PACKARD.J THE INVASIONS OF THE LOCUST IN 1876. 609' 



here that the insects took flight from the vicinity of Fort Pelly on the 10th of July, 

 and then followed a fortnight of intense suspense." 



There is, of course, in all this a failure to connect by any direct chain 

 of continued observations the swarms that left the Mississippi Valley in 

 1875 and those which finally disappeared in the region of the mountains 

 and in British America ; still less is it shown that those swarms were 

 the parents of those which are known to have hatched in the same re- 

 gions in 1876, or even that those which are known to have hatched 

 there were those which descended upon the lower country in July and 

 August. But there is, at least, a strong series of probabilities. 



THE INVASIONS OF THE LOCUST IN 1876. 



Beginning with the southeasternmost point of the locust region — 



Texas : I learn from G. W. Belfrage, of Olifton, Bosque County, in a 

 letter dated December 14, 1876, that the locusts have for "two years 

 made their visits, the first without serious results, the second this fall, 

 so we cannot yet know what the offspring will do." 



The following extracts from the Monthly Weather Reports give some 

 idea of their movements : " Flying, at Fort Richardson, Texas, from 14th 

 to 18th September; Corsicana, Texas, flying south 21st and 22d, west 23d. 

 On 30th were destroying everything, and depositing millions of eggs." 



In Texas, at Belmont farm, the grasshoppers remained alive all winter, 

 and were found on wheat February 10 and March 25. 



October 3 to 5, numerous at Corsicana; disappearing about 9th : abun- 

 dant at Belmont farm 1st to 9th. "In Texas a dense cloud oi grass- 

 hoppers appeared during the last ten days of November." 



" Palo Pinto : The grasshoppers appeared on the 17th of September, 

 and are as thick as they ever were here, destroying everything as they 

 go. Uvalde : Appeared September 23, in quantities, arriving from the 

 north, and causing some alarm. MeLennan ; Reached here on the 20th 

 of September, and have materially damaged the cotton-crop by cutting 

 olf unripe bolls. Bell : Made their appearance in great numbers about 

 a week since, and are destroying all gardens and every sward of grain. 

 They have cut off the late corn and the young bolls on the late cotton. 

 Dallas : Have cut short the cotton-crop. Gillespie : The first grasshop- 

 pers arrived on the 18th of September. Three days later they left, going 

 west, being driven by an east wind." — (Agricultural Report, October.) 



On applying to Mr. J. Ball, a well-known entomologist residing in 

 Dallas, Tex., for information regarding the appearance of the locust in that 

 State, he kindly sent me the jS^eue Ziircher Zeituug for November 1 and 

 2, 1876, containing two letters written by him, which I have condensed 

 as follows : In October, 1874, the locusts appeared in Texas, but were 

 not one-tenth as abundant as in 1876. At Dallas, at noon September 

 20, 1876, the air was filled with the first swarm of locusts ; by 5 o'clock 

 in the afternoon none were in the air. Previous to this date up to the 

 night of the 19th the wind had been south ; it changed on the 20th to 

 the northwest, and this wind brought the locusts in a swarm which must 

 have been many miles long and broad, and from 1,000 to 2,000 feet high, 

 as far as the eye could see. At 10 o'clock, September 21, the air was 

 again filled as at noon of the preceding day, the northwest wind still 

 blowing, and the grasshoppers passed on as the day before, until 4 p. m. 

 On the 22d the wind veered to the south, and the locusts flew during the 

 day in large numbers irregularly about, like a swarm of bees. This con- 

 tinued until noon of the 23d, when a southwest wind bore a large number 

 to the northwest. Until the 27th they remained engaged in egg-laying, 

 39 OS 



