ya7U 17, 1878] 



NA TURK 



229 



4. The gleam sometimes emitted by hailstones is due 

 also to electricity ; for although in the experiments 

 described, it could not be distinguished whether the 

 globules were self-luminous cr shone by the reflection of 

 the spark, it is probable that they were also rendered 

 phosphorescent by the electric current which they con- 

 tained. 



M. Plants admits the action of other agents, such as 

 wind currents, in the formation of hail, but only as 

 accessories to the action of electricity. They are con- 

 current causes which only prepare the conditions favour- 

 able to its production, while electricity is the efficient 

 cause which, by iis very presence in the clouds and by 

 the instantaneous power of its discharges, determines the 

 sudden formation and the fall of the meteor. 



M. Plantd is still prosecuting his researches on this 

 subject. 



( To be continued^ 



ENTOMOLOGY IN AMERICA 



I'^HE U.S. Entomological Commission which was 

 organised and placed under the auspices of Prof. 

 Hayden's Geological Survey for the purpose of investi- 

 gating and reporting the entire subject of insect ravages 

 throughout the western regions of our continent, have 

 completed their field labour for the present season. 



The members of the Commission have been busily 

 engaged in the preparation of the several parts of their 

 Annual Report, and will soon meet in Washington, where 

 they will have a protracted sitting to get everything ready 

 for the printer. This report is looked for with much 

 interest by the farmers of the west, and the character of 

 the commissioners is a guarantee that it will be creditable 

 from the scientific, and valuable from the practical, stand- 

 point. The Report will contain sixteen chapters, under 

 the following heads : — Introduction, Riley; Chronological 

 History, Packard ; Statistics of Losses, Thomas ; Classi- 

 fication and Nomenclature, Thomas ; Geographical Dis- 

 tribution, Thomas and Packard; Migration and Meteoro- 

 logy, Packard and Thomas ; Original Permanent Breeding 

 Grounds, Riley, Packard, and Thomas ; Habits and 

 Natural History, Riley ; Embryology, Packard ; Meta- 

 morphoses, Riley and Packard ; Invertebrate Enemies, 

 Riley ; Vertebrate Enemies, Thomas ; Remedies and 

 Devices for Destruction, Riley ; Prairie Fires versus 

 Locust Injury, Riley ; Agricultural Bearings of the Sub- 

 ject, Thomas ; Ravages of other Locusts, Packard and 

 Riley ; Locust Ravages in other Countries. 



These chapters will embrace many sub-chapters, and 

 the Report will be as exhaustive as the limited time for 

 its preparation will permit. 



In Chapter IV. the western extension and the northern 

 and eastern limit of the species' range are fully given. 



In Chapter V. the laws governing its migrations are 

 for the first time defined. A very large number of data 

 have been collected in reference to the subjects of this 

 chapter. Not only are the general laws governing the 

 movements of the insect now defined, showing a regular 

 migration southward and return migration northward, 

 which may be counted on and foreseen ; but many im- 

 portant and highly interesting facts in reference to their 

 local flights are brought to Tght, which will henceforward 

 form a part of the history of the insect. 



In Chapter VII. several other laws governing the 

 species are also adduced ; and the importance of the 

 discovery of the laws which regulate the doings and 

 movements of the pest, cannot be over-estimated. In 

 said Chapter VII. many new facts will for the first time 

 appear, and all that is definite and accurate be made 

 known. 



In Chapter X. many new discoveries will be recorded, 

 some of them of great scientific interest and importance. 

 Qf these may be mcntios.eJ the transformation of the 



silky mite {Trombidmm scriceum). This is an eight- 

 legged creature, which preys on the locust eggs. It is 

 proved to be the mature form of the little six-legged mite 

 (Astoma ^ryllarid) which is parasitic on the locust. In- 

 sects described under different genera are thus proved to 

 be specifically identical. The life-history of the blister- 

 beetles will also be given, their larvas feeding upon locust 

 eggs, and undergoing singular changes called hypermeta- 

 morphoses. The interest attaching to this discovery 

 among entomologists, as well as among farmers, is best 

 appreciated when it is considered that absolutely nothing 

 has heretofore been known of the larval habits of these 

 blister-beetles, notwithstanding the fact that for half a 

 century much attention has been given to the subject by 

 scientific men, on account of the commercial value of 

 Cantharis, or Spanish fly, and of the great injury to 

 potatoes and other plants committed by several of oar 

 American species. 



In Chapter XI. are given the locust feeding habits of 

 many western animals not heretofore known to have that 

 habit, and the good offices of birds are especially made 

 manifest, examinations of the stomachs of over ninety 

 species and 630 specimens having been made with special 

 reference to their locust-eating habits. The record in 

 reference to these examinations is very full, giving the 

 dates, the locality, the common and scientific names of the 

 species, and the number of locusts and other insects 

 found in each. The value heretofore placed on these 

 aids by entomologists is fully sustained by this record. 



In Chapter XII., which will be one of the most ex- 

 tended and most important practically, it is clearly shown 

 that the young locusts may be controlled, and by what 

 means ; while the way is pointed out how to better con- 

 trol the winged insects. Many valuable devices for de- 

 struction will be illustrated, among them one invented 

 by Prof. Riley, which gave great satisfaction, and will, it 

 is believed, supersede all others as a cheap and prac- 

 ticable remedy applicable at any season, whether the 

 plants or the insects be small or large. 



In Chapters II. and IV. are given statistics showing 

 the immense losses inflicted on western agriculturists 

 by the locust. These chapters also show what crops are 

 most liable to injury and what are most easily protected ; 

 also the best methods of cropping in order to reduce the 

 injury to a minimum. A chemical analysis of the dead 

 locusts has been made, and is unusually interesting. The 

 insects furnish a new oil, which will be christened Colop- 

 tine, and a very large per-centage of pure formic acid. 

 Though this acid exists in the ant and sou.e other insects, 

 it is with difficulty obtained in large quantities, whereas 

 by the action of sulphuric acid upon the locust juices it 

 passes off with great readiness and in remarkable quantity 

 and gravity. The various uses of this acid whether as a 

 therapeutic agent or as laboratory re-agents, &c., are 

 capable of great and valuable extension when it can once 

 be obtained so readily and in such quantity. 



The Report is expected to make about 500 pages, and 

 will, it is hoped, be pubhshed in February or March. 

 Although the Commissioners have divided the labour 

 among them, the Report will form one complete whole, as 

 the work of each will be discussed and revised by the 

 Commission as a whole. 



The Annual Report, which is intended more particularly 

 for the practical farming public, will be followed by 

 memoirs of a more purely scientiiic nature — one by Dr. 

 Packard on Anatomy and Embryology ; one by Prof. 

 Rdey on the Natural History of other Locusts, and one 

 by Prof. Thomas on the classification of the Acrididcv. 



While it has been the object of the Commission to 

 cover as much ground as possible so as to make the 

 Annual Report as full and valuable as the time would 

 permit, there yet remain several important subjects that 

 It has so far been impossible to properly and exhaustively 

 study. The tcriitcy affected is so vast, embracing over 



