67 



(Edipoda phcenicoptera is light brown, spotted with dark brown on the wine-covers, 

 win2;s coral red with a dusky border. This is a vernal species, flying with a loud, snap- 

 ping noise as soon as the snow is off the ground. 



Our most abundant and troublesome species in the 

 older Provinces is the common red-logged locust, Calop- 

 tenus femur-rubrum, (Fig. 20), which, during some years, 

 multiplies to such an extent as to seriously injure the 

 hay and other crops. 



The Entomologist to the Department of Agriculture in 

 his report for 1885 quotes Mr. J. Scriver, M.P., as fol- 

 lows : — " Grasshoppers were numerous and very destructive in certain localities. In the 

 month of August our pastures were swarming with them, and they afterwards attacked 

 the oats also. They did much injury by biting off the separate flowers just as they came 

 out of the sheath, sometimes destroying the whole panicle. Their ravages were most 

 severe in the townships of Hemmingford and Havelock, and particularly in the parish of 

 Lacolle, where one farmer had to cut down his oats and use them for fodder. The species 

 referred to was the common red-legged locust, Caloptenus femur-rubrum." 



During 1885 locusts were very numerous all through the country, and several milk-* 

 men told me that they had seriously injured their pastures. At Lachine I observed that 

 in many places the shrubs and young trees growing by the fences were almost stripped of 

 leaves by them, presenting a ragged appearance. The species that I found up in the 

 shrubs were the red-legged locust, Caloptenus femur-rubrum, and the yellow striped locust, 

 Caloptenus femoratus. The latter is a large, clumsy-looking species, easily recognized by 

 having two yellow stripes running from the head to the end of the wing-covers. It is a 

 common species and very troublesome in gardens. 



The destructive Rocky Mountain locust, Caloptenus spretus, Uhler, (Fig. 21), is almost 

 identical with our commonest red-legged species, but has longer wings, and in the male the 

 end of the abdomen is turned up like the prow of a ship. 

 For a full account of this species, the reader is referred 

 to the Rev. C. J. S. Bethune's valuable paper in the 

 Society's Reports for 1874-75. By the middle of 

 October nearly all our locusts have disappeared, but a 

 few specimens of Caloptenus and Stenobotlirus linger 

 until the autumnal frosts put an end to their existence. 



The ravages of our common locusts might be greatly lessened by beating them with 

 bundles of brush, and thus driving them into hollows or against fences. When thus 

 congregated, they could be killed by beating them with shovels or by gathering into 

 sacks and boiling down for hogs. The best time for this work would be the end of June 

 and beginning of July, as at this time our most injurious kinds have riot acquired wings, 

 moreover, they are now mostly in the pastures and can be destroyed without injuring the 

 standing crops. Dr. Harris states that in the south of France " the locusts are taken by 

 means of a piece of stout cloth, carried by four persons, two of whom draw it rapidly 

 along, so that the edge may sweep over the surface of the soil, and the two others hold 

 up the cloth behind at an angle of forty-five degrees. This contrivance seems to operate 

 somewhat like a horse-rake, in gathering the insects into windrows or heaps, from which, 

 they are speedily transferred to large sacks." 



Family 4. — Phasmimi, (Walking-Sticks or Spectres). 



This family is represented in Canada by only one species, the well-known Walking* 

 stick insect, Diapheromera femoratum, Say. 



This curious creature is entirely wingless, and looks very like a small twig. It lives 

 almost altogether on trees, on the leaves of which it feeds, being found most frequently 

 on oak and basswood. According to Packard, the egg-sac is flattened, elliptical, with a 

 lid in front which can be pushed open by the embryo when about to hatch, and is 

 deposited in the autumn. With us it is seldom numerous, but some few years ago it 



