266 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 3 



may oviposit on the high and middle veldt of the Transvaal and south- 

 ern Rhodesia covering the eastern two thirds of these colonies, so that 

 we may then have a double infestation of locusts making the problem 

 a more serious one. 



By the first of December the Red Locusts begin to oviposit, each egg, 

 pod containing about 95 eggs. The females die and the males live 

 on for some time more. They usually select very choice spots for 

 oviposition, such as newly planted sugar plantations. On the Zambesi 

 we have seen at least twenty tons of eggs dug from an area of not 

 more than 100 acres. The eggs of this locust are not so dependent 

 on rains as are those of the brown locust. Indeed they are usually de- 

 posited long after the rains have begun, unless it be a year of unusual 

 drought, so that in two to three weeks after oviposition the young 

 hoppers begin to hatch out. That is in the South the hoppers begin 

 to appear about January first, while in the North they may be found 

 'by the middle of December. 



In about two months the hoppers have reached maturity, and come 

 together into more compact swarms than before. When they have 

 assumed their wings they make for winter quarters, although, as we 

 have pointed out, summer and winter areas and migrations are not so 

 well marked out as is the case with the brown locust. 



In the Transvaal and South Rhodesia it usually happened during 

 bad seasons that as soon as the campaign against brown locusts had 

 ceased another had to be begun against the red locust, so that the whole 

 year, from the end of the dry season until the end of the wet season, 

 was spent upon this one problem. 



Before going farther it may be well to describe the method employed 

 in South Africa in destroying locusts, as it is one peculiar to South 

 Africa and so far as I know has not yet been employed elsewhere. 

 Indeed some Entomologists in other continents, refuse to acknowledge 

 its efficacy in spite of the lengthy reports annually issued by the vari- 

 ous Agricultural Departments of South Africa. 



It was early recognized that it was useless to attempt to destroy 

 winged locusts at the migrating season, although everj" method which 

 could be devised for their destruction was encouraged ; even to urging 

 the natives to use them more commonly as an article of food. The 

 most that could be done was to call out all natives and white people 

 on the approach of a swarm of locusts and by the use of smoke or 

 beating of tins drive them off of a crop and compel them to settle 

 elsewhere. This, however, is not an easy matter. A locust which has 

 flown a number of miles is usually hungry and a little smoke or a 

 little noise in a nice green field of maize or forage will not prevent his 



