48 



BITING AND NOXIOltS INSECTS OTHER THAN MOSQUITOES 



The locust 

 fungus 



soiij) iiiiii water ia ufti-ftivf, but 1ms to la- usi-d with sjirayiTS. Poisonous arsi-nieul 

 prt'iuiratioiis can scarcely he considered suitahle for most parts of the Suilan.* 



((/) Dextritction nf tin' innlitrc nr iriiiijed iiinectii. — But little can he done in the caae of 

 large swarms. C'atching and haj^giug as for the young forms are the most useful methods. 

 Long ropes perseveringly dragged to and fro over fields have been used to good ailvantage. 



(f ) I'rfveiilivf iiifdsiirt:*. — On the approach of a swarm the rules to he observed are: — 

 1. I'jVery available inhabitant, man. woman and iliild, to be called out and 



divided up into bodies of T)!!, eacdi body having its own place indicated beforehand. 



'2. Each individual member to be armeil svith some sort of iioisv instrument (old 



tin i)ctroleum cans anil thick sticks are the best). 



;?. When the flights appear, the various bodies must spread out in line ami march 



over the fields in open order, striking the cans. Smoke fires can also be lit. iiut the 



above system has been found more efl'ective. 



4. The flight should be signalled to neighbouring stations and districts. The 



Sheikhs of tribes should be instructed to report the appearance of any flights and, if 



possible, to mark down the spots where the locusts alighted fur laving purposes. This 



ground should then be examine<l by a competent person, and watchers put over it. 



Rewards should be ofTi'red to natives for reports of laying grounds." 



These notes seem to Jiave helped the authorities at Kamliii where vast numbers of 

 hoppers appeared. By a system of purchase 200 okes (5 cwt.) of hoppers were obtained 

 within 10 <lays, while trenches proved effective. As pointed out by the (lovernor, the trouble 

 is that fresh swarms inva<le the territory which has been cleared, and naturally this greatly 

 disheartens the natives. Again I would quote Mr. Lounsbiuy on a very important point to 

 which he has drawn attention in his report for the half year, ending June 30th, 1904. It is 

 to the eflTect that locust eggs mav possibly remain in the soil for years and then hatch out. 

 He says : — 



" That locust eggs may hatch after being in tlie soil fur several years is a proposition 

 that few zoologists would entertain, but I confess that I no longer think it impossible, and 

 incline to believe there is a basis of facts to the common notion that voetgangers (hoppers) 

 have often appeared in localities not visited by winged locusts for ten years or more. It 

 may be that under certain conditions, the eggs on being extruded are enveloped in a substance 

 which retards desiccation and the absorption of water by them much more than the secretion 

 which is useil to line and cap the egg-cells ordinarily made. Mr. Stewart Stockman records 

 the deposition of eggs embe(Idecl in a firm, hard, secretion by miniature unfledged females of 

 a species of acridium in India ; these egg masses are evidently designed to resist the 

 desiccating influence of the dry season, which season intervenes before the mature locusts 

 deposit egg-masses of the ordinary type. If eggs of our ordinary locust do sometimes remain 

 alive but unhatched for a period of years, it may be this feature of the creature's economy 

 that is responsible for the sudden appearance of vast swarms. The parasitic and predacious 

 enemies would practically disappear during the protracted sleep of the pest, and thus there 

 would be insnfHcient means to prevent the development to maturity of the myriads that 

 might hatch." 



As regards the use of the African looist fungus, Kiiiihikh nn/lli, I wrote Dr. Edington, 

 Director of the Bacteriological Institute, Grahamstown, Cape Colony, asking him to kindly 



* The planting of tlic Onstor-oil Plant (HieinHs communi») round small fields and gardens might also have 

 been advocated as it is poisonous to locusts. — A. B. 



