66 REPORT UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



some of them about. The injury in Missouri was comparatively slight 

 compared with that done in 1874 in Kansas. 



1875. — ^' Serious and distressing," says Mr. Eiley, '^ as were the ravages 

 of this insect in 1874, when the winged swarms overswept several of 

 the Western States, and poured into our western counties in the fall, 

 the injury and suffering that ensuei were as naught in Missouri 

 compared to what resulted from the unfledged myriads that hatched 

 out in the spring of 1875." The spring was propitious to the young, 

 few adverse causes tending to reduce their number being in operation. 

 " The winter of 1874-'75, though commencing late, was severe, steady, 

 and protracted till toward the first of May, when spring suddenly came 

 upon us in full force. There was no very variable weather in the earlier 

 months j whereas such weather did occur in 18G7." Besides this the 

 summer seasons of 1873 and 1874 were dry and hot. The worst injury 

 was done in the two western tiers of Missouri. " The greatest damage 

 extended over a strip twenty-five miles each side of the Missouri ELver, 

 from Omaha to Kansas City, and then extending south to the south- 

 western limit of Missouri." 



^' Early in May the reports from the locust district of the State were 

 very conflicting ; the insects were confined to within short radii of their 

 hatching-grounds. The season was propitious, and where the insects 

 did not occur, everything promised well. As the month drew more and 

 more to a close, the insects extended the area of destruction and the 

 alarm became general. By the end of the month the non-timbered 

 portions of the middle western counties were as bare as in winter. 

 Here and there patches of Amarantus hlitum and a few jagged stalks 

 of milkweed (Asclepias) served to relieve the monotony. An occasional 

 out-field or low piece of prairie would also remain green ; but with these 

 exceptions one might travel for days by buggy and find ever^^thing 

 eaten off, even to underbrush in the woods. The suffering was great 

 and the people well-nigh disheartened. Cattle and stock of all kinds, ex- 

 cepthogs andpoultry, were driven away to the more favored counties, and 

 relief committees were organized. Many families left the State under 

 the influence of the temporary panic and the unnecessary forebodings 

 and exaggerated statement of the pessimists. Chronic loafers and 

 idlers even made some trouble and threatened to seize the goods and 

 property of the well-to-do. Belief work was, however, carried on 

 energetically, and with few exceptions no violence occurred. Early in 

 June the insects began to leave ; the farmers began replanting with a 

 will. As the month advanced the prospects brightened, and by the 4th 

 of July the whole country presented a green and thrifty appearance 

 again. The greatest damage occurred in the counties bordering on the 

 Missouri. Eiver to Liberty, and thence southward ; and Bates, Buchanan, 

 Barton, Clay, Cass, Clinton, Henry, Jackson, Johnson, Lafayette, Platte, 

 Saint Clair, and Vernon suffered most. The other counties in the dis- 

 trict invaded in 1874, and especially those along the eastern borders of 



