THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 153 
tution and misery in tens of thousands of homes. Up to the 
beginning of July this year all looked bright and fair for the 
western farmer. His crops of all kinds were, as a rule, growing 
luxuriantly ; the prospect of a bountiful harvest was quite as 
good as usual. After that date, however, sooner or later in 
different localities, all these bright prospects were over- 
clouded, in many instances utterly destroyed. The following 
extracts from various newspapers will abundantly tell the 
tale. As early as the 19th of July a correspondent of the 
‘Prairie Farmer’ writes from Howard County, Nebraska :— 
‘Corn and potatoes were doing well until recently, when the 
grasshoppers [locusts] put in an appearance, and the result 
undoubtedly is, at the present moment, that there is not ten 
per cent. of these crops and of late oats left in this and the 
two neighbouring counties; and it is very doubtful if the 
countless millions of Vandals will leave a vestige of any 
green thing. The result must be almost certain starvation for 
new-comers, and must retard the development of this beautiful 
country for many years.’ A lady correspondent of the same 
paper writes a few days later from Butler County, also in 
Nebraska:—‘“ The low-hung clouds have dropped their 
garnered fulness down.” But alas! and alack! they were 
not the long-looked-for rain-clouds, but grasshoppers. They 
passed over on the 23rd, only a few alighting; but a strong 
south-west wind on the 24th brought back countless millions ; 
and on the 25th their numbers were fearful to contemplate. 
They would rise in the air when the sun shone hot, but as it 
grew cooler they came down like the wolf on the fold. They 
settled like huge swarms of bees on every living thing. Fields 
of corn that had been untouched before were now stripped of 
tassel and blade. A field of early corn was being eaten so 
fast that the girls went to save a few ears, instead of going to 
visit a sick schoolmate according to promise. Trees were so 
loaded with the pests, that those four and five feet high bent 
down till the tops touched the ground, and in some instances 
broke off; for three dreadful hours they dashed against the 
house like hail. So many came in at doors and windows that 
every aperture was closed; but not till they were so thick on 
the windows that we were forced to make a business of 
slaying. The 25th of July will be remembered by the 
citizens of this and some other counties as the dark day, 
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