THE COMMON VICTORIAN LOCUST. 29 



into a briglit fleshy pink. These colours remain until 

 maturity is reached, which is about three months from the 

 time when they are hatched." 



This, then, is a fair description of the insect in the 

 open air, but in confinement I have reared the insect from 

 the eggs to the perfect insect in a little over two months 

 from the time of confinement in the breeding cage. 



Prevention mid Remedies. 



In Australia but little has been done in the way of 

 combatting these pests, the principal breeding grounds 

 being in the drier parts of New South Wales, and from 

 whence the immense swarms Avhicli we sometimes see 

 are reared and distributed, the Murray and other rivers 

 affordino; but slight obstacles to the insects when once on 

 the wing. In our own colony we have numerous 

 breeding grounds, especially in the north-west districts, 

 for these destructive pests, and unless much more interest 

 is shown by growers in the matter it is feared that we 

 will have, of our own breeding, quite sufficient of these 

 home-reared locusts to stock at least the whole of the 

 northern parts of Victoria. In Algeria and Cyprus, also 

 in America and other locust-infested countries, various 

 devices, some of which are illustrated here, are in use for 

 the purpose of checking the advance of these pests, the 

 best of which is the so-called locust-screen (see Appen- 

 dices), which is prepared as follows : — Strips of cotton 

 texture of different lengths, and about 2ft. Gin. wide, 

 with an upper edge of oilcloth, or American glazed 

 leather, about 6 inches broad, are stretched in a given 

 direction by means of wooden pegs and ropes, and lead 

 to a trench 3 feet broad and 8 feet deep. The young 

 locusts are driven in the direction of these screens ; 

 they cannot climb over the glazed surface above, and 

 they are then led by sheer pressure from behind to the 

 trench, which is often, where the soil is too light for the 

 sides to remain perpendicular, lined with sheet-iron or 

 has a horizontal projecting sheet on each side, forming a 



