100 • Indian Museum Notes. [Vol. II. 



the highlands of Southern India, and in these cases they proba 

 belong to some of the various species which occasionally prove destructive 

 to crops in the Madras and Bombay Presidencies and in the Central 

 Provinces 1 . This was probably the case with the flights of 1877 and 

 1878, notices of which are given below. Thirdly, flights are believed occa- 

 sionally to arise locally 2 . This is probably what happened in 1881, when 

 a flight invaded the Manbhoom district from hills in Hazaribagh. No 

 information has yet been obtained on the subject of the identity of 

 these local species ; they may, perhaps, in some cases have belonged to 

 the species Acridium succinctum. 



Whatever the origin of the flights, the injury done by them in Ben- 

 gal has never been very extensive, and no special measures have been 

 adopted against them. According to a report, dated 14th July 1883, 

 by Mr. W. H. Grimley, low-class Mahomedans and Hindoos are said to 

 store the locust, both for food and also in order to extract an oil believed 

 to be useful in the treatment of gout and rheumatism, but upon the 

 whole the pest is of no very great importance. 



The following is an abstract of the records of the invasions of locusts 

 other than Acridium peregrinum in Bengal : — 



In 1862 locusts visited Monghyr and did considerable damage to 

 the crops (Report, dated 26th June 1890, by the Commissioner of Bhagul- 

 pore and the Santhal Parganas). We have no clue to the identity of 

 this locust, except that in this, as in the following instances, the year 

 was not one in which Acridium peregrinum was prevalent in its regular 

 breeding grounds in North- Western India; so, it is pretty certain that 

 the species was not Acridium peregrinum. In 1865 locusts passed over 

 Manbhoom, without, however, doing serious damage to the harvest 

 (Hunter's Gazetteer) ; they also appeared in this year in Durbhunga 

 (Mr. W. H. Grimley's Report, dated 14th July 1883). 



In 1873 they are said to have passed over part of the'Burdwan dis- 

 trict (Commissioner of Burdwan's Report, dated 28th April 1890). In 

 }877 they visited Monghyr and did considerable damage to the crops 

 (Commissioner of Bhagulpore and the Santhal Parganas' Report, dated 26th 

 June 1890) ; a flight was also observed in this year in the neighbourhood 

 of Patna (Mr. Scott's Note), and a specimen obtained from it on 1st July 



3 The chief of these species are said to he Acridium succinctum, JPachytylus ciner« 

 ascens, Acridium aeruginosum, Acridium melanocorne, Tryxalis turrita, Hieroglyphus 

 furcifer, Caloptenus erubescens, Caloptenus eruginosus, Cyrtacanthacris ranaeea, Oxya 

 furcifera, JSuprepocnewiis bramina, Oxya velox, and Chrotogonus sp. 



2 With regard to the origin of locusts in the Durbhunga district, the Commissioner 

 of Patna reported (16th July 1890) that the swarms were said to come from the Darjeeling 

 Hills, though some authorities were of opinion that they hreed in the large tract of grass 

 jungles that fringe the river Ganges. The supposed inability of these local species to cross 

 any large body of water is noticed in this report. 



