48 



when the pest was practically under control. In 1881 there were 372 

 screens used, each about 50 yards in length, with 491 traps constructed 

 along the line. Each mudir (district officer)' was made responsible for his 

 district, and had under him a number of first and second-class assistants. 



The screens were set up at right angles to the line of march of the hoppers, 

 and pits were dug at interval of 30 to 50 yards ; a strip of oilcloth was sewn 

 along the top of each screen, over which an assistant regularly rubbed an oiled 

 cloth so that none of the hoppers that climbed up the screen were able to get 

 beyond the lower edge of the oilcloth. For the first four weeks, while the 

 locusts were small, 2,600 pits were dug to a depth of 2 feet, and filled with 

 trapped locusts. Then when they started to fly, a price of 30 paras, afterwards 

 increased to 60, was offered for every oke of winged locusts, and it was found 

 that they were very easily captured in the evening and early morning. 



In 1883 there were 7,543 screens in use in the four districts, and 2,631 

 labourers were engaged in the work. It was estimated that over 259/284 

 millions of locusts were destroyed in this season's campaign, at a cost of 

 12,333. 



In 1884 the number of screens was increased to 11,085, and the money 

 expended reached to 14,746. The Commissioner, commenting on this 

 expenditure, stated that up t:> this date (1886) the sum of 66,841 had been 

 spent in the work of locust destruction. He wrote : 



. "Large as this expenditure may seem, it is certain that it has already been 

 recovered by the island many times over, in the value of the crops saved. 

 Assuming that only a quarter of the wheat and cotton, and a sixth of the 

 barley and oats, would have been destroyed, had no vigorous means been 

 taken to destroy the locusts, the loss in the island would have amounted to 

 80,000. These figures are derived from the estimated value of the crops 

 based on the assessment of the tithes of the years 1882-83-84." 

 . These methods were carried on for some years longer, and in 1897 the expen- 

 diture was 4,216. The area of the island is 3,584 square miles, and the locusts 

 laid their eggs chiefly in the barren patches on the plains. The locust-catchers, 

 who are paid by results, were busy at work sweeping the barren hills a few 

 miles outside Nicosia. They were armed with a stout calico net, shaped at 

 the mouth like a bow, with a handle across the middle; the flat side was 

 svvept over the rocks and low herbage, and the locusts fell into the contracted 

 b$,g-shaped extremity, from which they were shaken by the hunter into a 

 receiving bag carried at his belt. There were a number of men at this work, 

 who, when their bags were full, walked back to the town, where, outside 

 the gates, the Government had a locust camp. Here was an office under a 

 tent; an attendant, after shaking the dust and dirt out through a sieve, 

 weighed the accumulated locusts, entered the weight in his book, and the 

 officer in charge issued a slip for the value at the current rate, which the 

 hunter presented to the Treasury and was paid the amount it represented. 

 After the day's collections are gathered together in a large sack, they are 

 emptied into a covered pit into which a quantity of lime is thrown. The residue, 

 at the end of the season, is used for manure in the experimental garden. 



The Director informed me that during the last few years in Greece they 

 h$ve had very good results from spraying the locusts in the hopping stage with 

 caustic soda and oil, and that the locust officers in Cyprus were going to try 

 it,next season. 



There ^are three species of locusts common in the island, of which the plague 

 locust (Stacronotcs crucitatus, var. americanus) is the most harmful. The eggs 

 ha.tch out in March, and in ordinary seasons the locusts are hunted well 

 into May. 



