No. !• ] Miscellaneous Nof.fs. 39 



one which has been destractive duving the pnst few years in India, so 

 the history of the invasion and the measures taken to comhat it in Africa 

 are of particular interest. Besides being- destructive in India, Acridin/m 

 peregrimim has been very prevalent, during the past few years', in 

 Baluchistan, Persia, and along the Red Sea coasts, and the invasion 

 of North Africa shows that the unusual multiplication of the species has 

 not been confined to those of its breeding grounds which lie in South. 

 Eastern Asia. 



AcricHiim peregi'inum has long been known to breed in the Sahara 

 desert, and every few years it invades the cultivated land to the north-, 

 Algeria in particular is so subject to invasion from this species that a 

 regular system of combating- it has had to be inaugurated by the French 

 Government, In the present year Tunis and Ee^ypt seem to have been 

 the chief sufferers. Algeria and Morocco, however, have also been 

 invaded, while Tripoli has escaped. 



Some excellent reports have been most courteously furnished, tlirouo-h 

 the Government of India, by the British Consuls in Tunis, Algeria, 

 Tripoli, and Egypt. In the cases of Tunis, and Algeria, the insect is 

 specifically identified in the reports as belonging to the species Acrid him 

 peregriiinm : in the case of Egypt it is referred to as Acridium, migroioriiim, 

 but as the specimens that have been picked up and sent to the Indian 

 Museum by passing ships in tlie Ked Sea, have invariably belonged to the 

 S'peeies Acridium peregrimim, which has also been received from Persia and 

 Baluchistan, it will probably be found that the locust which has invaded 

 lilgypt is the one so universally prevalent hoth to the east and also to 

 the west of that country. 



The history of the invasion of Northern Africa in 1891 has been 

 very similar to that of previous invasions of the same region by this 

 Incust. The chief flig-hts arrived in the spring from the direction of the 

 Sahara desert, and laid eggs which hatched in the early summer. The 

 young locusts, which emerged from these eggs, acquired wings by the 

 middle of the summer, and by the latter jiart of the summer seem to 

 have nearly completely disappeared. A good deal of damage was dene 

 to the crops in Egypt, Tunis, and Algeria, and most energetic measurts 

 seem to have heen organized by the respective Governments for combat- 

 ing the pest, the result being on all hands admitted to have been very 

 successful. The methods adopted seem to have been very similar to 

 those used in India. They consisted chiefly in destroying the young 

 locusts by driving them into pits or lines of fire, in frightening the 

 winged flights off the crops, and in collecting the eggs. Of these 

 measures the destruction of the young wingless locusts appears to have 

 been the most generally successful. In Tunis a new agent that seems to 

 have been very useful, both in destroying the young locusts and abo in 

 lessenino- the terrible smell which arises from their dead bodies was 



