' IN THE FIELD 215 



several years after they have infested a region. The mo- 

 tive which compels them to move is probably scarcity of 

 food in their breeding country. The first swarms eat the 

 more palatable green young grain ; if they do not fly off or 

 if other swarms follow them, the insects will eat everything 

 green on the face of the earth. 



Life history and habits. The females dig holes into 

 rather solid soil ; closely cropped meadows, fields covered 

 with grass or stubble, and roadsides are the preferred places ; 

 and here they can often be found as shown in the illustra- 

 tion. A female probably lays from one hundred to one 

 hundred and fifty eggs in about three different masses. In 

 their native home the eggs laid in summer do not hatch 

 until the following spring, but in warmer regions they often 

 hatch the same summer, and then the young hoppers are 

 often destroyed by frost before they can mature. In Min- 

 nesota, the eggs are laid in July and August, and the young 

 come out of the ground the following May. 



Habits of the young. A newly hatched grasshopper looks 

 very much like its parents, but it has no wings. The young 

 Kocky Mountain hoppers are about one-fourth of an inch 

 long. They soon congregate in immense numbers and begin 

 to migrate on foot, generally in a south or southeasterly di- 

 rection, eating everything green on their way, and if food 

 becomes scarce, the stronger ones eat their weaker brethren. 

 When thus on the march, they do not hesitate to tumble 

 down a cliff or swim a wide river. 



TJte adult insects. About seven weeks after hatching, 

 these locusts are full grown, and they measure now about 

 one and three-eighths inches from the head to the wing tips. 

 They do not pass through an inactive pupa state, but moult 



Inform yourself about the work that is being done at the Agricultural 

 Experiment Station of your state and by the United States Department of 

 Agriculture. 



