30 MONTANA EXPEKIME^CT STATION BLLEETIN 294 



THE MORMON CRICKET IN 1933 



The Mormon cricket {Anabrus simplex Hald.) -wliicli occurred in 

 large swarms on the Crow Reservation in 1981 and then decreased 

 rather sharply in 1932, again became very important in 1933. During 

 that season the range in the Pryor Mountains and in the Dryhead 

 country of eastern Carbon County was nearly ruined l\v these large 

 insects. (See figure 6.) The loss to cultivated crops also increased 

 over that of any previous year. Alfalfa, wheat, barley, oats, and 

 gardens suffered, and in many cases fields were entirely destroyed. 



The county commissioners of Carbon County appropriated money 

 for the purchase of dusting machines, arsenic, and hydrated lime for 

 use in the Dryhead. Some success was attained in protecting crops 

 but the work was carried out on too small a scale to reduce the huge 

 cricket population to any marked extent. It became only too evident 

 that by 1934 crickets would make up one of the major agricultural 

 problems in this territory. 



In order to bring l)efore the counties concerned and particularly 

 the Indian Service, the magnitude of the problem and the financial 

 support which would be necessary to control the crickets, a survey 

 of the entire area was undertaken during July and August, 1933. 

 Mr. Frank T. Cowan, an entomologist who had many years' experi- 

 ence fighting crickets in western Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado, 

 was employed for a month on this survey. The distril)ution of the 

 crickets v/as determined, the egg beds from which the 1934 brood 

 would come were mapped out, and careful estimates made on the 

 number of men, dusters, arsenic and general supplies which would be 

 needed. Copies of these reports, with maps, etc.. Avere transmitted 

 to the Indian Service, through the superintendent at Crow Agency, 

 and to the commissioners of Carbon County, in September, 1933. 



THE MORMON CRICKET IN 1934 



Nothing was done by the Indian Service until long after the 

 crickets had hatched in the spring of 1934. By May 2, however, the 

 Indian Service and the United States Bureau of Entomology had 

 entered into an agreement relative to the prosecution of the work. 

 Not until late ^lay, wlien the crickets were practically full grown, 

 were poisoning operations begun on the reservation and, although the 

 work was pressed strenuously through June, July and August, the 

 crickets were not controlled in so far as preventing them from laying 

 e^rgs was concerned. ^Mierations from tlieir normal habitats into the 



