[140] REPORT UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



three thousand dollars' worth of grain and wheat. At Winnemucca I was told that 

 no locusts had ever appeared. None were seen at Humboldt Station this year, though 

 in 1871 swarms of them were seen west of the station by Prof. Cyrus Thomas. 



August 18. — ^At Reno I found Caloptenus Atlanis in smaU numbers in fields of alfalfa 

 or in'the tall grass bordering the fields, but never away from the damper, irrigated, 

 more shaded grass-lands, never on the plains and on the roadsides, where the difi:erent 

 species of CEdipoda abound. The pupa was very much like that of Caloptenus spretus; 

 exactly, in its general style of coloration. 



August 19. — At Glenbrokej Nev., on the eastern shore of Lake Tahoe, in hay-fields 

 more or less damp, and in the stubble of wheat-fields, C. Atlanis occurred in abun- 

 dance. 



August 23. — Arrived yesterday at Berryvale, Sisson's Station, in the entrance to 

 Shasta Valley. The insects of the woods and fields in their general appearance, as 

 weU as the vegetation, remind one of the forests of Maine. Here occurred Caloptenus 

 femur-rubrum in great abundance, and every now and then Caloptenus Atlanis, asso- 

 ciated with them in about the same proportion as in Maine and Massachusetts. Of 

 the C. Atlanis, some were dark-colored exactly like C. femur-ruh'um, while others were 

 paler and much like C. spretus in their general appearance, though they were smaller, 

 and with much shorter wings. Caloptenus Mvittatus was not uncommon here, and was 

 ovipositing, while C. femur-rubrum was observed in copula. As noticed in Utah and 

 Nevada, the species of Caloptenus almost invariably affect damp grassy fields and 

 gardens and mowed lands, while the species of CEdipoda almost invariably frequent 

 the dry, hot, exposed road-sides and fields, where the grass was short and dried up. 



August 25. — Ascended the crater-cone of Mount Shasta, and at and above the limits 

 of trees spent several hours in turning over stones for insects without perceiving any 

 traces of dead locusts (0. spretus) which are so commonly found on the peaks of the 

 Rocky Mountains. This would indicate, although it might not prove, that swarms of 

 locusts never pass from Nevada or Idaho over the Sierra Nevada. 



August ^0. — ^At Portland, Oreg., the common red-legged locust (Coloptenus femur- 

 rubrum) which is the destructive species in the Atlantic States, was the most common 

 form about the outskirts of the city, although a few C. Atlanis were associated with 

 them, both locusts occurring in the same relative numbers as at Berryvale, near Mount 

 Shasta. In fields near East Portland, while the red-legged locust was abundant, the 

 Atlanis form was not to be found. In the same fields occurred in abundance a species 

 of Pezzotettix, a locust with remarkably short wings, which bore a remarkable resem- 

 blance in color and markings to the red-legged locust, though differing in the form 

 of the male genital armature. The hind tibiae are bluish. 



August 31. — ^Atthe cascades of the Columbia river the red-legged locust (C. femur 

 fubrum) was common in company with (Edipoda Carolina on the grassy banks of th^ 

 river at the lower railroad station. ^ 



September 2. — ^At Umatilla, Washington Territory, found in abundance in the sag© 

 and grease bushes Caloptenus Atlanis of a variety which approaches Caloptenus spretus, 

 in its large size and length of wing. With them were £*ssociated a beautiful blue-legged 

 Caloptenus, which was especially abundant, feeding on the grease- wood, there being no 

 grass. This mixture of some of the characters of C. spretus with those of the species 

 Atlanis were of great interest. It were as though C. spretus had at this point hybridized 

 with 0. Atlanis, resulting in forms which apparently showed that the two species had 

 interbred. This would seem to be a possible view, since swarms of C. spretushsbYe flown 

 as far west as the vicinity of Walla Walla, which is only about 25 miles due east of 

 WaUula. But I think the explanation of the cause of the tendency of C. Atlanis to (in 

 this region) vary in the direction of C. spretus, the true Rocky Mountain locust, may 

 be discovered in the climate, soil, rain-fall, and physical geography of the Columbia 

 Valley east of the Cascade Range. In a.11 respects it is a continuation of the alkali 

 desert of Nevada, the region being, however, less elevated. The elevation of the 

 Plains of the Columbia at Wallula and Walla Walla is only about 800 feet above the 

 sea ; the country is level, forming a sandy desert, broken up by ranges of mountains 

 (such as the Blue Mountains) running nearly north and south, and in height and scenic 

 features is like the mountain-ranges in Central Nevada, as observed along the line of the 

 Union Pacific Railroad. The settlements are situated in oases in this desert. WaUa 

 Walla is situated at the base of the Blue Mountains, in the head-waters of the WaEa 

 Walla river ; its elevation is 835 feet. There is no arable land at Wallula or Umatilla, 

 nor westward until we reach Dalles, at the foot of the Cascade Mountains. There are 

 no farms near Wallula, on the east, until we reach Walla Walla and Dayton, W. T. 

 The rain-fall is very slight,* much as in Nevada, droughts being prolonged, and in 



* The mean temperature for eight years from ISo? to 1864, inclusive, was 51° 5'. The extremes were 

 lowest January 15 and 16, 1862, when the thermometer went down to 24°. The highest, 107°, on the 7th 

 of August, 1860. The winters of 1656-'57 and of 1861-'62 were very severe. The mean annual rain 

 fall for these eight years was 22.3 inches, but the fall was very irregular in amount, 50.66 inches having 

 fallen in 1862, and but 4.06 inches in 1863. Little rain falls in June, July, August, and September. The 

 pievailing winds are southwest and southeast. The changes in the "temperature are very sudden.— 

 [Hygiene of the United States Army, "Washington, 1875, p. 491. 



