22 MISCELLANEOUS COTTON INSECTS. 
kerosene emulsion was used with marked success. The planters pre- 
ferred using- the pure oil, its effect being more quickly apparent. 
Paris green was used both as a dust and as a spray. The dust seemed 
to be much the better form of application and more effective, although 
more material is required. Several types of portable powder guns 
were used by various planters under our direction, and were found to 
apply the poison much more effectively and economically than is done 
by the use of a sack. Where these methods were thoroughly practiced, 
the young hoppers were much reduced in numbers by the third week 
in April and their injury checked. An unfortunate feature of these 
methods of treatment lay in the fact that, after a field had been almost 
entirely rid of the pest, migration would take place from adjoining 
uncultivated land, possibly owned by a nonresident, or on a part of a 
neighboring plantation where no harm could be done the crops of the 
owner and where, therefore, nothing had been done toward checking 
it. This necessitated continued work by certain individuals, much 
later than would have been necessaiy had the whole community pur- 
sued the same methods; and in several instances caused vexatious 
losses after it was thought that a field had been entirely freed from 
the hoppers. 
Natural enemies. — Just after the young had hatched large numbers 
of a small conopid fl} r , Stylog aster hiannulata Say, were observed dart- 
ing about and hovering over the young hoppers. It was impossible 
to observe their oviposition or to rear them from the hoppers subse- 
quently, but, owing to the previously observed habits of this species, 
there is little doubt that it was parasitic upon the young. 
During the last w T eek of April large flocks of blackbirds and reed- 
birds or bobolinks appeared in the fields for a few days, and undoubt- 
edly did more than an} T other natural agency to check the pest. They 
consumed immense numbers of the hoppers, so that, with the methods 
previously employed, but little damage was done later in the season. 
Trapping in holes. — June 1, 1903, a small outbreak occurred a few 
miles from College station. At that time the locusts were slightly 
less than half grown. The eggs had been deposited in a small strip of 
grass and weeds along a ditch running through the center of the field, 
and from there the young hoppers had migrated for some little dis- 
tance on all sides and had destroyed considerable cotton, then about 
six inches high. In this case it was essential to prevent further injury 
as soon as possible, and although poisoning would undoubtedly have 
killed them in a few days much damage would have been done before 
they succumbed. A number of post holes were therefore dug in a 
double row, the holes alternating, near the center of the affected area, 
and several men and boys drove the hoppers toward them. Very 
large numbers were thus caught in the holes and were then easily 
