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The species involved cannot be determined with certainty, but it was
probably the same as that which appeared on Sable Island in the same year.
Unlike the latter, it does not seem that the North Shore grasshoppers persisted,
as Vigneau does not mention any again until 1899. Of this invasion, he says
only that they were as abundant as in 1891 and that they did much damage
to garden plants. In neither case do we have any idea where they came from.
The return of Melanoplus spretus to the West in 1898 through 1902 was
naturally a cause for much anxiety, but, although this species was present,
it seems that the principal injurious Acrididae (at least in Manitoba) were
M. sanguinipes sanguinipes (Fabricius), M. packardii Scudder, and Camnula
pellucida (Scudder) (Fletcher 1899-1902a; Mitchener 1954a, 1954b, 1956).
Losses in 1900 and 1901 were considerable and greater than they had been
in the previous two years, but it was in 1901 that the successful, world-famous
grasshopper bait known as "Criddle mixture" was first used (N. Criddle in
Fletcher 1902a; Seamans 1956). It was developed by a budding entomologist,
Norman Criddle, and his half-brother, Harry Vane (A. Criddle
1973:230). Losses were also heavy in 1902, but not appreciable in 1903, after
which infestations subsided (Mitchener 1954a, 1954b). Grasshopper outbreaks
occurred in the twentieth century, but the Rocky Mountain locust had
completely disappeared everywhere by 1903-although N. Criddle (1920) gives
1904 (possibly referring to other species). The last known living specimens
of M. spretus to be collected and which are still in existence are, by strange
coincidence, from southern Manitoba, whence swarms of the species were
first reported in 1800. The last known specimen was taken by Norman Criddle
at Aweme, near Treesbank, in 1902 (N. Criddle 1903; Gurney and Brooks
1959; Riegert 1980). The same year, also by coincidence, saw another
grasshopper outbreak in Eastern Canada (Seamans 1956).
After the turn of the century some trouble with grasshoppers was
experienced in one part of Canada or another, particularly in the West, but
even in Newfoundland (R. F. Morris and Morry 1978, 1979), in almost every
year until the present. The intensity of the outbreaks varied from minor, local
nuisances to grave regional problems. There was an outbreak in Manitoba
1911-1912 (N. Criddle 1913; Bird 1961), although Mitchener (1954a, 1954b,
1956) and Seamans (1956) do not mention it, and there were others both in
British Columbia (T. Wilson 1915) and in the East (A. Gibson 1914, 1915a,
1915b, 1916a, 1916b, 1916c; Petch 1915; Seamans 1956) during 1913-1915.
The first major upsurge in Western Canada did not, however, occur until
1919 (N. Criddle 1920; Mitchener 1954b). It became alarming in certain
regions in 1920 (Mitchener 1954b) and declined in 1923. In 1920, grasshoppers
were again a problem in the East (Seamans 1956). These might be termed
local skirmishes in comparison with what was to come on the prairies, where
the most serious recurrence of the grasshopper problem began in 1929 and
continued with varying intensity until 1952 (Mitchener 1954b), after which
grasshopper populations remained low for some time. Riegert (1980) devotes
a chapter to the outbreaks of the 1930s. During this period there were also
serious grasshopper outbreaks in Ontario in the middle 1930s (Gilbert 1936;
Gilbert and Thompson 1937), in British Columbia, notably in 1944 (Buckell
1945), and in Eastern Canada, particularly in 1949 (Seamans 1956). Seamans
declares that the depredations by grasshoppers in Canada during 1930-1951
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