S848. 



GENESEE FARMER. 



147 



The Locust. 



BY DAVID THOMAS. 



[From the Genesee Farmer for 1831.] 



The insect which appears at long stated pe- 

 riods, called the Locust., is the Cicada septende- 

 cem of Linneas, — taking its specific name from 

 the years (17) of each period.* It has been 

 said, however, that there is some variation in 

 these periods, and 15 and 16 years have also 

 been mentioned ; but of this I have no satisfac- 

 tory evidence, and consider such variations very 

 improbable. 



During its short existence in the perfect state, 

 this locust is not known to teed on any vegetable, 

 unless it is some exudation from the leaves 

 The damage sustained in orchards, die, is caused 

 by the perforations of the female at the time she 

 deposits her eggs. Of the branch of a nectarine 

 now lying belbre me, [6 mo. 27, 1831,] and 

 which broke down in consequence of these per- 

 forations. I observe that the diameter is about 

 one fourth of an inch — that the solid wood is 

 cut and splintered, so that the eggs are not pressed 

 as they would be if the wood was only split — 

 that the direction of these incisions is slanting 

 downwards, forming an angle of 20 or 2.5° with 

 the branch, but not passing beyond the pith — 

 an ; that the eggs are 2, 3, or 4 in each place. 



MosES Bartkam,-}- who appears to have ob- 

 served the manners of this insect with great at- 

 tention, — ascertained that in a month or so, the 

 eggs hatched, and the young locusts passing 

 down the tree, entered the ground. Some per- 

 sons have spoken of 4 feet as a depth at which 

 this insect has been found in after years ; and it 

 is nearly certain that in this state they never 

 wander much in a lateral direction. Where the 

 holes in only one spot of a clear field, were very 

 numerous and contiguous, caused by locusts, it 

 was recollected that 17 years before a tree had 

 stood there, although every trace of it had dis- 

 appeared. 



There is one remarkable fact in the history of 

 the locust, of which I have seen no notice in 

 the course of my reading, viz : though it observes 

 the stated period of 17 years, yet in different 

 parts of the same region it comes forth in differ- 

 ent years. My attention was first directed to 

 this circumstance by the remark of a gentleman 

 that "//te locust year in Virginia was not the 

 same as in Pennsylvania." In the summer of 

 1800, on^ journey to the South from this place, 

 I first encountered the locusts on the north side 

 of a small hill some miles above Wyalusing, 

 near the Susquehanna river; and from that little 

 boundary southward throughout the lower parts 

 of that state, wherever the soil and timber were 

 suitable these insects were very numerous. 



* A few locusts are often heard in the intermediate sum- 

 mers, hut I suspect that these are a differmt species. 

 i Transactions of the American Phil. Soc, Vol. 1. 



Along the east side of the Cayuga Lake how- 

 ever, that was not the "locust year," nor did 

 they appear among us till the sunrmer of 1814, 

 showing a difierence of 3 years between this 

 neighborhood and the south-eastern parts of Penn- 

 sylvania. But I am told by persons who lived 

 about 8 years ago in different places in the 

 northern parts of Tompkins county between the 

 lakes,* that the locusts were then there in great 

 numbers. In Ohio, however, according to Dr. 

 S. P. HiLDRETK, they appeared in 1795, 1812, 

 and in 1829. 



A complete history of this insect ought to 

 have a map of the United States, showing the 

 diflTerent districts in which it comes forth in dif- 

 ferent years ; and if every friend of science 

 would contribute his mite, it might be speedily 

 completed. 



As far as my observations have extended, the 

 locust is not partial to beach and maple lands, but 

 confines itself chiefly among the oak and hickory. 

 It is evident, however, that since our forests have 

 been partially removed, it has extended its lim- 

 its eastward from the Cayuga Lake. In 1814, a 

 locust was a rare thing on my farm, but this sum- 

 mer they are numerous. We ascribe this 

 change to the great increa-^e from the few that 

 wandered hither 17 years ago. In digging pit- 

 sand this spring near an apple tree which had 

 stood 25 years, we took up many that were down 

 in the subsoil. 



Answers to the following questions would be 

 interesting : What is the food of the insect in 

 the larvae state ? What is the greatest depth in 

 the earth, from which it has been taken? What 

 has caused the locusts in one district to diflier in 

 regard to time from those of another district ? 

 Do not these insects extend the boundaries of 

 their districts ? and if so, do not these districts 

 in some places overlap or interfere ? Agreeably 

 to this view, may not the same district be in- 

 habited by locusts that observe diflTerent years? 

 May not their appearance in some places, there- 

 fore seem anomalous, when in fact ihey observe 

 with exactness the period of 17 years ? And 

 may not the opinions that they appear in 7, or 

 in 11 years be founded on this everlapping ? 



* I should be much gratified if some of your readers re- 

 siding between the lakes, would write for the Genesee 

 Farmer what they know in regard to these reports. [D. T., 

 5 mo. 12, 1848.] 



A New Rat Trap. — Take a tub or a large 

 kettle, fill it within six inches of the top with 

 water, cover it with chaff" or bran, and place it 

 at night where the rats resort. By this method 

 thirty six rats have been taken in one niglit. 



The whole face of the country from Croydon 

 toEvansville, Indiana, says one of our exchanges, 

 a distance of two hundred miles, is covered with 

 pigeons destroying every species of grain put in 

 the ground by the farmer. 



