392 REPORT UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICA.L COMMISSION. 



come predisposed to roost, in that proportion the machines will prove 

 more serviceable at night. 



We constructed a machine last summer embodying the features 

 already mentioned, and it answered the purpose very well indeed. We 

 reproduce the following account from the Scientific American : 



Professor Riley, of the Entomological Commission, perfected last summer a grass- 

 hopper machine, which seems to be just the thing. It is intended to do away with 

 all extra material, like coal-oil, which in the long run is expensive, and to work at all 

 seasons, whether the insects are just hatching or full grown. It is not patented, nor 

 does the Professor intend to patent it, unless it should be found necessary to prevent 

 others from doing so. It was worked at Manhattan, Kans., and gave great satisfac- 

 tion, and was described in the Industrialist, the organ of the Kansas State Agricultural 

 College, as follows : (See Fig. 94.) 



The mechanical department has constructed a new locust exterminator for Professor 

 Riley. The machine operates upon the bagging principle. It is, briefly, a large canvas 

 bag stretched upon a light but strong frame, an i placed upon runners, which extend 

 with curved tips a little in front of the mouth. The canvas is stretched upon the in- 

 side of the frame, thus making the bag smooth and even within. This bag has a mouth 

 (A) ten feet long and two feet high, arid converges backward to a small box or frame, 

 one foot square, with a slide cut-off (D). This box forms the mouth to a secondary bag 

 (B), two and a half feet long and one foot in diameter, which ends in a eecond frame 

 having two short runners below it. There is a sliding door (E) of wire gauze in the 

 end frame, and the secondary bag is strengthened by a couple of strips of leather connect- 

 ing the two small frames. The machine is made to "take more laud" by means of two 

 right-angled triangular wings (C), about six feet long, that hinge to the upright ends of 

 the large frame, in such manner that the rectangle joins the upper corner of the frame. 

 From the lower side of this wing. are suspended a number of teeth, or beaters, which, 

 swinging loosely, drive the locusts inward. The machine is handled by means of two 

 ropes hitched to the outer runners or to the outer and lower side of the mouth of the 

 frame. • 



On smooth ground the machine can be easily hauled by two men, but where the 

 grass is tall and thick it pulls harder. The locusts, on hopping into the machine, soon 

 reach the small back portion, enter the small bag, and are attracted to the rear end 

 by the light wh ich enters by the gauze door. When a sufficient number are thus cap- 

 tured the machine is stopped, the cut-off is slid down in front ot the secondary bag, a 

 hole is dug behind the machine, the bag tipped into it, and the insects buried. A 

 strip of leather closes the slit through which the cut-off slips, and the main bag is 

 made of dark cloth, while the secondary bag is white, so as by contrast to attract 

 more thoroughly the locusts. 



The advantages of this machine are that it requires no additional expense to run 

 it, as for oil, tar, &c. It will catch the winged locust as well as the young, if operated 

 on cool mornings and evenings, and is adapted to almost all conditions of growing 

 grain. The machine can be made for about $10, and perhaps less. 



In practice we found it best to draw the machine by hitching to the 

 runners, and to brace the wings at desired angles, according to the 

 strength of the wind, by means of two iron rods, as in the illustration. 



A net which has done good service, made by Maj. J. G. Thompson, of 

 Garden City, Minn., is made as follows : 



Two pieces of common batten about 16 feet long were used as frame-work for the 

 mouth of the net, one for the bottom and one for the top. From the end of the bottom 

 piece a wooden shoe of the same material ran back about 6 feet to steady the trap and 

 serve as a runner. To the rear end of this shoeasimilarinece was fastened by a hinge, 

 and ran forward and was fastened to the top piece of the frame, so that the mouth of 

 the trap would open and shut like a jaw. To hold the mouth open, two short, up- 

 right posts were fastened to the top piece by a hinge, and rested upright upon the bed- 

 piece. The net itself wad made of cotton cloth for the bottom, and the top was made 

 of mosquito-netting. The mouth of the net extended 16 feet from one side of the trap 

 to the other, and the not ran back about 6 feet to a point with a hole at the end to let 

 out the insects collected. A boy ten years old can diaw one end of this net, and by the 

 use of it Major Thompson saved one piece of wheat. 



