The locust plague and its suppression / by Æneas Munro.

  • Munro, Aeneas.
Date:
[1899]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The locust plague and its suppression / by Æneas Munro. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    impossible to set fire to the grass. If we find their wintering quarters when the grass is dry and in a fit state to burn, no doubt this period would of all times be the one to massacre them by the billion and with ease. (8) Catching and Bagging 881. The locusts to be captured while roosting.—There is no limit to the number of flying locusts that may be caught when roosting alongside a house, or on posts, or on the veldt, if a suitable handy implement be selected to wound them; then bag them, or scoop them up and pop them into bags, tie them up, and destroy them in a poisonous solution in a tank. They may also be caught in a similar way by the Carcarana machine, as shown in plates 39, 35, 38 (pars. 836, 828, and 832). (9) By Means of Locust Fungi 882. Mr. Edington’s report.—The Director (Mr. A. Edington, M.B., etc.) of the Bacteriological Institute at Grahamstown, Cape Colony, has very kindly offered any help he can to me, saying, “ I •certainly think you would do well to prosecute the work you have taken up,” and places his last Report at my disposal, from which, on this specific subject, I make the following important extracts :— “ Six years ago the Secretary for Agriculture directed my attention to the enormous depredations which were being caused by locusts, and asked if I could suggest or attempt any method for their destruction. From my experience with disease-producing fungi ... I felt convinced that in this country, where the conditions for the growth of fungi are existent in a high degree, we should find, sooner or later, that locusts would be attacked by some low form of vegetable life, and I accordingly directed the attention of the Secretary for Agriculture to such a pro- bability, and asked that instruction should be sent out to all districts asking that, wherever locusts were found to be dying, samples should be forwarded to me, and that if I found any depredatory fungus, I would attempt its cultivation in a state of purity, so as to admit of its dissemination in areas visited by locusts, provided that such fungus should be proved to be harmless to farm stock. 883. Preparation of cultures for transmission abroad.—“ On the 14th March 1896, I received a telegram from the Under-Secretary for Agriculture, asking if arrangements could bd made to assist the Government of Natal in regard to the isolation and propagation of a fungus which was destroying locusts in that country. I replied that I should be glad to give all the assistance in my power, the more so since I had been in anticipation that such a fungus would be found sooner or