STATE OF THINGS IN KANSAS IN MAY. 9 



death and dissolution from tho cold and wet weather that followed the principal hatch- 

 ing. That this weather has been largely instramental in causing death among the 

 hopping pests I have no doubt, because there are always a certain portion jnst hatched 

 or just molting, which are particularly tender and suscei^tible to the injurious effects 

 of cold, drenching rains. But they have been dying and are now dying fast during the 

 present warm and sunny weather, and these dead insects are not parasitized, but simply 

 diseased — sick. In my last (ninth) report made to the State of Missouri, in stating the 

 causes that might diminish the prospective injury, I wrote : 



We may therefore expect that, as compared with 1875, a larger proportion of the 

 young that will hatch in 1876 will be weakly and soon perish. * * * There is a 

 bare possibility that, after the bulk of the young have hatched, and before they have 

 commenced to do serious harm, we may have such unseasonably cold and wet weather 

 as to kill them by myriads, and effectually weaken their power for injury. 



Both possibilities have become actualities. 



It is a singular fact, however, that notwithstanding the large numbers which hatched, 

 no one has been able to discover the dead carcasses of these disappearing locusts in 

 anything like the numbers necessary to account for the disappearance ; and, in most 

 instances where dead insects have been reported tome, an examination at once showed 

 that the parties had mistaken therefor the exuviae or empty skins of those which had 

 molted; which skins are always abundant under straw or weeds, or at the base of a 

 wheat-stool, where the young insects congregate when undergoing their molts. 



The young locusts possess remarkable tenacity of life, and the fact that the bulk of 

 those remaining are in the third stage (i. e., have molted twice) and must have hatched 

 before the unfavorable weather set in, is in itself enough to show that other factors 

 than those meteorological have entered largely into the problem of disappearance. 

 The principal of these I will briefly enumerate, because, unlike meteorological or 

 climatic influences, they may, most of them, be relied upon in future, are largely 

 within man's control, and may even be rendered still more effective. They are, iu 

 short, elements of certainty in the problem of locust destruction. 



First. The natural Enemies of the Locust. — These consist in the present instance (the 

 parasites not affecting it till it gets older) of the vertebrate animals which are known 

 to feed upon it, such as snakes, gophers, field-mice, &c., and birds. These last have 

 been more efficient than most of us imagine, and I never saw blackbirds, i^lover, &c., 

 so numerous. Their dung often whitens the fields where the locusts were once thick, 

 and they have been the principal cause of the latter's disappearance. The prolonged 

 cold and wet retarded the development of the insects, benefited the wheat, and gave 

 our feathered friends an excellent opportunity to check them. We should employ all 

 means to encourage the multiplication of the birds. 



Second. The Farmers. — In most parts of the State I have traversed, the farmers had 

 determined from the beginning to make war, and they did make war, and so success- 

 fully that the insects were pretty effectually destroyed before the cold and wet oc- 

 curred. The means employed were mostly kerosene-pans and burning — over 700 kero- 

 sene-pans having been made at Salina alone. 



Third. The Weatlier. — The continued cold after the principal hatching had the effect, 

 as already stated, to kill many that were just hatching or molting. The heavy rains 

 washed many away into tbe streams, and in some instances in soils which contain 

 sand and lime, and which are liable to crack when dry, the rains doubtless covered up 

 and killed such as were sheltering in such fissures. 



Fourth. Climate. — The fact that the insects, especially after the second and third 

 meltings, are dying, is simply confirmatory of the views I have always held and ad- 

 vanced, that the species is out of its natural habitat, and can never permanently thrive 

 here. These views I need not now repeat at length. While the number that have 

 thus become sickly and died have not so far begun to compare with those which have 

 X)erished in the other three ways mentioned, it will doubtless continue to increase as 

 the insects get larger, for already they show a tendency to unnaturally group together 

 during the heat of the day, and feed much less ravenously than when in perfect health. 



