37 



till early August they could frequently be seen in the air in consider- 

 able numbers. Nearly all of these flights, so far as could be ascer- 

 tained, were toward the north and northeast, the remainder being south 

 and east, but of little consequence. 



The region over which this insect hatched, while quite large, did not 

 contain very many of them, comparatively speaking, for the injuries 

 were restricted to isolated districts, and even here not all of the fields 

 suffered to the same extent. The injuries were in no case complete, as 

 only the edges of fields of small grain, principally oats, suffered from 

 their ravages. 



The presence of this insect even in these comparatively small num- 

 bers was a complete surprise to us here at the university, since not a 

 single correspondent had mentioned a word about their having come 

 into the country and laid eggs last fall. 



After having carefully gone over much of the territory embraced in 

 the region where this insect hatched the present year, and also of the 

 surrounding country, I do not apprehend any great damage from it the 

 coming year. Judging both from personal observations and the reports 

 of others, it has so scattered and dwindled that it may not even be heard 

 from next year. While much time has been expended by me in travel 

 and correspondence with the object in view of locating any possible 

 swarms of this insect since it was observed in flight, none have been 

 found. The only conclusion, then, that I can arrive at is that they have 

 scattered as suggested above. This also appears to be the only region 

 where the species is present even in small numbers, since none were seen 

 by me in Wyoming, Colorado, extreme western Kansas and Nebraska, 

 and the western portion of the Dakotas. Inquiries sent to Montana, 

 Utah, and Idaho also failed to elicit evidence of its presence in these 

 States. 



Several other species of locusts were found to be destructive in both 

 Nebraska and adjoining States. Among these were the following- 

 named forms : The lesser migratory (Melanoplus atlanis), the red-legged 

 (M. femur-rubrum), the two-lined [M. bivittatus), the differential (.1/. 

 differential is), a short- winged form (M. lakinus) that for the first time 

 to my knowledge has shown a tendency to abnormal increase, and the 

 long-winged plains locust (Dissosteira longipennis). 



The lesser migratory species was observed in portions of Colorado 

 and Kansas, and is at the present time quite plentiful over much of the 

 eastern half of Nebraska, western Iowa, some parts of South Dakota, 

 and Minnesota. Here at Lincoln it has shown a tendency toward 

 migration during the month of September. Every warm fair day a 

 few of them were to be seen in the air even at considerable heights, 

 while others were observed to voluntarily get up and fly rather long 

 distances, as if bent on getting away from the locality. Should we 

 suffer from locust depredations in this immediate vicinity next year, I 

 believe it would be due to the work of <itl<i»is rather than that oi any 

 other single species of locust. 



