84 



NATURE' 



[Nov. 23, 1876 



to a north-north-westerly direction, the ship having 

 drifted between these dates from 66° 50' to 73° 20' long. E, 



No more powerful argument, we think, could be ad- 

 duced than these facts for the establishment of a series 

 of Arctic observatories ; the influence of the changing 

 Arctic conditions on the climate of Europe is unmistak- 

 able, and a knowledge of what these conditions are, and 

 what laws they are subject to, would undoubtedly be of 

 great practical value. 



The chapter on the aurora is very interesting ; it con- 

 tains the valuable observations by Lieut. Weyprecht, 

 which we published in Nature, vol. xi., p. 368. Con- 

 trary to the experience of our own expedition and others 

 in high latitudes on the American side, the auroras seen 

 by the Tegetthoff were remarkably brilliant. No sound 

 of any kmd was observed to accompany the phenomenon. 



Lieut. Payer's work, though professing to be only a 

 popular narrative of the expedition, contains, it will be 

 seen, much of great scientific interest, and we repeat that 

 in the discussion of the results of our own expedition, 

 his observations and conclusions will be found of real 

 value. 



OUR INSECT FOES 

 'X'HE receipt of the eighth Annual Report on the 

 •*■ noxious, beneficial, and other insects of the State of 

 Missouri, and the conferences on insect destruction in 

 connection with the Paris Insect Exhibition recently held, 

 bring again prominently forward the question — what are 

 we to do to cope with our insect foes ? Mr. Riley, the 

 State entomologist for Missouri, in his report, gives 

 account of five noxious insects — the Colorado Potato- 

 beetle {Doryphora 10-lineata, Say), the Canker Worms 

 {Paleacrita vernata) and {Anisopleryx pometaria), the 

 genus Paleacrita being a new one ; the Army Worm 

 {Leticanm unipuncta, Han.), the Rocky Mountain Locust 

 (Caloptenus spretus, Tho.), and the Grape Phylloxera. In 

 each case an account is given of the estimated amount of 

 damage done, and the proposed methods for attacking 

 the enemy, as well as the life history, so far as is known, 

 of tl.e insect itself. While the damage by Colorado 

 Beetle during 1875 was less than usual, owing to the 

 excessive wet drowning the broods, and the Army Worm 

 (i id comparatively little damage, the devastation caused 

 by the locust was unusually heavy, Mr. Riley gives 

 separately the accounts of different counties of the State. 

 One or two quotations will serve to indicate the gravity 

 of the question, what is the remedy to be adopted .'' For 

 example, in the account of Jackson County — " All kinds 

 of growing crops disappeared before the black dead line 

 of their advance. . . . With all the crops of wheat, rye, 

 oats, flax, clover, corn, gardens, and pastures consumed 

 in defiance of every human effort to stay the general 

 devastation, the fields being as bare as the public roads, 

 the outlook was gloomy beyond description. Many gave 

 up in despair and left the county." So great was the 

 destitution that relief meetings were held, the story of 

 suffering being that many were reduced to a scanty 

 supply of bread. Take again Buchanan County (written 

 June 7) : " The crops are all destroyed now, together with 

 meadows and pastures." Again, Bates County : " all our 

 crops and pastures eaten off until they are as bare as in 

 mid-winter." St. Clair County : " The terrible sights of 

 the cruel war are now being outdone by the cruellest 

 of sights — starvation." And so on with a large proportion 

 of the counties. Some counties were so fortunate as 

 to escape with small damage. The total loss to the 

 State for the year is set down at $15,000,000. A day of 

 supplication to Almighty God, with fasting, was ordered 

 on June 3 by the Governor. Mr. Riley, however, 

 repudiates the idea that this calamity was a divine 

 visitation, and quotes from a speech he made in the pre- 

 vious May, in which he said, "When I suggested last 



winter that a law should be passed offering a bounty for 

 the eggs, the idea was ridiculed, but the people see now 

 how wise such a course would have been. A few thousand 

 dollars appropriated by the legislature for the purpose 

 would have been the means of averting the present injury " 

 (p. 93). The accoimts given from some States describe 

 the air as thick with locusts on the wing, so that darkness 

 as of twilight was produced. We fortunately in England 

 do not suffer from the locust, but we may learn a lesson 

 as to what is the course considered necessary for coping 

 with insect ravages. Nothing short of an Act of Congress 

 to enforce the action to be taken seems to be regarded as 

 of any real use. Although districts have previously suf- 

 fered to the verge of starvation, we find Mr. Riley saying 

 (p. 132), " It is very evident that if anything can be done 

 at all in averting this evil, it must be done by national 

 means. The advantage of having the matter properly 

 investigated by the national government has been repeat- 

 edly urged by many prominent persons in the west best 

 competent to judge." Societies have recently passed 

 resolutions, the resolutions have led to a memorial, and 

 the memorial to the introduction of two bills into Con- 

 gress. The one proposed the appointment of a commis- 

 sion of three by the Commissioner of Agriculture, who 

 are to report on the best means of preventing incursions 

 of the locusts. The other proposed that the Secretary of 

 the Interior shall appoint a board of three entomologists 

 on the nomination of the National Academy of Sciences. 

 They were to report on noxious insects generally, and 

 " as soon, also, as the information gathered shall enable 

 them, the commissioners shall compile practical instruc- 

 tions for the suppression of the different insects referred 

 to." The amendments to both these bills were finally 

 adopted in this form : — " That it shall be the duty of the 

 Commissioner of Agriculture to investigate and gather 

 information relative to those insects, &c. . . . and to make 

 public from time to time such information and practical 

 instructions for the suppression of the different insects." 

 This, Mr. Riley remarks, is what people outside the 

 senate were in the habit of supposing to be his duty. 

 The chief practical suggestion Mr. Riley has to make is 

 that State aid should be given for bounties of so many 

 cents a bushel for the young insects while hatching. It 

 will be some time, however, before we shall know what the 

 Commissioner of Agriculture proposes to have done. Dr. 

 Leconte, in his address before the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science at Detroit last year, 

 urged the need for a law to compel farmers to destroy 

 insects on their lands at a particular time. 



Let us now turn to what has been done in France. 

 We have already in a note, a few weeks ago, mentioned 

 the way in which it is sought, through the elementary 

 schools, to spread a knowledge of practical entomology. 

 It remains now to refer to the attempts at legislation. 

 As far back as 1732 a law was passed ordering farmers 

 and landowners to destroy the caterpillars on their lands 

 under a penalty of fifty livres. This 1732 law was 

 renewed by prescriptions in 1777 and 1787. During the 

 revolution, fines were abolished and rewards for destruc- 

 tion were substituted. It was found this plan was of no 

 practical use. In 1796 the law known as that of 26 

 Ventose, an. iv. was passed. It enacted that the destruc- 

 tion of caterpilliars should be effected by the owners or 

 tenants of land, and that if they neglected to do it the 

 adjoints were to have it down and recover the expense 

 from the negligent owner or tenant. The public lands 

 were to be done at public cost, and the Contmissaires du 

 Directoire Executif were to visit the districts to see that 

 all been carried out. The penalty fixed was not less 

 than three nor more than ten days labour, in addition to 

 repaying the expenses incurred by the employment of 

 workmen. This law, made in 1796, is still the law for 

 France, though practically it is not put in force. The 

 local officials were found to hesitate in the performance 



