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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: LOB-LUP |
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LOCUST .' In its general acceptation this term is applied only to certain insects of the order Orthoptera, family Acridiidae. The family Locustidae is now viewed zoologically in a sense that does not admit of the species best known as " locusts " being included therein. The idea of a very destructive insect
insect
In Europe, and a greater part of the Old World, the best known migratory locust is that which is scientifically termed Pachytylus cinerascens with which an allied species P. migratorius has been often confounded. Another locust found in Europe and neighbouring districts is Caloptenus italicus, and still another, Acridium peregrinum, has once or twice occurred in Europe, though its home (even in a migratory sense) is more properly Africa and Asia. These practically include all the locusts of the Old World, though a migratory species of South Africa known as Pachytylus pardalinus (presumed to be distinct from P. migratorius) should be mentioned. The Rocky Mountain locust of North America is Caloptenus spretus, and in that continent there occurs an Acridium (A. americanum) so closely allied to A. peregrinum as to be scarcely distinct therefrom, though there it does not manifest migratory tendencies. In the West Indies and Central America A. peregrinum is also reported to occur. The females excavate holes in the earth in which the eggs are deposited in a long cylindrical mass enveloped in a glutinous secretion. The young
district
district
' The Lat. locusts was first applied to a lobster or other marine shell-fish and then, from its resemblance, to the insect. circumstances. From peculiarities in the examples of Acridium peregrinum taken in England in 186g, it has been asserted that they must have come direct by sea from the west coast of Africa; and what is probably the same species has been seen in the Atlantic at least 1200 M. from land, in swarms completely covering the ship; thus, in certain cases flight must be sustained for several days and nights together. The height at which swarms fly, when their horizontal
In Europe the best known and ordinarily most destructive species is Pachytylus cinerascens, and it is to it that most of the numerous records of devastations in Europe mainly refer, but it is probably not less destructive in many parts of Africa and Asia. That the arid steppes of central Asia are the home of this insect appears probable; still much on this point is enveloped in uncertainty. In any case the area of permanent distribution is enormous, and that of occasional distribution is still greater. The former area extends from the parallel of 40 N. in Portugal, rising to 48 in France and Switzerland, and passing into Russia at 55, thence continuing across the middle of Siberia, north of China to Japan; thence south to the Fiji Islands, to New Zealand and North Australia; thence again to Mauritius .1 I.Pachytylus migratorius. This and the dther figures are all natural size. and over all Africa to Madeira. The southern distribution is uncertain and obscure. Taking exceptional distribution, it is well known that it occasionally appears in the Britis?i Isles, and has in them apparently been noticed as far north as Edinburgh; so also does it occasionally appear in Scandinavia, and it has probably been seen up to 63 N. in Finland. Looking at this vast area, it is easy to conceive that an element
especially is this the case, because there exists a distinct species, known as P. migratorius, the migratory area of which appears to be confined to Turkestan and eastern Europe. P. cinerascens is certainly the most common of the " locusts " occasionally found in the British Isles, and E. de Selys-Longchamps is of opinion that it breeds regularly in Belgium, whereas the true P. migratorius is only accidental in that country.A South African species allied to the preceding and provisionally identified as Pachytylus salcicollis is noteworthy from the manifesta- tion of the migratory instinct in immature wingless individuals. The families of young
Acridium peregrinum (fig. 2) can scarcely be considered even an accidental visitor to Europe; yet it has been seen in the south of Spain, and in many examples spread over a large part of England in the year 1869. It is a larger insect than P. migratorius. There is every reason to believe that it is the most destructive locust through-out Africa and in India and other parts of tropical Asia, and its ravages are as great as those of P. migratorius. Presumably it is the species occasionally noticed in a vast swarm in the Atlantic, very far from land, and presumably also it occurs in the West Indies and some parts of Central America. In the Argentine Republic a (possibly) distinct species (A. paranense) is the migratory locust. Caloptenus italicus (fig. 3) is a smaller insect, with a less extended area of migration; the destruction occasioned in the districts to which it is limited is often scarce less than that of its more terrible allies. It is essentially a species of the Mediterranean district, and especially of the European side of that sea, yet it is also found in North Africa, and appears to extend far into southern Russia. Caloptenus spretus (fig. 4) is the " Rocky Mountain locust " or " hateful grasshopper " of the North American continent. Though a comparatively small insect, not so large as some of the grass-hoppers of English fields, its destructiveness has procured for it great notoriety. By early travellers and settlers the species was not recognized as distinct from some of its non-migratory congeners. But in 1877, Congress appointed a United States Entomological Commission to investigate the subject. The report of the commissioners (C.V Riley, A. S. Packard and C. Thomas) deals with the whole subject of locusts both in America and the Old World. C. spretus has its home or permanent area in the arid plains of the central region east of the Rocky Mountains, extending slightly into the southern portion of Canada; outside this is a wide fringe to which the term sub-permanent is applied, and this is again bounded by the limits of only occasional distribution, the whole occupying a large portion of the North American continent; but it is not known to have crossed the Rocky Mountains westward, or to have extended into the eastern states. As to remedial or preventive measures
unwinged condition, and by digging trenches in the line of march into which they can fall and be drowned or otherwise put an end to. Little can be done with the winged hordes; starvation, the outcome of their own work
Locusts have many enemies besides man. Many birds greedily devour them, and it has many times been remarked that migratory swarms of the insects were closely followed by myriads of birds. a, a, a, Female in different posi- d, e show the earth partially retions, ovipositing. moved, to illustrate an egg- b, Egg-pod extracted from ground, with the end broken open. [ground. c, A few eggs lying loose on the Predatory insects of other orders also attack them, especially when they are in the unwinged condition. Moreover, they have still more deadly insect foes as parasites. Some attack the fully developed winged insect. But the greater part attack the eggs. To such belong certain beetles, chiefly of the family Cantharidae, and especially certain two-winged flies of the family Bombyliidae. These latter, both in the Old and New World, must prevent vast quantities of eggs from producing larvae. The larger Old World species form articles of food with certain semi-civilized and savage races, by whom they are considered as delicacies, or as part of ordinary diet, according to the race and the method of preparation. (R. M'L.; R. I. P.)LOCUST-TREE, or CAROB-TREE (Ceratonia siliqua), a member of the tribe Cassieae of the order Leguminosae, the sole species of its genus, and widely diffused spontaneously and by cultivation from Spain to the eastern Mediterranean regions. The name of the genus is derived from the often curved pod (Gr. Nepiznov, a little horn). The flowers
flowers
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