Locust
any migatory species of the orthopterous family Acridiidx, specially Acridiidæ, specially Edipoda migratoria, the migratory locust. An allied species, E. cinerascens, is found in the S. E. of Europe. The females excavate holes in the earth and deposit their eggs in a long mass enveloped in a glutinous secretion. The larvæ commence their destructive career almost as soon as they are hatched. The migrations of locusts are probably in search of food. Their range in the Old World stretches from Spain and the S. of France, through Russia to China; S. of this boundary line they are equally destructive. The Rocky Mountain locust is Caloptenus spretus. There seems to be no special periodicity in the appearance of swarms of locusts. Locusts are by preference vegetable-feeders; but they will attack dry animal substances, and even become cannibals when food fails. Next to man, their chief enemies are insectivorous birds, parasitic beetles of the family Cantharidæ, and dipterous flies of the family beetles of the family Cantharidæ, and