Sfe 1 HE SECOND REPORT OF THE Merchants' Locust INVESTIGATION COMMISSION BUENOS AIRES LAWRENCE BRUNER Professor of Entomology and Ornithology in the University of Nebraska, U. S. A. Published in English and Spanish BY THE Commission 1900 Hunter-Woodruff Printing Co. Lincoln
LETTER OP SUBMITTAL.
Gentlemen : — Herewith is presented a second rei^ort on the labors of the writer wdiile engaged in the study of the large Destructive Migratory Locust of the Argentine Republic and surrounding regions of South America. This second report was thought advisable because considerable additional data has been accumulated concerning that insect since the issuance early in 1898 of the former report. Besides, while studying the Sclilstocerra paranensis, much information has been gathered relative to various of the other locusts native to the country. Some of these latter have also been ascertained to likewise cause considerable damage to both wild and cultivated vegetation. It is for this reason that they too are treated at some length here. In fact, the greater portion of the present report is devoted to a fairly detailed synopsis of the entire locust family as represented in the Republic. The most important reason for this treatment of the other locusts, along with the one especially studied, is that the data which makes this latter j^aper jDossible has been accumulated by the Commision and should be given to the public for whose benefit these studies were undertaken in the first place.
The writer wishes here to thank the Commission as a whole, and the individual members separately, for the uniform courtesy with which he has been treated both while in Argentina and since returning to his labors in the United States. The Sub-commission also deserves special mention for the faithfulness it has exhibited in gathering and forwarding all of the data that has enabled the writer to make the w^ork as complete as it is.
In the preparation of this report it has been jDOssible for the writer to show many of the forms treated by having so good an artist as is Edna L. Hyatt at hand to make the drawings from the originals.
Lawrence Bruner.
REPORT.
The following condensed outline will indicate to the reader the chief topics connected with the locust problem in Argentina that have received the attention of the Commission: iof mature insect, of uiatui'e larva or saltona. of eggs and egg-mass.
r^. . ., .. s ill winter. ^'^tr)bution -; .^^^^.. ,^^,^,^^^ ^f y^^^._ of mature insect or voladora. Habits ] of young or saltona. ( — bunching throughout life. Wintering — as voladora or imago. I Method of. , o t. t-\ 4- 1 T,^ , • 1 r,^- .. bept. Oct. and Kgg-laymg • lime of year ■ ^ , .,. { One cartucho or more? ' '^' ' ( Spring — Away from wintering quarters ) Taken together form- Flights j Summer — Irregular - ing a sort of circuitous ( Fall — Toward wintering quarters ) ,iourney(des.inRept.I.) f Attacking { Trox.
I eggs . . } Anthomyia. f Insects I Attacking \ Beetles, j saltona . ) Wasps, etc. l^ Attacking t Diff. Parasitic Natural enemies — voladora -j Wasps. Animals -I ( Robber flies. Other \ (4ordius.. } attack- j Saltona. invertebrates) Merimis. \ ing.. ] Voladora. I Reptiles and Amphibians. U^ertebrates ' ^^'^h-^^' , Birds.
I Mammals.
I Sporotri- NatiU'al enemies — fungus..-, chum. i Eiiijjusa.
Climatic influences.
I Diverting flj'ing mangas. Mechanical I Driving, ditching, fencing to keep away, remedies . .-^ (Gathering eggs, crushing eggs, plowing, etc. 1 Killing ) Gathering saltonas, crushing by rollers, etc. [ I Carcarana and other machines. [Gathering voladoras, — machines, etc.
This outline is presented in the above compact form so as to show at a glance just what has been accomjDlished by the Commission working mostly independently from the very beginning. This independent plan of investigation was outlined purposely, so as to confirm what had been done by former investigators. The results as published in these reports will show how closely these tally in most cases with the published results of former and contemporary workers. ^'^^i^ite Fig. 1. — Schistocercd paranensis; mature male, saltona, and top of head and pronotnm [original].
It will be seen therefore, that the seeming disregard for the results of previous investigators was not intended as a slight, nor had the writer or the Commission the remotest idea of ignoring what had already been done by others. That there should have been the least apparent feeling of ill will or jealousy exhibited either by myelf or others, is deeply regreted by me.
Any changes in or additions to the former report will be given below.
Description and name. — While engao-ed in the study of the life-history and habits of this insect at headquarters in Carcarana, certain greenish saltonas were obtained that were without the characteristic black markings of the saltona of paranerms. Some of these were fed to maturity and developed into the closely allied Schistocerca cancellata Serv. which is normally a Chilean insect, but which also occurs on the east slope of the Andes and even in the interior to Para, Brazil. By referring to the illustrations numbered 1 and 2 the reader can see the differences betwen the two inscets. This difference is especially discernible in the saltonas. Fig. 2. — Scliistocerca can ellata: mature female, saltoua, and top of head and pronotum [original].
Distribution. — The accumulation of data for the past two additional years does not materially change the published distribution of this Argentine locust. The maps, marked figures 3 and 4 show graphically the areas occupied during the winters of 1896, 1897 and 1898, and the warmer seasons of 1896-97, 1897-98 and 1898-99.
Mangas of large destructive locusts have been mentioned by different writers as occurring in Northern Ecuador, in portions of Brazil, Chili, Bolivia, etc. Perhaps these are distinct from jiaraneii-sis in some instances at least, and cannot,
A 1 ! V'-A-J Wr^^^ PARANA '?J o ni^m 6^ ^^7 SCATHAR- INA ;•-» ) \ 9^^- AY I orTHE '■", RIONBffBO /" \"" ' TERRITORY ^!^ 18S7 18S8 18SS ;^ ^^ l-i,u-. 4.- Mil]) showiiifr rt'^rioiis \ isited by Sdiistocerca ]>aranensis ihivimr the spriiijr, siiiinuer and fall months of 18!)G-'!J7, 18!)7-'98 ami 1898-"99 as indicated by the data gatliered by the Sub-commission.