LOCUSTS AND GRASSHOPPERS {ACRIDIID^E). 117 



on those odd return travels towards lands from which 

 their progenitors came. 



" Voetgangers ; " Interesting Points in their 

 Natural History. 



In South Africa it would seem that the movements of 

 the migratory locusts frequently take place before the 

 insects have acquired their wings. Mrs. Barber, in an 

 account of " Locusts and Locust-birds," mentions this 

 among many interesting traits of the South African 

 species. These locusts manifest the gregarious dis- 

 position at a very early age, for the small family parties 

 in which they at first appear, sunning themselves in 

 the vicinity of the holes whence they have escaped 

 from the ova, rapidly amalgamate, so that enormous 

 numbers come together. Roosting in company upon 

 shrubs and grasses, they denude the neighbourhood of 

 its foliage. Their name, " Voetgangers " — given by the 

 early Dutch settlers, and retained ever since — denotes 

 their habit of travelling in flocks on foot. No sooner 

 have they made their appearance from the earth, and 

 have obtained a slight degree of strength, than they will 

 at once take up a northern course, always towards lands 

 in the interior of the continent from which their pro- 

 genitors departed. Farmers and agriculturists adopt 



