[254] REPORT UIJITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



grassboppers left at tbis viisitatiou tbe latter part of August. Tboy batcbed, in clay 

 soil, late in May ; but in tbe warmer sandy soil tbey batcbed at tbe beg nuiugof May. 

 Of eggs laid in clay soil, oue-tbird failed to batcb. Sandy soil was preferred to lay eggs 

 in ; bat tbe grassboppers would lay their eggs in tbe bard, traveled roads. 



About tbe 1st of August tbey gained full wings. Tbe un winged 'boppers were gath- 

 ered by tbe bushels and fed to bogs, by digging pits and driving them in there; and 

 tbey killed them by driving them into the water. Ditches were resorted to, tbe cur- 

 rent carrying them to a bend in tbe ditch, where they were caught by brush or sacks 

 by millions, taken out and destroyed or fed to bogs. The winged grasshoppers were 

 destroyed more easily in tbe morning, as, while torpid, they would gather upon straw, 

 sticks, and weeds that were laid for them to collect on ; the fire was applied, and in 

 this way vast millions were destroyed by fire. 



Paragoonah, Utah, south of Salt Lake. IvformaUon oMained from Silas Smith, Ushop of 

 Paragoonah. — In lb71 grasshoppers came, laid their eggs, and in tbe following year 

 hatched out ; but half a crop saved. During the plantiug of the wheat and corn, the 

 grains left uncovered were all devoured by the grasshopper. Lucern was eaten down 

 to tbe roots. Some fruit-trees had their bark so strix^ped olf that tbey died. But X)o- 

 tatoes were not eaten in any settlement by 'hoppers. Previous to 1871 no ioformation 

 could be obtained. 



I was informed that a woman saved fifty bushels of wheat from a five-acre field by 

 drawing a rope across so as to touch the ears. As the grassbox)pers moved, tbey were 

 frightened away by tbe noise set up by several tin x>ans. Narrow paths at intervals 

 were made through tbe w^beat, so that they could march to and fro several time a day 

 with the rope ; the tin music thus saving what was very much i^rized during a scarcity. 



Information obtained from Daniel Tyler, Beaver Citij, Beaver County, Utah — chief mag- 

 istrate of Beaver, Utah. — In 1865 grasshoppers came fiist in the fall, aud hatched out the 

 next spring; but two-thirds of a crop was saved after fighting bard tbe vast horde. 

 Ditches were dug, tbe grassboppers (unwinged ones) were driven in and stamped to 

 death, or the 'hoppers were driven into ditches filled with water, tbe current carrying 

 them down to a bend, where tbey were caught in sacks or on brush by millions and 

 destroyed. Rollers were much used to kill the unwinged ones. Fall plowing was 

 resorted to in order to expose the eggs to the influence of frost, that they might be 

 killed. 



The winged ones were easiest killed, as tbey congregated on straw or brush while 

 tbey were torpid in the morning by firing tbe same ; several pits were dug, then the 

 grass fired around them, smoke and heat driving tbe grasshoppers into tbe pifs, tbe 

 fire passing over singed them so that they could not fly, and tbey were easily killed. 



The grassboppers mostly hatched out in March or April. They laid their eggs wher- 

 ever they lit. By July they had full wings. They left by September 1. Wheat suf- 

 fered most ; pease and potatoes they did not eat. Tbe 'hoppers generally left with the 

 wind southwest to northeast. 



They were destroyed by three or four larvai of insects in each 'hopper. 



In 1866 the 'hoppers came again and laid their eggs, which hatched next spring, and 

 for five J ears but little was saved, despite tbe efforts *.f the people, who, were driven to 

 tbe verge of starvation ; every native plant and fruit that was at all eatable was 

 used as food ; many lived almost entirely on roots of wild plants. 



Tbis gentleman said that tbe crickets, that several years ago were so numerous and 

 destructive about Salt Lake, were eaten in vast numbers by gulls. I was told that this 

 same cricket was exceedingly destructive about Payson, Utah. 



It seems to me that heat is a barrier to tbe southward distribution of grasshoppers, 

 for their swarms have been fewer in number as they nt ared Saint George, Southern 

 Utah, and some years tbey have not reached there, or if they did, were so few that 

 they were not noticed. Beyond Saint George is a desert waste for 110 miles to the 

 small settlement of Saint Thomas, Nevada, on tbe Muddy River. Before tbis settle- 

 ment was formed, there was but a little very indifferent grass and few plants that 

 would even tempt tbe grasshopper's appetite ; and if an army of grassboppers trav- 

 eled over that waste of 110 miles tbe heat, that dries up the vegetation so ibat there 

 is nothing green left, would by the intensity of its rays prevent their movements ; be- 

 sides, there is nothing for them to eat, only cactus and bitter or tough woody plants 

 that they cannot eat. From all I can ascertain. Saint George may be concluded as the 

 southern -limit of the distribution of the Rocky Mountain locust. 



I would remark that, previous to tbe settlement by whites, Utah must have been 

 anything but a paradise for grassboppers ; for there was little or no vegetation, except 

 along the streams. In traveling Irom one stream to another it was dry j)i eking, 

 tbe distances being often many miles and no vegetation. Now that the river bottoms 

 are settled and cultivated by means of artificial irrigation from the rivers and crops 

 raised, tbe grasshoppers thickly settle upon the same, as the artificially-raised crops 

 are tenderer than the tough native plants of the dry desert. In early days, the Indians 

 gathered many b ushels of grasshoppers, and dried them for food ; in fact, tbey con- 

 sidered the 'hoppers one of their best food-product. Of late, the Indians have decreased 



