332 



LOCUSTS IN INDIA. 



The occurrence iu 1889 of swarms of locusts in I^orthwest India is 

 taken advantage of by Mr. E. 0. Cotes, of the Indian Museum, of Cal- 

 cutta, to elucidate several doubtful points in the history of these de- 

 structive insects for a complete report which is being prepared under 

 the direction of the trustees of the Indian Museum. To this end a cir- 

 cular, copies of which we have just received, has been distributed in the 

 regions likely to be overrun, giving, in brief, accounts of the more de- 

 structive of the recent locust invasions. 



There is some doubt as to the species of locust which invades India, 

 and it is to settle this point and also to determine the distribution and 

 the limits of the permanent breeding grounds that the circulars have 

 been sent out. The locust generally referred to in India is Acridium 

 peregrinum, supposed to be the locust of the Bible, but it seems proba- 

 ble that a second species is responsible for the invasion of Madras in 

 1878 and Deccan iu 1882-'83, while the first-named species extends its 

 ravages rather into the dry plains of the Punjab and Eajputana. 



The circular gives the life-history and habits of the locusts, together 

 with short accounts of the remedies that have been employed against 

 them. The latter chiefly consist in the destruction of the eggs by 

 plowing, and of the newly hatched locusts by driving them into 

 ditches, where they are covered with earth. The screen system success- 

 fully employed against the locusts in Cyprus and Algeria is also de- 

 scribed. The winged locusts have been destroyed by driving them into 

 lines of burning straw. We shall look for the full report with consid- 

 erable interest. 



NEW INJURIOUS INSECTS IN COLORADO. 



The list of injurious insects of Colorado has recently been augmented 

 by the discovery of three beetles, at Denver, by Mr. H. G. Smith, jr., 

 viz, Bruchus obsoletus, va,r. fab(e Ri\ey, Lachnosterna fusca, and Tenehrio 

 obscurus. Specimens of all of these have been seen by me. The two 

 latter species have been verified by Dr. Horn. — [T. D. A. Cockerell, 

 West Clifle, Colo., March 3, 1890. 



OBITUARY. 



The Entomologists^ Monthly Magazine anuounces the death, in its 

 February number, of Prof. Heinrich Frey, of Zurich, from apoplexy, 

 on the 17th of January, 1890. The death of Monsieur Lucien Buquet, 

 who was treasurer of the Entomological Society of France for forty-five 

 years (1842 to 1887), is also announced as having occurred the middle 

 of December, 1889. He was appointed honorary treasurer of the French 

 Society on his retirement, in 1887, and published many notes on Coleop- 

 tera in the "Annales." 



