88 PROCEEDINGS ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



ters of the tropical disease beri-beri. 25 Roaches have also been 

 considered in connection with the carrying of the vibrios of Asiatic 

 Cholera 26 and, in common with many other insects, they have been 

 investigated as possible factors in the cause and spread of pella- 

 gra, but with negative results. 27 



There are few published references of Orthoptera, other than the 

 roaches, as disease carriers, the only one now recalled being the 

 spread of cholera for long distances by migratory locusts in Africa. 28 

 It is recorded that grasshoppers in times of invasions leave a 

 cholera-like pestilence in their w ke and they are also accused of 

 carrving into uninfested regions the foot and mouth disease of 

 cattle. 29 



Aside from physical effects, either external or internal as dis- 

 cussed above, man is injuriously affected directly by orthopterous 

 insects scarcely at all. Aside from disagreeable odors of such spe- 

 cies as cockroaches, etc., that offend his olfactory sense, his 

 psychic nature is practically unaffected. True, his nervous sys- 

 tem may now and then be more or less shocked from fright, 

 as in the case recently recorded of terror caused in a Philadelphia 

 school by the issuance of yo ng mantids from the ootheca. 30 

 A heroic janitor with a irop handle came to the rescue in this 

 case. It reminds me of the first mole cricket I ever saw and of 

 how gleefully I carried my wonderful prize home, only to have it 

 killed 'good and dead' by mv frightened mother. 



Orthoptera beneficially related to man directly may be divided, 

 like those injuriously affecting him, into those affecting him physi- 

 cally and those influencing him psychically. The first group com- 

 prises species used in medicine and those eaten as food. The 

 former, I believe, is a matter based almost entirely on pristine 

 beliefs and popular fallacies. A common European katydid is 

 given the common name "wartbiter" from the belief prevalent 

 in Swe ien that its bite removes warts. 31 Burr remarks that it is 

 possible that the wound caused by the insect, together with the 

 action of formic acid often exuded from the jaws of angrv Orthop- 

 tera, and a goodly amount of faith on the part of the wart-stricken 

 individual might indeed cause these mysterious growths to dis- 

 appear. Ancient lore is replete with all kinds of cures attributed 

 to various insects. The following recorded instances may be 



25 yan der Scheer, Journ. Trop. Med., vol. iii, p. 96-97 (1900); Manson, 

 Tropical Diseases 4 edit.), p. 370 t!907). 



:; Barber, Philippine Journ. Sci., vol. ix, p. 1-4 (1914). 

 27 Jennings, Amer. Journ. Med. Sci., vol. cxlvi, p. 418 ,1913). 

 8 Riley, Ref. Handb. Med. Sci., vol. v, p. 75 (18S7). 

 29 Kannemeyer, Trans. S. Afr. Philos. Soc , vol viii, p. 84-85 (1893). 

 s Ent. News, vol. xvi, p. 292 1905). 

 31 Proc. S. Lond. Ent. Soc., 1899, p. (11) (1900). 



