LOCUST RAVAGES IN CALIFORNIA. 
249 
VICINITY OF S1EREAVILLE. 
The brothers H. P. and William Robbins suffered slight losses of grass and grain. 
A. J. Flint got ahead of the tireless harvesters with four mowers, securing his hay, 
but a small patch of wheat was munched as a daiuty morsel in a few hours. 
Mrs. Chandler was relieved from the expense of finishing a field of grass that stood 
well at eve ; ere noon of next day it was full of locusts, shearing it close to the 
ground. 
D. D. Newman lost 75 acres of oats and much fall feed. A small field of rye was not 
attacked, so he takes the precaution to sow all his grain land to this cereal. 
Jonah T. Jones lost but part of his oat crop, owing to the late arrival of the scourge. 
In his granary I obtained mutilated specimens of the insect (they had been through 
the thresher and fanner) that confirmed my suspicions of the true character and 
name of the species. 
George P. Haine suffered but little, being mostly beyond the last stragglers of the 
army. Has had occasion to pass among the ranches near Adams's Neck during sum- 
mer seasons. Has observed the habits of the young ; correctly distinguishes between 
them and the full-fledged grouse locust, often mistaken for them. Saw young, half- 
grown, wingless locusts once seeking fresh pastures on Moffatt's ranch. Stopped by 
a stream, they retracted the flanks of their column, and crossed a bridge, as thick on 
the ground as they could be and move ; were four days crossing ; thinks they can be 
ditched, 
Merritt Harding, being fond of tempting trout from his streams with grasshoppers, 
made a most important discovery. The insect was found to be infested by a little 
red louse. When carrying six to eight of these blood-sucking enemies the locust 
looked sickly and was very weak. These were late comers. 
T. S. Battelle, Peter Olsen, B. F. Lemmon, the Himes Brothers, and Jack Campbell 
have each their quota of eggs deposited by the last vanguard of the army late in 
July and August, menacing their own and adjoining ranches this summer. 
The reported damages foregoing foot up : Grain, $15,000; hay, $5,250 ; feed, $1,400; 
vegetables, $600 ; total, $22,250. This should be increased about one-third by the 
addition of those farmers not reported — $30,000. 
The damages in the vicinity of Beckwourth and the Summit, and along the west 
side of the valley and the interior, was perhaps half as great, which, added to the 
above, gives a total of damage of $45,000 in Sierra Valley for the year 1878. 
Now, what is this fell destroyer ? What its relatives, its habits, its enemies, and 
how can its attacks be averted ? 
From examination of specimens with a microscope and comparisons with descriptions 
and illustrations in my possession, I have determined that this locust is not the ter- 
rible migratory Rocky Mountain locust of the interior. Added to which all the facts 
given concerning the habits of this insect prove it different. In regard to the scien- 
tific names of these two kinds of locusts, the unscientific will notice that they are very 
aptly conferred. The Rocky Mountain locust is called Caloptenus spretus. The first 
or generic name means " beautiful wing," and refers to the bright silvery sheen of the 
wings when seen at great heights in flight, resembling snow-flakes ; the last or specific 
name means "despised," "hated." This locust has its permanent breeding grounds 
mostly on the eastern side of the Rockies, from the parks of Colorado northward 200 
miles beyond the boundary between the States and British America. It makes irreg- 
ular forays eastward or southward, devastating large areas in the manner so forcibly 
described by the prophet Joel: "The appearance of them is as the appearance of 
horses, and as a horseman so shall they run. Like the noise of chariots on the tops of 
mountains shall they leap ; like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble ; 
as a strong people set in battle array. The land is a garden of Eden before them, be- 
hind them a desolate wilderness." 
During the three years from 1874 to 1877 the damage done to the border States was 
estimated at the enormous sum of $300,000,000. This "hated" spretus moves in vast 
