ORTHOPTERA 35 



powers of the insects frequently mentioned in the Scrip- 

 tures. Williamson's History of Maine says: " In 1749 

 and 1754 they were very numerous; no vegetables escaped 

 these greedy troops; they even devoured the potato tops; 

 and in 1743 and 1756 they covered the whole country and 

 threatened to devour every green thing. Indeed, so great 

 was the alarm they occasioned among the people, that 

 days of fasting and prayer were appointed." In 1838 

 the common red-legged locust (Melanoplus femur-rubrum) 

 was so abundant in parts of Maryland that the negroes 

 were employed to drive them from the gardens with rods. 

 The most injurious species occur: ing in this country is 

 the Rocky Mountain locust (Melanoplus spretus) or mi- 

 gratory locust. From 1874 to 1876 they damaged west- 

 ern agriculture, especially in Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, 

 and Missouri, to the extent of over two hundred million 

 dollars. The government appointed a special committee 

 to devise a remedy to exterminate or check the pest, and 

 numerous plans for destroying the eggs, young, and adults 

 were brought forward. In Minnesota one farmer col- 

 lected during the latter part of June about eight hundred 

 bushels, by dragging with horses across the grain fields 

 after dark a large box with the front side removed so as to 

 allow the insects to tumble in. Another farmer in the 

 same manner captured four hundred bushels. Some 

 counties paid a reward for locusts collected and killed. 

 In 1875 Nicollet County, Minnesota, paid a dollar per 

 bushel for 25,053 bushels of locusts. Fortunately the 

 insects appear in large numbers only at intervals of from 

 five to twenty or more years, according to the condition of 

 the weather and the presence of enemies. The Rocky 



