138 
LOCUST. 
In 1541 incredible hosts afflicted Poland, Wa- 
lachia, and all the adjoining territories, darkening 
the sun with their numbers and ravaging all the 
fruits of the earth. 
One of the largest species of Locust yet known 
is the Gryllus cristatus of Liniiccus, which is five 
or six times the size of the Gryllus migratorius, 
and, together with some others of the larger kind, 
is made use of in some parts of the world as 
an article of food : they are eaten both fresh and 
salted, in which last state they are publickly sold 
in the markets of some parts of the Levant. The 
quantity of edible substance which they afford is 
but small, especially in the male insects; but the 
females, on account of the ovaries, afford a more 
nutritious sustenance. It is well known that dif- 
ferent interpretations have been sometimes given 
of the passage in the sacred writings in which John 
the Baptist is said to have fed on Locusts and wild 
honey; and the word axpiSas has been supposed 
to mean the young shoots of vegetables rather 
than Locusts; but, since the fact is established, 
that these insects are still eaten by the inhabitants 
of the East, there seems not the least reason for ad- 
mitting any other interpretation than the usually 
received one. Why should we wonder that the 
abstemious prophet, during his state of solitary 
seclusion from the commerce of the world, should 
support himself by a repast which is to be num- 
bered, not among the luxuries of life, but merely 
regarded as a substitute for food of a more agree- 
able nature? We may also adduce in support of 
