3070 Tue ZooLocist— May, 1872. 
high. On Saturday it was standing fresh and green, and at three o'clock in 
the afternoon there was not a stalk left. Mr. Hughes intended turning his 
cows in to-day, and had been relying upon the ground providing grazing for 
some time. Having reserved a small portion of the second crop (which was 
too good to cut for hay) as seed wheat, he had been unable to turn the stock 
in before, and it had consequently grown without hindrance. The ground 
containing the second crop destroyed is about sixty or eighty acres. The 
locusts were about Burnside in immense numbers, and produced quite a 
humming or buzzing noise in the air as they passed. All seemed to be 
going S. or S.W. The neighbourhood is still full of them (those left 
behind), and they are eating every particle of feed down. Iam not aware 
of their having done damage to gardens or standing wheat crops.”” 
«¢ Delta,’ the well-known naturalist of South Australia, writes thus :— 
‘ During the last few weeks these locusts have done more than their average 
amount of damage at this season of the year, but, judging from past expe- 
riences of their migratory habits and times of appearance, I do not think we 
have more than usual to fear from their depredations this season, except in 
limited localities. These creatures just now more particularly infesting 
Adelaide and neighbourhood are genuine locusts. 
“«Tn every year this kind of migratory locust has appeared at some part 
or other of the colony in a greater or less degree, though perhaps never to 
such an extent in our metropolis as during the time first mentioned,—the 
exact year I forget. They were then, and often since, of four distinct 
species, all flying and mingling together, but not easily distinguished, being 
nearly similar in size. That spoken of by your correspondent ‘ Observer ’— 
“female dirty brown, males a bright yellow "—was and has always been by 
far the most numerous. In all the locust tribe, I believe without an 
exception, the male is smaller than the female. 
«In every year that I have observed these migrating species at one or 
other part of the colony, they have in no case been seen in any numbers 
after the first of January. They seem to die off gradually as the new year 
approaches ; their time is up, their strength exhausted, and perhaps the 
increasing heat of the weather and decrease of food aid in their destruction. 
At this time, also, the females finish their egg-laying. As to remedies 
against their numbers and destructive habits, these have been asked for 
naturally enough ever since their first appearance, but none can be offered 
as concerns the mass, nor reasons given why they come more one year than 
another, or in particular localities. In the earlier days I could suggest but 
two things, and these applied only to their very partial destruction, first 
stating that the gradual cultivation and opening up of the soil would tend 
as much as anything to decrease their numbers, as the eggs of which each 
female lays a good many) are deposited about an inch under ground, thus 
preserving them from the effects of the weather, but not from the action of 
