1921 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 25 



slopes on which the cattle have been allowed to range all summer and spring, the 

 Bunch-grass has been practically exterminated by overgrazing just in the same 

 way as it has on the main ranges. 



As the cattle and horses increased the Bunch-grass died out, being replaced 

 by a number of other grasses, until to-day the Bunch-grass has been almost en- 

 tirely destroyed. It can only be found growing in enclosed pastures, such as the 

 winter ranges just mentioned on the river valley slopes, and aromxl homesteaders' 

 shacks where a small area is sometimes fenced to keep out the cattle, or in clumps 

 of rose bushes, cacti, etc., where the cattle cannot eat it down to the ground. 



On an adjoining range, known as Alkali Lake range, there are teome large 

 areas which have been fenced for a nurniber of years and some interesting observa- 

 tions can be made in these pastures. The winter range, sloping down to the Fraser 

 river has been most carefully guarded and has a fine stand of Bunch-grass growing 

 on it. Many of the plants were more than three feet in height and very large 

 irj circumference. 



Other fenced areas on the upper range had a fair percentage of Bunch-grass 

 among the other grasses. In these fenced pastures the cattle had been allowed 

 to run only for a few months each year, hut even this small amount of grazing 

 has caused about 60 per cent, of the Bunch-grass to disappear. 



pastures mentioned above, the Bunch-grass has been almost exterminated and 

 the range presented the same appearance as at Eiske Creek. A piece of this 

 bare, depleted range, was fenced in about 1914 and no cattle have been allowed 

 on it since. To-day we find a good stand of grass on this piece of land, but very 

 little Bunch-grass. 



From these observations it would appear that Bunch-grass is very easily killed 

 out by cattle, and once gone will not return again unless the roots are still present 

 and alive. The other grasses, however, which replace the Bunch-grass, if kept 

 free from cattle for five or six years, will form a good pasture again. It is 

 worth emphasizing at this point, in drawing attention to the influence of locusts 

 on the range, that the only difference between these good pastures and the bare 

 range outside is the presence of a harbed-wire fence, a complete barrier to the 

 cattle but no hindrance to the grasshoppers should they wish to leave this range 

 and enter the taller grasses of the pastures. As a matter of fact, as will be shown 

 later, the grasshoppers do not prefer the longer grass of these pastures but will 

 remain outside so long as a vestige of green vegetation remains. If they enter 

 they only feed on the edges, the tall grass being an unnatural habitat of these insects, 

 particularly of the main injurious species. 



At the time when the Eiske Creek range was covered with Bunch-grass, and 

 in fact, up until the last few years when the increase in cattle and horses has kept 

 the range continually eaten down, the grasshoppers were never in sufficient numbers 

 to be noticed by the settlers. Several of the older ranchers claim that grasshoppers 

 were not presen-t on the ranges in the early days, but have come suddenly during the 

 last few years. There is little doubt that this statement in its substance is incorrect. 

 It is probable that all the injurious species, now found, were present in the years 

 gone by, but in far smaller numbers and have only increased but slightly from 

 time to time. 



There is little doubt that the main injurious species of grasshoppers found 

 on the British Columbia ranges are insects whose natural habitat is a dry, bare. 



