dG REPORT UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



its front at the mouth of Shield's Eiver, the 17th. I then left them in 

 a strong west wind, steering up Shield's Eiver, and also through Boze- 

 man's Pass to the Gallatin Valley, while I passed through the gate of the 

 mountains to Bottler's Park, which, with the National Park, they did not 

 enter, nor have they but once, viz, in 1875, since 1868. From July 

 22-24, I saw them numerous and destructive in the Gallatin Valley, 

 where it was estimated that they destroyed at least one- third of the gar- 

 dens, oats, and barley, but much less of other products. They soon after 

 scattered and strangely vanished, laying few eggs, nor did I learn of any 

 being deposited anywhere upon my return down the Yellowstone and 

 Missouri to Bismarck, and along the Northern Pacific Eailroad to Du- 

 luth, and hence think there is little prospect of damage from them this 

 year." 



THE LOCUST IN IDAHO. 



It may be regarded as a general rule that when Northern Utah is 

 visited by locusts, they have mainly come from the Snake Eiver Valley 

 in Eastern Idaho. Facts regarding the history of the locust in this 

 Territory are very scanty, and additional data are extremely desirable. 



Mr. W. N. Byers gives us the first published information on this point. 

 He says: "In 1852, 1 first observed the insect in question in the valley 

 of the South Fork of the Columbia Eiver, not far from Fort Hall. A 

 swarm lasting two or three days passed over from west southwest, 

 moving with the wind, at times darkening the sun, covering houses, 

 cattle, and wagons, against which they were driven. The Digger and 

 Snake Indians were gathering them for food." (Hayden's U. S. Geologi- 

 cal Survey, Wyoming, for 1870.) Mr. J. K. Lum tells us that late in 

 July or early in August, 1852, he saw locusts in the Bear Eiver Valley, 

 and westward near Fort Hall (at Portneuf Canon and Soda Springs in 

 the Montana road). Mr. W. L. Morton also told me that in 1852, in 

 traveling on the emigrant road in Bear Eiver Valley, between Blue 

 Springs and Lost Springs, he was one hour passing through a swarm of 

 locusts flying northward. 



That the locust has periodically infested the Snake Eiver Valley 

 about Boise City is intimated in the following statement by Drs. Jaquett 

 and Mofifatt, United States Army, in "A Eeport on Barracks and Hos- 

 pitals, with Descriptions of Military Posts":^° "The most formidable 

 foes of the agriculturist in this region are the cricket or grasshopper, 

 or both, in countless numbers during the month of May or June. 

 Their track, when in full force, is marked by the utter destruction of all 

 verdure." 



At Boise City, according to Eev. William Bollard, eggs were laid by 

 locusts in 1869 and 1870 ; the swarms traveled west. The locust years 

 at Boise City were 1869, 1870, and 1877. 



According to our observations the locusts hatched out in more or less 



'"Circular No. 4, War Department, Surgoon-General's Office, WnshiDgton, December 5, 1870. 4°, p. 

 426. 



