[G4] REPORT UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



was not touched. A considerable part of the larvae were killed by the Tachina fly. 

 Ten years ago they had an invasion of locusts. He observed then that they died in 

 very largo numbers, but not so much through parasites as from change of weather, 

 which became moist and cold. When the winged insects came at the same invasion, 

 they destroyed every green thing, and even the cotton curtains on the windows. 



June 7, 1877. 

 Mr. Lindheimer, the celebrated botanist, was the only man of whom I could get 

 some exact dates. He stated that the locusts arrived the 10th of October, 1876, noon, 

 with northwest wind. On the 15th every green thing was destroyed, and egg-laying 

 was beginning. On October 20, they nearly all left in a southerly direction, with a 

 strong wind. At the end of February, the eggs hatched. May 1, the winged insects 

 left, going northwest, and on the 15th of May they had disappeared entirely. The 

 damage from locusts in 1858 was considerable. 



Cypi^ess City, Harris County, 25 miles northwest of Houston. 



JuxE 13, 1877. 

 Locusts were not observed at any time at this place, on the testimony of the follow- 

 ing farmers: Gerloff, 24 years here ; Bergstadt, 25 years here; Muller, 30 years here. 

 A few locusts have been observed at Houston, doing very little damage ; but many 

 at Hempstead, 23 miles northwest from Cypress City. On this place, the principal 

 plants under cultivation are corn, cotton, and oats. 



Eeportfrom Fort Wo7-tli, Tarrant County. 



July 1, 1877. 



The country not very settled. The Cretaceous formation is covered everywhere by 

 Tertiary formation. The lower cross timber runs about 10 miles wide along the west- 

 ern limit of the county. The whole county suffered considerably in the sandy regions 

 from locusts. Eggs were laid in large quantities in the small open prairies of the cross 

 timber, and on the bluff about 200 feet high on the south side of the West Fork River. 



The direction of the traveling larvse was northwest. Many farmers had to replant 

 corn two or three times. I observed myself in the beginning of April all small trees 

 and bushes of elm covering the bottom of the West Fork entirely deprived of foliage 

 by locusts. 



The damage in wheat for the county is estimated to average half of the crop, but 

 some farms situated in the open prairie were quite free from da,mage. 



The winged locusts left in the first days of May, going northwest. In general, noth- 

 ing was done against them, and as they appear only every eight or ten years, people 

 don't much fear them. 



Eejply to the questions of the U. S. Entomological Commmission, Bulletin No. I, 



1. Arrival of locusts in Dallas, September 20, 1876, 12 o'clock. 

 la. Wind from northwest, moderate. 



1&. Warm and clear. 



Ic. Southeast, very dense ; the height of the swarm estimated at 2,000 feet, its extei^- 

 slon in breadth from 40 to 60 miles. 



2. September 21, arrival of new swarms, 10 o'clock a.m., with the same direction 

 and strength of wind; only a few alighted. The passage continued till 4 o'clock p. m. 

 On the 22d of September there was no wind and no new swarms arrived. September 

 23d, at noon, a great quantity of locusts started in the direction of northwest, whilst 

 we had southwest wind. The weather was fair and warm. Till the 5th of October 

 they stayed here in the same number, and diminished from then partially by going 

 southward, partially by being devoured by prairie chickens {Tetrao cupido),'but only 

 toward the end of October did they entirely disappear. 



3. Coupling commenced on the 25th and became general on the 30th of September. 

 The first eggs were deposited on the 29th. 



4. The first hatching of the eggs I observed on February 26, 1877, in sand, especially 

 on places where the sun was shining. The hatching became general from the 2d to 

 the 10th. of March, 1877. It continued, however, until the 20th. The hatching was in 

 close relation to the temperature; only a few hatched on cold days. The most hatched 

 a day after rain. 



5. Could not be observed. 



6. About one-third of the eggs did not hatch; those were probably destroyed during 

 the winter by insects, birds, and by plowing of prairie. 



7. The eggs were generally deposited in hard and sandy soil, and on places where 

 the grass was wanting, in the tracks of old roads, &c., and in free and open places in 

 timber. More eggs were deposited in sand than in black soil. 



8. In sandy soil they seem to be hatched more numerously than in black soil and 

 also where it was most sunny. 



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