LOCUST. 



LOCUST. 



that these insects come forth at different places 

 in different years. 



Dog-day Harvest-fly. Another species of har- 

 vest-ily, though it does not make its appearance 

 in such formidable numbers as the seventeen- 

 years locust, is much more frequently met with. 

 Dr. Harris calls it the dog-day harvest-fly 

 (Cicada canicularis), from its invariably coming 

 about the beginning of dog-days. " During 

 many years in succession," says Dr. Harris, 

 "with only one or two exceptions, I have 

 heard this insect on the 25th day of July, for 

 the first time in the season, drumming in the 

 trees, on some part of the day between the 

 hours of ten in the morning and two in the 

 afternoon." 



Dr. Harris describes about twenty other spe- 

 cies of the locust family found in Massachu- 

 setts, and concludes the subject in the follow- 

 ing words : 



"After so much space has been devoted to 

 an account of the ravages of grasshoppers and 

 locusts, and to the descriptions of the insects 

 themselves, perhaps it may be expected that 

 the means of checking and destroying them 

 should be fully explained. The naturalist, 

 however, seldom has it in his power to put in 

 practice the various remedies which his know- 

 ledge or experience may suggest. His proper 

 province consists in examining the living ob- 

 jects about him with regard to their structure, 

 their scientific arrangement, and their economy 

 or history. In doing this, he opens to others 

 the way to a successful course of experiments, 

 the trial of which he is generally obliged to 

 leave to those who are more favourably situ- 

 ated for their performance. 



In the south of France the people make a 

 business, at certain seasons of the year, of col- 

 lecting locusts and their eggs, the latter being 

 turned out of the ground in little masses, ce- 

 mented and covered with a sort of gum, in 

 which they are enveloped by the insects. Re- 

 wards are offered and paid for their collection, 

 half a franc being given for a kilogramme 

 (about 2 Ibs. 3$ oz. avoirdupois) of the insects, 

 and a quarter of a franc for the same weight 

 of their eggs. At this rate 20,000 francs were 

 paid in Marseilles, and 25,000 in Aries, in the 

 year 1613; in 1824, 5,542; and in 1825, 6,200 

 francs were paid in Marseilles. It is stated 

 that an active boy can collect from 6 to 7 kilo- 

 grammes (or from 13 Ibs. 3 oz. 13-22 dr. to 

 15 Ibs. 7 oz. 2-09 dr.) of eggs in one day. The 

 locusts are taken by means of a piece of stout 

 cloth, carried by four persons, two of whom 

 draw it rapidly along, so that the edge may 

 sweep over the surface of the soil, and the two 

 others hold up the cloth behind at an angle of 

 45 degrees. This contrivance seems to ope- 

 rate somewhat like a horse-rake, in gathering 

 the insects into winrows or heaps, from which 

 they are speedily transferred to large sacks. 

 A somewhat similar plan has been successfully 

 tried in this country, as appears by an account 

 extracted from the Portsmouth Journal, and 

 published in the New England Farmer, vol. v. 

 p. 5. It is there stated that, in July, 1826, Mr. 

 Arnold Thompson, of Epsom, New Hampshire, 

 caught in one evening, between the hours of 8 

 and 12, in his own and his neighbour's grain 



fields, 5 bushels and 3 pecks of grasshoppers, 

 or, more properly, locusts. ' His mode of catch- 

 ing them was by attaching two sheets together, 

 and fastening them to a pole, which was used 

 as the front part of the drag. The pole extended 

 beyond the width of the sheets, so as to admit 

 persons at both sides to draw it forward. At 

 the sides of the drag, braces extended from the 

 pole to raise the back part considerably from 

 the ground, so that the grasshoppers could not 

 escape. After running the drag about a dozen 

 rods with rapidity, the braces were taken out, 

 and the sheets doubled over; the grasshoppers 

 were then swept from each end towards the 

 centre of the sheet, where was left an opening 

 to the mouth of a bag which held about half a 

 bushel ; when deposited and tied up, the drag 

 was again opened and ready to proceed. When 

 this bag was filled so as to become burdensome 

 (their weight is about the same as that of the 

 same measure of corn), the bag was opened 

 into a larger one, and the grasshoppers received 

 into a new deposit. The drag can be used 

 only in the evening, when the grasshoppers are 

 perched on the top of the grain. His manner 

 of destroying them was by dipping the large 

 bags into a kettle of boiling water. When 

 boiled, they had a reddish appearance, and 

 made a fine feast for the farmer's hogs.' When 

 these insects are very prevalent on our salt 

 marshes, it will be advisable to mow the grass 

 early, so as to secure a crop before it has suf- 

 fered much loss. The time for doing this will 

 be determined by data furnished in the forego- 

 ing pages, where it will be seen that the most 

 destructive species come to maturity during 

 the latter part of July. If, then, the marshes 

 are mowed about the first of July, the locusts, 

 being at that time small and not provided with 

 wings, will be unable to migrate, and will con- 

 sequently perish on the ground for the want 

 of food, while a tolerable crop of hay will be 

 secured, and the marshes will suffer less from 

 the insects during the following summer. This, 

 like all other preventive measures, must be 

 generally adopted, in order to prove effectual ; 

 for it will avail a farmer but little to take pre- 

 ventive measures on his own land, if his neigh- 

 bours, who are equally exposed and interested, 

 neglect to do the same. Among the natural 

 means which seem to be appointed to keep 

 these insects in check, violent winds and storms 

 may be mentioned, which sometimes sweep 

 them off in great swarms, and cast them into 

 the sea. Vast numbers are drowned by the 

 high tides that frequently inundate our marshes. 

 They are subject to be attacked by certain 

 thread-like brown or blackish worms (Filaria^ 

 resembling in appearance those called horse- 

 hair eels (Gordius'). I have taken three or four 

 of these animals out of the body of a single 

 locust. They are also much infested by little 

 red mites, belonging apparently to the genus 

 Ocypete: these so much weaken the insects by 

 sucking the juices from their bodies, as to 

 hasten their death. Ten or a dozen of these 

 mites will frequently be found pertinaciously 

 adhering to the body of a locust, beneath it's 

 wing-covers and wings. A kind of sand-wasp 

 preys upon grasshoppers, and provisions her 

 nest with them. Many birds devour them, par- 



735 



