Agricultural Experiment Station
Circular No. 88 LaFayltte, Ind., January, 1919
GRASSHOPPER CONTROL IN INDIANA
J. J. Davis 1
Grasshoppers2 have been increasing in abundance more or less regularly each season in Indiana during the past few years. They appeared in greater numbers and were more destructive in 1918 than for many years, the infestation extending over the entire state but more conspicuously in the southern two-thirds. Parasites and other natural enemies are becoming more prevalent and are no doubt assisting in checking the increase and spread of the grasshoppers. There is evidence, however, that grasshoppers will again be abundant next season and every means should be em-
per (Melanoplus femur-rubrum) The ployed to destroy the eggs in their winter male	quarters and to adopt remedial measures
early in the season if the young hoppers make their appearance in threatening numbers.
LIFE HISTORY
Figure 9 illustrates sufficiently the important points in the life history of the destructive kinds of grasshoppers common in this section of the country. The eggs are laid just below the surface of
 in alfalfa or clover riff* 2- The red-legged grasshopper (Melamine ground in aiiana or uovei plus jemur-mbrum) The ftma.e
fields, weedy stubble or abandoned
fields, roadsides, fence rows or ditch banks in the fall of the year. These eggs hatch the following spring, usually early in May in central Indiana. The young hoppers, which resemble mature individuals, except in size and the absence of wings, feed on grass, clover, and similar vegetation and become adult early in July. They continue to feed until killed by natural causes or cold weather and during this active adult period lay eggs for the
1 The work reported in this publication is a result of cooperation between the Bureau of Entomology of the United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C., and the Purdue University Agricultural Experiment Station
2 Principally the red-legged grasshopper Meianopius femur-rubrum (Figs. 1 and 2— photograph by J. H. Paine)
PURDUE UNIVERSITY