38 



GRASSHOPPERS IN GENERAL. 



disease. This second visit showed 

 that there had been no noticeable 

 spread of the disease. Dead grass- 

 hoppers, in about the same numbers, 

 in practically the same corner of the 

 field, were to be seen. I did not find 

 the disease working in any other por- 

 tions of this field. I found a few 

 dead grasshoppers that had died from 

 this disease in two spots in two dif- 

 ferent alfalfa fields in Edwards 

 county. In no place, however, did I 

 note anything that could be in any 

 way considered an epidemic, nor any 

 evidences that would induce favor- 

 able conclusions concerning this dis- 

 ease as a valuable check to the 

 increase of this locust. 



Observations Made in ^Videly Sepa- 

 rated Localities. 



In the vicinity of St. Louis, Mis- 

 souri, the first specimens of this lo- 

 cust were observed to become winged 

 July 19. Eggs were laid Septem- 

 ber 9. As a deviation from the usual 

 egg-laying habits of the genus, the 

 eggs are sometimes very numerously 

 placed under the bark of logs that 

 have been felled on low lands. The eggs of this species, unlike those 

 of spretus, atlanis, and femur-rubrum, are not quadrilin early but 

 irregularly arranged. The head ends of the eggs in the pod point 

 mostly outward. One hundred and seventy- five eggs have been 

 counted in a single mass.* 



In California, they acquired wings from the last week in June to 

 the last week in July, and began laying eggs July 23. A single 

 female occupied seventy-five minutes in depositing an egg mass. The 

 situation chosen for egg laying was invariably the edge of one of the 

 basin-like hollows ( for irrigation ? ) at the foot of a tree. This locust 

 is not easily startled; its ordinary flight is rather heavy, and sus- 

 tained only for a distance of twelve to thirty feet.f 



FIG. 11. (Orisioal.) Melanoplus dif- 

 ferentialis killed by fungus. On Golden- 

 rod. 



* Riley, Summary from First Report U. S. Ent. Com. 

 t Coquillett, Report Dept. of Agr. 1885, pp. 295, 296. 



