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SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT 



the intersection of the Rocky Mountains and forty-ninth parallel ; 

 gives approximately the limit of the open prairie country. Over 

 the whole area to the south of this line, the Locust is, he believes, 

 frequently found in swarms. Mr. Dawson also informs me that they 

 have been known to reach, in years past, a number of miles into the 

 wooded country, as far east as the Lake of the Woods ; or in other 

 words, to about the same limit line that they reach in Missouri. 



ITS FLIGHT AND RAVAGES. 



LFig. 3-2.] 



A swarm of Locusts falling upon and devouring a ■wheat-field. 



The voracity of these insects can hardly be imagined by those 

 who have not witnessed them, in solid phalanx, falling upon a corn- 

 field and converting, in a few hours, the green and promising acres 

 into a desolate stretch of bare, spindling stalks and stubs. Covering 

 each hill by hundreds ; scrambling from row to row like a lot of 

 young famished pigs let out to their trough ; insignificant individ- 

 ually, but mighty collectively — they sweep clean a field quicker than 

 would a whole herd of hungry steers. Imagine hundreds of square 

 miles covered with such a ravenous horde, and you can get some reali- 

 zation of the picture presented last year in many parts of Kansas. 



