HARDWICKE'S SCIEN CE-GOSSIP. 



79 



eyes to sec, and useth them, will find it during 

 almost any half-hour's stroll on some old stump by 

 the wayside— unless the said stroller should be 

 addicted to taking his stroll amongst the busy 

 haunts of men. With a hedge on both sides of him, 

 and green trees for shade, he need not travel far 

 in search of the " Candle-snuff Fungus." 



LOCUST GOSSIP. 



IN putting together a few notes on these in- 

 teresting insects for Science-Gossip, I do not 

 feel that any introduction is needed. The grass- 

 hopper form is so well known, and their habits so 

 closely resemble these insects, that I purpose 

 rather to describe my actual experience of them as 

 met with in India, than to enter into any scientific 

 account of them. I had been more than twenty 

 years in the country before I saw a locust, and 

 strangely enough the first flight visited my station, 

 where Dr. Jerdon, who had been, very many more 

 years than I had been, a resident, was staying with 

 me, and he, too, had never witnessed a visit of these 

 insects. It was September 13th, 18G3, when, just 

 after luncheon, it suddenly became quite dusk, and 

 the servants coming in told us that the locusts had 

 arrived, and so we went out to see them. 



The whole sky, as far as the eye could reach, in 

 every direction, was full of them. They flew from 

 the north-east at a great pace, with a strange rust- 

 ling filling! the air with sound, which seemed to 

 come from every point, and were much scattered in 

 their flight, which ranged from thirty to two hun- 

 dred feet from the ground. The wind at the time 

 was blowing from the north-east, and they were 

 borne along upon it. We were upon the flat 

 terrace roof of the house, desirous to capture a 

 few for specimens, and the way in which they 

 avoided the swoop of the insect-net was astonishing. 

 Many settled on the tall trees of the place, and 

 then, after resting a little, flew off again. Pre- 

 sently, from our high post of observation, we 

 noticed them returning, having been turned by a 

 storm of wind and rain which was coming up from 

 the south-west, and which advanced to within about 

 a quarter of a mile of the place where we were 

 standing. They faced round, and every one they 

 met turned with them, and hurried towards the 

 north-east, as did those which had alighted in the 

 trees. A few settled on the ground, and these were 

 very active. They were of a red colour, and ap- 

 peared to differ slightly from the well-known 

 " migratorius," a specimen of which I had by me, 

 taken in the Indian Ocean, 800 miles from the 

 nearest land. In size they were three inches long, 

 whilst the expanse of the wings measured nearly 

 five inches. About ten minutes or a quarter of an 

 hour after this there came up a heavy storm of 



wind and rain from the north-east, with a little 

 thunder and lightning ; this again turned them, and 

 they were floating rapidly past, when a terrific 

 down-pour of raiu obscured all from our view, and 

 caused them to settle on every tree in which they 

 could find shelter. 



One "emli," or tamarind-tree, standing in the 

 middle of a large field, was so covered with them, 

 that, at a little distance, instead of the brilliant 

 green for which this tree is noted, it appeared of a 

 dull red. Next morning there was not a leaf left, 

 only bare twigs ; whilst under the tree there must 

 have been nearly half an inch of excreta. The 

 morning was wet, and there were only a few which 

 had been left, flyiug off the trees when disturbed by 

 the crows, kites, mynas, squirrels, &c, all of whom 

 were feeding heartily upon them. I now organized 

 several parties to catch them, and soon filled six 

 large earthen jars. About 10 a.m. many thousands 

 were flying about, and I expected great damage. 

 The sun, however, came out and with dried wings 

 they all departed. They first rose into the air like 

 a pigeon, gyrated a little, and then went straight 

 off to the north-west. 



The whole of this flight, from a careful exami- 

 nation we made, appeared to have been young 

 males. 



The crows caught the flying insects most cleverly 

 in their claws, and ate them as they flew along. 

 Often I noticed that they dropped them, having 

 pecked off the abdomen. This did not prevent the 

 locusts still flying, although they soon came to 

 grief, and fell to the ground, when the mynas and 

 other birds rapidly pecked them to pieces. At one 

 time I thought the crows released them in conse- 

 quence of a sharp kick given by the spined legs of 

 the insect. 



In the evening I had asked two gentlemen to 

 dinner to meet the doctor, and I gave them a curry 

 and croquet of locusts. They passed as Cabul 

 shrimps which in flavour they much resembled, but 

 the cook having inadvertently left a hind leg in a 

 croquet, they were found out, to the infinite disgust 

 of one of the party, and amusement of the others. 

 Here is a recipe for cooking them, taken from the 

 Akhbar, a native Algerine journal, under date 

 August, 1S66. Criquets a la Beuoiton. — " Take the 

 locust gently between the finger and thumb of the 

 left hand ; cut it in two with a knife, and pour into 

 the animal inside a small quantity of good rum ; 

 let it stand two days, and then cover it with a 

 fritter-paste and fry them. Then sprinkle with 

 sugar, and pour into the dish a small quantity of 

 Burgundy." I never tried it. The bodies were as 

 tough as leather in the curry, and quite uneatable ; 

 but the croquet, in which they were well broken up 

 after having been deprived of their legs, heads, 

 wings, and wing-cases, were very fair ; and if 

 thoroughly sun-dried with a little salt, 1 can fancy, 



