105 



shrubs, there must have been several thousands of the hoppers destroyed 

 by the disease. Soon after the locusts became fledged some of them 

 were observed to die after first showing signs of disease. After the 

 disease first became apparent among the locusts, it spread, or at least 

 appeared in other portions of the city, the number of dead and dying 

 locusts increasing daily. So fatal did the disease finally become upon 

 the University campus that but few of the differentialis escaped to 

 deposit eggs. I know that three or four of the botanical students each 

 collected the dead locusts by the chalk-box full to use as specimens in 

 their line of work, and for exchange, while I gathered many of them 

 myself. During the latter half of August, and early in September, at 

 almost any time one might have secured from fifty to a hundred or 

 more specimens of the dead locusts in a few moments, by simply going 

 outside of the science hall a few yards. 



So rapid was the final action of the Entomoplithora (or Empusa, as it 

 has more recently been called) that not infrequently the locusts were 

 found still in copulation, one or the other of the sex being dead. When 

 they were found in this condition, the female, though not always, was 

 the first to succumb. This would not, however, prove anything as to 

 the comparative fatality of the disease as far as the different sexes are 

 concerned. There are other matters to be taken into consideration be- 

 fore we can come to a definite solution of comparative immunity from 

 attacks upon the different sexes of an insect by a disease like the present. 



Jnst how long a time is required for the full development of the 

 fungus after an insect is first attacked I am not prepared to state ; 

 neither can I give an account of the various stages through which the 

 fungus passes during this development from the original spore to the 

 stage where such spores are reproduced. Nor am I posted as to all 

 symptoms present during the different stages of the disease occasioned 

 by the fungus within the tissues of a living locust. All that I know 

 is, that shortly before death the stricken hopper climbs up some stick, 

 weed, or blade of grass, to which it clings frantically with its anterior 

 and middle pairs of legs. When found dead these always have their 

 head uppermost. 



Whether or not invariably fatal I can not say ; and imagiue that to 

 ascertain this would be no easy task. I am also quite ignorant in refer- 

 ence to its capability of being artificially spread, since I have had no 

 opportunity to experiment in that direction. Besides, the disease does 

 not appear to be common to all species of locusts alike; or if it is, we 

 do not know it. The subject will bear a much more careful study than 

 has thus far been devoted to it. From an economic standpoint there is 

 still a great deal to be learned concerning insect-attacking fungi, as a 

 few recent experiments in this line clearly demonstrate. 



Before leaving the subject of this locust-destroying fungus I wish to 

 add the following notes, prepared for the present paper at my request 



