Some data for the Natural History of Orange Co. N. Y. 225 



very perceptibly lessened the third time, and still more dimin- 

 ished the fourth and last time. 



When returning from New York in 1 81 7, Col. W. Faulkner 

 informed me that he had seen four locust years, or periods of 

 their being in the winged state ; that at the first period they 

 were in vast numbers, and that at every subsequent period, 

 or time they were up, their number visibly decreased. 



There are several probable causes why they should de- 

 crease in this country at the successive periods of their visit- 

 ation. 



First. — The soil best adapted for breeding them was for- 

 merly burned over, almost every year by the Indians, so that 

 the female locusts had small suitable brushwood of one or two 

 years growth to deposit their eggs in. 



Secondly. — When land has been divested or cleared of 

 brush and timber for more than seventeen years, none of the 

 young insects or crysales live or breed in it — as no eggs arc 

 deposited in it — so that the clearing of the lands of timber 

 lessens their means of depositing their eggs. 



Thirdly.- — There is every locust year, great destruction 

 •made of them by our domestic as well as wild fowls. 



It was on the 5th June, 1 809, that I saw the first locusts 

 for that period, that had left their holes in the earth to become 

 aerial inhabitants. 



It is interesting to observe the habits of these insects, when 

 they leave the earth in which they have been so long imbed- 

 ded. 



Such of them as came out of their holes near sunset, and 

 through the night, and so on till sun an hour or two high next 

 morning, would climb up trees, shrubs, rails, or whatever 

 might be convenient to them — so that they got to an eleva- 

 tion from the earth, some of them not more than five or six 

 inches, and at all heights from that to twelve feet, as the bod- 

 ies they happened to climb would admit of. Here they re- 

 mained firmly attached, until the day became warm and dry, 

 when a crack or fissure would form on their backs, and a lo- 

 cust would come out of its earth-coat, nearly one third larger, 

 and as white as milk. In an hour or two after (if the day was 

 dry and warm) they were perfectly released from their old 

 coats or suits, they became black, and then took wing and 

 flew about. 



Such of them as happened to leave their holes in the early 

 part of a dry and warm day, would most commonly get some 



Vol. XIIL— No. 2. 4 



