298 



ORTHOPTERA 



CHAP. 



FIG. 177. European migratory locust, 

 Pachytylus cinerascens ?. 



in the Oriental region and the Asiatic Archipelago, and even in 

 New Zealand. It is the commoner of the locusts of Europe. Its 

 congener, P. migratorius, is much less widely distributed, its 



migrations being, according to 

 de Saussure, limited to Turke- 

 stan and Eastern Europe. A 

 third species, P. migratori- 

 oides, inhabits Eastern Africa, 

 and a variety of it is the 

 "Yolala" or locust of Mada- 

 gascar. Mr. Distant has in- 

 formed the writer that this 

 migratory locust is found in 

 South Africa. P. (Oedaleus) 



marmoratus has almost as wide a distribution in the Eastern 

 hemisphere as P. cinerascens, except that it is more exclusively 

 tropical ; it is thus excluded from New Zealand. P. (Oedaleus) 

 nigrofasciatus has a more northern distribution than its congener, 

 but has extended to Africa and the Asiatic Archipelago. This 

 Insect is so variable that the distinctions of its races from other 

 species of the same genus are not yet clear. All the above- 

 mentioned locusts belong to the tribe Oedipodides. Acridium pere- 

 grinum, now more frequently called Schistocerca peregrina, belongs 

 to the tribe Acridiides. It is a large locust (Fig. 84), and has 

 a wide distribution. It is the chief species in North Africa, and is 

 probably the locust of the plagues of Egypt mentioned in the 

 book of Exodus. It is also, according to Cotes, 1 the chief locust 

 of North-West India. In this latter country Pachytylus ciner- 

 ascens and some other species also occur. With the exception of 

 S. peregrina, the species of the genus Schistocerca are confined to 

 the New World. In North America locusts are more usually 

 called grasshoppers. Several species of the genus Caloptenvs are 

 injurious in that country, but the chief migratory species is C. 

 spretus (Fig. 175). This genus belongs to Acridiides. A large 

 locust, Schistocerca americana, is also migratory to a small extent 

 in the United States. In South America other species of Schis- 

 tocerca are migratory ; it is not known how many there may be, and 

 it is possible that one or more may prove to be the S. peregrina, 

 of the Old World. A Chilian species, according to Mr. E. C. Reed, 2 



1 J. Bombay AT. H. Soc. viii. 1893, p. 120. 



2 P. ent. Soc. London, 1893, p. xxi. 



