50 LOCUSTS. 



2240 dead Locusts to the ton of fodder, the point of whether or not 

 they might be prejudicial to the health of stock certainly appears of 

 some importance. So far as the bodies of the Locusts are concerned, 

 these might be considered perfectly harmless, from the knowledge we 

 have of the manner in which various animals feed on them, when they 

 can get a chance ; also when cooked, and the legs removed, they have 

 long been known to be in some localities an article of human food. 

 But when the insects are consumed entire in a dried state, and in great 

 numbers, it appeared to me open to doubt what effect the hard legs, 

 and especially the hinder legs, with the shanks about an inch in length 

 beset with sharp spines, might have by causing internal irritation, or 

 in the case of cattle, forming balls. Therefore, as I was unable to give 

 a trustworthy opinion on the subject, I suggested it would be well to 

 apply to a veterinary adviser.* 



This species of Locust is one of the migratory kinds of South 

 America, of which the native home is stated to be in the higher barren 

 plateaux of the Argentine Eepublic, and which are recorded as abound- 

 ing in the provinces of the La Plata river. It is of this kind that Darwin, 

 in his journey across South America from Buenos Ayres to Mendoza 

 and Chile, fell in with a vast swarm just alighting from their migratory 

 flight in the neighbourhood of Luxan, t about a Inmdred miles from 

 the first-named city. 



With regard to the large Locusts mentioned above, as forwarded to 

 me in " Alfalfa hay " imported from Buenos Ayres, they appeared to 

 me to be the Acridium paranense ; but as I could not feel certain I 

 forwarded specimens, together with those of the A. ^gyptium, to Senor 

 Don Iguaeio Bolivar at Madrid, who kindly confirmed my view as 

 follows: — "No. 3 is, without doubt, the Acridium. (or rather the 

 Schistocerca) 2}fi^'»nense, Burm., which causes much ravage in the 

 southern parts of America." — (J. B.) 



The specimens in the flattened damaged state in which they 

 reached me were of a general brownish colour. The head mottled 

 with various tints, including reddish pink ; the body between the 



* In the course of further search on Locust life, I noticed the following com- 

 munication to the editor in the 'Agricultural Journal,' published by the Dep. of 

 Agriculture for Cape Colony, No. 16, Vol. vi. (August, 1893, p. 311) : — " The sheep 

 have been living on live Locusts for the last three months, which has (as we 

 think) caused abortion in a large number of the ewes. Mr. Jim Miles informed me 

 that all his ewes had cast their lambs prematurely, and therefore the sheep do not 

 seem to recover as they should." — (J. K.) The consumption of Locusts to such an 

 amount as to be considered the sole article of diet of the sheep, is of course very 

 different to even the large numbers above mentioned as mixed with the hay ; still 

 the observation may be worth notice. 



t See 1st Eeport of U.S.A. Ent. Com,, p. 466 ; and for list of publications on 

 S. American Locusts, see App. xxvii. to same vol., pp. [278] and [279]. 



