Le 

 Baron — most likely the latter. The Caloptani, especially C. spretus, 

 ('. femur-rubrum and C. bivittatus, are very liable to be attacked by these 

 parasites. I have occasionally received collections with scarcely a 

 specimen free from them. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES. 



ARMY WORM. 



This insect made its appearance at several points in Illinois in 

 L875, doing considerable damage on some farms, especially to young 

 com. But it does rot appear to injure wheat very materially in the 

 southern portion of the State if the season is favorable — that is, not 

 dry. It strips off the blades, but seldom attacks the head, and this 



