PACKAKD.j ENEMIES AND PARASITES OF THE LOCUST, 659 



one particular source of food-supply, which such course would entail, would go for 

 nothing in comparison with the advautages that might result. I do not make the 

 suggestion hastily, nor without due consideration, backed by personal observation, and 

 fortified by logical induction. 



We are always slow to acquire exact and full information respecting the food of the 

 animals which surround us, uotwitlistanding that many or most of our quadrupeds, 

 birds, and insects hold toward us relations of the utmost economic importance, and in 

 spite of the unquesti<mable fact that all agricultural interests hinge upon the solution 

 of the problems involved. A few years ago the cock-of-the-plaius {Centrocercus uro- 

 2)ha»ianu8) was supposed to feed chiefly, if not exclusively, upon wormwood. I have 

 killed them to find nothing but insects in their crops. Hawks, particularly of the 

 genus liuteo, presumed to feed mainly upon small quadrupeds and birds, are immense 

 consumers of grasshoppers in the West, at certain seasons. 



One thing is certain, that if we are to use birds in our war against the invading 

 hosts, we must employ our own, and no imported ones. The expensive, uncertain, and 

 difiScult experiment of introducing any alleged *' acridophagous" species of the Old 

 World will never, I suppose, amount to much. Moreover, it is not to the technically 

 considered " insectivorous" birds that we may turn our attention hopefully. Though 

 many of these small species feed habitually upon grasshoppers in season, their col- 

 lective efficiency in the work of destruction appeared to be, and I have no doubt is, 

 comparatively insignificant. At present I know of no birds capable of rendering more 

 efficient service than the grouse. 



YouDg locusts liave been found by Professor Green, of Lawr'^nce, 

 Kans., in the stomachs of vnrious birds, such as the red-eyed wood- 

 pecker, yellow-billed cuckoo, cat-bird, red-eyed vireo, great crested fly- 

 catcher, and crow- blackbird. The hair-worm {Gordius) is a common 

 parasite of the locust as of other species of grasshoppers. Mr. Eiley 

 states that many predaceous beetles attacked them, but few, if any, 

 ichneumon-flies have been found in them, these beneficial insects con- 

 fining their attention chiefly to caterpillars, such as the northern army- 

 worm, «S:c. But the mite and Tachina flies are universally prevalent, 

 and all writers agree are useful in reducing the number of locusts in 

 the eastern border of the locust district. 



June 2, before reaching Kansas City, I found on stepping off from 

 the cars at different stations that the weak, feeble locusts were infested 

 by large red mites attached to the base of the abdomen and to the un- 

 der side of the wings. 



The little red mite, which has proved to be such a benefactor to the 

 people of the West, does not apparently difler from those found on the 

 red-legged locust of the Eastern States in size or form. It is the six- 

 legged young of some four-legged garden-mite, and has not yet been 

 reared to adult life, and may be called Tromhidium gryllaria.* 



The scarlet sillcy mite. — Another mite, which is possibly the parent 

 of the minute red six-legged parasitic mite, is the scarlet silky mite 

 {Tromhidium sericeum Say, Plate II, Fig. 4). It is about 2 lines in length, 

 and has been abundant for two years in Minnesota, eating the eggs of 

 the locust. As proof of its beneficial nature, I insert the following 

 extract from a western paper: 



Governor Miller, in a letter from Windom, says : 



" Last evening, when wo reached Worthingtbn from Lake Sbetek, there was quite 

 an excitement in Worthington, owing to the fact that the citizens were generally con- 

 vinced that a red parasite was destroying the grasshopper-eggs. I examined the mat- 

 ter carefully myself, and became convinced that the destruction of the eggs in that 

 immediate vicinity was well assured ; but I determined not to write you and excite 

 any hopes until a farther and more complete examination could be had. We there- 

 fore furnished our Bohemian friends with a bottle of the eggs, and their posts, and the 

 commission left in high spirits. We postponed further investigation until this morn- 

 ing, when I left and prosecuted the examination with vigor. The farmers in the 

 vicinity knew nothing of these signs of deliverance until the visitors from Worthington 



*Astoma locuatarum of Walsh (no descr.); Astoma f/rijUuria of Le Baur; Astoma fjnjl- 

 laria of Riley. 



