APPENDIX I. — whitman's MINNESOTA REPORT. [7] 



insignificant number of young locusts that would in any case have proved harmless for 

 lack of sustenance, but in the character of the six weeks following. These were char- 

 acterized by heavy rains, sometimes for several days in succession, interspersed with 

 warm sunny days, up to the 14th of June, which closed a week of cold rains, with pre- 

 vailing northwest winds. The results are a much more distributed hatching than 

 usual, lasting from the 18th of Ajiril to the 1st of June ; a large number of days when 

 on account of cold and wet the locusts were obliged to forego eating, thus allowing 

 the grain to recover to some extent from their previous ravages, or to make so much 

 gain agoinst future injury ; and above all a luxuriant growth of wheat, which the 

 young locust, loving warmth and light, was less inclined to enter, and which was so 

 much the less vulnerable. It was common enough in June to see in Avheat-lields spots 

 where the wheat had sprung up thinly, which had served as starting points for the 

 young locusts, and were eaten about the edges, while wherever the wheat grew thick 

 and strong it was still untouched. Immunity has come not so much from the fact that 

 the locusts were less in number or less able to injure, as from the fact that the grain 

 was less capable of being injured. All this is a general statement of the case, and 

 the fact that in certain countries the crops of wholQ fields, or even whole townships, 

 have been swept away is no denial of the general truth. It is undeniable that where 

 anything has been saved the damage has decreased as the season advanced, and that 

 where anything like total destruction has occurred it has been in those localities where 

 the damage was most serious before the 1st of June. Only such excessive numbers of 

 locusts as have appeared in some of our worst infested counties could have caused a 

 total destruction of the crops, and on the other hand the comparatively small num- 

 bers that appeared in other counties would have worked serious damage in a spring 

 of a difi'erent character. 



The following replies to circulars of the Entomological Commission denote "tho 

 dates Avhen the eggs were most numerously hatching (in Minnesota) in the present 

 year." The localities range from soutb to north by counties, according to the num- 

 bers : 



1. Bigelow, Nobles County. — First hatch May 4th ; most numerous hatch, May ISth 

 and 16th. Fairmont, Martin Count]). — First saw them April 14th ,* they were reported 

 a week earlier. Every fine day more or less hatch. 



2. Madelia, Watonivan County. — Commenced hatching April 10, and have continued 

 since, but most numerously between the 15th and 25th of May. The greatest amount 

 hatched May 23. 



3. Severance, Sihley County. — Between the Ist and 15th of May, and up to June 7th. 

 Sector, EenviUe County. — From April 30 to May 24. 



4. Lac-qui-parle, Lac-qui-imrle County. — Between the 15th and 20th of May. Kan- 

 cliyohi, Kandiyohi County.— Commenced on the last day of April and hatched in limited 

 numbers in high and dry places until May 8 or 10 ; then in larger numbers till May 22. 

 I notice a few hatching out to-day (May 25) in low places where the soil is moist and 

 heavy. 



5. Morris, Stevens County. — Between the 15tli and 20th of May. Otto, Pope County. — 

 A few hatched April 29. Between the 5th and 20th of May the weather was warm, 

 with occasional light showers, and they came out in untold millions, and up to the 

 present time (June 7) can be seen coming out. 



6. Elbow Lake, Grant County. — Hatched on the 1st of May, and continued to hatch 

 until the 20th ; most of them from the 5th to the 10th. Some hatched as late as June 

 8th. Alexandria, Douijlas Count)/. — From May 15 to June 15. 



7. Audubon, Becker County. — From May 10 to May 15. Moorhead, Clay County.— Yerj 

 few before May 12 ; quite numerous by May 30. There was a heavy rain on the 25th, 

 alter which few survived. 



In addition to these special statements, which are true for the particular localities 

 which they represent, the columns of the local press throughout all the "grasshopper 

 counties" show that by far the greater part of the hatching occurred later than the 

 1st of May. They also show that there was very little difiference between northern 

 and southern counties in regard to th^e date of hatching, and that the earliness of ap- 

 pearance of the young was determined more by the nature of the spots in which the 

 eggs were laid than by any diiference in latitude ; at the most, there was not more 

 than eight days' difference between Blue Earth and Otter Tail Counties. 



LATE HATCHING. 



The above statements in regard to the date of hatching apply mainly to those coun- 

 ties in which the eggs were deposited in July and the early part of August, 1876. But 

 there are other counties, principally to the south of Saint Paul, and lying in or east of 

 tho Big Woods, where the eggs were deposited late in August, in September, and in 

 some places in October. Here the locusts hatched not only in fewer numbers, bat also 

 later than elsewhere. This is at least partly due to the lateness of the deposit in the 

 preceding year. Elsewhere the eggs laid by early and late comers were so mingled 

 together that it was impossible to distinguish in the spring whether there was any 



