4 
Bulletin ioi. 
every courtesy and gave valuable assistance in carrying on my in¬ 
vestigations. 
I reached Steamboat Springs, July 24th, where I found nearly 
everyone had heard of the swarms of black crickets that had over¬ 
run the town of Hayden, and had invaded various ranches between 
that place and Eddy, and were wanting to know if there was 
any danger of their reaching Steamboat Springs in their eastward 
march. I left for Eddy on the morning stage of the 25th of July, 
but was soon met by Mr. John A. Whetstone, who took me to his 
home near Eddy, where there was a rather large swarm of the 
crickets camping upon a large “hog back” just west of his ranch. 
The crickets had been down to an irrigating ditch along the west 
side of the ranch, but had not crossed in sufficient numbers to do 
any harm, though there was no telling how soon they might do so. 
Mr. W. W. Miles, postmaster at Eddy, was also afraid that the 
crickets might destroy his crops, and they did do considerable in¬ 
jury to a field of oats and a field of rye belonging to him. This 
swarm had ceased its regular migrations, and for some two weeks 
Mr. Miles said the hoppers had been wandering about, going down 
the hills to a ditch or stream of water and then returning to the hill 
tops. The swarm was one of medium, or rather large size, and, as 
near as I could estimate, when all moving in one direction, they 
covered an area about 300 yards across by half of a mile in length. 
This seemed a favorable location, so I stayed a few days to make 
observations and try a few experiments. 
APPEARANCE OE THE CRICKETS. 
At the time of my arrival at Eddy, the crickets were all quite 
dark in color; a casual observer would call them black. I was told 
they were more reddish in color, earlier, and probably this is spec¬ 
ially true just after molting (shedding their skin). The real color 
was a dark brown, tinged with olive green and more or less 
mottled, especially upon the abdomen and legs, with yellowish 
brown. Specimens from Nevada, sent me by Professor Doten, 
were distinctly more rufous in color. Both males and females 
measure from about 1 1-3 to 1 1-2 inches in length. The females 
are easily distinguished by the long “tails,” or ovipositors, measur¬ 
ing about 7 /% of an inch in length and nearly straight, but slightly 
curved. See Plate I, Fig. A, which shows the female life size. In 
place of the ovipositor, the males have a pair of double hooks, or 
clasping organs, with which they hold to the female during copula¬ 
tion. These are shown at E in the same plate. The wings are 
very small, the front pair being largest, and are used by the males 
for the purpose of making the chirping or squeaking noise that is 
always heard when one disturbs or frightens them. The noise is 
made by rubbing one wing over the other. Ordinarily the wings 
