u8 TRUE TALES OF THE INSECTS. 



methods all but in vain to save their crops and pasture- 

 lands on their approach in countless multitudes, when 

 swarm after swarm has to be contended with. They 

 then fill up the whole country ; their numbers are over- 

 whelming, and cannot be driven away. They take 

 advantage of paths and roads, and many miles will be 

 traversed in a day ; they proceed by means of short 

 quick leaps or hoppings rapidly repeated. Nothing can 

 stay the " Voetgangers' " progress northward. Occa- 

 sionally they march through towns and villages, and 

 have been seen attempting to scale a stone wall, rather 

 than be thwarted in their advance. Mountain ranges, 

 forests, rivers, may intervene, diverting them for a while 

 from their course ; nevertheless, they ultimately succeed 

 in continuing their journey to the interior. 



The manner in which these wingless locusts occasion- 

 ally cross broad rivers is surprising, and has some 

 bearing on the vexed question of the possibility of 

 winged locusts crossing the ocean. Mrs. Barber refers 

 to an instance on the Vaal River in the spring of 1871, 

 shortly after the discovery of the Diamond-fields. The 

 country at the time was swarming with " Voetgangers ; " 

 every blade of grass was cleared off by them. One 

 day a vast swarm appeared on the banks of the river, 

 evidently in search of a spot for crossing, which they 

 could not find, as the river was slightly flooded. For 

 several days the locusts travelled up the stream ; in the 



