[72] REPORT UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



limited almost entirely to gardens. The young grasshoppers which came from the eggs 

 this spring appeared only here and there", many early fields stiifering but little, and in 

 a number of instances entirely escaping. 



Wheat is not raised to any great extent in San Antonie or New Braunfels, and only 

 in the higher situated regions of Gillespie and Blanco Counties was the destruction of 

 the wheat crop an item of considerable importance. Oats were damaged but little by 

 the grasshoppers, and the cotton was unplanted until after they had disappeared. They 

 all left the southern section of the State before the Ist of May, and by the 12th of 

 June I saw corn silk and tasseling in the productive valleys of Guadalupe, Colorado, 

 and Brazos, and in many places the cotton began to develop its blooms. In general the 

 impression made on my mind by the appearance of the cultivated lands was the same 

 as if the grasshoppers had never been here. Some miles northeast of Austin I saw on 

 the 18th of May, oats, corn, trees, &c., very much damaged, but the damage was not 

 done by the grasshoppers, but by a hail-storm. Yet everywhere I was assured that for 

 twenty years the grasshoppers had never come in such enormous quantities. 



Although the investigations for Texas have not yet been finished, I will draw some 

 inferences from personal observations made hitherto. Professor Eiley says that in 

 Texas they (the grasshoppers) will never be of a dangerous nature. I find this decla- 

 ration completely corroborated by the result of the wheat crop of those counties in 

 which the grasshoppers were the most numerous. 



It is wheat that suffers most from the ravages of the grasshopper, yet, nevertheless, 

 we have a good average crop of about fifteen bushels per acre. 



T' * * * * # * 



Another observation for our country is the following : The whole prairie of Northern 

 Texas was covered last fall with a very troublesome plant called broomweed. This 

 spring the propagation of this plant was stopped by the destruction of the young buds 

 by the grasshopijers. This weed will now almost entirely disappear for some years, 

 and our prairies will be covered with a much better grass. Thus, even a calamity, 

 under certain circumstances, can be rendered advantageous to a certain point, as, for 

 instance, it is a well established fact that after heavy storms malignant epidemics sud- 

 denly disappear. 



But from what is above stated, we must not conclude that the grasshopper question 

 should be neglected or even treated indifferently. I shall have more to say upon this 

 important subject when my investigations shall have been concluded. — [Letter from. 

 J. Boll, to the Dallas Mail, June 19, 1877. 



The area invaded by the grasshoppers in Texas, in the fall of 1876 was embraced 

 between the longitudinal parallels of 93° and 99° west from Greenwich, or 19° and 22° 

 west from. Washington, and extending entirely across the State from Red River on 

 the north to the Gulf of Mexico on the south, crossing and covering six degrees of 

 latitude; or covering an area of about 200 miles in width by 360 in width, or 72,000 

 square miles. This belt extends through the center of the State from north to south 

 between x>arallel lines, with somewhat irregular edges, varied only by the course of 

 the wind at different times during their " march to the sea." By reference to the map 

 of Texas it will be seen that the best agricultural portion of the State was covered 

 by them. 



The precise state of arrival I am unable to give, but they crossed Red River about 

 the last of August' and continued their movement southward for between six weeks 

 and two months. 



Their flight was due south except as varied by the winds from the west or north- 

 west ; but the prevailing wind was from the north. 



The area covered by the eggs was the same as that over which they made their flight, 

 as is fully attested by the myriads of young 'hoppers that have been making their 

 appearance since the 1st of February. 



The damage done by them last fall was comparatively small in consequence of their 

 late appearance. All crops were matured and gathered except cotton and sweet pota- 

 toes, which were well advanced. The grass was mostly dry from the drought in the 

 latter part of summer. Their number was legion, and for several days during their 

 passage across the railroads trains were delayed for hours, and often stopped by them. 

 Col. L. J. Duprd, editor of the Austin Statesman, writes me : "I only saw the sun as 

 through a glass darkly for ten days, when the living clouds swept southward from 

 Pike's Peak to the sea. It was a smoked glass that covered immensity and the sun's 

 disk. The mountains and plains about Austin are covered with the measureless swarma 

 of locusts." 



From information before me from thirty counties included in the area covered by 

 deposits of eggs last fall, that these pests are ap^jearing in immense numbers all over 

 the section named, threatening destruction to all early vegetation, both of garden and 

 farm; large portions of the country being literally covered with them, from the siz3 

 and appearance of a flea upwai^d. It is hoped their early appearance indicates an early 

 departure, and the hope is entertained that corn, cotton, and all the later crops may 

 escaxoe. In Northern Texas, where they have just had snow and a freeze, they hope to 



