APPEIVBIX IX 



KAKBATIVE OF THE FIRST JOUENEY MADE IN THE SUM- 

 MER OF 1877, BY A. S. PACKARD, JR. 



The following notes of my jonmey in the locust area, especially in the Western Ter- 

 ritories, and California and Oregon, comprise, first, my own observations, and second, the 

 information taken down from the statements made to me personally by others whom 

 I met in the course of my journey, and are transcribed from my diary. 



May 24, 1877.— Left Salem, Mass., arriving in Saint Louis May 26th tp attend the 

 meeting of the Commission. 



May 30. — Saw Prof. F. H. Snow, at Lawrence, Kans., who tells me that the young 

 locusts (Caloptenus spretus) do not occur this year at Lawrence, but are common in the 

 larva state at a point on the Kansas Pacific Railroad 10 miles west of Lawrence. At 

 Topeka, Kans., the locust (C. spretus) in the second and third larval stages was com- 

 mon by the railroad, but were doing little damage. I was informed that many had 

 been killed by the heavy rains at Brookville, Kans., the soil of true prairie land, the 

 gniss being Mgh, no buJfalo grass seen, although the prairie dog, antelope, and red. 

 leaf-cutting ant were abundant. The true plains appear to begin 40 miles west of 

 Brookville. 



May 31. — ^The locust (C. spretus) was not as common as the young of other Calapteni. 

 It was most common in the second and third stage of the larva state ; especially about 

 farms, houses, and lawns. No C. spretus were seen along the Kansas Pacific Railroad 

 from this point to Denver, though the young of other species were observed. 



June 2. — In company with Mr. J. S. Stanger, editor of the Colorado Farmer, I visited 

 the farm of A. H. Arnett, at Morrison, where young locusts (C. spretus) had hatched 

 out abundantly in the spring, and some had even hatched oat within a week, he said. 

 Those that I saw were in the second and third larval stages, and were hopping about 

 on the plains in the cacti, &c., next to the irrigating ditches protecting the wheat- 

 fields. Mr. Amett informed me that the young locusts were more feeble than ever 

 before. He said that immense quantities of eggs were laid In the summer of 1876, but 

 the fly (Anthomyia f) laid their eggs at the time the locusts were themselves ovipositing, 

 the flies placing their nits on the egg of the locust ; these hatching out in the spring 

 would destroy the eggs. In his opinion, the parasites, together with the heavy cold 

 rains late in April and early in May, must have destroyed the young. Mr. Amett says 

 that the locusts came from the north in 1864, and he contends that their progeny fly in 

 a southwest direction over the Rocky Mountain Range. They fly, according to his 

 observations, at the rate of six and a half miles a day. Mr. Arnett also gave me valu- 

 able information regarding the means of fighting the young locusts, and as a preventive 

 remedy suggested planting wheat earlier than usual. 



June 3. — I noticed on the plains about Sloan's Lake, just outside the city limits, the 

 locust (C. spretus) very abundant in the second and third larval and first and second 

 pupal stages, in schools, scattered over the plains. The second pupaB were just molting, 

 their cast skins being frequently observed on the ground, especially in the grass, iu 

 shallow dry ditches. The larvae in the second stage were scarce, and the locusts were 

 mostly in the third larval and first pupal stages. Flies (Anthomyia and Sarcophaga) 

 were seen in abundance flying about them, and resting on the ground. No mites 

 Trere to be seen. 



June 4. — At Greeley I saw Mr. Joseph Ramsay, who had just arrived from a point 

 near Julesburg, Colo. He told me that at a point seven miles east of Julesburg he 

 saw a high, flying swarm, a locust occasionally dropping down. They flew with the 

 wind, from the south, in the afternoon of May 29. On May 30 he again saw them 17 

 miles west of Julesburg, at noon, flying high from the south. They were very numer- 

 ous, extending as far as the eye could see. (This was evidently a return flight from 

 Texas.) From Mr. J. Max Clark I received much new and valuable information. He 

 said that the locusts hatched out by millions this spring, and that while 50 per cent, 

 were killed by insects, maggots, grubs of beetles, and mites, what were left were 

 mostly destroyed by the cold rain and snoW" which fell April 24, 26, and 27, which was 

 heavier at Greeley than at Denver. In March he observed that the eggs were sound. 



June 5. — In company with Mr. David Boyd I walked up the railroad to a point where 

 the young locusts were abundant, the schools of larvae in the third stage traveling in 

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