OP THE FAEil AXD GAEDEis. 



269 



THE EOCKY MOUOTAIN LOCUST. 



{Caloptenus spretus, Thomas.) 



Tliough the ravages of this insect are confined to a lim- 

 ited area, its destructiveness is so great in the localities it 

 visits, that it seems desirable in a work like the present 

 to give the leading facts in its history. It is usually 

 called the Eocky Mountain Locust, but is sometimes 

 known as the ^' Hateful Grasshopper." This insect has 

 visited Kansas, Xebraska and other Western States with 

 most destructive effect, the recital of which reminds one 

 of the accounts of the plagues of Egypt. Few insects 

 have had their life history more thoroughly studied, and 

 the useful information given by entomologists concerning 

 this single insect has more than warranted the cost of the 

 various State and General Government Commissions. An 

 elaborate account of this insect is given in the Seventh 

 Missouri Keport, and another, in the Eeport of the IT. S. 

 Entomological Commission for 1880. The following is 

 compiled from an account in the American Entomolo- 

 gist," by Wm. A. Byers, and from other sources. The 

 Eocky Mountain Locust is common in all the western 

 or rainless region, one-third of the United States, but 

 its breeding place is upon the hot, parched plains and 

 table lands, from four to six thousand feet above the 

 sea. The greater the heat, the more they flourish. 

 Though they endure considerable cold and live, they are 

 at the same time exceedingly sensitive to its effects; be- 

 coming torpid in frosty nights or in snow storms, and 

 reviving to active life in the succeeding sunshine. The 

 SAvarms that devastate the country in their flights are in- 

 variably natives of sandy plains or basins, comparatively 

 destitute of vegetation, where the direct and reflected 

 heat of the sun's rays in summer are more intense than 



