﻿OP THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 59 



fact that the insects had hatched out in immense numbers, in 1875, as 

 high upas British America, from 1874 swarms that had come from the 

 still further north and west,* was then not known to me ; and the 

 experience of 1876 proves how little we know of the native breeding 

 haunts of the species, and that the past history of invasions is no cer- 

 tain guide as to the future. 



THE INVASION OF 1876. 



In order to give a correct idea of the invasion of 1876, I will con- 

 sider it by States and Territories, and, as far as possible, in chrono- 

 logical order. 



British America.— In Manitoba, as I learn from Prof. Dawson, the insects did 

 not appear in sufficient numbers to attract attention or do any liarm to crops, whicli 

 were very good, nor were any eggs laid there. Far west of Manitoba, however, he has 

 reason to believe that the insect was produced from the egg over a pretty extensive 

 area north of the 49th parallel, and that such was really the case is substantiated by 

 Mr. Chauncy Barbour of the Weekly Missouiian, Missoula, M. T., who wrote me July 

 21st, that travelers in Spring from Ft. McLeod, British America, some 300 or 400 miles 

 northeast of Missoula, reported vast immbers of tne young insects there. 



Montana. — The insects hatched extensively in this Territory and no doubt went 

 to largely make up the swarms that subsequently reached over the country to the 

 southeast. The Monthly Report of the Department of Agriculture for May and June 

 mentions them (in its usual inexact way, without dates) as occurring in millions and 

 damaging Spring crops, especially wheat, in Deer Lodge, Lewis, Clarke and Jefferson 

 counties ; and the following item is quoted by Prof. Whitman from the Bistnark Tri- 

 bune of June 14, 1876 : 



In the Field, near Rosebud Buttes, May 29, 1876. 

 "As we move westward the grazing improves, and here in the Little Missouri Val- 

 ley the season is at least a month in advance of the season on the Missouri. This 

 would be a splendid grazing region, were the water good. The grass is heavy and 

 nutritious, but the water is strongly impregnated with alkali. Millions of locusts are 

 just now making their appearance in this region. Too young to fly or do much 

 harm, in a few days, should the winds favor them, they will sweep down upon the 

 defenceless agriculturalists on the border, doing untold damage." 



The Signal Service reported them as being numerous all over the Territory in 

 June, as flying over Virginia City, southwest, during the middle, southeast during the 

 end of July, southeast in myriads from the 1st to the 5th of August, and as continu- 

 ing to pass throughout the month until the 29th, when their numbers decreased. No 

 eggs reported. 



Wyoming. — Reports from Cheyenne show that the insects were abundant 

 throughout the month of August, passing to the southwest, and that swarms were also 

 passing south and southeast on a number of days in September. 



Dakota Territory. — As already indicated, the insects that had hatched in Min- 

 nesota, departed during the fore part of July, mostly in a northwest direction. Dur- 

 ing that time the winds were for the most part strong from the southeast, and the 

 locusts were carried over Southeast Dakota, and were noticed to be particularly thick 

 at Vermillion. From the 10th of the month the wind was mostly from the northwest, 



* See the facts mentioned in discussing the source of the swarms of 1876, further on. 



