341 



Hoppers cojitiiiued to appear at places alon<>' the Malacca ri\er 

 valley, through the rest of August and through Se])tenil)cr also. 



Towards the end of Septemher they api)eare(l in several si)ots 

 in or near the- top of the Jasin valley and near to the road from 

 Malacca to Jasin. They were attacked, and large numhers des- 

 troyed. But greater numhers hatched out in October. It seems 

 probable that they were the first descendants of fliers which had 

 been, circling about Jasin in the month of Septeml)er, reinforced 

 by a swarm which had invaded the neiglil)ourhood from the 

 direction of Merlimau. If the reader will kindly examine the 

 second map, it will be seen by the number of rings about Jus, 

 Selanclar, Kesaug, Jasin and down to Chinchin (all ])laces along 

 tlie same stream) how great was this infection. Some of the 

 l)reeding places escaped the catchers' attentions. 



x\t the same time, i.e. in October, hatching of hoi)])ers was 

 occurring all about the Malacca stream valley between Alor (lajali 

 and the Negri Sembilan border at Tampin, and also on the east 

 side of tlie middle i)art of the valley to Duriau T'unggal. 'J'his 

 hatching was followed by hat(;hing in new spots further west at the 

 end of the month of Xovember: and the hoppers on the west in 

 large measure escaped destruction. Map 2 shows clearly that 

 there is a band of rings, i.e. later hatchings on the west side of 

 the dots (earlier hatchings) of the middle part of the Malacca 

 stream valley. And although records of migratory swarms cannot 

 be ])ut together so as to show a common origin for all these western 

 hatchings, it is pro])able that they had one : and it is known with 

 certainty that one swarm ])assed through the northern i)art of this 

 .irea in the second week of Octolier, flying from Pegoh to Keiidong 

 on the Kegri-Sembihm border, and there losing its direction 

 against the forests of Gunong Tampin. ' 



The number of locusts maturing from this heav\- infection of 

 the middle part of the Malacca stream valley led to fliers reaching 

 ]\Ialacca town in considerable numl)ers in I)eceml)er. It may be 

 stated for general information that they had not come from a 

 far distant area, but were bred almost " localh^," as no doubt 

 most swarms of fliers are when not in ^'ast numl)ers ; for \ast 

 nund)ers make a much more unsettled wliole tlian small juinihers 

 in a country where there is food for all. 



The directions in which the swarms moved about Malacca was 

 very varied, but still with a southerly tendency ending for part of 

 the insects at least in death in the sea. They were seen in the 

 waves of the tide on Jan. 35th, 1915 and on March 27th, 1915, out 

 a little way to sea. One swarm at this time flew westwards and 

 doubled back eastwards again on the same day (Jan. 27th, 1915). 

 Finally in February there was a steady tendency in the locusts to 

 more westwards along the coast as is indicated in map 3 by the 

 long arrows. 



Early in December the coastal mukims west of Malacca pro- 

 duced hqppers in many places, and there was a synchronous hatch- 

 ing out about Alor (iajah and on the coast east of Malacca, as well 

 as elsewhere in the Jasin division. It ap])ears as possibly of 

 interest that hop})ers should have been so much more abundantly 



