‘File 16/37A-I Anti-Locust Measures’ [228r] (455/900)
The record is made up of 1 file (448 folios). It was created in 31 Aug 1942-18 May 1943. It was written in English and Arabic. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
3
Methods of Locust Control recommended by the
Imperial Council of Agricultural Research
Introductory
The Desert Locust (Schistocerca gregaria Forsk.) has appeared periodi
cally in the past in Northern India, and caused serious damage to crops.
It generally has two broods during the year. The first brood occurs between
February and June in areas of winter and spring rainfall, such as Persia,
Baluchistan and parts of the Punjab. The swarms produced in spring in
these areas usually fly eastwards into Sind, the Punjab, Rajputana and the
United Provinces by May and June. With the fall of monsoon rainfall,
these swarms of locusts lay eggs in parts of Sind, Rajputana, the Punjab
and the United Provinces, and breed there between July and October.
During the autumn months a good many of the new swarms thus produced
fly westward into Sind, Baluchistan and Persia, where they will breed
again in the spring of the year following, if winter rainfall is satisfactory.
The outbreak is likely to continue from year to year, if both spring and
summer breeding is successful. Otherwise, there is likely to be a break
in the infestation, resulting in a considerable decrease in the number and
size of locust swarms.
Life-history of the Locust
A locust passes through three stages in its existence : (1) the egg, (2) the
hopper, and (3) the adult. The female locust lays a mass of 50 to 100 eggs
in a hole, 4 to 6 inches deep, drilled by herself in moist, sandy soil. After
laying the eggs, she closes the mouth of the hole with a frothy liquid which
ultimately hardens into a waterproof plug. When a swarm begins to lay
eggs, it is found that egg-masses are generally laid very close together.
Eggs generally hatch in about 3 to 4 weeks in spring and 2 weeks in summer.
The young locusts that emerge from the eggs are tiny, wingless hoppers
black in colour, which begin to feed on vegetation of all kinds. The hoppers
grow as they feed, and as they grow, they shed their skin once every 5 or
6 days, in order to enable their bodies to expand and attain a progressively
bigger size. Each locust generally undergoes five successive moults, before
it gets its wings and becomes an adult. As the hoppers moult, they gene
rally acquire a gradual change in their colouration, and the later stages
usually exhibit vivid patterns of black and yellow. The young adults are
generally bright pink in colour, while the mature locusts turn bright yellow.
The pink swarms are mostly immature, but are very active and are Hke)y
About this item
- Content
Correspondence, reports and other papers relating to efforts, undertaken by representatives of the Middle East Anti-Locust Unit (MEALU), to control desert locusts (first reported in western India in August 1942 (f 3)) along the Arab coast between Bahrain and Oman. The principal correspondents include: the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. at Bahrain (Edward Birkbeck Wakefield); the Chief Locust Officer (Reginald Charles Maxwell-Darling) and Locust Officer (Leslie Desmond Edward Foster Vesey-Fitzgerald) of MEALU, who arrived in Bahrain to carry out their work in October 1942; the Defence Officer for the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. (Lieutenant-Colonel H T Hewitt); representatives of the California-Arabian Standard Oil Company (CASOC); and representatives of the Bahrain shipping agent Gray, Mackenzie & Company.
The file includes:
- reports from Maxwell-Darling and Vesey-Fitzgerald, as well as from numerous other British officials from across the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. region, including the British Minister at Tehran, Sir Reader William Bullard, on locust observations. The observations include estimations of the size of swarms, movement and direction of insects, age and colour of animals;
- correspondence relating to arrangements for the shipment of locust poison bait from the Sudan Government in Khartoum, to Bahrain;
- correspondence relating to the arrangements of facilities for the MEALU team on the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. , chiefly arrangements for suitable vehicles (arranged with the assistance of CASOC and the Defence Officer for the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ), experienced drivers and motor mechanics, finances, and rations;
- papers issued by MEALU, including instructions on reporting locust swarms (ff 136-137), and notes on locust campaigns in sparsely inhabited countries (ff 194-195, ff 385-386);
- a copy of a booklet entitled Methods of Locust Control , produced by the Imperial Council of Agricultural Research and published by the Government of India Press, Calcutta [Kolkota], 1941 (ff 226-236);
- a reprint of an academic journal article entitled Some results of studies of the Desert Locust (Schistocerca Gregaria, Forsk.) in India , by Rao Bahadur Y Ramchandra Rao (ff 266-278). The article is a reprint from the Bulletin of Entomological Research , volume 33, part 3, published December 1942;
- some papers relating to anti-locust activities in southern Iran.
The file contains a single letter in Arabic, a letter to the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. from the Ruler of Qatar, Shaikh ‘Abdullāh bin Jāsim Āl Thānī (f 334).
- Extent and format
- 1 file (448 folios)
- Arrangement
The file’s contents are arranged in approximate chronological order, from the earliest item at the front to the latest at the end. The file notes at the end of the file (ff 424-449) mirror the chronological arrangement.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: The foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 450; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.
An additional foliation sequence is also present in parallel between ff 2-423; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
- Written in
- English and Arabic in Latin and Arabic script View the complete information for this record
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‘File 16/37A-I Anti-Locust Measures’ [228r] (455/900), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/R/15/2/1544, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100034852387.0x000038> [accessed 24 July 2026]
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- Reference
- IOR/R/15/2/1544
- Title
- ‘File 16/37A-I Anti-Locust Measures’
- Pages
- 226r:236v
- Author
- Indian Council of Agricultural Research
- Copyright
- ©Indian Council of Agricultural Research
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