LAWS GOVERNING THE MIGRATIONS OF LOCUSTS. 31 
As a plan of relief, propositions were brought forward some years 
ago in Southern Russia and Algiers to form companies that would insure 
against losses occasioned by locusts. M. Koppen, who discusses these 
propositions at some length, in his paper " On the destruction of the 
locusts," read before the u Exposition Internationale et Congrds d?Hygtine 
et de Sauvetage," at Brussels, in 1876, arrives at the conclusion that such 
a plan would be impracticable on account of the difficulty of assessing 
damages. 
CHAPTER III. 
FACTS CONCERNING AND LAWS GOVERNING THE MIGRA- 
TIONS OF LOCUSTS LN ALL COUNTRIES. 
In our former report the facts relating to the migrations and " local 
flights " of the Rocky Mountain locust were given somewhat fully, and 
also discussed to some extent ; but the time allotted to the preparation 
of that report and the space allowed did not permit us to properly ar- 
range and give all the data collected, much less fully digest and discuss 
it. This part of our work has therefore been largely reserved for this, 
our Second Report. 
As we have heretofore stated, there is nothing connected with the 
life-history and habits of the locust, no matter how trivial it may ap- 
pear, but what is of some value in the solution of the problem for which 
the Commission was organized. The migratory habit constitutes, in 
fact, one of the chief characteristics of the migrating species, and adds 
very largely to their destructive powers. 
That their migrations and flights are governed by certain laws will be 
admitted by all who believe that the forces of nature are governed by 
laws. To ascertain what these laws are has been one object of the inves- 
tigations made by the Commission, and although we are fully aware that 
our work is not complete in this respect, as there are a number of points 
stfll shrouded in mystery, yet we believe sufficient data have been col- 
lected to enable us to point out some of these laws as positively ascer- 
tained, and to present more fully and satisfactorily than has been done 
heretofore the indications of others. 
That, as a rule, the various kinds of grasshoppers, or species of Acrid- 
idai, are not migratory, is a fact well known to all; in fact, out of the 
twelve or fifteen hundred species belonging to the family, less than a 
dozen are known to be truly migratory. That the migrating species are 
not limited to any one genus or group of the family was long ago as- 
certained. 
Oedipodini and Acridini are two rather well marked groups, distin- 
guished from each other by important characters, yet in each of these 
two do we find migrating species. It is evident, therefore, that the 
migratory instinct, or disposition, does not depend upon anatomical 
