﻿OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 105 



the 15th of June, they had nearly all left from as far north as Leaven- 

 worth. From the 7th of June on throughout the month, they were 

 flying over Southwest Iowa and Nebraska, being most numerous, 

 judging from the balance of the many reports collected, about the 

 middle of the month. A little later the bulk of them was flying over 

 Dakota, and they are reported as flying most numerously in Montana 

 during the month of July. The following memoranda from two of my 

 correspondents, show how almost continuously during the first three 

 weeks in June, they were observed passing over the northwestern 

 portion of our own State : 



From my diary, I find that they commenced rising up and leaving for the first 

 time on the 31st day of May; flig^ht, northwest. June 1st, course north. June 2d, 

 northeast at noon ; at 3 r. M., course west; 3d, northeast ; 4th, rain prevented any 

 from leaving; 5th, cloudy, none fiying; Gth, Hying northeast at noon; at 3 p. m., 

 course west. June 7th, noon to 1 p.m., southwest; 3p.m., fiying west, with wind 

 from northwest, and seemed confused ; and while they could not stem the current of 

 wind to make their desired course, they were shifting to new quarters in search of 

 food. June 8th, leaving in large numbers, course northeast. June 9th, heavy rain 

 the past night— hoppers doing heavy damage to our orchards ; noon to 1 p. m., flying 

 confusedly, but generally bearing to the northeast. June 10th, attempting to tty 

 northeast, but heavy winds will not admit of their leaving. June 11th, fiying north- 

 east, nearly east. June 12th, flying west upper current, but an under-current of wind 

 caused multiplied millions to come down, covering the whole face of the earth. June 

 13th, 9 o'clock A. M , commenced flying northwest till 11, when the wind shifted to the 

 northeast, great numbers came down, and did great damage to our trees. June 14th, 

 flisrht northeast. June 15th, but few leavinof. June 16th, course northeast. June 

 17th, flying north in vast numbers. June 18th, cloudy; but few fiying. June 19th, 

 flight northeast; immense swarms of them. June "20th, fiight northeast, in vast 

 numbers. June 21st, hoppers thinning out; a few fiying at 1 p. m. June 22d, flying 

 in considerable numbers to the northeast. June 23d, flying but little, and we com- 

 menced replanting our corn and garden.— [Z. S. Ragan, Independence, Jackson Co. 



To give you some idea of the locust plague, let me describe briefiy their flight. 

 Eleven days ago they began to pass here overhead. They begin to rise up about 9 

 o'clock, and by 10 o'clock they are nearly all on the wing. They go as the wind drives 

 them. Excepting one day, when we had a wind from the north, their flight has been 

 from the south northerly. Looking up, at any time between the hours of 10 and 4, 

 towards the sun, they may be seen passing like large snow flakes, rapidly as their 

 wings and the wind can make them. By a large spy-glass I judge the swarm to be 

 about half a mile deep. And so they go, day after day. By iiight they settle down. 

 On the evening of the day before yesterday, we concluded the swarms were about ex- 

 hausted, as not nearly so many had passed during that afternoon, and we congratu- 

 lated ourselves on possible future exemption. But yesterday the air was again lull of 

 them ; and last evening about six miles north of this, they came down in a line 

 extending all across the country in such tremendous clouds as to frighten people. 

 Many persons that were out ran in-doors, fearing lest they might be smothered. A 

 gentleman, Judge Russell, who was riding along, said that for some time he regarded 

 It as a vast storm-cloud coming down over the whole land, and the sound was said by 

 one to resemble that made by a locomotive and long train of cars. Now, to-day, with 

 a southeast wind, the air is again filled with them, fiying to the northwest. — [Clarke 

 Irvine, Oregon, Holt Co., June 18. 



DIRECTION TAKEN BY THE WINGED INSECTS. 



From the facts recorded in considering the last Spring's history of 

 the plague by States, and particularly by the observations so kindly 

 obtained for me from the Territories by General Myer, Chief of the Sig- 

 nal Bureau, it is evident that the main direction taken by the insects 

 that rose from the lower Missouri Valley country was northwesterly : in 



