132 The Rocky Mountain Locust. 



I first reared this fly from specimens of the Rocky Moun- 

 tain Locust sent me by Jos. C. Shattuck, Supt. of Public 

 Instruction, Greeley, Col., who, July 14, 1873, wrote of 

 its work as follows : 



* * Also, I will say that the grasshoppers which a month 

 since seriously threatened to devour every green thing, have met 

 with a mortal foe and been slain by millions. (Don't think " mil- 

 lions" too large a word.) Very few have taken to "themselves 

 wings and flown awa}'," as heretofore, but lie dead in the fields 

 they lately ravaged. A small fly pierces them and deposits an egg 

 while on the wing, (or on the jump), and, like Herod of old, " they 

 are eaten of worms and give up the ghost." 



The following items refer to the same insect: 



A Grasshopper- Exterminating Fly.— It seems that the grasshop- 

 pers that are so destructive to vegetation in many places in the 

 central portion of the continent, are likely to find an enemy which 

 threatens their rapid destruction. The Deer Lodge Independent 

 says that a fly has made its appearance, closely resembling the com- 

 mon house-fly, but much larger, and of a gray, mottled color, which 

 deposits its eggs under the wings of the grasshopper. The egg is 

 enclosed in a glutinous substance, which secures it in its position 

 until the worm is matured [embryon developed] . It then pene- 

 trates the body of the grasshopper, which speedily dies. The 

 worm then burrows in the ground, and at the end of seventeen days 

 comes forth a fly, ready to again commence the work or destruc- 

 tion. Mr. Wm. Walker, of Dempsey Creek, informs the Independ- 

 ent that twice during the past summer the grasshoppers threatened 

 to destroy his crops, but the flies killed them so rapidly that tbey 

 did him but little damage. As the grasshoppers were killed before 

 depositing their eggs, it is generally believed that this plague is 

 ended in the Deer Lodge Valley. — [Published in several Montana 

 papers in the summer of 1874. 



A great many of the locusts seemed to be punctured on the back, 

 and on pulling their heads off after death (many were found dead) 

 from one to three ordinary looking maggots would be found. Many 

 farmers fear it might be an introduction of a new plague. May 

 not this gentleman with his little gimlet in time prove the destroyer 

 of the hateful locust? — [R. P. C. Wilson, Platte City, Mo., in pri- 

 vate letter. 



I saw a hopper kicking about as if he could hardly move; I 

 pulled him to pieces and found that he contained a footless grub, 

 half an inch in length. In a short time more were procured, placed 

 in a covered tumbler, where, in a little more than two weeks, the 

 grubs changed to Tachina flies, very much resembling the common 

 house-flies. * * When we remember what an enormous number 

 of eggs (fly-blows) a fly will lay, and that each, in about a month, will 



