Abundant data have also been collected by biologists engaged in studies of the life activities and development of algae, coral reefs and the develop ment and migration of fish. According to Prof. P. Yu. Shmidt, the 11-year cycles were especially pronounced in cod, herring, and other fishes.
We shall briefly examine the rhythm of growth of corals as an indicator of the effect of solar cycles on aquatic life. Thorough investigations of the structure of calcareous formations of contemporary coral reefs as well as of those formed in other geological periods (Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous), clearly revealed the regular alternation of comparatively large thin-walled elements with small, thick-walled ones. This thickness variation of the "coral tissue" is the result of seasonal and long-term fluctuations of the temperature in the World Ocean. The rhythm of growth of the coral structures in the oceans correlates well with the general rhythm of solar activity, clearly demonstrated by the findings of V. B. Shostakovich /4, 5/, and in the alternating layers of silt deposits in the oceans, seas, and continental lakes of both hemispheres. At this point we must mention the pioneer in this field, Prof. F. N. Shvedov, who developed the concept of the influence of periodic solar activity upon life on Earth.
By the end of the last century, Shvedov demonstrated an 11-year periodicity in the annual tree rings. He related this periodicity directly to fluctuations in atmospheric precipitation, thereby designating the trees as "drought chronicles" /6/.
It is seen that in the "water and Earth chronicles," the silt deposits at the bottom of oceans, the coral reefs, and many other sources prove that dead and living matter on our planet had reflected, in the course of hundreds of millions of years, the eternal rhythms of solar activity.
Entomologists are well aware of the rhythm of mass reproduction of locusts, especially of Schistocerca gregaria, for which our data show fifteen population explosions in the course of the past 160 years, i.e., as many as the number of 11-year cycles of solar activity for the same period of time.
A. V. Mitchener, professor of entomology at Winnipeg University (Canada) has written that mass outbreaks of four locust species have been reported from the prairie provinces at intervals of approximately 10 years, resulting in many millions of acres of damaged crops, and losses of many millions of dollars. Each cycle of mass reproduction lasts about five years, after which there is a period of "calmness" for another five years. This rhythm has been recorded since the year 1799 /8/.
Other findings were reported from America. Fierce, regular on slaughts of cotton leafworms were recorded in the cotton belt of the USA, every 21 or 22 years, since the 1770's. The pest ravaged the crops (in
many states almost completely) for 2 or 3 years, and disappeared again for 18 or 19 years. The mass outbreaks were synchronous with the 22-year cycles of solar activity. Having established this fact, the American entomologists expected the oncomming outbreak of the parasite at the beginning of the 1950's. They prepared themselves to suppress this pro liferation at its very beginning and succeeded in overcoming it by chemical means in the southern cotton-growing states.
This fact proves quite conclusively the possibility and expediency of using heliophysical data for predicting many years in advance the mass outbreaks of certain species of insect pests.
We may note that we predicted, 10 years in advance, outbreaks of this species, in Iran, Iraq, Arabia, India, and Pakistan on the basis of long term studies of the biology and ecology of Schistocerca, started at the time of the massive locust invasion of Central Asia in 1929. The predictions were also based on all the available Soviet and foreign literature, and on the rhythmic fluctuations of precipitations in the zone of the subtropic deserts in Asia and Africa (peasants' keenness of observation and folklore recorded these rhythms long ago, since the times of the Pharaohs in ancient Egypt). Over a period of 30 years our forecasts have been con firmed with an accuracy of months.
Let us now turn our attention to the vast territories of the northern regions of Kazakhstan and to West Siberia, where an unusually fierce mass outbreak of grain moth occurred in 1957. Neither the entomologists nor any of those concerned with agriculture expected this calamity. Although the onset of intensive proliferation of the grain moth was recorded in the previous year, the pest was almost forgotten owing to its suppressed state during the preceding 20 years. This parasite was never regarded by the agricultural workers as a dangerous pest, but suddenly, it spread with an unprecedented population explosion. We then started to study and summarize the available literature on previous outbreaks of the grain moth, searching, in particular, the archives of provincial "zemstvo"* offices and of other organizations including those in the area of the Urals. Thus, we learned of mass reproduction of the grain moth in these areas in the years 1885-1888, 1910-1912, 1935-1937, and 1956-1960, the latter of which involved millions of hectares of crops in the regions of northern Kazakhstan and partially in West Siberia. Between these devastating out breaks of grain moths, moderate invasions were recorded every 10-12 years involving more limited areas, and were also noticed in other regions of the USSR.