THE LOCUST INVASION OF 1889—992.* 
By E, ©. Cores. 
In the early part of 1891 a report was issued on the subject of the migratory 
locust, Acridium peregrinum, Oliv., which has recently 
invaded India.t This report gave a Summary of the 
information obtained up to the beginning of December, 1890. The notessince 
collected on the subject of the invasion of Northern Africa, Persia, and 
Turkish Arabia by the same insect appeared in Vol. III., No. 1, of these Notes, 
where details are also given of what has been ascertained on the subject of 
the parasites and natural enemies which attack it in India, In the present 
report it is proposed to give a short sketch of the general features of the 
invasion in India, together with such fresh information as has been obtained 
on the subject of the habits of the insect and the methods adopted for deal- 
ing with it, 
The locusts were first noticed in June, 1889, when flights were reported 
from Sind and Western Rajputana. These flights, 
ae ofthe invasion no doubt, originated in the sand-hills of the desert, 
where the insect is said to breed each year in larger 
or smaller numbers. They began laying their eggs as usual in J une, when 
the rains of the south-west monsoon broke. During the remainder of the 
rainy season of 1889 the flights gradually spread throughout Eastern Rajpu- 
tana, the Punjab, and Sind, egg-laying going on at intervals in various parts 
of Rajputana and the Punjab. The young locusts, which were born from the 
eggs laid in the beginning of the rains, acquired wings towards the latter part 
of August. In the beginning of the cold weather, owing to the extensive 
breeding which had taken place, the locusts seem to have become very numer- 
ous in Rajputana and the Punjab, and in November and December flights 
from these areas found their way throughout the North-West Provinces and 
Central India, and penetrated even as far as the Vizagapatam, Kistna, and 
Godavari Districts in the Madras Presidency. They were also reported from 
British Baluchistan. During January and February, 1890, stray flights were 
reported from various parts of India, but the cold seems to have told upon 
them, and they were not very active. As the hot weather of 1890 approached, 
however, and the soil, moistened by the winter rain, began to grow warm, the 
locusts again became active and commenced egg-laying. Eggs were laid 
throughout the north-western districts of the Punjab in March ; also in the 
Shikarpur District of Sind in April. By June the young locusts hatched from 
these eggs had acquired wings, and the flights spread in all directions, They 
penetrated throughout the whole of the North-West Provinces, besides over- 
* Reprinted from Indian Musewm Notes with the permission of the Trustees. 
+ See Journal, Bombay Natural History Society, Vol. VI. » page 242, 
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Contents, 
