312 
sxea, sometimes as many as 10 or 12 per pod. Later it was "believed that 
some reduction in population was brought about by the effect of 10 to 36 
seed mites on the wing pads of many of the nymphs,, preventing proper molt- 
ing. 
The egg parasite Scelio calocteni Bllev was also numerous in this 
area. Many co\ants of unhatched, hatched, and parasitized pods were made 
between May 26 and June 15, The amount of parasitization ranged from 1 to 
60 percent, and for the whole area it averaged at least 5 percent. 
In the Dissosteira longj-pennis area of Texas and New Mexico bee-fly, 
blister-beetle, and carabid larvae were seldom found, and the reduction of 
egg pods by these predators was less than 1 percent. Birds, principally 
western horned larks, and rodents— rats, mice and gophers — were believed to 
have destroyed 15 percent of the D. lonaiuennis pods in the egg beds of, 
New Mexico and 10 percent in Texas, Western horned larks and lark buntings 
cons\med about 5 percent of the first-and second-insta r D, lonainennis in 
Texas, After 85 to 95 percent of the hoppers had been destroyed by bait, 
these two birds destroyed up to 100 percent of the residual populations. 
In Colorado the insect, bird, and mammal predators reduced the num- 
ber of egg pods of B. longipennia 11 percent. Bee-fly larvae were the 
most important insect egg predator, while western horned larks destroyed 
only 1 percent of the eggs. During oviposition the swainson, red- shouldered, 
and rough- legged hawks gathered in the vicinity of the egg beds, feeding on 
the adult grasshoppers. On 1 egg bed in 4 days' time, they reduced the 
adult population from 10 per square yard to less than 1 per square yard. 
Pellets of indigestible matter regurgitated by the hawks, showed as many 
as 15 to 19 grasshoppers per pellet. The fecal matter of skunks and coyotes 
showed that these 2 animals for a short period fed almost exclusively on 
D. longiuennis adults, Sarcophagid parasitization averaged 2 to 3 percent 
during the adult period in the D. longipennis area. The cumulative effect 
probably exceeded the average parasitization because of at least 3 genera- 
tions of sarcophagids occurring in this area. In the Melano-plus mexicanus 
area, 4 to 25 percent of the grasshoppers contained maggots of the flesh 
flies. Although conditions were ideal, especially in the M> mexicanus 
area, there was little or no reduction of numbers due to ^iingus. 
