THE GRASSHOPPER.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 27, 1 February 1908, Page 12

THE GRASSHOPPER.

.*» — _~ It was the English jackeroo's first morning in Riverina. At 4 a.m. he was awakened by the first joyous twitter of the small birds, and a curiously intermingled sense of vibrant insistent assault upon the rattling window. He held tho curtain aside, and peered out into the shadow-suggested breaking day. For a moment he was dazzled. In the half-light the atmosphere seemed to be iridescent with an impenetrable mass of flashing, streaking wings lilce an Alpine snowstorm, with the coiour effect of the sun in dazzling play. It was a speotacle to be inscribed upon the durable tablets of' the brain instantly. The jackeroo wd& amazed, enchanted. He presently lifted the window. There was a hissing, swishing, blinding rush, and a whirr of wings like what might be caused by the vibratory motion of ten thousand colonies of bees simultaneously in flight. The' jackeroo dropped the window with a virile ejaculation that would do no discredit to a back-block bullock-driver. On tho sheltered side from the strong west wind he" could get a better view of the situation. As far as the eye could reach, from the level of the ground to a height of a hundred feet, the atmosphere appeared to be a rushing, intermingling body of living things, which, on the wings of the west wind, swept across the country, filling all wisible space, and creating a shimmer of false light, which momentarily obscured the day. In perplexity the jackeroo sought explanation of a sleeping station-hand. The noise hadn't disturbed his slumbers. "What yer say?" he asked, drowsily. "Oh, them — the grasshoppers — arrived yesterday on the other side of the river." No one tries to combat or check the grasshopper. It is idle to do so. When the plague has attained the dimensions reached this year it would be as futile to attempt to fight it as to adopt the role of Mrs. Partington trying to mop up the ocean with -a broom. When the pest, sweeping irresistibly across country like an unbroken white cloud, has reached settled districts, the proud possessors of vegetable gardens and crops of other kinds have been able to do nothing but watch the insects descending upon every green spot with the steady drift of a heavy snowstorm. The process of evolution has been rapid in tho grasshopper family during the past generation ; and, paradoxical as it may appear, the developmont of the insect up to its present stage of irresistible capacity as a raider of crops and herbage is not without advantage- to the country. Many people j may recollect when the grasshopper could scarcely fly at all. A generation back the insects varied in type, in colour, size, and mobility. Few of them could fly, Tho consequence was that they would run the short course j of their lives in the locality in which they came into being. Now all that is changed. Tho insects — at maturity — are all practically of the same size, tho same colour, the same form, and their activity and endurance arc astonishing. Like the | rabbit in its dominant colour tone — acl- | apted to the tawny grey of the Australian environment for the greater part of i tho year, the grasshopper now fits inconspicuously into the landscape of early spring and summer, excepting when on j the wing. • Moreover > the insect flies with the speed and the trajectory control of a bird, unless there is a very strong wind blowing. Once an easy prey, domestic poultry nov/ have iio chance against the grasshopper. It ie comical to witness the excitement and the incompetent efforts of fowls and turkeys to tako the> insects. They may be packed thick all over the grass arid the roads, and .yet iew fall to the lot of the poultry. , Tho latter charge needlessly ! upon the sitting insect, and look very j vufflod indeed when they find it is not ! there. On one big farm' in Kiverina the j hapless, demoralised turkeys, which were in excellent condition at the time of the pests' arrival, wore themselves to a state of leanness < in long-sustained pursuit of the elusive grasshoppers. Tho wild birds do better. They strike transversely across the grasshoppers on the wing, and iake them with great doftness. But for all the difference tho attacks of the birds make to the myriads of the pest there might just as woll be no feathered creatures in the whola of tho country. Where do the grasshoppers come from? Where were they last summer? Or the summer before"? These are question heard from people who are puzzled by the fact that it sometimes happens that a period of several years may elapse without any sign of the ptst. Then, as if by magic, they gather incredible | force and envelope part of the continent j like a snow or a rain storm. What | j are the contributing causes to the variation, aud intermittency, of these uhwel- ' come visitations? The theory of some who have had *nany years of experience and opportunities for studying the mat- ! ter, is that dry autumn weather, followed by'a mild winter, is the mam factor in bringing the grasshoppers to life in vast and almost unthinkable numbers. Ths genial weather conditions — the grasshopper is essentially the product of aridity— of the past winter doubtless may be held responsible for the pest in its widespread magnitude this year. A 69vere winter, with long-continued sharp frosts, has the effect of preventing the development of enormous masses of insect life. At all events, the inference is warranted by the fact that a genial winter is almost invariably followed by an increase of insect pests of every description in Riverina. If the grasshoppers had failed to evolve wiug power in the course of the years, upon the principle of the survival of the fit, they could never have become the extensive pest they avfe now in the seasons of their unequalled energy. As indicated, however, that development is rather an advantage than otherwise. If the insects remained for a few weeks in one district it would be reduced to the condition of a desert — there would not be a blade of green herbage left. But they •seem to glory in their wing power. They arrive like an avalanche, sweep over gardens, and field, and paddock, and pass on with the tireless avidity of starving sheep let into abundant pasture. The main body does not stay more than perhaps a day, the stragglers for two or three days, so that the quick passing of the pest serves the purpose of preventing the complete destruction of herbage in certain parts of the country. This year, because of the rapid flight of the creatures, the damage hab, so far, not been very serious, whatever it may be later on. — W. M. Sherrie, in the Sydney Morning Herald.

When the King and Queen of Spain were visiting Paris recently, among the crowd watching their reception at the Hotel Mem-ice was the King of Greece, accompanied by an aido-de-canip. He was standing ip the front row opposite the hotel, when a policeman, not recognising him, said, "Move along there, please." The King obediently walked away, and crossed over to the other side of the street under the arcade, where •another policeman sternly said to him, "You cannot pass along this way." The King then gave up the attempt to witness the arrival of his brother sovereign, and went off with his aide-de-camp. A bystander who had recognised the King, said to the policeman, "Do you know you have been moving on the King of Greece?" To which the policeman replied, "Well, he couldn't expect me to know him, could he? But I knew my orders."