No. 2 ] The Locust Invasion of 1889—92. SI 



from the earlier batches of egg's, acquired wing's iu May, but there is 

 evidence to show that these young- locusts were not the parents of the 

 eg-g-s found by Captain Parsons in the middle of June, and probably not 

 of any of the eg-g-s laid during- the rains. The fiig-hts which overran the 

 North-West Provinces and other parts of India during- the rains of 

 1891 were composed, as we have seen, of the young- locusts in question. 

 Large numbers of si)ecimens from these flig-hts were sent to the Museum 

 from various places, but the numerous females that were dissected, in- 

 variably had their ovaries far too undeveloped for eg-g-layiiig. It is 

 clear, therefore, that these young- locusts could act have been the parents 

 of the later broods of eg-gs. The case of the locusts sent to the Museum 

 from flights which visited Singbhooui in the end of June and begin- 

 ning of July, has been recorded as a typical one. The first specimens 

 from this district were received in the Museum on the 30th June. The 

 females were found on dissection to have their ovaries in an altogether 

 rudimentary condition. On 7th July a number of living specimens 

 were forwai-ded from the same locality. These were carefully fed in 

 a cage iu the Museum, and from time to time a specimen was dissected ; 

 but up to the 7th of August, when the last specimen died and was dis- 

 sected, though the growth wiiicii had taken place in the ova was very 

 distinctly perceptible, yet there did not appear to be the slightest pro- 

 bability of the insects being ready to oviposit for a long time to come. 

 The impossibility of keeping the locusts in a healthy condition in 

 confinement makes it that deductions drawn from caged specimens must 

 necessarily be unreliable. So far, however, as the evidence can be de- 

 pended upon, it goes to show that the later broods are not the offsp)ring 

 of the young locusts hatched in the early part of the year. The ques- 

 tion would be an easy one to solve for any one who lived on the borders of 

 the deserts of Western Hajputana, where the insect is constantly to be 

 found. All that w^ould be necessary would be to dissect the insects 

 present from day to day, and to trace the growth of the ovaries throughout 

 the year. It may be suggested Ithat the matter is one that might 

 reasonably be taken up by some of the medical officers who are resident 

 in the areas concerned. 



With regard to the parentage of the eggs which are so often laid 

 in the Punjab towards the close of the winter rains, it has been ascer- 

 tained that eggs can be laid at this time by locusts which were themselves 

 hatched iu the preceding raius. Winged locusts from a flight which 

 passed over Calcutta in November IS90, and which had almost certainly 

 originated in eggs laid in Rajputana in the previous raius, were kept in a 

 cage in the Museum and regularly fed. In the latter part of March 1891 

 they began copulating, and on the 26th March a number of eggs were 

 laid. The earth in the cage had been previously saturated with water, in 



