34 



The Rocky Mountain Locust. 



much as they did in 1874 and 1876, though no records of 

 the fact are to be found, for the simple reason that the 

 western country was unsettled by farmers. We know that 

 during the same and the previous year the crops were 

 destroyed in many parts of Manitoba, and the migrations 

 of 18 J 9 and 1820 must have been very similar to those of 

 1873 and 1874. 



In 1845, and again in 1849, we have accounts, from vari- 

 ous sources, of their swarming in Texas. In 1855 there 

 was another very general irruption all over the western 

 part of the continent. Says Mr. Taylor, in the Smithso- 

 nian Report already alluded to: "Up to the 11th of 

 October, 1855, and commencing about the middle of May, 

 these insects extended themselves over a space of the 

 earth's surface much greater than has ever before been 

 noted. They covered the entire Territories of Washing- 

 ton and Oregon, and every valley of the State of Califor- 

 nia, ranging from the Pacific Ocean to the eastern base of 

 the Sierra Nevada ; the entire territories of Utah and 

 New Mexico; the immense grassy prairies lying on the 

 eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains ; the dry mountain 

 valleys of the republic of Mexico, and the countries of 

 Lower California and Central America ; and also those 

 portions of the State of Texas which resemble, in physi- 

 cal characteristics, Utah and California. The records 

 prove that the locusts extended themselves, in one year, 

 over a surface comprised within thirty-eight degrees of 

 latitude, and, in the broadest part, eighteen degrees of 

 longitude. 



" On several days in June, July and August, of 1855, 

 the grasshoppers (or langostas of the Spaniards) were 

 seen in such incredible numbers in the valley of the Sacra- 

 mento, in California; in the valley of Colima, Southwest 

 Mexico ; in the valley of the Great Salt Lake ; in Western 



