A SWARM OF LOCUSTS. 335 



the usual long and slender antennae is formed into two short, flat, 

 few-jointed antennae, narrow at the base, then widening rapidly, 

 and at last coming to a sharp point, very much like the antennae 

 of several moths. 



This is really a beautiful creature, though its beauties cannot 

 be seen until it spreads its wings. As it sits at rest, or merely 

 crawls after the, fashion of its kind when not alarmed, it is a 

 simple, plain-bodied insect, in no way more remarkable than one 

 of our own grasshoppers; but as soon as it takes to th^r air, it 

 displays a wondrous amount of hidden beauties. The upper 

 edge of the wing is dark brown, through which runs a stripe of 

 snowy white. The base of the wing is azure blue, followed by 

 bright pink, which fades gradually until the wing appears of a 

 crystalline clearness. There is also a patch of green just beyond 

 the blue mark. This is the usual arrangement of colour, but the 

 insect is a very variable one both in size and hue. 



There are many species of Tryxalis, the genus being spread 

 widely over the world, even Japan and New Guinea possessing 

 representatives of it. As an example of the wide range of these 

 insects, I will mention one species, Tryxalis nasuta, specimens 

 of which, now in the British Museum, have been taken in the 

 following localities : — Switzerland, Marseilles, Leghorn, Galilee, 

 Nubia, Sierra Leone, Gambia, South Africa, interior of South 

 Africa, North Hindostan, Ceylon, Cambodia, New South Wales, 

 and Sandwich Islands. 



Some time ago I was at a singularly interesting conversazione 

 at the Albert Hall, into which electric wires were brought from 

 various parts of the world : among others, there was one com- 

 municating with Kurrachee, in India. Having ascertained that 

 an operator was on duty at the Indian end of the wire, our 

 operator asked if anything was then going on. The answer came 

 back in a few minutes, that a vast swarm of locusts was passing 

 over Scinde. And I have little doubt that the locusts in 

 question belonged mostly to the very species which has just 

 been mentioned. 



In Hardwicke's "Science Gossip" for April 1871, there is a 

 very interesting paper on Locusts, by Mr. C. Home. As far as 

 I can gather from his description, the insects belonged to the 

 genus Tryxalis: — 



" I had been more than twenty years in the country before I saw 



