INSECT PEST SURVEY BULLETIN 
Vol. 19 
Supplement to Number 4 
June 15, 1959 
THE SPECIES .AND DISTRIBUTION OF GRASSHOPPERS 
IN THE 1938 OUTBREAK 
Robert L. Shotwcll, Entomologist 
Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine 
United States Department of Agriculture 
The year 1938 was the fifth year in which grasshoppers were collected 
in typical environments in the several States included in the annual grass- 
hopper survey. Data from the 1334, 1935, 1936, and 1937 collections were 
published as supplements to the Insect Pest Survey Bulletin as follows: 
Volume 14, number 9; Volume 16, number 5; Volume 17, number 3; and Volume 
18, number 6. 
The present paper is based on tabula/ted data from collections made 
in 21 States, as follows: Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, 
Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada., New Mexico, North 
Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. 
Small collections were made in the State of Washington but not of sufficient 
size to be included in this report. Over 196,000 specimens were taken in 
the common crops and native habitats of the different States. These speci- 
mens have all been identified and recorded as to the numbers of each species 
in each environment and these data' have teen recorded for each State as 
percentages of the total number collected in a, single habitat. The identi- 
fication of these specimens represents an immense amount of work and the 
credit for this goes to E„ E. Skoog, field assistant, who has had charge 
of this work for the last 2 years. 
It has been explained in other reports that there are imperfections 
in the survey and the results are to be considered only in a general way. 
After 5 years, a study of the results indicates definitely certain trends and 
changes in the relative abundance of the different species which have been 
borne out by field observations. 
In 1937 Pi sso stelra longipenni s in the Colorado-New Mexico area held 
the spotlight of interest in grasshopper activities. Again in 1938 this 
species aroused a greater interest in the States infested including larger 
areas in the Panhandle of Texa.s. Of greater import for the entire grass- 
hopper area, however, were the major flights of Melanoplus mexicanus , the 
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