296 ORTHOPTERA 



became heaped upon each other in large bodies. As the living 

 mass in the water accumulated, some portions of it were swept 

 away by the strong current from the bank to which they were 

 clinging, and as the living locusts tightly grasped each other and 

 held together, they became floating islands, the individuals con- 

 tinually hopping and creeping over each other as they drifted 

 away. Whether any of the locust-islands succeeded in reaching 

 the opposite bank is unknown ; probably some of them were 

 drifted on land again. They are by no means rapid swimmers ; 

 they do not perish easily in the water when in masses, their 

 habit of continually changing places and hopping and creeping 

 round and round upon each other being very advantageous as a 

 means of preservation. It is a common practice for the young 

 locusts to form a bridge over a moderately broad stream by 

 plunging indiscriminately into it and holding on to each other, 

 grappling like drowning men at sticks or straws, or, in fact, 

 anything that comes within their reach, and that will assist in 

 floating them ; meanwhile those from behind are eagerly pushing 

 forward over the bodies of those that are already in the stream 

 and hurrying on to the front, until at length by this process 

 they reach the opposite bank of the river ; thus a floating mass 

 of living locusts is stretched across the stream, forming a Ijridge 

 over which the whole swarm passes. In this manner few, 

 comparatively speaking, are drowned, because the same in- 

 dividuals do not remain in the water during the whole of the 

 time occupied by the swarm in crossing, the Insects continually 

 changing places with each other; those that are beneath are 

 endeavouring to reach the surface by climbing over others, whilst 

 those above them are, in their turn, being forced below. Locusts 

 are exceedingly tenacious of life, remaining under water for a 

 considerable time without injury. An apparently drowned locust 

 will revive beneath the warm rays of the sun, if by chance it 

 reaches the bank or is cast on shore. Mrs. Barber relates an 

 interesting case where the instinct of the " Voetgangers " was at 

 fault, they plunging into a river from a steep sandy bank, only 

 to find another similar sandy precipice on the other side. On this 

 they could gain no footing, and all perished in the stream, where 

 they putrefied, and caused the death of the fish, which floated 

 likewise on the surface ; so powerful were the effluvia produced 

 that no one was able to approach the river. 



