﻿[64] 
  EEPORT 
  UNITED 
  STATES 
  ENTOMOLOGICAL 
  COMMISSION. 
  

  

  premises 
  were 
  already 
  in 
  possession 
  of 
  the 
  enemy. 
  The 
  peasants 
  told 
  

   the 
  correspondent 
  of 
  the 
  KavJcas 
  that 
  for 
  days 
  they 
  had 
  been 
  besieged 
  

   by 
  the 
  vermin, 
  the 
  insects 
  filling 
  the 
  wells 
  and 
  tainting 
  the 
  water, 
  crowd- 
  

   ing 
  into 
  the 
  ovens 
  and 
  spoiling 
  the 
  bread, 
  aud 
  preventing 
  any 
  food 
  being 
  

   cooked 
  or 
  stored. 
  At 
  intervals 
  the 
  villagers 
  issued 
  from 
  their 
  houses 
  

   and 
  made 
  onslaughts 
  on 
  the 
  locusts, 
  killing 
  them 
  by 
  thousands, 
  and 
  

   carting 
  them 
  away 
  afterwards 
  to 
  the 
  fields 
  for, 
  manure. 
  The 
  soldiers 
  

   were 
  detained 
  prisoners 
  by 
  the 
  insects 
  for 
  forty-eight 
  hours, 
  and 
  on 
  

   their 
  march 
  to 
  Elizavetopol 
  in 
  the 
  rear 
  of 
  the 
  locust 
  army 
  they 
  found 
  

   every 
  blade 
  of 
  grass 
  and 
  green 
  leaf 
  destroyed 
  and 
  the 
  peasants 
  reduced 
  

   to 
  beggary." 
  — 
  [New 
  York 
  Tribune, 
  1879.] 
  

  

  " 
  Hint 
  to 
  Westebn 
  Farmers. 
  — 
  Mr. 
  Hoffman, 
  charge 
  d'affaires 
  at 
  

   St. 
  Petersburg, 
  in 
  his 
  dispatch 
  to 
  the 
  Department 
  of 
  State, 
  dated 
  Sep- 
  

   tember 
  16, 
  sends 
  copies 
  of 
  an 
  official 
  report 
  on 
  locusts. 
  It 
  appears 
  that 
  

   the 
  grain 
  locust 
  of 
  Kussia 
  generally 
  deposits 
  its 
  eggs 
  in 
  the 
  wheat 
  -fields, 
  

   and 
  that 
  as 
  soon 
  as 
  they 
  are 
  hatched 
  the 
  attack 
  on 
  the 
  wheat 
  com- 
  

   mences. 
  The 
  use 
  of 
  ropes 
  and 
  machines 
  to 
  drive 
  the 
  locusts 
  from 
  the 
  

   wheat 
  fields 
  is 
  not 
  advisable. 
  It 
  is 
  better 
  to 
  plow 
  the 
  ground 
  where 
  the 
  

   eggs 
  are 
  laid, 
  as 
  ten 
  minutes' 
  exposure 
  to 
  the 
  sun 
  kills 
  the 
  chrysalides. 
  

   The 
  prevalence 
  of 
  locusts 
  in 
  southern 
  Eussia 
  has 
  been, 
  by 
  these 
  latter 
  

   means, 
  greatly 
  reduced, 
  so 
  that 
  good 
  crops 
  of 
  wheat 
  maybe 
  expected 
  in 
  

   1881. 
  Possibly 
  some 
  lessons 
  may 
  be 
  derived 
  from 
  Eussian 
  experiments 
  

   and 
  reports 
  affecting 
  American 
  grasshoppers. 
  

  

  '' 
  The 
  losses, 
  and 
  consequent 
  alarm 
  and 
  famine, 
  again 
  prevailed 
  in 
  1880, 
  

   with 
  nearly 
  the 
  same 
  story 
  of 
  threatened 
  consternation, 
  hunger, 
  and 
  

   poverty 
  among 
  the 
  Eussian 
  peasantry." 
  

  

  "London, 
  3fay 
  8.— 
  The 
  St. 
  Petersburg 
  correspondent 
  of 
  the 
  Standard 
  

   says 
  the 
  beetle 
  which 
  ravaged 
  the 
  crops 
  in 
  Poltavia 
  and 
  Ekateri- 
  

   norslau 
  in 
  1878 
  has 
  been 
  found 
  in 
  large 
  numbers 
  in 
  a 
  larva 
  state, 
  and 
  

   the 
  peasants 
  fear 
  to 
  sow 
  spring 
  crops. 
  The 
  same 
  correspondent 
  says 
  

   the 
  g:reatest 
  alarm 
  prevails 
  in 
  Tiflis 
  in 
  consequence 
  of 
  the 
  discovery 
  of 
  

   locust 
  eggs. 
  Unless 
  exterminated 
  before 
  final 
  development, 
  a 
  famine 
  

   throughout 
  the 
  Caucasus 
  is 
  inevitable." 
  

  

  " 
  St. 
  PETERSBURa, 
  July 
  8. 
  — 
  The 
  Golos 
  raises 
  its 
  voice, 
  in 
  view 
  of 
  the 
  

   Chinese 
  difficulty, 
  to 
  point 
  out 
  the 
  sad 
  condition 
  of 
  the 
  country, 
  and 
  

   how 
  much 
  worse 
  it 
  will 
  become 
  in 
  the 
  event 
  of 
  another 
  drain 
  upon 
  its 
  

   already 
  exhausted 
  resources, 
  and 
  retarding 
  the 
  introduction 
  of 
  reforms. 
  

   The 
  press 
  for 
  several 
  weeks 
  has 
  been 
  full 
  of 
  complaints 
  of 
  ravages 
  

   by 
  locusts, 
  flies, 
  beetles, 
  and 
  worms, 
  hunger 
  and 
  poverty 
  among 
  the 
  

   peasantry, 
  a 
  rapid 
  increase 
  in 
  prices 
  of 
  everything, 
  increase 
  of 
  the 
  

   cattle 
  plague, 
  a 
  large 
  spread 
  of 
  disease, 
  &c." 
  • 
  

  

  A 
  recent 
  number 
  of 
  the 
  Golos 
  contains 
  an 
  interesting 
  letter 
  from 
  Tiflis 
  describing 
  

   the 
  enormous 
  labour 
  bestowed 
  during 
  the 
  summer 
  upon 
  the 
  destruction 
  of 
  grasshop- 
  

   pers. 
  The 
  work 
  was 
  carried 
  on 
  for 
  about 
  three 
  months, 
  and 
  occupied 
  in 
  one 
  district 
  

   (Gori) 
  no 
  less 
  than 
  20,000 
  people 
  per 
  day. 
  More 
  than 
  lialf 
  these 
  people 
  had 
  been 
  sum- 
  

   moned 
  from 
  the 
  neighbouring 
  districta^of 
  Achalzych, 
  O^setia, 
  and 
  Imeretia. 
  Thanks 
  

   to 
  the 
  colossal 
  efforts 
  thus 
  made, 
  only 
  2 
  per 
  cent, 
  of 
  the 
  total 
  crops 
  of 
  the 
  district 
  

   were 
  destroyed 
  by 
  the 
  grasshoppers. 
  Many 
  million 
  roubles 
  worth 
  of 
  hay 
  and 
  corn 
  

   were 
  saved 
  by 
  this 
  work. 
  On 
  the 
  other 
  hand 
  the 
  organisation 
  of 
  the 
  whole 
  cost 
  the 
  

   Eussian 
  Government 
  some 
  200, 
  000 
  roubles, 
  and 
  many 
  thousand 
  acres 
  of 
  fields 
  and 
  gar- 
  

   dens 
  have 
  been 
  utterly 
  neglected 
  bv 
  the 
  i)opulation 
  to 
  whom 
  they 
  belong. 
  — 
  [From 
  

   *' 
  Nature" 
  of 
  December 
  16, 
  1880.] 
  

  

  The 
  Eussian 
  newspapers 
  report 
  that 
  much 
  mischief 
  is 
  being 
  done 
  to. 
  

   the 
  crops 
  in 
  South 
  Eussia 
  by 
  locusts 
  and 
  other 
  insect 
  pests. 
  In 
  the 
  

   district 
  of 
  Eassachs 
  an 
  area 
  of 
  over 
  100 
  kilometers 
  has 
  been 
  devastated 
  

  

  