164 The Ottawa Naturalist. .Dec. 



THE MIGRATION OF SOME NATIVE LOCUSTS. 



By Norman Criddle, Treesbank, Manitoba. 



We read from time to time, and have done so for many years 

 past, of vast hordes of locusts darkening the sky, as they sweep 

 onward, from unknown breeding grounds; how they devastated 

 the crops and ate up every Uving leaf in any locality they hap- 

 pened to make a stopping place, and in fact left behind a desolate 

 and leafless waste where a few hours previous all had been 

 luxury and beauty. Such is said to be the case, at times, in 

 parts of Africa, India and certain South American countries. 

 There is, however, no longer any mystery connected with these 

 visitations. Science has explained all that ; has discovered the 

 breeding grounds and is doing much to eliminate the injury by 

 guarding against attacks and providing for them when they 

 occur. 



We are not, as a rule, apt to associate our common grass- 

 hoppers many of which, however, are true locusts with those 

 devastating species. In fact, of all our many different kinds we 

 usually claim but one as truly migratory, namely, the Rocky 

 Mountain Locust, Melanoplus spretis, the locust made famous 

 by having a special commission appointed to investigate its 

 ravages. This species, in the past, has done immense damage 

 to vegetation mostly in the United States, but it also invaded 

 a great portion of Manitoba in the seventies, and is specially 

 remembered on account of its having practically swept the Red ^ 

 River Valley clear of vegetation. Since then there have been 

 two minor outbreaks confined to southern Manitoba, the locusts 

 having evidently flown from somewhere south. In spite of the 

 prevalence of this species in Manitoba at times it is very doubtful 

 whether it can be classed as a native, a distinction which, after 

 all, we are not anxious for. 



Leaving out M. spretis we have still several destructive 

 species, foremost among them being the Lesser Migratory Locust, 

 Melanoplus atlanis, with several minor lights such as M. glads toni, 

 M. femur-rubrum, M. angustipennis, M. packardii, M. minor, M. 

 bivittatus and others, all of which are very injurious at times and 

 migrate regularly during the months of July and August. 



It is a wonderful thing this migration. Few animals are free 

 from a desire or instinctive stimulus to move to other parts and 

 so spread the species. Plants, also, are constantly doing it by 

 means of their seeds, and those that cannot go far by their own 

 exertions, fasten themselves to such as can, and so, as with 

 ourselves, air, land and water, are all made use of for the purpose 

 of travel. 



