36 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION C. 



the country generally is reputed to have been free from them, 

 but there are references to some occurrences in north central 

 districts of the Cape Pn)vince during this interval. In 1890 

 they again appeared, and in the succeeding years — the coimtry 

 being more settled further inland — their depredations were 

 greater than in any previcjus cycle. F^rom 1(890 onward they 

 have been reported from somewhere or other within the confines 

 of the Union every year, but I think the cycle, or series of 

 cycles, may be considered to have ended in 1909. It seems 

 probable that, for several years previous to the present year, 

 locusts have been really as scarce as in any period since the 

 settlement of the country. The railway, the telegraph, and 

 the newspaper and agricultural publications now serve to bring 

 to public notice, and to place on permanent record, occurrences 

 that half a century ago would have excited only local attention, 

 and have nowhere been recorded in print. 



The locusts that ravage South Africa are of two very 

 distinct species — t'he Brown Locust, Locusta pardalina (also 

 called the Old, Small, Yellow and Khaki Locust, and often 

 referred to Parhytylus sulcicolUs and P. capensis) and the Red 

 Locust, Cyrtocanthacris scptemfasciata (also called the New. 

 Large, Coast. Red-winged, Purple-winged, and Egyptian Locust, 

 and referred to Schistoccrca or Acridium purpurifentm). So 

 far as known to me with certainty, no other true migratory 

 locusts occur in South Africa. However, specimens of swarm 

 locusts of the Brown type caught in the country have been 

 referred to Locusta danica {P. cincrascens) and of the Red tyi)e 

 to C. interncxa; and in the South African Museum are Nama- 

 qualand specimens labelled Acridium peregrinum. The last- 

 named insect and L. danica are North African locusts. The 

 mature Brown, and much more so the mature Red locust, 

 varies in colour and markings with age, and the Brown locust 

 sometimes has greenish markings that give it an altogether 

 strange appearance. It is not my purpose, however, to describe 

 the insects. I merely wish to make it clear that, so far as my 

 knowledge goes, at present there are two species, and two only ; 

 but I shall add that the simplest character by whicli the two 

 may be distinguished is by the presence or absence of a prosternal 

 spine. The group to which the Red Locust belongs has the 

 spine ; that of which the Brown is a member lacks it. It is 

 very distinct in the Red Locust, a thorn-like projection on the 

 underside of the neck. 



The Brown Locust is congeneric with the migratory locusts 

 of Europe and Asia, and is the commoner of the two South 

 African species. It is pre-eminently an inland species, partial 

 to grassy plains, and is the locust of the several cycles of which 

 I have spoken. Sometimes it has migrated to the sea coast 

 between x\lgoa Bay and the Kei River mouth, but I do not know 

 that it ever reaches the Atlantic coast within the Union, or 

 penetrates to the sea west of Cape St. Francis. At long 



