Show Out of Doors in the West Sketches of Natural History in the Rocky Mountain Plateau Edited by J. H. Professor of Nature Study in the University f Utah I. Scourge of The Locust and Life Histories of Common Grasshoppers That we ought to in the public something about grasshopper is now but what to teach and how to go about it this is what puzzles even the best of or form part of the history of our The within the Rocky is their principal breeding The dry air and hot summer favor the and they often increase After ravaging everything they fly eastward and destroy crops on the plains and in the Mississippi Why So Each female grasshopper lays eggs in a pod like a bent flask and containing from twenty-four to and this operation is commonly once repeated in the Little that these insects often multiply in till even trains are blockaded by their piled up In early the writer saw a swarm come from the south in such numbers that the sky was overcast for hours as by some great cloud of The shower of was continuous and striking people in the face with stinging This hungry swarm swept the foliage of Salt Lake valley as if by leaving the earth bare and black in A grasshopper is reported to have said to are the scourge of wo produce 99 If the hundred were we should consume the whole earth and all that is in Fortunately for though many eggs are comparatively few hatch many are destroyed by certain by and by winter Of those that hatch only two on an average escape their chiefly the at this though other predaceous continue to pursue Besides these effective checks upon the excessive of this scourge of nature has interposed several other very effective Locust Dead perfect in form are frequently found in autumn attached to the The Two-lined Locust The Differential Locust Locust killed The Red-legged Locust The Lesser Migratory Locust branches of The one most commonly found as a according to is a large western black under the which are further conspicuous their cream-colored These colors disappear when the insect being then covered 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 and zigzag This species is The dead grasshoppers clinging to the trees in a life-like attitude are generally very dry and Upon breaking their a whitish substance is found within a parasitic plant that has consumed the tissues of the This plant is a fungus reproduced by Spores are microscopic bodies that float as fine in visible to the unaided eye except in These take the place of the seeds of higher and germinate in moist places by sending out a little This tube may penetrate the body a grasshopper Upon which it happens to start and should it be near one of the or pores of the it may enter the body and grow till the insect is killed and its body turned into a Locusts thus affected climb up trees or branches as high as Sometimes they are covered with a white mold represents the new spores or seed vessels of the fungus growing inside the insect An easy way of obtaining a view of a typical fungus growth is by examining under a good lens or microscope the white mildew now growing on the under side of the leaves of the common The fungus found the under side of the leaves resembles that which destroys the The white threads correspond to the black spots are little cup-like vessels containing the The knotweed may be found in almost every Let the pupils take a look at Killed by The practical extermination of the most injurious species by natural though in this case accidental is a very curious Many insects besides are killed by these and certain destructive pests have been held in check by inoculating them with these insect-destroying kinds of fungus are noted The best known North American species is called and it causes a disease that destroys myriads of sometimes sweeping whole areas clear of all kinds of the various The disease seems to work best that is to for but worst for the in midsummer and is most severe oti the adult As soon as the spores of the fungi begin to grow in the body of the the latter becomes slow and sluggish in and shortly before death climbs up the stem of some weed or other plant and securely attaches itself by tightly hugging the plant with its front and middle pairs of as seen in the In this position it and remains clinging for some time after The bodies of the insects which dies from the attacks of this fungus become somewhat swollen and quite and afterwards A few days after death the body opens at the joints and permits the brown dust-like spores to escape and to be blown about by the Other after eating vegetation upon which such spores may be if the weather and other conditions are may likewise be attacked and die from the It is principally the presence of this with perhaps a few that keeps the various species of grasshoppers within limits during ordinary Thus experimenters have not been successful in handling the disease with sufficient certainty to permit of its being generally used in checking these It is that with repeated successful ways will be found for killing off these insects wherever they appear in threatening Iron According to Professor Ball the injurious grasshoppers of the United States are first the which the country in It lived in the Rocky usually laid its eggs in the buffalo trails and disappeared when this animal became The iron-clad eggs were protected by the trampling of the and when the latter were eliminated the eggs were destroyed by frosts and insect There is supposed to be a small of the still existing in the Canadian but the kind here commonly taken for the old iron-clad is a smaller and Nearly every tind of grasshopper in the wild state has its own particular food from which it rarely species will starve rather ban make the attempt to vary their On the other kere are four or five species only are and these are only ones that it is necessary ib combat by artificial Thus we have one our the that lives the Deseret another lives on torch on the while the red the two and the like the old are omnivorous and to be THE MODERN you my pretty 1 I'm going she she Dear I'd like to disclose f the fact I'm an inspector under the pray Act for I want to thing know or two before you you must not aw far away are pigs you keep T nd fat what percentage of butter oes your moo cow Pray tell me And how is the health of your pretty ps it Has your sister measles or whoop-f ing the water clean in the drinking pray thee answer these questions I of I'm an inspector under the I With the fierce bacilli also I cope ly means of my powerful micro-f Excuse I must examine your hand Purely you'll under-f Montreal |