RELATION OF TEMPERATURE TO DEVELOPMENT OF THE EGGS. 135 
The first thing we notice in this table worthy of remark is the con- 
tinuous low temperature from the middle of December, 1872, to the 3d 
of February, 1873, the minimum thermometer making during this pe- 
riod 42 days below zero, while during the same period in the winter of 
1873-'74 it stood below zero only 17 days. We also observe that during 
the former the maximum temperature was below zero 7 days, while it 
fell below zero only one day during the winter of 1873-'74. A further 
comparison of the two winters shows that the latter was decidedly more 
favorable to the locust than the former, if the eggs are at all affected by 
long coutinued and extreme cold, which is very doubtful. 
The Fort Benton record not only corresponds with this showing, but 
the contrast is still more marked ; that of Fort Garry, Manitoba, shows 
very little difference between the two winters in this respect ; the record 
of Virginia City presents no marked difference, 
Eeference to the record of Fort Sully for the winter of 1874-'75, given 
in the preceding table, will show that, while December was compara- 
tively mild, there was a long continued cold spell in January and Feb- 
ruary. The Fort Garry minimum thermometer shows an unbroken suc- 
cession of minuses (below zero marks) from December 28 to March 7 ; 
also a continuous maximum below zero from January 2 to 19. 
The maximum and minimum record for Fort Sully for the winter of 
1875-'76, preceding the invasion of 1876, is even more favorable than 
that of 1873-'74, if comparative mildness is favorable. 
Whether the records of but six or seven years will justify us iu assum- 
ing any law as established thereby in reference to the subject now under 
consideration is very doubtful ; certainly not, unless the data are uniform 
in their bearing on the point. Still there are sufficient indications in the 
facts just presented to lead*us to believe it probable that here we shall 
find, in part at least, what we are hunting for, but if so we must confess 
that it is in a very different quarter from what we supposed. 
If we now turn to the record of rainfall, as shown in Table VII, we find 
that the amount for the winter months at the stations within or near the 
borders of the permanent breeding-grounds is so small throughout the 
years included that the differences can cut no important figure in the mat- 
ter under discussion. On inspection of the records, the months of May 
and June, at Fort Sully, shows, contrary to the theory heretofore ad- 
vanced, that the rainfall in 1874 was greater than 1873 or 1875 ; the 
same thing is also true in reference to Breckenridge ; but at Saint Paul, 
Omaha, and Keokuk the case is reversed. At the other points the differ- 
ence is not very marked either way. The total for the years at the 
different stations also fails to reveal any very marked difference favor- 
able to the theory advanced, except that as a general rule that of 1874 
appears to be below the average; but at Saint Paul, Fort Sully, Vir- 
ginia City, and Breckenridge the amount in 1874 was actually greater 
than in 1875. 
We are therefore forced to the conclusion that the meteorological data, 
so far as we have considered them, fail to reveal any facts that tend to con- 
