272 



INJURIOUS INSECTS 



They have done damage m several restricted localities, 

 and have passed over in greater or less swarms almost 

 every year since the settlement of the country^ but the 

 prevalent idea that they are a yearly plague is a mistake. 

 In New Mexico, which has been settled by the same 

 people for two hundred years, generation after genera- 

 tion of the same family, cultivating the same fields, they 

 say they expect to lose about one crop in seven by Grass- 

 hoppers. The experience in Utah, Montana, Idaho and 



rig. 158,— THE FEMALE EOCKY MOUNTAIN LOCUST DEPOSITING HER EGGS. 



a, a. a. Female Locusts in different positions, ovipositing ; h. Egg-pod extracted 

 from ground, witli the end broken open ; c. Eggs ; d, e. Earth partially removed, to 

 ghow an egg-mass already in place, and one being placed ; /, shows where such a 

 mass has been covered up. 



JSTevada, is about the same as Kansas and Nebraska, 

 Avhich States have suffered more or less until recently. 

 They will not propagate in great numbers in the Missis- 

 sippi Valley — not because it is too hot or too low, but be- 

 cause it is too damp. 



When the Grasshopper invades a district, it at once 

 sets about depositing its eggs, and the great injury to be 

 apprehended is, from the brood to be hatched from them. 



Egg-layin'G akd HATCHiiq-G. — Figure 158 illustrates 

 the manner in which the female lays her eggs. With two 



