260 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 1891 



backwards and forwards, destroyed every living thing in their way. Crops were 

 eaten down, so that the ground had the appearance of never having been sown. 

 By degrees the locusts got their wings and flew hither and thither over the country, 

 devouring the ripening grain which the young broods had spared. Each swarm, of 

 which there must have been hundreds in Rajputana, settled every night, covered 

 every green plant over an area of 12 or 15 square miles, and left ifc bare as they 

 flew away in the morning. The loss to the country by the locusts was about 75 

 per cent, of the crop, which originally was only half a crop. 



" Usually locusts confine their ravages to Marwar and Bikanir, but in 1889 they 

 spread over Ajmere, Kishengarh, Tonk, and the northern part of Meywar. The 

 same complaint was everywhere heard that the locusts had destroyed from 

 one- quarter to three-quarters of a splendid harvest, and that another year of 

 famine, though not so bad as the former, had to be endured. 



" Marwar suffered most, and many villagers, especially in the north, were again 

 compelled to emigrate. They were now in much more reduced circumstances 

 than previously. They flocked to the Ajmere poorhouses for relief, but would 

 not take work. Those that remained in Marwar supported themselves on the 

 bhoorut grass (Ackyrantkes aspera\ which now gave a means of subsistence to all 

 who would take the trouble to collect it ... . 



" The rains commenced at Tonk most auspiciously. Wheat at this time had 

 risen to seven seers, and barley, the cheapest grain, to nine seers the rupee. Sav- 

 ing the high prices, all went on prosperously till the locusts came. The hist 

 flight appeared at the end of July, but did not do mueh harm. They deposited 

 their eggs in the few dry sandhills in Tonk and in the sandy beds of the rivers. In- 

 termediately the heavy rains had commenced, and the Bunass river rose to its bum 

 and flowed down a muddy torrent 500 to 1,000 yards in width and 30 to 40 feet 

 deep. After it had subsided, during a break in the weather, when the usual time 

 for hatching had arrived, the young locusts, about the size of small ants, issued 

 from the sands of the river in myriads and at once formed their phalanxes to go 

 forth and devour the land. They swam the deep pools in the rivers, they escalad 

 ed the walls of Tonk, entered the city, and took possession of the town ami of 

 every house — literally driving out the inhabitants. They cleared the land of its 

 crops and committed great devastation throughout the country. When they had 

 got their wings, sundry flights which were moving about settled aud destroyed 

 what previous ones had left. This visitation intensified the calamity of famine- 

 The price of grain rose with the destruction caused by the locusts. In July and 

 August, 1869, wheat was 6h aud barley 10| seers per rupee. In September wheat 

 was 6 and barley 7 seers; in October they were 5^ and 0| respectively, and only 

 in November did they begin gradually to fall." 



In 1870, eggs laid by the cold-weather flights of the previous year hatched in 

 March in the Jhelum district, and the young wingless locusts did some damage 

 to the rabi crops. The people did what they could to prevent the winged locusts 

 from alighting, and afterwards destroyed the young by trenching. In the 



