PACKAED.] THE LOCUST IN DAKOTA IN 1876. 621 



any season the whole body of our hatching-swarms might be utterly 

 swept away from our midst by favorable winds ; and, finally, if we may 

 judge from the last four years, our breeding swarms would decrease 

 gradually from one year to another, and if not re-enforced from abroad 

 would finally become so few and so scattered as to be harmless." 



Mr. Whitman says that the facts observed in Minnesota do not sub- 

 stantiate the rule observed by Riley and others in Missouri, Kansas, 

 iS^ebraska, &c., of a return migration in a northwest direction for the 

 purpose of egg-laying, since they remain in part in the State and lay 

 early in the season. 



The origin of the swarms which entered Minnesota in 1874 and 1876 

 is not definitely known, but Mr. Whitman states that " it is probable 

 that both in 1874 and 1876 the swarms that came into this State, at 

 least in the earlier part of the season, were hatched in or near British 

 America. This is to be inferred from the direction of their coming, the 

 fact that we know of extensive hatching-grounds in British America in 

 both these years, and that we know of no nearer hatching-ground." 



The losses sustained by the State of Minnesota during the last four 

 summers, ending with that of 1876, amounts to at least $8,000,000. 



THE LOCUST IN DAKOTA IN 1876. 



In Dakota, according to the Weather Signal Review, grasshoppers 

 were active at Bismarck March 4 j they were reported to have appeared 

 on the prairies near Pembina in May, but few appeared at Pembina in 

 June; in July they "first appeared at Pembina, flying northeast 8th and 

 9th, southeast 11th, 12th, 17th, 20th, and south i;3th;" swarms of grass- 

 hoppers at Yankton 27th, 28th, 29tb, 30th, and 31st ; at Fort Sully, flying 

 northwest and alighting 15th ; northwest, 26th ; numerous 16th, 27th, 

 28th, 29th, 30th." August 6 they "appeared in the extremesouth- 

 eastern part of the State; 10th to 29th at Fort Sully, numerous ; de- 

 creased during 30th and 31st. At Yankton during early part of month, 

 destroying all the corn ; about 10th began to depart and all gone in a 

 few days. 26th, Bismarck, swarms flying southwest." They disappeared 

 September 1 at Fort Sully. 



Buffalo: The entire corn-crop has been eaten by the grasshoppers ; 

 wheat and oats, owing to the drought, ripened early, and were harvested 

 in time to escape them. Clay : Have destroyed nearly all the corn and 

 about half the wheat and oats. They are now depositing eggs. It is 

 the worst grasshopper raid ever known. Hanson : We are again visited 

 by the everlasting grasshopper. They have been with us for the last 

 four days, and have left nothing of corn or buckwheat but the naked 

 stalks. Oats are badly damaged ; wheat and barley were nearly har- 

 vested before they came, and potatoes and sorghum were slighted by 

 them, but they went through the gardens like a whirlwind. Minnehaha : 

 Have made their appearance slightly, and have damaged some fields. 

 Richland: Are now upon us. They came yesterday, August 1, a few 

 days late. Gardens are all swept clean ; not very much damage done to 

 grain. Stutsman : Did but little damage except to oats, which they 

 nearly destroyed. There are none here at present. — (Monthly Report of 

 the Department of Agriculture, August and September, 1876.) 



Governor Pennington states that he has never seen- the young in 

 Southern Dakota, and that the locusts fly over the southern portion of 

 the Territory from the breeding-places in the northern. This view needs 

 confirmation, we think. 



