40 Indian Museum Notes. [VoI.lII, 



creosote oil. This substance, which is known as " Huile lourde/' is de- 

 scribed as a product obtained by distilling- coal tar : 20,000 kilos, of it were 

 obtained from Oran, where the invention ori>rinated, for employment 

 in places wiiere fuel was scarce, but the destructive effects of the liquid, 

 combined with its antiseptic properties, caused it to be universally pre- 

 ferred in Tunis to the former system of burning or crushing- the locusts. 

 The liquid costs from 11 to 13 francs per 100 kilos. It is mixed with 

 one-and-a-half times its bulk of water, and is used both for sprinkling- 

 over small clusters of locusts in the morning- and evening- when they 

 are banded together, and also for pouring over the nnasses of locusts that 

 are collected in traps. 



The chief reports that have been furnished on the subject of Incusts 

 in Northern Africa are as follows : — 



(i) A report by Mr. Drummond Hay, on the methods adopted in 

 Tunis for destroying locusts, originally published in the Miscellaneous 

 Series, 189 1 , of Her Majesty's Foreign Oflice in London. This report has 

 been rejirinted in Volume II, No. 5 of these Notes. 



(ii) A report on the incursion of locusts in Egypt in 1891, by 

 Mr. Williamson Wallace of the Tewfikieh College of Agriculture at 

 Ghizeh. In Egypt the flights appeared in the middle of April i!S91 

 along the western border of Egypt, extending from Minieh in the 

 south to the Mediterranean on the north. They appeared to come from 

 the west, that is, from the direction of the Saiiara desert, which has long 

 been known as the home of Acrid ium per egrinnm. They coupled as soo!i 

 as they arrived, and a few days afterwards they began laying their eggs 

 in the ground. The eggs hatched three weeks after they were laid, and 

 by the middle of May the ground was covered with young wingless 

 locusts. These young locusts became full grown and acquired wings in 

 the latter part of June. 



The following extract, taken from Mr. Williamson W'allace's report, 

 shows the measures that were taken in Egypt to cope with the pest : — 



" Wlien tlie locusts appeared in Egypt no very decided efFoit was made to destroy 

 tliem. Occupied at this period in reproducing their species, the locusts had done com- 

 paratively little damage to the crops. When, however, it was realized that they had 

 MCtnally bred in the country, and that, Egypt was face to face witli what might soon 

 develope into a national calamity, a most energetic effort was made to get rid of the 

 ])lagne. Orders were issued from the Ministry of the interior to the Moodeers, point- 

 ing out the c;ravity of the situation and instructing them to use every means in their 

 power for the destruction of the locusts. All available Inspectors were despatched to 

 tlie provinces to assist the Moodeers, while officials were drawn from other depart- 

 ments and charged with this special work. By this time, namely, the loth of May, 

 the locust lad spread to every province of Lower Egypt, except Uakahlieh, Menoufieb, 

 and Gharbieh Vieinsr the most affected. It was found that the effgs had been principally 

 deposited on the t-and islands along the course of the western branch of the Nile, 

 and in the co'ton fields. In the fields occupied by the winter crops, principally wheat, 



