THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN LOCUST. 



CALOPTENUS SPKETUS. 



For no part of the duties pertaining to this office have T felt 

 less favorably inclined than that of collecting and recording the 

 statistics of the damages inflicted by this insect. To make record 

 of dead losses such as these, out of which no possible compensat- 

 ing good can arise, is necessarily an ungrateful task. Were it not 

 that danger still impends, there would be no need of any discus- 

 sion here, further than by giving a bare record of the facts. But 

 it is now patent to all, except to the willfully blind, that we have 

 an enemy confronting us whose magnitude is not to be despised; 

 one who is likely to dispute our right to the undisturbed possession 

 of the country between our western borders and the Rocky 

 Mountains, with more or less persistence for some years to come. 

 This is the fourth year since their irruption upon us in 1873, and 

 every year since then the damage has been serious; but the greatest 

 danger to be apprehended is the moral effect of discouragement 

 upon the people. 



The immense losses inflicted upon so many States, the damage 

 to the national property by the impairment of the value of the 

 public lands, retarding their occupation and settlement, are mat- 

 ters of immediate and pressing importance, and call for the most 

 serious consideration. It is the part of wisdom, without further 

 delay, to look the matter squarely in the face, and by the most 

 searching scrutiny, endeavor to find out and bring together all the 

 facts bearing upon it, in order that a remedy may be intelligently 

 sought for and effectively applied. 



So far as my knowledge extends, neither in this country or in 

 any other part of the world has any such thorough and systematic 

 course of investigation been instituted. This assertion I am con- 

 fident will be by none more heartily assented to than by those who 

 have recently contributed most to our present stock of knowledge 

 on the subject. After long and tedious search ings of what has 



