No- 1. ] Miscellaneous Koteg. 45 



locusts which are the results of the first oviiiosition are larger than those of the 

 second, and those of the second ovipositioii are larger than thdse of the third. The 

 above details as to the period of the existence and oviposition of locusts refer tu those 

 which are classified in Southern Persia under the name Mesri (Egyptian). 



Teheran ; \ (Sd.) Waltee Townley." 



Ihe 19th December 1S81. > 



The following notes on tlie locusts which have proved destructive in 

 ■ Locusts in Turkish Arabia. '^'"1-l^ish Arabia are of interest, as Acridinm 



peregrimm (the migratory locust of North- 

 western India) seems to be the insect which is chiefly complained of. 



According" to a report by C. C. Metaxas, published in the Bevue des 

 Sciences JSutmells Apliqnees, 87, No. 12, June 1890, pages 584- to 

 590, reviewed in Insect Life, Volume III, page 172. Acridium 

 feregrinum did much damnge in the province of Mesopotamia in 

 Turkish Arabia between the years 1884 and 1889, fresh swarms con- 

 stantly invading tlie province in April from the south-east [i.e., South- 

 ern Persia or Baluchistan). The early part of the winter of 1888-89 

 was an unusually mild one. The eggs hatched in January and the 

 young locusts were killed by frosts in February, and it is supposed 

 that the same conditions prevailed further eastwards, as there were no 

 fresh invading swarms in the spring of 1889. A tax of 25 kilograms 

 Q^^ of capsules, to be delivered each winter, was imposed by the Turkish 

 Government on each person in the cities, and for every plow in the 

 country there was a similar tax of 50 kilograms. The result of these 

 measures was that a large number of eggs were collected, and this, in 

 conjunction with the frost in February, tlie failure of the spring rains 

 which are considered essential to the hatching of the eggs, and the 

 absence of fresh invading swarnas from the south-east, resulted for the 

 time in the cessation of the locust plague. 



According to a report furnished through the Government of India 

 from the British Eesideucy in Baghtlad, this locality is subject to 

 invasion from two distinct species of locusts, the one comino- from the 

 district of Kerkook on the north, and the other from the direction of the 

 Arabian deserts to the south- The following extracts from the Eesi- 

 deney diaries are valuable as showing the nature and extent of the 

 invasions : — 



" 19th, March 1886. — The Local Government is making strenuous exertioiis against 

 the locusts whose eggs the surrounding countr}' is supposed to be full of. Yesterday 

 both His Excellenc}' the Wali and His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, encamped 

 outside the town to superintend the work of searching for eggs by detachments of 

 soldiers. The young locusts are taken out of the ground in numbers : and in their 

 present stage are small black wriggling creatures, something like spiders. 



