.'37 



jury. Their efrgs produced such iinmeni=!e swarms the following spring that they destroyed 

 everything that had been sown throughout the settlement, and famine ensued. In 1869 they 

 again visited the country, but too late to do much harm. The season following, however, 

 they destroyed most of the growing crops. In 1872 immense hordes of these winged pests 

 again visited a part of the country about the beginning of August. The country west of 

 Headingly escaped, and generally the wheat was not much injured, but they played sad havoc 

 with the gardens. Nothing was sown the following spring throughout the infested district, 

 but throughout the western settlements a large crop was grown and saved." 



From the .same source we have obtained the following particulars respecting the 

 ravages of the Locust in different parts of the Province : — 



" The South. — From West Lynnc (Pembina) northward as far as Scratching Eiver 

 the oats and barley have been entirely destroyed, and the wheat partially. 



" Palestine. — The latest reports from this settlement confirm the accounts that the 

 settlement is laid waste. 



"M.\NIT0BA Lake. — The .shores of this lake ire strewn three feet in many places with 

 dead gi-asshoppers, the wind having driven them into the lake, where they were drowned 

 and cast ashore. 



" The Boyne Settlement. — They are very thick here, and have completely destroyed 

 the oats and barley, and about half ruined the wheat. 



" PoRT.iQE LA Prairie.— From Poplar Point to the Portage the fields are swarming 

 with grasshoppers, which have devoured the crops. Scarcely anything has escaped. 



" Rat Creek. — In this neighbourhood it is reported that the crops of Kenneth Mc- 

 Kenzic, Hugh Grant and others, are being destroyed, and that the former had commenced 

 cutting his oats ai,d barley for foilder rather than let the pests take all. 



" RocKWooD. — The crops in this settlement have suffered severely. Oats and barley 

 completely destroyed, and wheat badly injured. 



" Woodland.— Most of the settlers in this neighbourhood are entirely cleaned out. ^ 



" County of Provencher. — All the crops along the Red River, from Pembina to Stink- 

 ing River, have been eaten up, excepting, in some instances, a portion of the wheat and 

 potatoes have escaped. 



" Winnipeg. — The gardens in this city, and the oats and barley in the neighbourhood, 

 are being destroyed. During the evenings, at the going down of the sun, they seek the board 

 fences and sides of houses in such numbers that in many cases it is impossible to distinguish 

 the colour of the houses, or the material of which they are built." 



As yet we do not know whether the Locust ravages are wont to extend over the great fer- 

 tile region to the north-west of Manitoba — that magnificent agricultural rejjion drained by the 

 Saskatchewan River ; we hope, and we are strongly inclined to think, that the plague, if notice- 

 able at all, is there trifling in character and moderate in extent. Sliould it be otherwi.se, 

 should that '• fertile belt " be as subject to these visitations as the States to the south of it 

 unhappily are, it must prove a great hindrimce to its rapid .settlement. If, on the other hand, 

 it possesses an immunity jiot shared in by the Western States, it will certainly draw from 

 them, before many years are over, and as .soon as railway facilities are atlbrded for transporta- 

 tion of goods and produce, a very large portion of those settlers who arc now eaten out of 

 house and home. We fully expect to see the tide of immigration which for a few years past 

 has been setting .so strongly towards the plains of Kansas and Nebraska, turned towards our 

 own more highly favoured, even though more northern regions of Assiniboine and Saskatchewan. 



Description of the Insect. 



Let us turn now to a description of the insect respecting whose powers of destruction we 

 have heard .so much. As we have already remarked, there is very little difference in appear- 

 ance between our common " grasshopper " and the famine-producinjj Locust of the West. 

 They both belong to the same genus (Culoptaius) of the family Acrydidiv; and of the order of 

 Orthoptci'a— straight-winged insects. The AcrydidaJ, or Locusts, are distinguished from 

 their kindred, the true grasshoppers, by the following characteristics : — The former have 

 short antenn;\; (or feelers), never exceeding the body in lengih ; the latter have very long 

 thread-like antennae. The tarsi, or feet, of the former arc three jointed ; of the latter four- 

 jointed. The female of the former has the tip of the abdomen furnished with four very short 



