RED MITES AS LOCUST ENEMIES. 307 



quently referred to as tbe " red mite," the ^' little red bug," &c., as 

 well as by tlie following extracts : 



The course of the locusts was brought to a sudden halt by the operation of some 

 parasite, appearing in the shape of small red mites, which attach themselves to the 

 body, under the wings, where they suck the carcass to a dry shell ; the dead bodies of 

 the grasshoppers almost covering some plants, where they have taken hold of a leaf or 

 stalk, and clasped it, with a dead embrace ; many others fall to the ground to die, too 

 weak to rise again. In a half day's examination, where they were very thick, we 

 failed to find more than two grasshoppers. not so attacked, and this was not local : for 

 a distance of thirty miles across the country they were found similarly affected. — [Edi- 

 torial correspondence of the Prairie Farmer, August 21, 1869. 



A discovery has been made of great interest. A small red bug or spider, about the 

 size of a small kernel of wheat, is found in great numbers, creeping into the holes to 

 the grasshopper eggs and eating the contents of the eggs voraciously. Great numbers 

 were found in the act of eating the eggs, with empty egg-shells in the same nest. 

 The extent of the little friends is not limited, but they have been seen in many locali- 

 ties in different directions in this place. Mr. J. D. Johnston, Antrim, proved conclu- 

 sively that these red bugs are making sure work among the eggs. — [_Madelia (Minn.) 

 Times, 1874. 



Last evening, when we reached Worthington from Lake Shetek, there was quite an 

 excitement in Worthington, owing to the fact that the citizens were generally con- 

 vinced that a red parasite was destroying the grasshopper eggs. I examined the mat- 

 ter carefully myself, and became convinced that the destruction of the eggs in that 

 immediate vicinity was well assured; but I determined not to write you and excite 

 any hope until a further and more complete examination could be had. We tHerefore 

 furnished our Bohemian friends with a bottle of the eggs and their pests, and the com- 

 mission left in high spirits. We postponed further investigation until this morning, 

 when I left and prosecuted the examination with vigor. The farmers in the vicinity 

 knew nothing of these signs of deliverance until the visitors from Worthington reached 

 them, and I feel safe in saying to you that in a circle of ten miles from Worthington 

 there will scarcely be an egg left by to-morrow night. I send you a bottle herewith 

 containing the cones and the parasites. We could scarcely find a cone or sack, except 

 as they were indicated by the parasite on the surface ; and each cone, which was not 

 entirely destroyed, had from five to fifty of the red laborers at work upon the eggs. 

 We found scores of cells with no eggs left, except the shells. * * * I stopped 

 for fifteen minutes one and a half miles west of Wilder, where Section-Foreman Smith 

 took me to that portion of his farm where eggs were deposited. We could find none 

 by general digging, but wherever we found, as we frequently did, the red parasite on 

 the surface, we found the cone beneath, with the parasite at work consuming the eggs. 

 * * * I am aware that two years ago this parasite was found working upon the 

 eggs at Madelia and other places, but here we have the remedy almost as soon as the 

 eggs are laid, while in the former instances the parasite was only discovered 'in the 

 spring. — [Letter from Ex-Governor Stephen Miller, written from Windom, Minn., Au- 

 gust 15, 1876. 



We send herewith a box of grasshopper eggs, together with the " silky mite," of 

 which so much has been said. You can see a sample of the work they are doing. They 

 are over the ground and in it wherever eggs have been laid. They suck the eggs, leav- 

 ing the bare shell. We have talked with farmers from all parts of the county, and 

 they all tell the same story — not a cell to be found that is not partially or wholly de- 

 stroyed. We have personally inspected them in more than twenty different places, and 

 are satisfied that in this county the eggs of the festive g. h. are a " total wreck." Allow 

 us to suggest that you call for a report from every county in the State that has been 

 infested by them. — [Letter to Pioneei' Press and Tribune, from Bell & Gruelle, Worth- 

 ington, Nobles County, Minnesota, August 16, 1876. 



I send, inclosed in a circular tin box, mailed with this, some dirt containing ^rass- 



