6 



The locust problem still presents a great deal upon which noth- 

 ing like complete information has be^en furnished. Even in re- 

 gard to the locust as it appears in our own State, not only does 

 the farmer ask many questions, to which the entomologist can as 

 yet give no decisive answer, but even in the practical economy of 

 the locust question opinions are still at variance, where experience 

 should, by this time, have brought some degree of unanimity. 

 When it comes to the exact origin of our invading swarms, then- 

 manner of increase from year to year before leaving their native 

 regions, their growth, habits, and movements in those regions, 

 how far eastward those regions may or do extend, the causes of the 

 repeated appearance of migrating swarms, or their continued ab- 

 sence for years or even decades, no one can at present offer in an- 

 swer much more than a mere show of probabilities. It is evident 

 that the whole question is becoming too urgent to wait for private 

 investigation to solve it. The claims which an agricultural popu- 

 lation of at least thirteen States and Territories may justly urge 

 upon the National Government in this regard, have been fully set 

 forth during the past season ; but purely in the interest of science, 

 if for no other reason, we might fairly ask that some portion of 

 the sums annually devoted to national discovery might be expended 

 upon the further elucidation of a subject which touches us so 

 nearly and so powerfully. Having at hand the time, the place, 

 and the opportunity, we might at least attempt the solution of some 

 questions which the Old World has been obliged to leave unan- 

 swered for a thousand years. We might, perhaps, learn enough 

 of the causes of locust invasions to know in what years such in- 

 vasions would become probable, and enough of their origin to say 

 whether prevention is possible or impossible. 



THE EVIL AS IT APPEARS IN" MINNESOTA. 



The growth and habits of the young locust as it appears in the 

 cultivated regions, have been so fully described of late years, 

 (particularly in the seventh and eighth annual reports of the State 

 Entomologist of Missouri, Prof. Ch. V. Riley,) that it seems im- 

 possible to add much that can contribute to that practical end 

 which the farmer has in view, the protection of his crops from 

 the locusts which hatch in his immediate vicinity. If anything 

 practical is still to be expected in this direction it ought to come 

 from those who are brought face to face with the young locust, 

 and are obliged to act upon knowledge gained upon the spot. 

 Enough has been learned already to make it certain that almost 



