DIRECTION OF INVADING SWARMS PRIOR TO 1877. 149 



In Kansas they flew very generally from tbe nortliwest. At Council 

 Grove they were observed passing to the southeast in great numbers; 

 at Holton, Kans., they seemed to have come from the northeast, as Walsh 

 states that according to an observer at Holton, " they can be seen by 

 millions passing to the southwest," but this may have been a local varia- 

 tion in their flight. 



In Nebraska the swarms came from the same general direction as in 

 the year previous, namely, from the northwest. An observer at Rich- 

 land states that August 29-31, for a period of two and a half days, there 

 was a constant influx of grasshoppers from the northwest. 



In Iowa the Invasion of locusts came from the westward, according to 

 Mr. Walsh, who quotes from two independent sources, the statement 

 that " the Kansas grasshoppers, which for six weeks past have grad- 

 ually made their way eastward, appeared at Osceola, Clark County, early 

 in October." At Algona they came September 30, in large numbers, and 

 "seemed to come from the west or southwest." In Pocahontas County 

 they came from the southwest September 10, 



1868. — This year locusts appeared in Riley County, Kansas, flying ap- 

 parently from the northwest, August 7 ; a southeast wind prevented 

 their leaving on the 8th. (It is possible that the swarms came from 

 Iowa and Minnesota, rather than from the west.) 



In Iowa the flights were from the northwest, as it is stated that a 

 strong wind from the northwest carried the locusts August 8 into Page 

 County. 



In 1873 locusts entered Texas in September from the north, the wind 

 being northerly. 



In 1874 all the accounts indicate that the flights were from a general 

 northwesterly course. We can find no records relative to flights in 

 Texas absolutely indicating that the swarms came in any other direc- 

 tion than from the north or northwest. 



In Missouri the flights are stated by Mr. Riley to have been from the 

 Rocky Mountain region. The general direction from which they came 

 was from the northwest, the reports showing remarkable agreement in 

 this respect. The greatest deviation from this course occurred in the 

 more eastern or last counties visited, when the army became pretty 

 well thinned out and demoralized, and flew about with less unilormity, 

 being more governed by the wind. The dates at which they are reported 

 from the different counties are interesting, and show that the insects 

 advanced at an average rate of not more than three miles a day. That 

 they travel at a far greater speed, every one who has witnessed their 

 migrations is aware, and this low average rate is due to the fact that 

 the insects were no longer as vigorous and numerous as they had been 

 in the country to the west. Another interesting fact is deducible from 

 the returns, viz, that the rate of advance was greater in the counties 

 first invaded than those last reached — a fact indicating that the insects 

 were getting more and more exhausted and less desirous of flight the 



