31 



-a full sized egg-cone where she had already appeared to deposit 

 on the fifteenth of July. Of the rest of the Rocky Mountain 

 Locusts the males were caged with some female Red-Legged 

 Locusts caught in my garden, and although the two species did not 

 seem inclined to have much commerce with each other, I saw one 

 pair coupling. These observations are very slight and imperfect, 

 but are given for whatever they might be worth. That the male 

 dies first may be inferred not only by the above experiment, but 

 from the fact that in September it was common to find many 

 pairs coupled, of which the female was alive, but the male had 

 died without releasing himself. 



PARASITES AND ENEMIES. 



The various insect enemies of the Rocky Mountain Locust have 

 been described sufficiently for common information by Prof. 

 Riley on pp. 44-46 of the " Report of the Proceedings of a 

 Conference of the Governors of several Western States and Ter- 

 ritories, at Omaha, Nebraska, in October, to consider the Locust 

 Problem." As the descriptions are further illustrated by plates, 

 and as the pamphlet is intended for public distribution it may 

 serve to prevent some of the confused knowledge about these 

 parasites and enemies which has heretofore prevailed to a con . 

 siderable extent. The amount of help which may be expected, or 

 has already been received, from these enemies of the locust is, in 

 limited areas, even greater than Prof. Riley would assign to them. 

 These are farms where in loose, mellow soil it is now almost 

 impossible to find eggs, yet but a short distance away eggs may 

 be found in abundance in hard ground. There was also great 

 difference in the different flying swarms in regard to the presence 

 of the internal grub. While in some places hardly a locust (one 

 out of five,) could be found that was not affected by some 

 internal parasite, in others they were almost entirely free from 

 them. Mr. W. C. Ralls, of Le Sueur, examined 624 locusts 

 between the 7th and 10th of September, and in 9 of these the 

 grub was found, and in 10 the hair-worm. It would be well if we 

 could add to this help which is given without expectation of 

 bounty or relief, the help which might have been added by 

 thousands of prairie-chickens killed during the fall. When a 

 whole community stands in need of every form of assistance that 

 man and nature can render, it is worse than useless to throw away 

 the help, however slight, that any willing instrument is ready fco 

 contribute. 



