APPENDIX VII. — COLORADO DATA FOR 1877. [US] 



They want to know when to expect the winged swarms. Grain was sowed a month 

 earlier this year, so that everything except corn conld be harvested by July 14-20. 



Sergeant J. A. Barwick gave me full meteorological data about the snow and cold 

 rains April 24-30. There was from December, 1876, to April, 1877, an enormous rain- 

 fall for Colorado, amounting to 8.17 inches, being an excess of 4.06 over the aver- 

 age for five years. So it is evident that the cold, rainy spring had the same effect on the 

 young grasshoppers as in Kansas, Nebraska, &c. 



June 3. — S2))'etus very abundant about Sloan's Lake, on the plains near the farms in 

 second larval, third larval, and first and second ])upal states ; and many promised to 

 become winged in about a week or ten days. The second pupte were just molting 

 their cast skins. The second larvaj were scarce ; they were mostly in the third larval 

 and first pupal stage. They were in schools scattered over the plain. Flies of two 

 species were seen resting on the grounds about them. No mites to be seen. 



Greeley, June 4. — Mr. Joseph Ramsay, of Greeley, told me that he had just returned 

 from Julesburg, and saw 7 miles east of J ulesburg a high-flying swarm, one dropping now 

 and then, and flying with the wind from the south in the afternoon. This was May 

 29. May 30 he saw them 17 miles west of Julesburg, at noon, flying high from the 

 south; very numerous, as far as the eye could see. (He says that white Mexican corn 

 does not suffer much as it is so early and is not eaten by the young.) 



Mr. J. Max Clark says s^rretus hatched out by millions this spring, eggs having been 

 laid by millions in the autumn, but .50 per cent, were killed by insects, a ground beetle 

 larva, " mites," &c. ; then came the cold and rain and snow, much more than at Denver 

 April 24-27, which destroyed most of the remainder. In March the eggs were sound. 



June 5. — I walked two miles up the railroad to Daniel Boyd's farm. Saw a school 

 of larvae in the third stage traveling southward. A small red wasp, a species of Lar- 

 rada was busily engaged in stinging and killing the young. David Boyd says the first 

 brood were destroyed, though the young locusts are numerous in townships northwest 

 of Greeley. — [Notes made by A. S. Packard, jr. 



Having been requested to communicate to you any information in regard to the 

 locust or grasshopper, I take this opportunity to do so. The section of country in 

 which I live, known as the South Park, is principally a dry plain ; elevation from 

 8,000 to 9,000 feet. The locusts visited this section about the middle of September 

 last, and the swarm was from four to six days in passing. There were a few that 

 remained till cold weather. The direction of travel was from northeast to the south- 

 west. They deposited their eggs over the entire country. The eggs commenced to hatch 

 about the 20th of May, and are not all hatched at the present time. As this is not a farm- 

 ing country, there has been no effort maae to destroy them ; and if there are any insects 

 that destroy either the eggs or young locusts I have been unable to discover them. I 

 am convinced from observation and conversation with others that where the ground 

 is kept thoroughly saturated with water for at least two days at a time, fwy time after 

 the eggs are laid till time of hatching, that it very effectually destroys them.— [T. H. 

 Robbins, Rocky Park County, June 12, 1877. 



The grasshoppers during the past week have made a very successful clean-up on 

 Ute Creek, but if they will let the farmers alone for the balance of the season they 

 will try and raise a kind of a crop yet. 



The grasshoppers have not troubled the farmers away from the mountains until 

 within the past few days, but they are now, however, becoming numerous and trouble- 

 some.— [CoZomrZo Farmer, June 14, 1877. 



The locusts here have not commenced to fledge yet, though they will very soon. I 

 have observed carefully, and none have been seen in the air here. — [W. D. Arnett, 

 Morrison, June 18, 1877. 



Your letter of date the 4th instant was received a few days ago, and in reply I 

 would say that last summer I only noticed grasshoppers at this place on one occasion. 

 This was on July 11, 1876, and they Avere brought up in a whirlwind which enveloped 

 the Peak from the southeast and moved off to the northwest in a few minutes. They 

 were carried up doubtless against their will, just as were a number of other insects 

 and also considerable dust. I have never seen any eggs in the neighborhood of the 

 summit, and think it entirely too cold for the 'hoppers to deposit them near here. 

 Even at the lake lying southeast of the summit, at an elevation of 10,285 feet, I have 

 seen no signs of the eggs.— [C. W. Hobbs, Pike's Peak, June 20, 1877. 



I have nothing particularly interesting to communicate about the 'hoppers. They 

 hatched out in immense quantities in the spring. Snow storms in April and May de- 

 stroyed nearly all that were hatched. Some have hatched since, and in spots'they 

 are now quite plenty; appearance is not general throughout county; damac-e, so far, 

 slight. No means has ever been tried of circumventing them here except with water — 

 flooding crops, keeping water running in ditches around crons, &c., which is in a 

 measure effective so long as they are small.— [W. B. Felton, Saguache, June 21, 1877. 



Now as to the habits and range of the grasshopper in this part of Colorado. The 

 grasshopper commonly so called— I mean the fellow that goes by millions in clouds that 



