No. 4] Locusts. 107 



sites. As late as November the mass of the young- locusts appeared un- 

 able to fly and made no general movement to the south-west, as they 

 had done the year before. The invasion was, in fact, at an end, and though 

 (according to Hunter's Gazetteer) swarms appeared in Sawantwari in 

 1883-84, no further injury of a serious nature seems to have occurred. 



The injury occasioned to the rain crops by the locusts was very con- 

 siderable, over a great portion of 'the Deccan and Konkanboth in 1882 and 

 1883. But though some relief works were started, especially in the coast 

 districts, it was found, at the end of the invasion, that the abundance of 

 the cold weather crops had compensated to so great an extent for the 

 injury occasioned to the rain crop, that no widespread injury had been 

 occasioned. 



The life-history of the ^ r * Hatch describes the life-history of the lo- 

 locust. cust, as observed in the Konkan, as follows l : — 



" In the Konkan locusts coupled in great numbers between the 15th May and the 

 15th June 1883, and died off naturally immediately after the eggs had been deposited. 

 The eggs are deposited mostly in flat and gently sloping land of soft friable soil, rocky 

 and sandy soil being avoided, and land which has been ploughed up, and the lee side 

 of banks, where the soil has accumulated, are mostly selected. The eggs are piled in a 

 small cylindrical hole, parallel to its sides, and are attached to one another by some 

 cohesive siccable substance. Filling the mouth of the hole is a plug, consisting of a 

 soft fibrous substance, and below it the eggs, arranged as described, averaging 70 in 

 each hole. The holes are from 1*5 to 2 inches in depth, and in a good locality four 

 might be found in a span. They are not easily visible, but when one is found, others 

 are generally near it. Brushing off the loose dust and digging here and there faci- 

 litates search. 



" The eggs themselves are of a dirty ochre colour, in length '2 to "3, and in 

 diameter *05 to *08 of an inch, rounded in section, with a slight curve, and tapering 

 very slightly towards the rounded ends. . . When fresh, the contents of the eggs 

 are of a dirty orange colour, liquid but slightly viscous, with a somewhat acrid taste. 

 The envelope apparently consists of two layers, the outer one coloured and tough, and 

 the inner one white and fragile. When broken, the eggs give off an odour like a 

 broken root. As the eggs approach maturity, they assume a distinctly greenish hue, 

 and the young locust bursts the shell down the middle on issuing into life. I experi- 

 mented on some eggs by placing them in damp and very damp soil, but the water did 

 not affect the hatching. 



'* The young locusts appeared in myriads in my district (Chiplum taluka) between 

 1st and 20th August, so that the period the eggs required to hatch was a little more 

 than two months, say seventy days. 



" The young locusts vary somewhat in colour, most being a dullish light green, some 

 iight green, but hardly verdant, and a few almost white and only tinged with green. 

 A few minutes after hatching they are strong enough to jump . . . The 



antennae are darksome and short, whilst on the thigh cases small black spots, and on 

 the upper side of the abdomen a faint black line, are just visible 



"The young locusts generally cast their slough for the first time about 15 days 

 after birth, and in their new skin the black line and spots become darker and the 

 green colour of a deeper hue. They now leave the grass land and seek the shelter of 

 the crops, and are in length '8 of an inch. 



1 From his report, as reprinted in the Indian Forester, vol. X, p. 425. 



