92 THE entomologist's record. 



lixes the " permanent " home of this species as the district between 

 103° and 117'^ W. long, and iO^-oB^ N. lat., and describes it as being 

 considerably elevated al)ove the surrounding country, treeless over the 

 greater portion, and also arid, thus agreeing to some extent with the 

 locust-inhabited areas of Eastern Europe, Northern Africa, Western 

 and Southern Asia, Central Australia, and portions of Central and 

 South America. He considers that the species is thoroughly migra- ^ 

 tory by nature, and asserts that, even in years when no distant migra- 

 tions are carried out, some of the insects may be seen on the move in 

 July, August, and September, whilst the progeny of a single female 

 will move from the locality where it hatched to some other peine in 

 this native habitat or adjacent to it. This same observer points out 

 that, although this insect at times visits and breeds throughout the 

 greater portion of the country lying Avest of the Mississippi river and 

 east of the Cascade range of mountains, it is most partial to the region 

 bounded — (1) on the east, by a line beginning on the south, at the 

 junction of the parallel 37° N. lat. with the meridian 106° W. long., 

 and running in a north-easterly direction to the point where the 

 parallel 45° N. lat. cuts the meridian 99° W. long., whence the course 

 changes to the north until the boundary line is reached, where it in- 

 clines to the north-west in a curve and strikes parallel 53° N. lat. at 

 the meridian 103° W. long. The northern boundary is the commence- 

 ment of the trans-continental timber region of British America. On 

 the Avest this region is bounded by a line nearly coincident with the 

 meridian 107° W. long., sometimes running to the east and at other 

 times to the west of it, and towards the south making an abrupt angb^ 

 to the south-east to avoid the desert regions of southern Nevada and 

 a portion of south-western Utah. All the country comprised in the 

 above district is at times overrun by swarms of this locust, and 

 possesses such climatic and other conditions as are best adapted to its 

 life and great increase. INIuch further information as to the character 

 and extent of, and general influences affecting the migrations of this 

 species is comprised in this IlijHirt, pp. 22-52, 



In the same publication (pp. 61-64) Bruner points out that AnaJints 

 si)iiplex, a large wingless, dark-coloured Decticid, known as the 

 Western Cricket, appears to have a distribution coincident with that of 

 2Iela)Wjili(i> ^jiretKs, that it sometimes migrates in vast swarms, march- 

 ing in droves or herds, as a rule, collected into lines, varying from a 

 few to hundreds of yards in width, and from a few hundred feet to a 

 mile or more in length. Normally it is confined to the more elevated 

 wastes and mountain valleys, from which, in abnormal seasons, the 

 swarms migrate into Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Washington, Idaho and 

 Montana. In Insect Life, viii., p. 47, there is a further note on the 

 migration of Anabnts siinjile.c, which is stated to have been so abundant 

 in 1895, on the Bear River, at the boundary of Utah and Idaho, that 

 they formed an army ten miles in length and a quarter of a mile wide, 

 devouring everything green in their path. The observer says that, 

 "in front of this army the landscape was green, behind it a brown 

 waste. Large streams deflected their course, but small creeks they 

 crossed with impunity, jumping in and swimming. They climbed the 

 willows that grew over the brook, and by their combined weight lent 

 them over, thus bridging the stream. After the crickets crossed, the 

 willows appeared as if scorched by fire. These streams Avere filled with 



