THE AMEEICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



53 



GRASSHOPPERS. 



Wc rcocutly took occasion to state (p. IG) , that 

 several species of our common Grasshoppers have 

 been unusually abundant this year in various 

 parts of Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa. "We have 

 siuce received, from a correspondent, the same 

 statement with regard to Kentucky; and the 

 public papers record the same fact with regard 

 to most of the Northwestern States. In common 

 with the Black Crickets {Acheta abbreviata, 

 Harris), which have swarmed tliis year through- 

 out the same region in similar profusion, these 

 insects have done a considerable amount of 

 damage, devouring indiscriminately all kinds of 

 vegetable food; while the crickets, whenever 

 they gained admission into houses, after eating 

 iuto apples and any other vegetable matter that 

 they found there, often concluded their repast by 

 gnawing holes iuto boots, shoes, and woolen 

 clothes. 



It is very remarkable that in the State of New 

 York, as we learn from our ornithological friend, 

 Dr. Velie of that State, the Grasshoppers, in- 

 stead of being more numerous than usual, have 

 actually been so scarce in 1808 that it was almost 

 impossible to flud a few individuals for iish-bait. 

 The following remarks by Mr. Jas. H. Parsons, 

 of Franklin, N. Y., point in the same direction: 



I have not seou half a clozeu grasshoppers this season . 

 I have never kno\vii a year when hens could not live 

 without feeding, from the middle of July till October, 

 until the present. I have been obliged to feed daily; 

 for there has been nothing of the insect kind for the 

 hens to oat but a few black crickets ; and to find them 

 it was necessary for the hens to get iuto the wake of a 

 horse or a cow, as it was feeding ui the pasture. Dar- 

 ing the months of August and September it is usual to 

 see a great many large brown grasshoppers (CEdipoda 

 Carolina, hiim.) flying along dusty roads. I have not 

 seen one of this kind this summer. 



TO KEEP SEED PEAS FROM BUGS. v 



A correspondent of the £«mZ TFo;-M puts them , as soon 

 as dry, in bottles, and corks them perfectly tight. A 

 better way is to grow a second crop of peas in a season 

 from the seed obtained from the first crop , and there 

 will be no buggy peas, no matter where or how kept. 



In tliis loaragraph the good is sadly mixed with 

 the bad. The method proposed in the flisi sen- 

 tence, viz., corldng the peas perfectly tight as 

 soon as they arc dry, would avail notlung ; for the 

 Pea-weevil {Bruclmspisi, Linn.) breeds in the pea 

 wliile it is green, and, passing the winter in the 

 ripened seed, does not leave it till the following 

 spring. Thus it would be like locking the stable 

 door to keep the horse out when he was already 

 in. The advice in the second sentence is good 

 and thorough ; for, as the weevil in question is 

 single-brooded, a second crop of peas will be 

 entirely exempt from its attacks. 



ELEPHANT BEETLES IN UTAH. 



Utah is not only plagued with Locusts, but 

 with an insect called the "Elephant Beetle." A 

 credible person, who returned from the neigh- 

 borhood of Salt Lake recently, saw myriads of 

 them coveiing the earth with their shining 

 brownish-black bodies, and destroying every- 

 thing which they met in their path. Even small 

 animals, he was informed by the ill-fated resi- 

 dents, did not escape the voracity of these hordes. 

 Their bodies were crowded upon, and worried, 

 and wounded cruelly by tlie powerful antennre 

 (???) until they fell down exhausted by their 

 struggles and loss of blood, when they were 

 fastened upon by thousands and devoured. The 

 entire carcass of a sheep was eaten, and the 

 bones picked clean, in 2 1-i minutes, and it is 

 said that a dead ox would be gobbled up by them 

 in a quarter of an hour. So ferocious are these 

 giant beetles that mothers are afraid to let their 

 little childi-en go out of the house unattended by 

 a grown person. In their frequent bloody con- 

 tests, the wounded are devoured on the instant. 

 —N. Y. Tribune, Oct. 6, '08. 



[We should like much to receive specimens of 

 tliis miraculous beetle from tlic land of the 

 Saints.— Eds.] ^iiaJjIHi f 



THE RAVAGES OP INSECTS. 



[From the Proceedings of the American In,5titiite Fanners' 

 Club, New York Tribune, Aug. 25, 1SG8.] 



Wc may say positively that destructive insects are 

 increasing every year, and that they destroy as great 

 an amount of food as is saved . To meet these scourges 

 will require our best eflbrts, The science of Entomo- 

 logy, by wliich insects are classified and tlieir nature 

 studied, is becoming of national impoi'tance, and we 

 are sure that without its help little will be done. The 

 tii'st step in every pursuit is analysis, by which we 

 separate a whole iuto parts, upon each of which atten- 

 tion is to be fixed . Here progi'ess commences . One of 

 the first results in this study is to make distinction 

 between insects which are useful and injurious , for un- 

 less this be done one will be as likely to destroy his 

 friends as his enemies . At present this study is so far 

 from being popular, that the greater part of educated 

 men, so-called, are as ignorant as the unlettered. It is 

 manifest that the elements of this science should bo 

 taught in our common schools, if it is to become of 

 much use; for the transmission of learning directly 

 from the learned few to the common people, without 

 the intervention of a teacher, is impossible. In fitting 

 teachers for their duties, a knowledge of this science 

 should be included among their qualifications, as much 

 as of aritlmietic or grammar. At present, however, 

 we have no colleges where studies of this practical 

 nature are pursued, except incidentally; but when the 

 agricultural universities shall be fairly established, we 

 may exiiect that the need indicated will be fairly sup- 

 plied. — N, C. Meeier. 



