28 MONTANA EXPERIMENT STATION 



GRASSHOPPERS IN 1918 



In view of the extensive damage caused by grasshoppers in 

 1917 we were on the alert in the spring of 1918, looking for any 

 outbreaks which might occur in any part of the State. Our attention 

 was especially directed toward those localities which had suffered 

 most heavily in the previous year. As mentioned on page 207 of 

 my last report, it was feared the species of grasshopper which had 

 appeared in great numbers was none other than the Rocky Mountain 

 migratory locust which some fifty years ago had wrought such 

 serious and extensive damage over a large part of the United States 

 and that we might reasonably expect a repetition of the devastation 

 wrought in the earlier years. On the whole, grasshopper damages 

 were less severe than in 1917, but there were reports from numerous 

 widely separated parts of the State, most of which were looked into 

 by representatives from this office. The particular long-winged 

 species resembling, if not identical with, the Rocky Mountain migra- 

 tory locust which had prevailed in 1917 appeared again in some 

 localities but, for the most part, the damage in 1918 was caused by 

 miscellaneous resident species which are always present in greater 

 or less numbers. Among these were the Yellow-Winged Locust or 

 the Warrior Locust {Camnula pelliicida Scud.), the Two-Striped 

 Locust {Melanoplus hivittatus Say), the Big-Headed Grasshopper 

 {Aulocara elliotti Thomas), and various others. 



The species resembling the Rocky Mountain locust was abund- 

 ant and injurious in a region extending through the southern portion 

 of Broadwater and the eastern portion of Gallatin counties. In this 

 region, which also had been visited by this insect the previous 

 season, some thousands of acres of wheat were seriously damaged. 

 .Some fields were completely eaten off. The farmers were energetic 

 m their efforts to control the outbreak and poison bran mash and 

 'hopper catching machines were used. This locality was visited by 

 Mr. J. R. Parker and myself in September and we found that the 

 insects had very largely disappeared without laying eggs. While 

 earlier in the year the long-winged grasshopper had prevailed 

 throughout this region, at the time of this visit the grasshoppers 

 that were present were of other species. 



Parasitic flies {Sarcoj)ha§a spp.) were present in great pro- 

 fusion and we believe that in this locality, as in western Montana 

 in 1917, these parasites were very effective in the prevention of what 



