19 
the foothills adjacent to the valley, and are to be found in these places 
at all times, and periodically overrun the valley. 
What the extent of this invasion will be is, of course, problematical. 
This is the third season in which they have been increasing i>ercepti- 
bly and doing damage in the valley, getting more and more numerous 
and doing greater injury each year, and extending over more of the 
cultivated part of the valley as they increase. If the increase next year 
should be in proportion to that of the last two years, great loss of crops 
will occur along the valley of the Boise Eiver and for some distance out 
on the plains, where much territory has recently been brought under 
cultivation by the construction of irrigation ditches. 
There are several species of locusts to be found in the infested fields, 
but the greater number are referred to Camnula pellucida ( C. atrox ?) 
Caloptemts bivittatus, and C. atlanis, with a smaller number of G. devas- 
tator and C. cinereus, and quite a sprinkling of Dissosteira longipennis 
and D. Carolina. 
One thing that seemed remarkable to me was the great diversity in 
ages and sizes of the insects, which did not seem to be confined to any 
particular species exclusively, ranging from larvae scarcely a day old to 
full-fledged insects, in many cases pairing preparatory to egg laying for 
a new brood. 
I was unable to learn in the limited time at my disposal that para- 
sites or diseases were prevalent to any considerable degree, further 
than that the red mite was to be found on quite a number of specimens, 
and that a few were dying from some apparent fungus attack, but I 
could not determine its nature. 
The affected insect would attach itself firmly to a stalk of grain or 
grass, so firmly that it could not readily be removed entire, and turn to 
a dark leaden hue, the whole interior cavity of the body being filled with 
a semi-liquid mass, the tissues of the body being so destroyed that the 
insect would fall apart almost with its own weight, even before life 
was wholly extinct. This condition was observed at the time of my 
first visit, July 24, and seemed to affect quite a number of the insects, 
in which I could find nothing having the appearance of parasites. 
At my second visit, August 7, no such diseased insects were to be 
found, but thousands of empty shells of their bodies were lying about, 
a dozen being common in the area of a single yard, but whether the con- 
tents of the bodies had been removed by some kind of parasite or death 
was the result of fungoid disease, I was unable to satisfactorily deter- 
mine. It was evident the cause that was operating in the first instance 
had passed its season. I, however, found one case in whiph the body 
contained two larvre of some kind of Tachina fly, but have no assurance 
that this caused the general destruction so prevalent throughout the 
field. 
Egg laying had apparently not yet begun, but a number were seen 
in coition ; in one case a pair were destroyed by the disease in that 
position, the empty bodies being together. 
