clxi 



locusts are connected with the occurrence of droughts in the mountainous, 

 desert countries lying to the west. Dr. Gould's description of the immense 

 swarms of locusts that devastated Cordoba, in the Argentine Republic, 

 would seem to suggest the desert of Atacama as the source in that instance. 

 He speaks of a cloud of locusts, extending like a thick, black trail of smoke 

 over 160 degs. of horizon, and for an altitude of 5 degs. — a swarm at least 

 twenty miles in length and six miles in breadth. In 1S35 China was 

 ravaged by locust swarms, which obscured the sun and moon like clouds. 

 In 1797 these insects covered the ground on the sea-coast in South Africa, 

 forming a drift near the sea four feet in depth and fifty miles long. Charles 

 XII. of Sweden, when conducting his army through a defile after the dis- 

 astrous defeat at Pultowa, suddenly found himself obliged to halt by a 

 hail-storm of locusts which came down upon them with a roar that sur- 

 passed that of the breakers on the sea-shore. Meteorology, perhaps, will 

 yet be found to furnish the key to the mystery of the times and seasons of 

 these plagues, which, like the famous one in Egypt, seem to be all con- 

 nected with some desert country situated nearby. Inasmuch as the future 

 colonization of North America is to be more and more directed to the re- 

 gions lying contiguous to the great mountain chains of America and its 

 accompanying deserts, we shall find this subject a very practical one. 



This topic, although suggested by meteorological questions, in fact be- 

 longs to entomology. And here, therefore, it is appropriate to allude to 

 the valuable discoveries, made in the interests of science and of economic 

 agriculture equally, relating to the habits of insects. Every one of us, I 

 trust, feels proud that to a member of this Academy has been awarded the 

 French medal of honor for his services in developing the natural history 

 of the Phylloxera or Grape root-louse, which has proved so damaging to 

 French vineyards. The Report of the State Entomologist is a credit alike 

 to the gentleman who writes it, and to the State which creates and supports 

 such an office. 



Missouri, so vast in its natural resources, whether in the direction of 

 agriculture, mining, or manufactures, can ill-afford to spare her special 

 scientists who are charged with the task of pointing out her resources, and 

 in caring for the protection of the same. 



THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



of the State is, perhaps, the most important scientific enterprise of the kind 

 in the United States. Certainly the welfare of the country does not depend 

 on the mining of the precious metals, while it is most immediately con- 

 nected with that of the iron and lead mining. Our Academy has been 

 under constant obligation to the gentlemen of the State Survey, and the 

 presence with us of Prof. Broadhead, Prof. Gage, and Dr. Adolf Schmidt, 

 has frequently assisted our deliberations the past year. The recently com- 

 pleted volume of the Report of the Geological Survej-, including the field 

 work for 1873-4, does credit to Prof. Broadhead and his assistants. 



