Natural Enemies. 



119 



velopment or both. I find them more plentiful to-day than before. 

 The ground seems to be full of them, from five to twenty of the 

 small white worms in a single cell, one generally, though sometimes 

 two of the large white ones in a cell. The reddish colored ones I 

 suppose are in a different stage of development, though ihe same 

 parasite. In every cell in which I have found any of those sent 

 you, the eggs wi re nearly or quite destroyed. But there is another, 

 and a far more destructive enemy, viz., the hot sun, which is hatch- 

 ing them out by the million, though the parasites may continue 

 their work after it ceases to operate. I shall be happy to do all I 

 can to aid you in your investigations. — [Letter from C. E. Treadwell, 

 Rockport, Atchison county, October 16, 1876. 



Yesterday we discovered on a warm southern exposure that our 

 locust eggs were hatching out maggots. We break open the cocoons 

 and the eggs on exposure to the sun for a few moments crawl away 

 a worm. In warm places along the hedges the earth is alive with 

 them. Is this a new development of the locust question? It would 

 seem to be a confirmation of the theory you promulgated, as I 

 understood it, at the time. I secured a few of the perfect cocoons 

 which I enclose for your examination. We suppose these will do 

 as the others do upon exposure to the sun. 



The people here are quite excited over the matter, hoping it 

 may be a solution of the problem for next year, at least, and have 

 deputed me to lay the matter before you. Any information you 

 can give us in regard to this our latest development, will be thank- 

 fully received and acknowledged. — [Letter from S. M. Pratt, M.D., 

 Hiawatha, Brown County, Kansas, October 30, 1876. 



Various reports have been circulated in regard to the destruction 

 of the eggs of the Rocky Mountain Locust (Caloptenus spretus) by 

 a worm. I am happy to state that these reports were substantiated 



miles west of this city, who brought me a box of earth in which 

 the eggs of the "hopper " had been abundantly deposited. To-day 

 a similar box was secured from W. B. Barnett, Esq., of Hiawatha, 

 Brown county. In both of these instances a large proportion of 

 the eggs have been destroyed by a small, white larva. Many of 

 the egg-cases, which ordinarily each contain from twenty to thirty 

 eggs, had no eggs in them, but were full of these worms or larvae, 

 each one of which took the place of an egg which it had destroyed. 

 Some of the egg-cases contained only two or three larvae with more 

 than twenty sound eggs. I consider these to be the larvae of a 

 parasitic Hymenopterous insect [it was subsequently verified as the 

 Anthomyia under consideration] which I hope to obtain in the 

 winged or perfect state, if I succeed in carrying them safely through 

 their transformation. — [Prof. F. H. Snow, in Lawrence (Kansas) 

 Journal, November 1, 1876. 



This good little friend, which simultaneously prevailed 

 over so large an extent of country, is a small white mag- 



Creek, Kanawaka, twelve 



