June, '10] HOWARD : AFRICAN LOCUST PROBLEM 265 



hatched in close proximity gradually come together until miles of veldt 

 will be covered with a mass of hoppers feeding and moving along as if 

 under the connnand of a captain. Such swarms quite easily cross a 

 river as large as the Vaal, by swimming and by forming a bridge of 

 their massed bodies. This habit of massing together makes their 

 destruction more easy. 



The second locust, which has been given various names, such as Red- 

 winged locust and Red locust (CyrtocantJiacris septenifasciata, long 

 known as Acridium piirpuriferuni), is not so destructive as the Brown 

 Locust. It does not cover so wide an area nor does it occur in such 

 large swarms. The fact, however, that it occurs, not on the high in- 

 terior plateau, but along the coast in very unhealthy and uninhabited 

 parts and also the fact that the hoppers do not form such compact 

 swarms as do those of the Brown locust, all tend to make the carrying 

 out of measures directed against it more difficult. 



The red locust is much larger than the brown and at the breeding 

 season assumes a bright wine color on the hind wings, giving it its 

 name. At the time of first reaching maturity the whole body also 

 takes on a dark reddish brown tinge. 



Two areas seem to be the centres of distribution for this locust. 

 Small swarms may sometimes winter in almost any sheltered valley 

 in the low veldt of South Rhodesia, Eastern Transvaal, or Mocambique. 

 To the south, Natal and Zululand seem to be the favored area. To the 

 northward the area about the Zambesi river especially south of that 

 river and in the extreme Eastern part of South Rhodesia are always 

 winter quarters for red locusts. From winter quarters in Natal and 

 Zululand beginning in October, they spread out over Natal, Zululand, 

 Swaziland, eastern Transvaal, and southern Mocambique, while South- 

 ward they may infest the coastal area of eastern Cape Colony. In 

 the North they spread out from the Zambesi River over the Zarabesia 

 district to the northward of Quelimane ; over the southern extremity 

 of Nyassaland and over most of South Rhodesia. Red locusts are 

 present in the northern parts of the Province of Mocambique, but as 

 there are no white inhabitants there and the natives are not yet in 

 subjection, very little information can be secured. The relation be- 

 tween these northern and southern centres of emigration is not yet 

 known. Probably in a year when the locust cycle is at its height, 

 swarms would migrate from Zululand all along the coast toward the 

 Zambesi ; and reports seem to indicate that swarms have passed over 

 the Eastern Transvaal into Rhodesia. As I state above the Red locust 

 is a coastal locust and is confined usually to the wet, humid and hot 

 coastal areas and low veldt, but in vears of unusual abundance swarms 



