The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1876-09-21
FEMUR RUBRUM.
MyrIads or LOCusts Dot the Firmament
and Swarm In the Suburbs.
The Season too Far Advanced for Much
Danger-No Fear of Future
Dew astaton.
The Locust Commonly Called Grass
homer.

Ing, might have imagined that clear
sky was distributing snow storm
over the fertile fields of Northern
Texas. He would have been support
cd in his superstition by the appear
ance of the heavens, for millions and
untold millions of locusts dotted the
armament with circling flakes, which,
falling by thousands, gave appearance
Of II snow fall. Parties walking along
the streets were astonished to see
swarms Of l0Custs rise almost at their
feet. In the suburbs there are com
plants of their depredations on the
grass and vegetables. In the matter
of shrubbery they are very fastidious,
devouring the verbena, but ignoring
the other flowers.
These insects which are commonly
called grasshoppers, are mono other
than the famous red legged locusts
Grasshopper proper does not migrate,
but lives out his brief existence in the
meadow where he was incubated. Be
sides this the grasshopper, like most
articulates, has four joints to his feet
while these have but three, and this is
the case with the African locust.
Books of Eastern travel describe the
steady and irresistible progress of their
vast swarms, destroying every trace
of vegetation in the districts visited
by them. Their numbers are so in
credible that rivers have been blocked
and many square miles covered by
them, the stencil of their decaying
bodies injecting the air for hundreds
of miles. Messrs. Kerby ana Spence
mention on army OF locusts which
ravaged the Mahratta country eX-
tending in column five hundred
miles long and 40 compact
that it obscured the sun like an eclipse.
Many are the illusions in the old test
ament to the flight of these insects,
and the prophet Joel, chapter ii, gives
II magnificent description of their ap-
pearance. The locusts were considered
by the Hebrews, and other eastern ma
tlons, and they still are by the Arabs,
as the avenging armies of the Deity;
the latter assert that statement to
this effect exists, in good Arabic, on
the wings of the insect.
Locusts are used as food in the coun-
tries where they abound, the legs and
wings being pulled of, the bodies ARE
fried in oil and considered n great del
icacy. They are sometimes dried in
the sun, pounded up, ard used ms II
flour for making bread, In many
districts in Arabia there are towns
where locusts are sold by measure.
Gordon Cumming describes these
insects in Africa as coming on like II
snow storm, flying slowly and steadily
about one hundred yards from the
EARTH the air was darkened by their
Masses. and the plain upon which he
stood became densely covered with
them; as far as the eye could reach,
in every direction, they stretched
In one unbroken cloud, and more
than one hour elapsed before their
devastating legions swept by. These
locusts form in Africa food for men,
cattle, carniv0ra and birds. Their
ravages in Minnesota, Missouri and
Kansas, are veil known to our readrs.
Heavy bounties have been offered In
these States for their destruction, but no
means have yet been found adequate
to the task.
While they are IN our midst we ad
wise all parties to keep their wells and
cisterns tightly closed. Wrap cotton
about the bodies of fruit trees and
shrubbery and they will rarely be able
to pass over it. Our examination OF
the insect which came yesterday leads
us to the conclusion that it il the red
legged species (fcmur rubrum), which
prove specially destructive to grass,
vegetables and, sometimes, clover. 1t
is to be hoped that they may not be
reproduced here next year. And this
hope is not vain, for they have APP
peared on several occasions before with
out any disastrous results. We have on
the authority of Mr.. Frank Austin,
the statement that some five years ago
these pests of the northwest covered
the ground around Dallas to the depth
OF several inches. Mr.. Austin states
that most direful representations were
INDUCED In in reference to the spring
crops. 1t was generally feared that
the eggs deposited would hatch out I'M
numbered devourers of these spriny
crops, but no such result followed, in
deed not locust was to be seen on the
prairies. Two years ago it was the
same, and hence North Texas need
have no fear of future devastation. We
can refer our immunity to one of three
causes. Either, they do not, like other
insects, deposit their eggs in the fall,
or, their migrations are begun before
they are old enough to undergo the
process OF incubation and are hence
driven into the Gulf and drowned, or
else, our climate protects us. We in.
cline to the latter opinion. The vigor-
GUS choppers" that swarm Mt our feet
seem physically able to lay any num- /
Der ofeggs. These once deposited only |
await the SUMS genial rays to vivify
them We all know that our winters
are frequently interrupted by spells of
real summer weather lasting often for
two weeks. 1.-THE two weeks Of su,
al I'M al.