49 
tected by the grass and by the rubbish found in such situations 
(Fig. 28, Plate 16). Occasionally the eggs are deposited just 
beneath the surface, but only when the ground is sufficiently 
loose to enable the insects todo so. Theeggs are about 4mm. 
in length, and 1mm. in diameter;.they are slightly curved 
and rounded at the ends (Fig. 20, a). They are deposited in 
layers, each with three or four eggs, which overlap and appear 
somewhat irregular, as is shown in Fig. 20, b. These 
diagonally overlapping layers are built up until an elongated 
cylindrical mass from 10 to 15 mm. in length is formed. This 
whole mass of eggs is protected by a waterproof covering com- 
posed of bits of earth cemented together with the frothy mate- 
rial produced by the mother insect at the time the eggs are 
deposited and arranged by her. One end of this protective 
layer of waterproof material is very thin, almost or entirely 
open, thus affording the young and weak locust an easy means 
of egress. Each cylindrical capsule contains about twenty 
eggs. In many places, in which the grasshoppers have been 
very numerous, in a square inch of sod were found as many as 
six egg masses, which means 17,000 eggs to the square foot, 
enough to make crops in their vicinity a very problematical af- 
fair for 1896. 
As has been stated before, the only method to reduce and 
destroy these injurious insects, that promises success, is the 
plowing of all the land in which eggs have been deposited. 
And in this case, as in so many others, where measures are 
directed against destructive insects, concerted action is all im- 
portant. If one farmer does this work in a careful manner, 
and his neighbor refuses, perhaps, to plow up a piece of mead- 
ow land filled with eggs, all the work of.the farmer will be 
more or less performed in vain, as the careless farmer can 
breed upon his land enough grasshoppers to destroy the crops 
of many of the surrounding farms. . We still lack laws that in 
a case like this can force the negligent farmer to do his part 
of the work to get rid of such dangerous intruders, and unless 
such laws are made and enforced, no uniformly good results 
can be expected from any methods that might be applied to 
route the enemy. 
