172 

 GENERAL NOTES. 



DESTRUCTIVE LOCUSTS IN MESOPOTAMIA. 



Mr. Constantine O. Metaxas, delegate to the Freuch Societe Rationale 

 d' Acclimation at Bagdad, publishes* an account of injurious grasshop- 

 pers* in the district of Irak-Arabi, of the province of Mesopotamia, in 

 Turkish Asia. Since the year 1884 this region has suffered terribly 

 from the ravages of two species of locusts, but it seems that a period of 

 immunity began last year. One of the species is the well-known Mi- 

 gratory Locust of the Old World, Acridium peregrinum, the other, not 

 named, is a non-migratory species of the same family. The former 

 hatches in Mesopotamia usually toward the middle of March, becomes 

 winged within a month, and disappears under the influence of the tor- 

 rid heat towards the middle of June. All efforts to combat this species 

 were, up to 1889, frustrated to a great extent by the invasion of fresh 

 swarms in April. These always come from the southeast, and would 

 appear to originate in southern Persia, or in Beloochistan, or still far- 

 ther east. The non-migratory species hatches later than the Acridium 

 peregrinum, and becomes destructive at the time when this species dis- 

 appears. 



Since the Cypriote locust machine t does not seem to be adapted to 

 the conditions of the country, the Turkish Government ordered a whole- 

 sale destruction of the egg-capsules. Every inhabitant of the cities was 

 required to deliver each winter 25 kilograms of egg-capsules, and for 

 every plow in the country a similar tax of 50 kilograms was imposed* 

 As a consequence a lively trade in locust egg-capsules sprang up each 

 winter. The poor people industriously collected the capsules and sold 

 them to the richer classes at 1 or 2 centimes (one- fifth to two-fifths of a 

 cent) per kilogram. An ingenious tribe of nomadic Arabs even went so 

 far as to manufacture and sell artificial egg-capsules. 



Mr. Metaxas thinks that this measure, which was continued year 

 after year, had a great deal to do with the cessation of the locust 

 plague, but upon reading his account it appears to us that natural 

 causes were much more potent in the desired result. The early part of 

 the winter of 1888-^89 was an unusually mild one. The eggs hatched 

 in January and the young locusts were killed by frosts in February* 

 Since the same conditions seem to have prevailed farther east, there 

 were no fresh invading swarms in 1889. The soil throughout Mesopo- 

 tamia contains a great deal of sulphate of lime, and the locust egg- 

 capsules consequently acquire a greater hardness and consistency than 

 elsewhere. Spring rains are absolutely necessary to enable the young 

 locusts to break through the operculum of the capsule. The year 1889 

 was an extremely dry one, no rain falling after January, and thus the 



* Revue des Sciences Naturelles Appliqu^es, 37, No. 12, June, 1890, pp. 584-590. 

 t Mentioned by us on p. GO, Vol. II. 



