THE 



QARDCrS5' BULLETIN, 



5TRAIT5 5ETTLEnENT5. 



Vol. T. Issued July 10th, 1916. No. 10. 



LOCUSTS IN MALACCA 



Jlly liJlt TO October IUI-j. 



()]i .Inly ord, 1!;)14, one of us (1. H. B.) was sent to Malacca 

 tu eiKjuire into the locust problem; and on August loth, 1914, the 

 other (P. C. C.-B.) was appointed Special Assistant for Locust 

 Destruction in Malacca, and went into residence there. We con- 

 tinued to work together until the comnieiicement of Xovcml^er 

 1!)1.") : and we here report on the work done. 



"I'he first date coincided with the planting of the rice crop in 

 Malacca, and it happened to coincide also wit'i a recrudescence of 

 hopper-hatching in the Territory. Thus fortuitously it is a con- 

 A'enient one for our report. We believe that the infestation of the 

 Territory with locusts had been increasing up to that time and that 

 the work done against the insects subsequently has decreased it. 



We operated by means of bag-traps of the pattern used in 

 the Federated Malay States (vide Pratt, The Malayan Locust, 

 Bulletin Xo. 24 of the Department of Agricuture, F. M. S., 

 191.5). At first the traps in use were two, so that only about fifty 

 days bagging work per mensem were possible; but the number 

 was increased to six in August 1914, and to eight in Xovember, 

 making possible two hundred days' work per mensem. We obtain- 

 ed information of the wherealwuts of hoppers through native sub- 

 ordinate officers such as penghulus and sedangs, as well as person- 

 ally, and })y the emplo}'ment of locust-scouts who searched the 

 country. So dense is the population of Malacca, and so complete 

 the village system of administration that we believe only a few 

 breeding places could escape detection. Whether the hoppers were 

 destroyed or not, depended on a bag trap and trained subordinate 

 beino- avail aljle to attack them. 



