68 



THE HUMMING BIRD. 



\ September i, 1891 



eggs were brought to the authorities of the Island. It 

 is impossible to imagine what number of eggs it 

 represent. 



Notwithstanding this large destruction of eggs the 

 locusts have not disappeared. Very likely the eggs 

 could also be mixed with farinaceous substances and 

 made into a paste, suitable for animal food, and also 

 used raw for all sorts of Songsters. It ought to be 

 preserved easily. 



The increase of locusts in Cyprus is attributed to 

 the destruction of the forests, leaving the soil where 

 such forests existed useless for culture and favourable 

 to the production of Insects. The probable remedy 

 should be in making new forests, by planting as many 

 trees as possible. During the last years Georgia was 

 also invaded by locusts. In the district of Adjeakoor, 

 Lieut. -Colonel Serafinoff had three thousand men 

 with him, with whom he exterminated the Insects in 

 two hundred different places. 



In Dagheraman, province of Ellesavetopol, such a 

 large number of locusts arrived in May that it 

 occupied several hundred miles. Five thousand men 

 were requested to fight this formidable invasion. 

 They destroyed about 200,000 pounds of Insects 

 every day. 



In 1886 Spain was also invaded by an immense 

 number of locusts. They alighted near Ciudad Real 

 and destroyed all vegetation. 



The 1 2th of August, in the suburb of St. Maria, 

 the sky was darkened during one hour by a throng of 

 locusts, which alighted in that locality. It was re- 

 solved to put fire to the invaded fields by means of 

 gazoline. This remedy was effectual ; but more than 

 twenty towns and villages lost entirely their crops. 



In the province of Cuenca, the territory of fifty- 

 eight villages was invaded by locusts in such numbers 

 that in places they formed a layer one yard thick. A 

 child left alone in the field died stifled under these 

 Insects. The running of trains was interrupted for 

 several hours. 



In 1888 the locusts have again appeared in the 

 province of Murcia. 



In France, several years back, a large quantity of 

 these Insects in one day destroyed all the vegetation 

 from Saint Denis to Saint Michel-de-Bannières, in 

 Dordogne. When all was devoured they took their 

 flight for unknown regions, leaving misery and ruin 

 after them. 



In 1888 they appeared in the suburbs of Figeac. 

 They alighted at Gourdon and Gramat. A large 

 potato field was destroyed in several hours. 



Besides the birds mentioned before as natural 

 enemies of the locusts, there are also myriads of 

 wasps, Ichneumons, which kill and bury the locusts 

 after introducing their eggs in the bodies of their 

 victims, which in due time will serve of nourishment 

 to their progéniture. 



I shall be happy if this poor contribution of mine 

 will help in one way or another to the disappearance 

 of this fearful plague, the cause of so much ruin and 

 misery. 



A. Boucard. 



The following extract from a letter, dated Rawal 

 Pindi, 25th May, -1891, will be read with interest, 

 says the British Medical Journal : — "The Punjab has 



this year had a terrible visitation of locusts, the worst 

 there has been for many a year. An army, about ten 

 miles wide, of unfledged locusts, was passing through 

 the station for five days. Millions I should say of 

 these insects have been destroyed in the station, so 

 that in many cases the smell from the dead bodies is 

 very bad. The trains have several times been de- 

 layed for some hours by the inability to make way 

 over the greasy masses of locusts crushed on the 

 rails." 



A Visit to the British Museum. 

 Natural History Department. 



Continued from page 55. 



CORAL GALLERY. 



Parallel with the Bird Gallery, to the north side, is a 

 long narrow gallery, containing the collection of 

 corals, sponges, and allied forms. 



Commencing at the eastern end, some of the lowest 

 forms of animal life are exhibited. They belong to 

 the group Foraminifera, and for the greater part are 

 so minute that they can only be studied with the 

 microscope. Their structure is illustrated by models 

 and figures. The next divisions are occupied by 

 sponges. Most conspicuous among them is a series 

 showing the variations of the common bath sponge, 

 of which a great trade is done in the Mediterranean, 

 chiefly at Tunis and Tripoli. 



Some species are also gathered in Florida and in 

 the West Indies. 



Close to the common sponge can be seen some fine 

 specimens of the charming Euplectella, or Venus' 

 flower basket, the Japanese Hyalonema, or glass rope 

 sponge, Case 3, and the gigantic Rhapiophora, or 

 Neptune's goblet. Nearly the whole of the remainder 

 of the gallery is given up to Corals, showing the im- 

 mense variety of form and colour of these animals, 

 some presenting a marvellous resemblance to vege- 

 table growths. The precious Coral, Corallium, 

 usually of a bright red colour, is common in the 

 Mediterranean, where is also found the pink variety, 

 which is more valuable. Opposite Cases 8 and 10 

 are the Madrepore Corals, amongst which can be seen 

 a large fragment of a reef, entirely formed by a small 

 kind of Madrepore. These reefs, when raised above 

 the surface of the water, constitute the base of 

 thousands of islands in the Indo-Pacific Ocean and 

 West Indies, one of the marvels of creation. With 

 time these islands, formed at first exclusively of 

 corals, aided by the action of volcanic submarine 

 eruptions, and also by detritus brought over by mari- 

 time currents, acquire a great development. 



The small group of animals known as Polyzoa, 

 nearly related to Mollusia, are exhibited on two 

 table-cases at the western end of the gallery. 



In the corridor which leads from the Bird Gallery 

 into the Fish Gallery, a selection of the most impor- 

 tant forms of Batrachians with or without tails, such 

 as Salamanders, Newts, Frogs and Toads, is exhibited. 



