ORTHOPTERA OF NOVA SCOTIA. — PIERS. 293 



ingly numerous, as it is liable to at certain periods, it is 

 capable of producing the greatest devastation to grass and 

 other crops. It is very closely allied to the pernicious 

 migratory Rocky Mountain Locust (M. spretus) which once 

 produced stupendous damage in the western United States; 

 and next to that species, Scudder says it is the most destructive 

 looust in America. M. atlanis, however, is only sub-migra- 

 tory in habit, but in certain favourable dry seasons may 

 migrate in large numbers and produce great harm. It is 

 in this migratory ability that the danger lies, for it may sud- 

 denly appear in large voracious multitudes. M. femur- 

 rubrum, on the other hand, is non-migratory. Sufficient has 

 been said to thoroughly warn agriculturists and economic 

 entomologists to closely watch the Lesser Migratory Locust 

 and to take precautions should it manifest any tendency to 

 increase in numbers in this province. Fortunately on the 

 mainland of Nova Scotia, at least in comparatively recent 

 years, it has not generally occurred in sufficient numbers 

 to do great damage, although the reports as to its abundance 

 about Truro are somewhat disquieting and may indicate 

 that it is the most destructive species in that region. I find 

 as long ago as 7 Sept., 1762, Lieut. -Governor Jonathan 

 Belcher, in a dispatch from Halifax to the Lords of Trade, 

 refers to the loss of crops that year by the drought and grass- 

 hoppers, but it is impossible to say what species or different 

 species were responsible for the damage which called for such 

 a report, although I strongly suspect that a sudden increase 

 in the abundance of the present species was the cause. 



By far the worst plague of locusts known to us in this re- 

 gion, at least of late years, was the sudden appearance on Sable 

 Island of myriads of M . ailanis which from 1891 to 1896 very 

 rapidly devastated that island which is a hundred statute 

 miles off the nearest part of the eastern coast of Nova Scotia.* 



♦While Sable Island wa3 thus being devastated by -W. atlanis, that species was quite 

 uncommon about Halifax, where I was able to find but few specimens although hundreds of 

 M. femur-Tubrum were taken in hope of finding the other species which closelj' resembles it. 



