April, ’24] 
LOCKWOOD: GRASSHOPPER DAMAGE 
199 
that is growing in the alfalfa. This also applies to Melanoplus differ¬ 
ential^ (Thomas). Fence rows, ditch banks, closed drains, and road¬ 
sides having a southern exposure and stack yards are also places where 
these two species commonly oviposit. In the irrigated alfalfa fields of 
Wyoming, Camnula pellucida (Scudder) chooses high, dry knolls as the 
best places for its eggs. Further north this species prefers to deposit its 
eggs directly into the roots of grass. In the hard spring wheat section, 
the small grains grown on rather light sandy soil often are more severely 
damaged by Melanoplus atlanis (Riley) in the early part of the year than 
nearby crops grown in heavier ground. In such sandy sections the 
eggs of this species are commonly found at the bases of old grain stubble. 
The strips of sod between the fields and between the roadsides and fields 
and headlands are the places where atlansis eggs can be expected. We 
have had better success in locating these eggs under mats of dead 
vegetation, such as a pile of Russian thistles or tumbling mustard 
lodged against a fence, than in places where there was no such covering. 
In the open prairie this species of grasshopper is inclined to deposit its 
eggs on sandy or rocky knolls or ridges having more or less growing 
vegetation. The number of egg parasites and predators in these lo¬ 
calities is also a factor to be reckoned with. 
In estimating the number of grasshoppers in a field, several methods 
may be used. Where the grasshoppers are dense and moving in one 
direction an imaginary line may be drawn across the path of movement, 
and measured in feet, yards or rods, and after sufficient time has elapsed 
for them to have gone forward across the line a foot, a yard or a rod, the 
number, having crossed this line within the measured unit can be con¬ 
sidered as those contained in a square foot, yard or rod. This process 
should be repeated in several places as well as measurements made of the 
occupied area before an accurate estimate of the numbers of grass¬ 
hoppers in such a band can be made. It has been our experience in the 
Northern Great Plains that the nymphs of Camnula pellucida (Scudder) 
assume the marching habit far oftener than the other economic species. 
We have not found such marching bands of grasshoppers very often. 
When making a quick examination of a field where no experiment is>, 
to be carried on but where an estimate of the relative number of grass-, 
hoppers, in comparison with other fields, is needed the worker soon 
learns to make fairly accurate comparisons by walking thru fields and 
making observations as he goes. This often is done by men in charge, 
of county or township campaigns or by their scouts and tends to de-. 
