[102] REPORT UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



Solomon City, June 18.— Visited the wheat-fields of A. P. Collins and J. H.Baldwin, 

 near this city. Found the locusts acquiring wings and leaving very rapidly. 



Solomon Valley, from Solomon to Beloit, June 19. — Locusts flying rather thickly 

 from 10 a. m. until noon. But few flying after noon. None of the crops have been 

 seriously injured except by the floods. 



Beloit, Mitchell County, June 20. — Locusts have been leaving for nearly a week. 

 Thev are sparingly affected with the parasitic maggot, a few dead ones being found. — 

 [A. N. Godfrey. 



Yesterday I visited the country round about Chanute. Found the locusts very 

 scarce and quite small. The eggs are not yet all hatched. Along a road in very sandy 

 soiJ, about one mile south of the town, I found some eggs still good. Many of them 

 have decayed in the ground. I will send a small box of these eggs by mail. This 

 morning I waited some hours in Parsons, where I found the locusts casting their skins 

 the last time and getting wings. A few could be seen flying at various heights above 

 the earth. Between Parsons and this place I traveled on a freight-train, and had an 

 excellent opportunity to make observations. In many places, the locusts were quite 

 plenty ; twice I observed people fighting them from corn-fields. Here (at Chetopa) they 

 are very abundant and very variable in size ; most of them have their wings. They 

 began the last molt June 16. Many of them flew away yesterday. Although there 

 are a great many locusts here, yet they are doing no harm to speak of. They feed 

 mostly upon dog-fennel, ragweed, &c., and rarely are found in corn or wheat fields ; 

 some few gardens have been taken. Several persons who have tried the Paris-green 

 mixture report that it works admirably. 



The young locusts, which were so abundant when I visited this region before, have 

 nearly all disappeared. People along the Neosho River say that during the late high 

 waters immense numbers of them floated down the stream and perished. Many, also, 

 were drowned upon the fields. — [George F. Gaumer, Chetopa, June 20, 1877. 



I see no harm done as yet. Young 'hoppers are not very numerous in this neighbor- 

 hood, and the crops have not suffered so far. — [H. M. Eobertson, Claytonville, Brown 

 County, June 20, 1877. 



There has not been the damage done I anticipated some time ago. I have visited 

 several points in the county, and only in a few isolated localities, and these quite 

 limited, do I find them in sufficient quantities to be annoying. We may be said to be 

 entirely out of danger. 



The mysterious disappearance of the insects is the wonder of the people. I am told 

 by persons every once in a while, '* A few days ago there were thousands of the little 

 insects ; but when I went again scarcely one was to be seen." Such has been the ex- 

 perience of the people all season. — [Robert Milliken, Emporia, June 22, 1877. 



They have not done |10 worth of damage in our county. The county was honey- 

 combed with eggs; but they commenced hatching early, and continued to hatch for six 

 or seven weeks, and would nearly all disappear as fast as hatched. At first the birds 

 destroyed them by millions. Those that are left seem to be sickly and demoralized. I 

 first noticed thera rise and fly on the 20th of this month. There were enough eggs 

 within a quarter of a mile of my j)lace, if all had hatched and been healthy, to have 

 swept the county, and I have not lost a penny's worth of vegetables or fruit by them. 

 — [B. L. Kingsbury, Burlington, June 25, 1877. 



The grasshoppers have about all disappeared from this locality ; what few are left 

 are about grown. They have not done much damage in this county. I think that 

 $500 would fully cover all damages that have been done in this county, and probably 

 less. — [W. L. Lanter, Garnett, July 3, 1877. 



The 'hoppers were flying in the air in small quantities in May and June for a few 

 days. None have lighted here at all. — [Dr. H. A. Ellis, Russell, July 3, 1877. 



They have done no injury this year worthy of note in any portion of our county. — 

 [Jas. Hanway, Lane, Franklin County, July 5, 1877. 



They have eaten steadily in my grain-fields, doing most of the damage on the first 

 IC feet, but working more or less over the entire field. Damage less than was gener- 

 ally expected. In no case have they destroyed a fine crop. J think 10 per cent, will 

 cover the loss throughout this section, and it certainly will in this section. — [Solomon 

 Whitney, Manhattan, Eiley County, July 7, 1877. 



I think Labette County, Kansas, would have produced 600,000 bushels of wheat this 

 season but for the locust last fall, and now will produce perhaps 300,000. They not 

 only ate up many fields but prevented many from sowing. I had 70 acres ate all 

 clean. Sowed about September 5 35 acres. Soon after they took about half, eating 

 in from the outside. — [C. C. Perkins, Berket Mass, Kans., July 7, 1877. 



Since my last report, when I stated that the swarms of locusts had gone over Alma, 

 no more have been seen. The eggs hatched out in this vicinity at end of April, and 

 did on same places damage, They are full grown now, and left from 2d to 9th of July, 



