266 PROCEEDINGS: BOSTON SOCIETY NATURAL HISTORY. 
not save them, while she was compKmented the next year for so 
successfully sowing the garden down to grass. The leaves were 
stripped from the apple-trees. They entered the house in swarms, 
reminding one of the locusts of Egypt, and, as we walked, they 
would rise in countless numbers and fly away in clouds. 
"As the nights grew cooler they collected on the spruce and 
hemlock stumps and log fences, completely covering them, eating 
the moss and decomposed surface of the wood, and leaving the 
surface clean and new. They would perch on the west side of a 
stump, where they could feel the warmth of the sun, and work 
around to the east side in the morning as the sun reappeared. 
The foot-paths in the fields were literally covered with their 
excrements. 
"During the latter part of August and the first of September, 
when the air was still dry, and for several days in succession a 
high wind prevailed from the northwest, the locusts frequently 
rose in the air to an immense height. By looking up at the sky 
in the middle of a clear day, as nearly as possible in the direction 
of the sun, one may descry a locust at a great height. These 
insects could thus be seen in swarms, appearing like so many 
thistle-blows, as they expanded their wings and were borne along 
toward the sea before the wind; myriads of them were drowned 
in Casco Bay, and I remember hearing that they frequently 
dropped on the decks of coasting vessels. Cart-loads of dead 
bodies remained in the fields, forming in spots a tolerable coating 
of manure." 
While Scudder attributes this outbreak to the Red-legged 
Locust {Melanoplus femur-ruhrum), it is highly probable that it 
was caused primarily by the Lesser Locust (M. m. atlanis), which 
had not been recognized at that time as a distinct species inhab- 
iting New England. This is indicated particularly by their 
tendency to migrate. 
Remedies. 
Since the introduction of arsenical poisons and their use com- 
bined with attractive baits, and of mechanical means such as hop- 
per-dozers to capture the young in large quantities, the outlook 
for the agriculturist to combat the pests successfully is much 
1 
