18 
WJiere and under what Conditions of Soil the Young hatch most freely. — 
The eggs will batch under the must varied conditions. As a rule, the 
soils and locations preferred by the female in ovipositing will be 
those in which the young will most freely hatch, viz, compact aud sandy 
or gravelly knolls aud hillsides with a south or southeast exposure. 
The experience of 1877 shows also that hatching takes place very 
freely in late-mown meadows or prairies or grazed pastures, where the 
exposure of the ground admits of ready oviposition and the warmth of 
the sun. In dry, well-drained, and compact soils of a light nature the 
eggs are much better preserved than in heavy clays and loams, where 
they are more subject to mold and rot. The experience of 1S77 is rather 
misleading on this point, and indicates the necessity of generalizing, 
not from the experience of one, but of many years. The insects were 
most numerous, and seemed to hatch most numerously in the lowlands 
and in sheltered situations along river courses. The facts are. that in 
such situations those which did hatch survived iu larger proportions 
than did those which hatched in more exposed places, because the 
former were better protected from the cold rains and storms of spring. 
Time of Hatching, — Here, again, we can not take the experience of any 
one year as a guide, but hud the necessity of generalizing from all past 
experience. In much of the locust area there prevailed such late warm 
weather in the autumn of 1870 that considerable numbers of the young 
hatched prematurely: and such is very generally the case. We had 
also some unseasonably warm weather in January and February, 1877, 
during which large numbers hatched. These all subsequently perished. 
During the latter part of March and early in April the hatching was 
general, but there followed a period of cold, rainy weather, which 
checked the hatching aud destroyed a large number of the insects that 
had hatched. May and June were characterized by abundant rains 
and storms, alternating with warm, sunny weather, causing the hatching 
to be irregular and in some cases quite retarded. It would not be in- 
correct, therefore, to say that in one and the same neighborhood the 
hatching commenced on the 1st of February, and did not cease till the 
end of June, thus covering a period of 5 months. Yet this is excep- 
tional, and it has been much more regular and the period more restricted 
in previous years. 
Those eggs which are laid earliest the previous year will also hatch 
earliest : and since the egg-laying covers an average period of (3 or 8 
weeks in the same locality and lasts generally till frost, it follows that 
the eggs pass the winter in every stage of development — some with the 
fluids clear and limpid, others with the embryo fully formed aud ready 
at the first approach of spring to hatch. This we found also to be act- 
ually the case, for many hundreds of egg-masses examined during the 
winter of 1876-77, from divers parts of the infested region, showed every 
state of development. 
In the same locality hatching will take place — casteris paribus — first 
