246 EEPORT UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



tain DO parasites, and I judge that their death was in consequence of impaired strength, 

 this second generation, raised in an unnatural climate, not equaling in vitality the first 

 generation, and succumbing to the fatigue consequent upon extended flight. — (Prof. F. 

 H. Snow, of Kansas State University, in Observer of Nature.) 



AdxIous not to let the occasion pass without fully testing the ability 

 of the species to sustain itself and multiply in the Lower Mississippi 

 Valley country, we made experiments the past summer both at Saint 

 Louis, Mo., and Carbondale, 111. At the former station, aside from the 

 indoor experiments alluded to in discussing the breeding habits of the 

 species, and in which we hatched many thousands of eggs from Kansas, 

 and vainly endeavored to bring the insects to maturity in spacious 

 vivaria, we also conducted an extensive experiment in the open air. We 

 built a tight inclosure, 12 by 12 feet square and 3J feet high, and so lined 

 with sloping zinc around the edges that no unfledged locust could escape. 

 There was plenty of grass and weeds in the inclosure, and we hatched 

 therein many thousands of young spreti. The inclosure was watched 

 carefully. Most of the insects died in the second and third stages, and 

 one solitary female, small, feeble, and with colorless hind thighs, acquired 

 full wings, but died soon after being brought indoors. At Carbondale 

 the experiment, in cages, and with eggs from Minnesota, was more suc- 

 cessful. A number of the specimens became winged, and some lived till 

 the latter part of September, but laid no eggs. 



DO THE INSECTS WHICH HATCH IN THE TEMPORARY REQION EVER 

 REMAIN,' AND, IF SO, DO THEY LAY EGrGS? 



The exodus of the winged insects from those portions of the Tempo- 

 rary region so sorely ravaged in the spring of 1875 was so complete, 

 that by August, with scarcely an exception, none were to be found 

 south of the 42d parallel. Those which remained were loaded with 

 parasites and soon died. The question whether any of the insects re- 

 main in the country indicated, and whether, if so, they lay eggs, is interest- 

 ing and important. With a view of getting at the facts for 1877, as 

 well as of forming a correct judgment of the prosi^ects for 1878, Mr. 

 Eiley sent out the following circular question to his correspondents : 



Did any of the locusts remain in your locality after the departure of those which 

 hatched and developed with you ; and, if so, were any of them noticed to lay eggs? 



The replies to this question (App. 14) indicate how very generally the 

 insects left, and how those which failed to do so died from disease and 

 parasites, and laid no eggs. Mr. G. F. Gaumer writes (December 15, 

 1877) from Lawrence, Kans., as follows : 



Early in August I made a trip through the southern counties, via Fort Scott, to Inde- 

 pendence, stopping at several points on the route, and returnfxl over the Leavenworth, 

 Lawrence and Galveston Railroad to Lawrence. 



Although I repeatedly sought for C. spretus, yet I failed to discover any. Not even 

 a diseased or disabled individual was found. Since that time I have received many 

 boxes of specimens from regions where spretus hatched in abundance, but in no 

 instance have they ever contained si^ecimens of that insect. 



