628 
PuLAGuge Locusts. 
Plague Locusts——Every rural resident is, perhaps, familiar 
with the appearance of grasshoppers. But there are many kinds 
of these insects, representing at least two distinct families. The 
family Acrididae, or Locust, include those grasshoppers in which 
the antenne are shorter than the body, and in which the ovipositor 
of the female is short, and made up of four separate plates. It is 
to these insects that the term locust is properly applied. The 
locusts of which we read in the Bible, and in other books published 
in olden times in Europe, are members of this family. It is un- 
fortunate that there are some writers who apply the term locust to 
the cicada, an insect which belongs to another order, and not to the 
locust. 
The term ‘plague locust”? has been applied to many species of 
locust, both in this and other countries. This would lead some to 
believe that there is only one species which becomes a plague, where, 
as a matter of fact, there has from time to time, both in Australia 
and other countries, been many species which have become so 
numerous that they are plagues of the worst type, from a farmer’s 
standpoint. 
In this State 
there are several 
species of locusts 
which cause some 
_ damage to both 
~ erops and pas- 
ture, but the 
one which the 
term “plague” has 
~ been applied to 
is Pachytilis Aus- 
tralis, Br. 
However, it 
makes very little 
difference io the 
Female Locust in the act of laying eggs. (After Riley.) average farmer 
what species it is 
that damages his erops; what the farmer wants to know is how 
best to handle them and prevent the destruction of his crop. To 
accomplish this, many experiments have been carried out in various 
countries. 
Locusts Jay their eggs in oval masses, and cover them with a 
tough substance. Some species lay their eggs in the ground, gen- 
erally a bare spot. The female makes a hole in the ground with 
her ovipositor; and the operation is a very interesting one to watch. 
The female will press the tip of her abdomen into the soil, and at 
