8 



JOTJENAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 



LOCUSTS m PLYMOUTH. 



Plymouth has been visited during the last few days by a flight of 

 Locusts [(Edipoda migratoria). 



Under the general name of the Migratory Locust would seem to 

 be included more than one species. Whether our present visitants 

 are the true CE. migratoria or not I cannot just now state con- 

 fidently, but I believe them to be so. All that I have seen are of 

 the same species; some individuals, however, being much darker 

 in colour than others. 



One I have alive now which was caught in Frankfort Street, 

 Plymouth, on Saturday last. It is very active, although it has 

 suffered an enforced fast since its capture. 



It is to be hoped that the Corporation of Plymouth will never 

 be called upon to pay large sums of money for the destruction of 

 Locusts, as some Continental cities have from time to time been 

 obliged to do. Marseilles one year paid 20,000 francs, and Aries 

 25,000 francs, for dead Locusts, at the rate of a quarter of a franc 

 per killogramme. If so a special department will have to be 

 created, with accommodation in the new Guildhall. I venture to 

 say that none of the competing architects have made provision for 

 such a state of things. A board in the entrance-hall might run 

 thus — Locust Destruction Offices to the left." 



J. Beooking Rowe. 



A KOEMAN DOOEWAY IN PLYMOUTH. 



The curator of antiquities, Mr. Hine, has called the attention of 

 the society to a small but interesting Norman doorway in the St. 

 Andrew's Alms-houses now being pulled down. It has been known 

 to a few local antiquaries for some time, but until now there has 

 been some uncertainty as to its genuine Norman character, it being 

 well known that builders at the period when the alms-houses were 

 erected (the 1 7th century) not uncommonly imitated, though in a 

 coarse manner, the earlier styles ; but the doorway having been 

 denuded of its many coats of lime and plaster is found to be an 

 unquestionable specimen of late Norman construction. It has a 



