598 REPORT UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



PTS. — Since writing the above I have made anothi r grasshopper survey, and find 

 nnnibcrs of them yet depositing eggs. 



By the same mail with this I send yon a small box of the eggs. I find in some 

 places the ground at the proper (lt]ith is I'uUy one-fourth filled with their eggs. From 

 tliis you may form some idea of their incredible numbers. I find also that numerous 

 biurowing insects, worms, &c., are liviug olf them. 



W. N. B. 



The earliest swarm of which I can find authentic information isoneseen 

 at Bouhler, Colo., by Professor llobiuson, and whose history he has 

 kindly given in the following account. It seems inii)Ossible that this 

 swarm which began its migrations so early as July 20 could have been 

 laised among the parks or caiions of the mountains. We are forced to 

 tiie conclusion that they were bred on the plains, and collecting and 

 massing east of the mountains were borne by westerly currents beyond 

 the usual breeding-grounds of the species across the plains to Eastern 

 Kausas. 



University of Kansas, 

 Laurence, Kan., October 11, 1875. 



Dear Sir : I will very gladly give you my observations upon tho swarming of the 

 locusts from the Rocky Mountains eastward in the summer of 1874. 



I alrived at Denver ou my westward trip about the 2:^d of June. During a. stay of 

 six or seven days in the city, I made frequent excursions to the ueighboriug country, 

 visiting '• ranches," rambling through fields of grain and over the prairie, witli eyes 

 Avide open for locusts, potato-bugs, «fcc., of whos'i ravages I had previously read many 

 reports. At this time I found very few locusts anywhere, not enough to do any percep- 

 tible damage to vegetation. About the 1st of July 1 went over the Suowy Range down 

 into Middle Park. Here I eagerly renewed my search for locusts, urged on by the 

 desire to use them as trout-bait ; and you may be sure I hunted them vigorously, for 

 with nearly every locust I could catch a fine trout. But the trout were far plentier 

 than the locusts. Couiing out of the mountains about the 20th of July, by way of 

 Golden City, just at the base of the foot-hills, I encountered the advauceof an immense 

 swarm of locusts sweeping from the north, filling the air from the ground upwards for 

 hundreds of feet. Two or three miles fr.im the hills their tiight appeared to swerve 

 somewhat more toward the east. I )iassed through the swarm about five miles from 

 where they were first encountered. The next day they settled down to business in 

 the wheat-fields near Denver. 



The 28th of July, leaving Denver for Lawrence, I overtook them at Salina. The 13th 

 of August they first apjjeared in Lawrence. They staid about ten days, long enough 

 to eat everything green, and then passed on to the southeast. Where food was abun- 

 dant they traveled slowly. They were ten days in going from this place to Olathe, 27 

 miles farther east, and five or six weeks in reaching Sedalia, Mo. 

 Yours, respectfully, 



D. H. ROBINSON. 



In addition to the facts regarding the locust in Colorado in 1875, I 

 may cite the following fact* fiom Professor Kiley's eighth report. Mr. 

 N. C. Meeker, of Greeley, writes that •' on the plains, they api)eared late 

 in April and the first of May ; along the foot-hills in May ; in the timber- 

 region and aloQg the Snowy Itange irom June to Jul^'. * * About the 

 1st of July, the first hatched in the plains-region departed toward the 

 south. A week ago .(.\ugust 20) those hatched in the Blue Mountains 

 came down upon us and then departed in a southeasterly direction ; but 

 now we are having them from the Snowy Range in what may seem in- 

 credible numbers. Their numbers, however, are almost nothing in com- 

 ])arison with the myriads that keej) southward every day about noon. 

 I estimate that they cover in the sky east and west a space twenty or 

 thirty miles wide, while they move in a body half a mile deep. They 

 consume about two hours in i)assing, and we can estimate Irom this 

 statement how much ground they would cover if they should all alight." 

 It seems from this extract that so far north as Greeley the locusts 

 came late in August from over the mountains to the westward, and not 



