360 BULLETIN UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



Eeturaiag on the 12th of August, the valley of the Arkansas as far 

 as Pueblo (how much farther I do not know) presented a scene of sad 

 desolation. At all the lower levels, the floods had completed the destruc- 

 tion which the girasshoppers had partly effected, and left the farms with 

 not one growing stalk, where a few days before broad tracts were cov- 

 ered with luxuriant crops. Perhaps half a dozen fields, chiefly a little 

 higher and farther back from the river, were untouched; but nearly all 

 the others within sight had been totally destroyed. 



Arriving at Colorado Springs on the afternoon of this day, no indica- 

 tions of their ravages were to be seen. A few specimens could be no- 

 ticed here and there, hopping about in the grass, and adjacent to the 

 water-courses somewhat larger numbers were set in motion by the sweep- 

 ing of my net. No complaint was bei6g made of noticeable damage being 

 done b}^ them in this section, and no remark was heard relative to their 

 appearance. The next day, at Mauitou, they were seen hopping in great 

 numbers, but no swarms were alighting from the air. 



Ascending the mountains in the Ute Pass on the follov,'ing day, the 

 rocks in many places were observed to be almost covered with them, and 

 their continued headlong descent from the elevated points above caused 

 them to dash headlong against the faces and eyes of the drivers and 

 horses, to the great discomfort of both. After reaching the Divide, they 

 had ceased to be troublesome, and no more than siugle examples were 

 met with on the mountains and in Manitou Park. In the mean time, 

 heavy local showers of rain drenched the peaks and poured in floods 

 through the gulches, drowning the insects or washing them away. Per- 

 haps for that reason the grasshoppers had generally disappeared from the 

 mountains when I returned through the Ute Pass. But a different scene 

 presented itself when larrived at Colorado City: the air was filled with the 

 buzz of wings; the ground was everywhere covered with a leaping, strug- 

 gling mass of grasshoppers. In some places, they were piled up several 

 inches deep. Fresh hordes were continually arriving from the mountains. 

 A dusky spot, several acres in extent, might be seen in the air high up, 

 and in a few seconds the surface of the ground received new additions 

 to the already countless numbers. Strangely enough, they were not 

 universally distributed. Only a few localities west of the railroad were 

 overrun by them, and several of these were covered with a luxuriant 

 growth of weeds and wild flowers. Some of the corn-fields were not 

 attacked, although only a few rods from the spots upon which they lodged. 

 A few smaller swarms left the places upon which they first alighted, 

 and flew off toward the southeast. Evidently, they were preparing to 

 continue the species. Many of the males were chasing the females^ 

 and a few had already united in sexual intercourse. As my time for 

 remaining in this vicinity was all exhausted at noon of the 17th of 

 August, I did not have the opportunity to see many of them in the act of 

 depositing their eggs; and during the next two days, which were spent 

 near Denver, no swarms of the species appeared. Small numbers of 



