VIII. 

 INSECT INVADERS. 



"I1TE in the Himalayas are suffering from a foreign inva- 

 sion. Black-mail is being levied on all sides by a 

 locust army which is sweeping across the country. The 

 locusts are evidently on one of their migratory expeditions. 

 They are travelling in millions from north-east to south- 

 west. A swarm of locusts, when you are close up to it, 

 looks for all the world like a storm of dirty snow. Each 

 locust has the appearance of a brownish snowflake, each 

 moves in a slanting direction with the indescribable flutter- 

 ing motion so characteristic of falling snow. The snow- 

 storm appearance is only produced by those locusts which 

 are a little distance away. At very close quarters the rapid 

 motion of the wings is obvious. Migrating locusts usually 

 fly some little height above the ground. In the Himalayan 

 tract, however, there is practically no level ground, so that 

 at one moment the flight is far above the surface of the earth 

 and at the next almost in contact with it. 



I happened to be going along a ridge just as the swarm 

 was passing over, and rode through it. The experience 

 was not a pleasant one. The locusts, being unable to con- 

 trol their movements, fall upon one like rain, or rather hail. 

 My horse became very restive, and seemed to object strongly 

 to the novel experience. Although the insects were not set- 

 tling, many were resting on the ground. When disturbed 

 by the approach of the horse, the resting locusts jumped 

 into the air just as a grasshopper does, but while still rising, 

 the wings unfold and thus convert the jump into flight. 



