20 
The: Colorado Experiment Station 
Second — A bacterial disease (Coccobacillus acridiorum D’H.) 
was reported by D’Herrelle as having worked successfully in Ar¬ 
gentina. Later experiments with this organism, both in the Phil¬ 
ippine Islands* and in South Africa, have proved it useless after 
the infection of grasshoppers in the field. 
Under artificial conditions, such as are found in a laboratory, 
these diseases may possibly be applied with good results, but as 
yet, no disease organism has been found that can be artificially 
applied with success for the destruction of grasshoppers in the 
field. 
WORK OF 1916 
During the past season, the losses caused by grasshoppers in 
Colorado were particularly large. Word was received from va¬ 
rious parts of the State reporting outbreaks and requesting in¬ 
formation relative to their control. The prevailing condition that 
favored this increase of hoppers is not exactly known, but in every 
locality where grasshoppers occur this same increase may be look¬ 
ed for in any season favorable to insect development. 
The value and necessity of organization and co-operation to 
control these serious outbreaks of grasshoppers was early recog¬ 
nized in the southern part of the State, the first request coming 
from County Agent C. E. Smith, of Trinidad, Las Animas County, 
June 1. On June 10th, a like request was received from County 
Agent E. H. Thomas, of the San Luis Valley. Later, these were 
followed by County Agents W. H. Lauck and G. C. Burckhalter 
of El Paso and Morgan Counties, respectively, and others. 
In Las Animas County and the San Luis Valley, the prevail¬ 
ing opinion for a time was that the remedial measures recom¬ 
mended by the county agents, such as sprays and poisoned baits 
were not effective. This was due to the fact that all the grass¬ 
hoppers in a given locality were not immediately killed and those 
that were poisoned had crawled out of sight in secluded patches 
of grass or under rubbish and died. 
An inspection of the farms about Trinidad and the adjacent 
communities revealed the fact that the grasshoppers were appear¬ 
ing in alarming numbers. At the evening meetings held at var¬ 
ious places to discuss the situation it was ascertained that the 
county had had no previous outbreaks that would necessitate re¬ 
medial measures. While the people were very enthusiastic, they 
seemed slightly skeptical as to the control of this pest. The dem¬ 
onstrations held at various parts of the county were always at- 
* “A Test of the Coccol>acillus acridiorum D’Herelle on Locusts in the Philippines,” 
Philippine Jr’l of Sci., X, No. 2, Sec. B. Tropical Medicine, March, 1915, pp. 163-176. 
