The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-10-06

V8HT
A Tip of labial palp. or feeler of grass.
hopper's lip, showing arrangement of
| sensory hairs.
c. A single sensitive hair more highly
magnified.
B. Portion of compound eye of melano-
plus, highly magnified, showing the facets
Drawings by Professor r. V. Chamberlin.
wings? How are they protected? Could
you drown a grasshopper by holding it's
! head under water? What are the
breathing pores for? Why study the
| life history of this insect? Ut is esti-
mated that in four years the Rocky
mountain locust cost western farmers
$500, 000,0 0O) Why study the anatomy?
| (To find the weak points.) How over
come ones feeling of aversion and su-
perstitious horror of insects? (By
knowledge of their habits) Why do
grasshoppers spit dark liquid when
captured? means of defense.) What
birds have you seen attack them? etc.
This is enough work on the ANATOMY
| to occupy several lessons. Let us see
how the grasshopper lives and wrat
| it does.
The Life History.
Grasshoppers pass the winter in the
| egg condition. The process of egg lay
| ing seems not to have been sufficiently
| observed as yet to give any accurat Q
| account of it. The period of egg laying
| with our species is mostly in the late
| summer and autumn. The eggs are to
be found slightly beneath the soil sur
| face. Some kinds, however. are known
| to deposit their eggs in soft woods
The end of the abdomen is pointed in
the female for this purpose, and round
! ed in the male, from which fact we
can often distinguish the sexes. The
| female body ends in four horny plates
the male body in one.
| The eggs remain in the ground un-
| Matched till the following spring, being
subject meanwhile to the attacks of
| numerous enemieS-birdS. predaciolfs
insects and small red mites. In the
spring, the eggs hatch into small
grasshoppers, which proceed at once to
! devour the tender foliage of plants.
| But the young hoppers do not appear 10
| be great eaters, and are so small that
| they usually escape attention. They
feed at first chiefly upon grass, and
do but little injury. They are so ae-
tive, moving about between meals, and
| distributing their attacks so widely,
that any single plant is but slightly in
jured at a time, and is generally bic
| to grow rapidly enough to keep ahead
| of the youthful enemy. Grasshoppers
change their skin as they grow, prob
ably five times before obtaining their
wings. They jump or walk about in
search of food. generally leapinS in the
| face of the wind. The insect dslikes
to stand with it's side to the wind. At
| ter a leap it will turn itself about to
face the breeze, so that when it leaps
again, the direction is naturally that
| from which the wind is blowing. The
result is that swarms often mass in hol-
lows or sheltered places, creating a
| little famine there and forcing the
| horde to migrate in a body Straight
across the country, devouring every
| thing in their way. This movement of
the young hoppers before they get 'hei-
wings is called drifting.
Fighting the Enemy.
The use of smudges at drifting
times may cause the hoppers to pass
over fields so protected or the swarms
may at least be dissipated by the
smoke. Fires should be built on the
windward side of the field. with leaves
to make dense smoke, and it is best
to add a little sulphur-not enough to
| injure the vegetation. Young hoppers
may be driven from field by syste-
| matte walking across it, or may be
poisoned by paper soaked in weak ar
senic solution Sweetened with molasses
or by bran similarly treated. We may
also get rid of them by covering fences
with cloth so as to make a barrier, or
by blowing the very young hoppers
under the soil. Precious plants or trees
may be covered for a time with sacks.
Hoppers are often destroyed in large
numbers by catching them in hopper
dozers-shallow oil pans on wooden run
ners. AS the eggs are laid mostly in
unused ground, fall blowing is often
effective in preventing the Matching
of the eggs. The insects may be most
successfully destroyed, however, upon
the breeding grounds and elsewhere,
by the use of the hopper-dozer just
mentioned. The apparatus consists of
shallow pan, say 3x6 feet, containing
crude oil and mounted on wooden run
ners backed by a screen. The pan is
drawn through the field and the hop
pers alight in it, being usually killed by
contact with the coal oil.
Locust Mummies.
Dead locusts, perfect in form and
life-like. are frequently found in au-
tumn attached to the branches OF
shrubs. The one most commonly
found as a locust mummy" accord
ing to Weed, is a large western kind,
black under the wings, which are fur
tHtE Conspicuous ny thcli SASoii-SOi-
ored borders These colors disappear
when the insect alights, being then COW
cred by the dusty brown wings that are
so near to the color of the soil that it
is difficult to observe the creature till
it again takes up its characteristics.
short and zigzag fight. This species
is Dissisteira carolina. The dead
grasshoppers clinging to the trees in
life-like attitude are generally very dry
and brittle. Upon breaking their bodies
whitish substance is found within
parasitic plant that has consumed
the tissues of the insect. This plant is.
a fungus reproduced by spores. Spores
are microscopic bodies that float as fine
dust, invisible TO the unaided eye ex-
cept in masses. These take the place
of the seeds of higher plants, and ger
inmate in moist places by sending out
a little tube This tube may penetrate
the body of a grasshopper upon which
1t happens to start growing, and should
it be near one of the spiracles. or breath
ing pores of the insect, it may enter the
body and grow till the insect is killed