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Camnula pellucida, which we were assured was the insect that was 

 doing all the damage on the prairie and the entire farming region 

 about. The few straggling hoppers that we found in the streets and 

 among the fields along the railroads just outside of town were said to 

 have been carried down from the regions above on the locomotive and 

 cars running between Shoshone and Ketchum. Be this as it may, we 

 were now certainly very close to a region invaded by a locust plague, 

 either of local or foreign origin, but most probably the former. 



On the following morning we arranged with several ranchers who 

 were in from Soldier, a town situated in the prairie about 40 miles north- 

 west of Shoshone, to accompany them to the region. The owner of the 

 team was accordingly engaged to transport us across the lava-beds and 

 intervening divide which separates Shoshone from the Camas prairie, 

 or upper valley of the Malad Eiver, an exceedingly beautiful and fer- 

 tile valley through which flow many clear mountain streams. Like 

 many of the other fertile valleys of the region bordering the great in- 

 terior basin, this valley is the remains of an ancient lake that was pro- 

 duced at the time of the lava outflow, and afterwards drained by the 

 wearing away by erosion of the comparatively narrow ledge of lava at 

 its lower end. 



About 22 miles out of Shoshone we stopped at a rancher's over night, 

 and at his place found the first signs of the hoppers. Here we were 

 taken over a meadow of about 80 or 100 acres in extent, which was 

 pretty well covered with the Camnula pellucida, which we were informed 

 had bred in the adjoining hills. These had not, however, done any 

 great amount of injury, since they had not come down into the valley 

 until quite recently, nor had they at any time during the summer 

 shown much activity or voraciousness. Up to the time of our visit no 

 eggs had been observed to have been deposited by them, and but few 

 of the locusts were seen in copulation. Other small areas in the imme- 

 diate neighborhood were infested by similar isolated swarms that had 

 originated from stragglers which left the prairie during the summer of 

 1889, in small swarms that entered the hills in every direction. On 

 the following morning we started across the ridge afoot for the next 

 ranch, 6 miles away, while the team went around, about 20 miles. Dur- 

 ing this walk we encountered several small swarms of the same locust, 

 all of which were observed to be gathering in the vicinity of water or 

 meadow grounds. Some of these latter hoppers were copulating, but 

 most of them were sitting singly or in groups upon the ground or veg- 

 etation. None of them appeared to me to possess the usual activity 

 belonging to the species as I had seen it previously. 



When we arrived at the ranch for which we had been making, the 

 hoppers were found in large numbers all over the meadows and along 

 the lower slopes of the canon walls where the vegetation showed the 

 presence of considerable moisture. Here, too, we noticed the seeming 

 lack of activity among the hoppers. Nowhere did they exhibit that 



