DRIED LOCUSTS AS FOOD FOR CAGE AND GAME BIRDS, 125 



Besides this species, however, there are a large number of other AcricUdce 

 in India, which occasionlly multiply to such an extent as to oJfer the quantity 

 required. Amongst these I might specially refer to the species Acridium 

 succinctum, which invaded the Bombay Deccan in vast numbers in the year 

 1882-83. Forty-five tons were reported as destroyed in the Nasik Collector- 

 ate, and one hundred and eighty tons in the Satara Collectorate, As the 

 demand is for several tons per annum, I may pass over minor local inva- 

 sions, for probably it will be found best either to store the locusts, when 

 they are available in large quant'ties, for use in years when they are scarce 

 or else to depend on other parts of the world for a supply in years when 

 large quantities are not forthcoming in India. Either of these courses would 

 be likely to be cheaper than attempting to collect in India in years other than 

 those of general invasion. Locusts preserved in salt are said to be a favourite 

 food of the Arabs in Northern Africa for taking upon long journeys, and 

 if salt is unsuitable for the birds which it is proposed to feed with the locusts 

 there could be but little difficulty in tinning any quantity of dried 

 locusts in such a way as to ensure their keeping indefinitely without any 

 salt, 



" In years of widespread invasion it has long been the custom for the peo- 

 ple themselves to collect the young locusts wholesale, to save their crops, and 

 as they do this for their own interest, while no subsequent use is made of 

 the locust — for I may pass over as insignificant what are preserved by 

 Mahomedans and others for food— the locusts should be available at 

 very little cost. In the case of the invasion of the Kohat station one rupee 

 per maund was paid for the locusts at the weighing stations that were insti- 

 tuted by the officials with a view of encouraging the people to rid themselves of 

 the pest. This rate would probably be a sufficient inducement to the culti- 

 vators to sell what they had collected in their fields. After they had been 

 collected, the locusts would require to be thoroughly desiccated, to prevent 

 putrefaction, which occurs very rapidly in India. From an experiment made 

 in weighing a freshly-killed specimen of the Calcutta species Tryxalis turrita, 

 Linn., against a thoroughly-desiccated specimen of equal size of the same 

 species, I conclude that the weight of the insect when desiccated would be 

 about a quarter or a fifth of what it weighed when freshly killed. If this 

 ■proportion holds for Acridium peregrinum, some five maunds of freshly- 

 killed locusts would be required to produce one maund of the dried article. 

 Five rupees might be given as the probable expense of buying a maund of 

 the raw material from the cultivators. To this must be added— (1) com- 

 mission to the agents who are employed in buying the insects in the 

 districts ; (2) the cost of desiccation ; and (3) the cost of carriage to the port 

 and afterwards of shipment to England. With regard to item No. (1), it is 

 almost impossible to furnish an estimate, as the service would be required 



