AND ITS RELATION TO ANIMAL LIFE 153 



by locusts than other vegetation, and it was 

 noticeable on his farm that a piece of rich flat 

 formed by the washings from the surrounding 

 ironstone hills which form one side of the 

 Kromme River valley produced mealies and 

 potatoes that were not at all to the liking of 

 these insects, as they left these particular 

 crops after doing very little damage, while 

 similar crops growing on soil that could not be 

 benefited by the washings from these iron- 

 stone hills were entirely destroyed by the 

 same lot of locusts." 



With evidence of this nature before us it 

 must appeal to any one's common sense that 

 the reason why locusts eat some forms of plant 

 life in preference to other forms should be 

 investigated as being of more importance than 

 the question of manure and weeds, although 

 I think the two questions are directly con- 

 nected. 



In connexion with the locusts, chemical 

 deduction gives us some points that will stand 

 investigation. 



First, plants that appear most distasteful 

 to locusts are those containing a considerable 



