114 



CHAPTER IX.— INSECTS ATTACKING LEAVES 

 AND TWIGS. 



Gk.\sshoppehs oe Locusts. 



(Fig. 20.) Locusts laying their eggs. iFic. .30.) 



Attack. — Grasshoppers, or locusts, sometimes multiply enormously, 

 especiall.v during a dry season following another of the same character. 

 They then become very destructive to grain and other crops. Most of the 

 injurious species pass the winter In the egg state. The females deposit their 

 eggs in the ground in "pods," or masses, of about tliirt.y or more cemented 

 together by a mucous fluid. The young grasshoppers are wingless and can 

 only travel by hopping, but after several moults they acquire wings and are 

 able to move freely from place to place, some species, especially the voracious 

 so-called Rock.v Mountain Locust (Mclunoplus sprctus, Uhler), being able to 

 fly ]on,g distances. The species is found only in the West. It is about one 

 and a quarter inches long, from the head to the tips of the closed wings. 

 Another migratory and destructive si^eeies. rather smaller in size, is the Lesser 

 Migratory Locust (M. atlanis, Riley). This latter is much more generally 

 distributed throughout the continent. 



Several non-migratory locusts have in some years appeared in destructive 

 numbers, as the Red-legged Locust (J/, femur-ruhrum. DeG.) and the Two- 

 striped Locust {M. hivittatns, Say), in all parts of Cauaaa. In the West, 

 Packard's Locust (M. pdckardii. Scudd), and the Pellucid Locust (Camnula 

 pcllucidd. Scudd), frequently add their injuries to those of other species. 



E.xtensive losses from locusts have taken place in various parts of Canada 

 in certain seasons: but by far the most important ravages have been wrought 

 in Manitoba and British Columbia. Various species take part in this devasta- 

 tion, but the most destructive species in British Columbia has proved to be 



