Reports to the Foreign Office. 167 



back ; they are laid on 1 x 4 boards, previously nailed to runners ; the 

 height of the pans above the ground varies with the height of the crop 

 over which the " hopper dozer " ^^ill be taken. 



The pan should be partly filled with paraffin and water and taken across 

 the infected crops until full, when fresh oil and water must be added. 



These machines can be made of any size. 



B. 3. MiNEKAL Poisons. 



Arsenical poisons can be employed to advantage where animals are not 

 likely to touch them. In America poisoned bran is successfully employed. 

 Mr. Coquillett (U.S. Dept. Agriculture) has found the folloAving formula 

 the best : 1 lb. arsenic, 1 lb. sugar, G lbs. bran. Add water to make au 

 ordinary mash. 



This is prepared as follows : Mix the dry bran and arsenic in a tub, 

 dissolve the sugar in warm water, and mix with the arsenic and bran. 

 Place this mixture about in little heaps ; its action is not rapid, but always 

 fatal in about twenty-four hours. 



B. 4. The Afeican Locust Fungus {Empusa fjrijlU). 

 (Destruction by Fungoid Disease.) 



A fungus known as Empvsa (jrylll found on grasshoppers and locusts 

 has been used as a remedy with more or less success. Its introduction into 

 Egypt might probably be very beneficial, and certainly should be tried. 



It has been imported into Americs- from Natal, and has destroyed 

 injurious swanns of locusts in Colorado and Mississippi. 



Dr. Lounsbury (Cape of Good Hope Kept., 189G) refers to this disease 

 and its employment, and says it causes destruction to the swarms when 

 proper conditions of moisture are present. 



It has been introduced into Australia and has met with some success 

 there also. 



The method of employment adopted by Mr. Froggatt, Government 

 Entomologist to New South Wales, is here appended. 



The fungus must be cultivated in a laboratory on gelatine and sent out 

 to operators in test tubes. 



The operator proceeds as follows : — The fungus should be sent out in 

 definite quantities, enough of the culture to make a tumbler full of liquid 

 being a useful proportion. The operator should boil sufficient water and 

 let it cool down to luke-warm. The contents of the tube are then extracted 

 and mashed up with two teaspoonfuls of sugar and well stirred up in the 

 water with several bits of cork, which have been previously placed in the 

 glass as indicators. Cover the tumbler with a sheet of paper and then 

 place it in a warm room and leave for twenty-four hours. AVhen examined, 

 if fit for use, the cork indicators should show mycelium growing on them. 

 This culture is taken to the infested land. Then proceed to catch some 

 locusts by means of a net. The culture placed in a tin is spread over the 

 locusts and they are released, when they carry infection to others and so 

 destroy myriads of the pests, 



Mr. Froggatt, Government Entomologist of New South Wales, states 

 that one tumbler full of liquid is sufficient for 1000 locusts. 



