[124] EEPORT UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



the man doing nothing to destroy them. Most of these seemed to have hatched out in 

 breaking of last .year. 



After supper at Mr. Rogers's, he took me out to Judge Maxfield's, who lives within two 

 miles of town, on a small farm. He had ditched around his grounds and through them, 

 and thus had saved his crops. They had been quite bad here, and he attributed his 

 success wholly to his industry in fighting them. He depended most on ditching. Be- 

 tween the judge's homestead and town one farm only was badly eaten, and that only 

 on one side. The owner was doing nothing to protect himself. 



Lincoln, June 18, 1877. — Many locusts now getting wings and testing them by flying 

 up into the air and an unusual number dying. I learn from visitors here that on the 

 Eikhorn and in Northeast Nebraska the locusts only doing damage in isolated spots, 

 and in many places have mysteriously disappeared. 



Went with some parties southwest about five miles, and found the locusts thick in 

 spots and doing a little damage and immense numbers dying. A small maggot — ichneu- 

 man fly — at work on them. 



Lincoln, June 23, 1877. — Returned from Nemaha County to-day. In west part of 

 the county the locusts in spots did much damage. Many farmers could have saved 

 their crops, but made no effort until it was too late. All admitted that all the crops 

 could have been saved by proper effort, and regretted that they had no faith in the 

 kerosene-pans until tlie damage was done. I succeeded in getting many at this late 

 period to adopt this method of fighting them. Some places partially eaten up, and 

 fields were in part covered with dead locusts. The dead and (lying locusts that I ex- 

 amined nearly all contained a great number of minute maggots, some one-eighth and 

 others from one-third to one-fourth of an inch long, with a narrow red streak along 

 the back. 



Lincohi, June 25, 1877. — Went with Professor Hitchcock to-day to see the grain- 

 fields on his farm, five miles west of Lincoln. The field slopes toward the north. 

 Grain, what was left, heading out, but it has been so badly damaged by the locusts 

 that probably he won't have the seed. The Swedes who are farming his land did 

 not observe the damage that they were doing until it was too late. Now Professor 

 Hitchcock proposes to plow under and plant in corn. 



Here many of the locusts able to fly. An immense number of dead locusts here^ 

 some with fully-developed wings and some two-thirds grown. Many of the locusts 

 just dying. Some were barely able to fly, some could only jump a few inches, and 

 some could only crawl, and some were kicking in death. The afternoon warm and 

 ^ pleasant. I examined an immense number of these dead locusts. I could have gath- 

 ' ered a peck from one-fourth of an acre. Found in many of these dead and dying 

 locusts a small maggot from one-eighth to one-fourth of an inch in length. Perhaps 

 three fourths of the locusts that I examined contained this maggot, varying from three 

 to ten in a locust. The maggots had a narrow streak of red along the back. Small 

 red mite also abundant on many dying locusts. 



Lincoln, June 26, 1877. — Temperature (mean) to-day 81° F. Wind from south by 

 southwest. This is the first day that the locusts moved any distance. About 11 

 o'clock they rose gradually and a few moved north, and about 12 m. 20^ east of north. 

 At three o'clock p. m. all the movements seemed to have ceased. Great numbers, as I 

 watched them with my glass, seemed to whirl around in a circle and come down again. 

 Some that did this fell dead, and these, when examined, had in them a small maggot, 

 with a narrow red line along the spine. Column three-fourths of a mile high; sparse; 

 velocity, 5 miles an hour. Rain last night. 



Lincoln, June 27, 1877. — Mean temerature to-day 77° F. Some rain last night. At 

 ten o'clock a few locusts again rose up in the air and slightly increased until 1 o'clock 

 p. m., from which time they decreased until 2.30 p. m, when the flying ceased. Direc- 

 tion, 22° east of north. A small column of locusts was moving north in the same 

 direction, above the plane of those that were starting from this place. They must 

 have come from South Nebraska or Kansas. Many fell down dead from the flying 

 mass, but had no parasites on or in them that I could detect, except a few that had a 

 small maggot from one-third to one-fourth of an inch long in them, with the red stripe 

 down the length of its back. Velocity of the rising ones, 5^ miles an hour. 



Nortli Platte, Nebr., June 30, 1877. — Reached here last night about 2 a. m. 



Yesterday afternoon saw the locusts in small numbers flying around in the air at 

 various places between Crete and Kearney, and it was hard to determine in what 

 direction they were about or wanted to go. They seemed entirely demoralized. As 

 they had mostly disappeared over this section before flying-time, those on the wing 

 probably came from the south. Here at North Platte there are comparatively few 

 locusts ; found only scattering ones as I went round with La Nunion. Drove some eight 

 miles out among the sand-hills. 



Kearney Junction, July 2, 1877. — This afternoon, coming from North Platte, I found 

 a considerable number of locusts east and west of Ogallala, on the N. road. They 

 had lit down here on their way north from the south. Not enough to do any damage 

 unless they should lay their eggs here, which is not likely, considering the earliness 



