124 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Yol. viih 



other in flight. The greater number were hoveriDg over the 

 swamps or spots of luxuriant grass, or resting on the prairie. < A 

 slight breath of wind would induce them all to take to wing, 

 causing a noise like that of the distant sound of surf, or a gentle 

 breeze among pine trees. They appeared ill at ease, and 

 anxiously awaiting a favourable wind. 



These eastern and northern hordes were those which afterwards 

 fell on Manitoba, though a part of those hatched near the 49th 

 parallel probably went south of that line. The dry season must 

 have brought them to maturity rapidly, for in some parts of the 

 province they arrived earlier than before known, though coming 

 from the latest hatching grounds. 



When examined in detail, the advance of the host loses to 

 a considerable extent the definite form which it appears to have 

 when more broadly viewed ; for the grasshopper, like a sailing 

 vessel, depends on the wind for propulsion, not having intrinsic 

 power of swift flight ; and the movement of the different bands 

 is affected by all the mutations of the weather. Even omitting 

 a few dubious dates, the well authenticated ones show a difference 

 in the times of arrival in some parts of Manitoba, not corres- 

 ponding with their geographical position. It appears certain 

 that one extensive swarm traversed a part at least of the province 

 north-eastward. They reached the Red River further south at 

 Scratching River on July 11th. We hear of them on July 8th 

 and 10th at St. Norbert, on the 14th at Winnipeg ten miles off, 

 on the 17th at Little Britain seventeen miles further in the same 

 direction. Swarms also arrived at Fort Ellice — 180 miles west 

 of Red River — with a similar direction of flight, on July 14th, 

 or on the same day that they arrived at Winnipeg. These must 

 have been a separate body travelling parallel to the first. 



These dates only refer to the first arrival of locusts in consi- 

 derable numbers, and the localities mentioned were afterwards 

 traversed by other swarms. The second main direction of inva- 

 sion, was from west to east, with occasional slight local deviations, 

 and was that followed by most of the insects. Bands first 

 appeared within the limits of the province on the Assineboine 

 River at Portage La Prairie on July 3rd. They seem to have 

 travelled eastward along the river, reaching Poplar Point — 

 fifteen miles off, on July 12th ; other and very extensive swarms 

 are heard of north-westward of Portage La Prairie, at Beautiful 

 Plain on July 15th, at Burnside, July 17th, Palestine, July 19th ;, 



