The Insects of the Past Year and Progress in Insect Studies. 237 



emergency appeal was made to the governor of the State for aid. 

 Dr. Lugger was commissioned by him to visit the locality and report 

 upon the situation. Upon his report the governor at once sent to the 

 infested region the material that was asked for in sheet-iron for 

 making large pans to contain tar and kerosene, and muslin for the 

 coustruction of bags, in which to catch and kill the " hoppers." By 

 means of these, fifty and more bushels of locusts (nearly all young 

 and requiring, at the least, seven thousand individuals to make a 

 bushel) were caught and killed daily near Perham during a week in 

 June. By the 1st of July, from a low estimate, twenty-five hundred 

 bushels had been killed. The labor required was paid for by the 

 county commissioners, with the promise of being returned by the State, 

 which was thereafter done. Later, it was determined to pay a bounty 

 for catching and killing the hoppers, and one dollar a bushel was 

 offered by the county commissioners. As the " hopper-dozers " — the 

 popular name for the ten-feet long sheet-iron pans which had proved 

 so efficient — did not hold the insects that were swept into them, but 

 allowed perhaps four-fifths of the number to jump from the oil to 

 die thereafter on the ground, another device was resorted to. This 

 was known as the "balloon hopper-catcher," and consisted of a frame 

 of strips of wood, eighteen feet long, to lie flat on the ground, and 

 carrying upon it a large, loose bag of cheese-cloth, with a spout made 

 of a sack sewed into one corner. As this is drawn quickly over the 

 ground by a horse, and the bag or balloon becomes inflated by the 

 wind or draught, the "hoppers " are scooped up, or hop or fly into it. 

 When the bag is filled, the insects are removed to other bags, in which 

 they are tied up for convenient measurement. It worked admirably, 

 and yielded golden returns. The fields were covered with hopper- 

 catchers — men, women and children — the latter using their aprons 

 and shawls, and the women, table-cloths and sheets. The farmers 

 gave up their usual work for this better remuneration. They would 

 allow no one to share with them in the ingathering of this harvest, all 

 intruders being warned away by such signs as these posted up in con- 

 spicuous places: "All hopper-catching forbidden on these premises/ 



or "For the privilege of hopper-catching apply to 



lhe cro P was undoubtedly the best paying one that their lands had 

 eT< * yielded. The number of bushels caught and measured in this 

 fanner, and paid for by the commissioners, was fourteen thousand 

 three hundred and fifty-seven. The nearly $15,000 required for the 

 Purpose was considered as money well expended. At the lowest esti- 

 mate, the number of bushels of locusts killed in Otter Tail county, 



