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THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. viii. 



is only four miles in width, and extends completely across be- 

 tween the north and south branches of the Saskatchewan. 

 Judging from the above remarkable fact, and the known habits 

 of the locust, I do not think that the incursion made into the 

 forest country can be looked upon as anything but exceptional, 

 and perhaps showing that the locusts had lost their reckoning. 

 Nor do I believe that it should discourage the cultivation of 

 belts of woodland, which promises to effect in time a general and 

 permanent amelioration of the grasshopper plague. 



Broadly sketched, the movements of the locust in 1875 con- 

 form to a general plan. All those hatching in Minnesota, 

 Manitoba, northern Dakota, and in the high western region of 

 the plains at least as far south as Colorado, on obtaining their 

 wings went southward, and this in some instances regardless of 

 the direction from which their parents had arrived in the previous 

 year. Swarms produced in Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, Texas, 

 and Indian Territory, flew northward and north-westward, re- 

 turning on the course of their parents, which had flown south- 

 eastward from that quarter. This movement can be traced over 

 an immense area, from the northern borders of Texas almost to 

 the Saskatchewan River. 



Evidence appears to be fast accumulating to show that the 

 general and normal direction of flight for any brood, is to 

 return toward the hatching grounds from which their parents 

 came, and it would thus seem, that to complete the migration- 

 cycle of the locust, two years are required. The tendency which 

 the swarms show to migrate on reaching maturity cannot be 

 wondered at, as it is so commonly met with in other animals, 

 and may be assisted by the mere lack of food in the district 

 which has for a long time supported the young locusts. The 

 fact however — let us call it instinct or knowledge — that the 

 young, while amenable to the migratory tendency, show a deter- 

 mination to exercise it in a direction exactly the opposite of the 

 preceding generation, is most remarkable. 



No panacea against the grasshopper appears yet to have been 

 found, nor does it seem likely that any such will be discovered. 

 The means of making war upon the young insects and winged 

 swarms, with a degree of efficiency dependent largely on the 

 determination of the people, and density of settlement in the 

 afflicted districts, are now well known. Though it is to be hoped 

 that Manitoba and the settled portions of the North-west may 



