Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-05-30

lGSs euQuEC Tue more uQCOQge0lal Gil
mate further eastward.
4. No injury Of consequence is to be
apPrehended at any point further east
than Sedalia or Des MONIES, and even
west Of that line the damage will be
much less than it was in the same local
tiles last year.
All these statements are supported
by the Investigations Of science. Prof.
G. V. Riley, the State Entomologist of
Missouri, predicted years ago that no
serious injury would ever be done by
this locust farther east than Seventeen
degrees west Of Washington. His pre-
diction was remarkably verified last
year, when not a ,single county lying
east Of that line was overrun, and tie
statements Of his report for last year,
respecting the danger to be appre-
hended this spring, have tbusffar been
sustained by all the facts.
This Rocky Mountain locust should
not be COMPOUNDED with the common
grasshopper, the ordinary locust, the
small migratory locust of New
England, nor the so-called thirteen
year locust" 1t breeds in the high
and dry plateaus and valleys of Mon
tana, Wyoming and Colorado, but at
intervals Of apparently from seven
to ten years, comes down in vast
swarms, riding on the wind, to
feast on the grain Of the West. to
deposit eggs, and to perish. z Its fight,
directed by the prevailing winds from
the mountains, is enthusiastically: its
march, when it devastates the country,
Is IN the same direction; and even its
young, before they get wings, hop
southeastward also. But, being adapt
ed by nature to a high and almost
rainless region, its swift journey Of
500 miles ends, first in a feast. but
speedily IN sure destruction. Millions
perish before the eastward limit is
reached; millions more, as they push
forward, become exhausted, and the
invasion Of 1866 and that of 1874 ter
minated in almost precisely the same
counties.
Migrations of this Rocky mountain
pest in two successive years, have o.
CURED, but never three; and as there
was q smaller invasion in 1873 prelim-
mary to that of last year, Mr.. Gros-
venor does not anticipate any fresh re-
cruits to the enemy this year. Hence
the damage viii be confined to the new
generation Matched from last falls
eggs. The area covered by these Will
not be near so large as that of last
years rayages, because the locusts in
their march passed over a large amount
Of land before attaining the incubating
age,and after depositing their eggs went
on devOuring till killed by the climate
or their natural enemies. Therefore
the young pests viii appear this
year only at such stages Of
last years march, where the parents
reached the incubation period. The !
insect Is very weak, the damp climate !
and late spring being against him, |
wEile his enemies are numerous. !
Chickens, turkeys, and hogs devour |
the lOcusts in great quantities; many
kinds Of birds not only slaughter the
insects, but hunt for their eggs in the
ground; and toads, frogs, and snakes
least upon them. But more effective
han these or all other agencies of de-
except the climate, Prof.
Riley considers the parasitic insects,
several Of which he describes. Of
hese, some eat the eggs; others
asten upon the living body and suck
t to a dry shell; and others pierce the
bodies Of the locusts and deposit
herein eggs which speedily develop
nto grubs. The locust dies, and the
rub, IN a few days, is a full grown fly.
'eady to lay its share of fatal eggs.
by all these enemies and en-
eebled by the climate, the vastswarms
# locusts, 80 numerous at first as to
frequently impede or stop railroad
rains by their crushed bodies, speedily
.anish from the earth. What, then,
an the far less numerous and more
ickly young expect, when, cut off from
endorsements, they have to meet all
hese destroying agencies in the spring?
from these circumstances, Mr.. Gros-
enor concludes that the race Will be
-ell nigh extinct by the end Of June
efore they get wings.
The mistake of calling them grass
oppeTs' has been one fruitful source
f unnecessary alarm. Your real
hibernates and comes out
all size in the spring, while the Rocky
fountain locust does not hibernate.
ut dies IN the fall, and its feeble ,
rogeny are born the following spring.
ct, IN numerous instances, the harm {
IS grasshopper, on coming out of his /
inter retreat, has been mistaken for Z
,st years pest, merely because he very .
luch resembles the full grown locust.
N account of this widespread misap-
rehensiOn, It Is not easy to sift the re-
orts and ascertain whether they indi-
ate the presence Of the one insect or
he other. The probabilities, there
re, are that the area in which the
oung locusts have appeared is much
mailer than would appear from reports u
Finished by frightened people who do ]
lt draw the distinction. L
WHITTLE and Bliss seem to have Q
ruck a mississippi sawyer" at f