﻿OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 5^ 



treat of Missouri, was confined to those counties along the extreme 

 eastern limit of the 1874 invasion, and more particularly to the south- 

 west counties. 



I think that the greater numbers in 1875 as compared to 1867 were 

 more owing to the characters of the two seasons than to any dispro- 

 portion in the number of the eggs laid. The Winter of 1874-5, though 

 commencing late, was severe, steady and protracted till toward the 

 first of May, when Spring suddenly came upon us in full force. There 

 was no very variable weather in the earlier months ; whereas such 

 weather did occur in 1867, and the insects not only hatched earlier and 

 were exposed to enemies and adverse influences for a longer time 

 before they could begin to thrive, but they were also more seriously 

 aflfected by the sudden changes — a steady Winter, however severe, 

 being more favorable to almost all insects than an open and change- 

 able one. 



Although the insects came nearly a month later in 1866 than in 

 1874, and left two or three weeks later in 1867 than in 1875, yet good 

 crops were subsequently grown in 1867; and to show how history re- 

 peats itself, I reproduce here extracts from the Kansas City Journal 

 of Commerce, for June and July, 1867. The exodus was made during 

 the last week of June, and, as last year, in a N.W. direction. 



June G. "Thesp 'winded beasts' are growing' and multiplying amazingly, and 

 their appetit-e is inordinate." 



June 7. " A farmer near Platte river informs us that a morning or two ago he 

 went out to plow his corn, which was about four inches high the day before, and found 

 it all fifone." 



June 9. " Grasshoppers alarmingly thick at Westport." 



June 13. " There seems to be a diiference of opinion among farmers. Some say 

 the grasshoppers are destroying everything, and others declare they have touched 

 none of the growing crops." 



June 19^ " Grasshoppers have opened out on the onion crop in Atchison county, 

 Kansas." 



June 22. "The Lawrence Journal mentions that a number of gentlemen had 

 carefully watched one swarm of grasshoppers, and thev moved south more than two 

 miles in one week. They stopped no longer in grain fields than on bare ground." 



Also. " Leavenworth papers report millions of grasshoppers. They have eaten 

 all the smartweed out of Delaware street, and have now commenced on the dog-fennel 

 in some of the main thoroughfares of that nrosperous town." 



June 25. A reporter visited the place of Major Hudson, on the Shawnee road, 

 the same now owned and occupied by Dr. Thorne,'and says : " Grasshoppers are now 

 paying him a visit, and it is takinsj nearly all he can raise to entertain them. They are 

 makinff a heavy raid on the (gardens and g-rainfields in this locality." 



June 26. "The grasshoppers in this neighborhood do not confine themselves to 

 hopping, but now wing it, and are more animated than ever. Their appetites grow 

 with their stomachs, and their ravages keep pace with both. They appear to be de- 

 partins, shaping their course eastwardly." 



June 28. " We understand that around Westport and Independence the grass- 

 hoppers are still doing a great deal of damage. In this locality they are thinning out 

 a little." 



June 29. " The grasshoppers are migrating to the northwest by the million. 

 They fly at a great height and are as thick as snow-flakes. It is a goodly sight to see 

 their departure." 



Also. " In St. Joseph the grasshoppers are reported as the sands of the sea, and 

 sweeping everything before them." 



July 2. " Grasshoppers continue to spread themselves considerably in this local! 

 ity, but they are not so thick as they were and are evidently migrating." 



