THE AUSTRALIAN LOCUST.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1455, 13 January 1887, Page 3

THE AUSTRALIAN LOCUST.

I '-An old Aust r ali*n " r«fening t) an | artioia n a'reo m issue, write? t> us m ssy th'>t we ar-^ m err^r In etifpoeitig • hat tlie locust, which is ju-v «cw com« mitting such ravage-6 m Yiot vi\, is identical with or !-l»iilar to *ho locust of Aia nn.-l Africa. Tha Au9*r.tl'an lecui-t is, ho bilieves, iudiqenous to the countrj, and he <!ooa no think there i# nvy reato.) to fe*r i.a i.i.porta'i n to New Ziiland. Re addfl the foUow'ii:* furthor informa rion which will doubtlocs V:o perused with m ! crest ''The 8( -called • Ircastc ' >f Austr»'ia aro rpullv a lar^e ?ort of flyin;» g-aohop. eta, ar..-^ fh>ir appvurrwire »t any time i» vory u •crtain, ba^ thoy ;lw&ja cotno f<ro">i tho f i r north p r'i-n* < ? the ■jeltlerl so.utliern ro '>• ios, t avellirg thenco m iinm -naa c'<uds m a oouthnrly direction and dpstroyir.g a'most rvrtry green thirg m their pro<r<>sa and sparing noihtug m the shape f cropi ?-r gr*B3 unless the growth is too far advanced for tbem, when thoy pa* 1 ? on t^ fnrlher and ereenpr loca'itiea. Whence they como, m th^ first instance, aoems very nncer'ain, ps the report of their spprarance always come from the fir ouMying and it is onJy at interval of a>m* years that thpy cnßUtnte a plnguo to the settler, though they are probably n.O'e or less present evoryanmmer. Th 3f< imle portion of the swarm" depoeita i*a egpa m pmall rouad holes which are tna^e m nny hard pieoa of ground, from whence the young ones rmerge *h« following summT. At first thoy are quits unabl« to fly, but thelr wings scon, develop and they commence their putney towards tfie eoa, Intn which Immense numbers fall and so perish. On some occasions the sea bench has been covered withihei r bodies to the depth of two or more feet. Ths setsone when such largo clouds of locusts appear are probably occ-s such fb the present m Australia, where a good rainfall haa given a greßt amount of foed In tho in""erior, cansinr the iv.see a to fl lurlah n d mu.aply, when the gra=B haa run short their Instincts havo cau^ei the r migration m n southprly direction and with the prevailing winds of summer. As showing the immense quantities oi this pest on some occasions, a railway train m South Australia camo to a full Bfc'p through the trade being bo thickly strewn with locusts that both rails and the wheo's «f the ongine and trucks got so allppery from )h^ crushod bod : es that the driver found it quite imprssible to proceed, the whoels being uuable to grip the line. The setters m*ko great effort 3; m Borne C 1869, to destroy the plague or drive them away, by burn m? Rrass and straw, but not always ?ucces: fully; they alßo plough the ground where the eggs are deposited, or burn rubbish, straw, etc, and bow tho ptacis, thus, m many cases, dettroying the future swarms nnd reducing their ravages considerably."