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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    experience with a fungus of similar appearance in the destruction of quite another kind of insect in the United States, he suggested that possibly the find was a Sporotrichum. To obtain a verification of this surmise, or to learn just where it belonged, specimens of the fungus- killed locusts were sent to Professor C. E. Bessey, of the University of Nebraska, a specialist in this line. He replied that the fungus without doubt was a Sporotrichum, but as to the species he could not tell till he had grown it to learn its spor-formation. He also wrote that he considered a ‘ great find ’ had been made, and that he hoped experiments would show it to be a valuable locust-destroying medium. No later information concerning the identity of this fungus has been received to date. Locusts which have been attacked by this native fungus, instead of climbing to the top of various plants so as to get as much open air as possible, creep away from the light and seek for dark, moist places in which to die. Consequently they are most often found hidden away among the roots of bunches of grass, in the midst of dense, juicy foliage, etc. Here, after death, their bodies become entirely filled with mycelial threads and spores of the fungus. In many cases, under certain conditions, the spores cover the outside of the body also. In breeding-cage experiments this Sporotrichum gave very good results in a number of cases, while on the open camp soon after the arrival of the voladoras from the north many were seen to succumb and turn bright pink. These upon examination gave large quantities of the same kind of spores and threads as were found in the fungus-covered saltonas mentioned above. They also imparted the same disease to other locusts when powdered and sprinkled in the food of sound insects. At present the fungus is working nicely in the vicinity of Carcarana, where it has already exterminated a good- sized manga of the insects. Here a very large supply of the dead bodies of the insects can be obtained with which to spread the disease to other mangas of the voladoras. 892. Fungi not the sole means of destruction.—“Although the experiments with locust-killing fungi have proven the uselessness of them as a sole means of destroying the locust pest, it is recom- mended that a sufficient supply of the Sporotrichum or Carcarana locust fungus be kept on hand to use against it when conditions are favourable and necessity demands it. 893. “Allow also the assertion to be made here that no one remedy—disease, or mechanical, natural, or artificial—can be recom- mended to the exclusion of all others when it domes to dealing with so formidable a pest as is Schistocerca paranensisP 894. South African locust fungus.—Mr. Bruner says with regard to it: “ Quite early in these investigations specimen tubes of the South African fungus were obtained and careful experiments were