26 
winter was one of uncommon severity even for this region, with very 
deep snow, which, upon melting the following spring, flooded the low 
lands for a long time. The great amount of water throughout the re- 
gion caused rank growths of vegetation everywhere. Soon after the 
hillsides began to be denuded of their mantles of snow and vegetation 
started, the young locusts began hatching and feeding. Contrary to the 
expectations of many of the inhabitants of the prairie, the feeding and 
growing hoppers showed little disposition to move away from the 
locality. Once, it is stated by several persons who had taken the 
trouble to watch their movements, these little locusts did start off 
towards the summits of the mountain chain lying to the north. This 
was just before they developed their wings and while in the pupal stage. 
But just as soon as they had wings, and these latter had become suffi- 
ciently hardened for use, the entire SAvarm turned about and dropped 
upon the valley, massing upon the fields of grain and gardens, which 
they stripped in a remarkably short time. When all cultivated vege- 
tation had disappeared the native grasses were attacked and devoured. 
So numerous and voracious were the locusts that, notwithstanding the 
rank growths caused by the abundance of water during most of the 
spring and summer, when I visited the region in August the country 
was pretty well divested of its covering of vegetation. Instead of 
leaving the valley for the hills as their immediate ancestors of the pre- 
vious year had done, these locusts of 1890 remained and laid their eggs 
in the valley, choosing gravelly or somewhat sandy places for the pur- 
pose. At the time of my visit most of the eggs had already been laid, 
and hence it was rather a difficult problem to ascertain the exact extent 
of these depositions, since but few people in the region had paid the 
slightest attention to the matter, even after a fourth year of suffering- 
had been passed through. It appears, however, from the number of 
young locusts that were hatched the past spring that a great portion of 
the valley was thus occupied. 
My examinations of the locusts that remained in the valley at the 
time of my first visit led me to believe that the plague was about at its 
height, and I so reported at the time. Whether to have done so was 
the wisest plan or not I can not say, for on the strength of that report 
most of the inhabitants of the valley decided that there was no fur- 
ther necessity for fighting the plague — a thing that they had not done 
in the past nor x>robably had any idea of trying in the future. There 
certainly were a number of diseased and parasitized hoppers in the 
country, besides the entire region was overrun by young toads that 
promised to be of value the following spring in devouring the young 
locusts when they hatched. It will be seen by the following account 
of the locusts in that region during the past spring and summer that 
my conjectures were probably correct. Although apparently on the 
decline in Idaho, this particular species of locust covers a much more 
extended area of country than it has for a number of years. 
