ORTHOPTERA. 135 



the later accounts, that contained in Olivier 's " Travels " does 

 not seem to have been quoted by English writers. The follow- 

 ing is a free translation of the passage. Olivier, at the time of 

 writing it, was in Syria. " After a burning south wind had pre- 

 vailed for some time, there came, from the interior of Arabia and 

 from the southern parts of Persia, clouds of locusts, whose 

 ravages in these countries are as grievous and as sudden as the 

 destruction occasioned in Europe by the most severe hail-storm. 

 Of these my companion, M. Brugieres, and myself were twice 

 witnesses. It is difficult to describe the effect produced on us 

 by the sight of the whole atmosphere filled, on all sides, to a vast 

 height, with a countless multitude of these insects, which flew 

 along with a slow and even motion, and with a noise like the 

 dashing of a shower of rain. The heavens were darkened by 

 them, and the light of the sun was sensibly diminished. In a 

 moment the roofs of the houses, the streets, and all the fields 

 were completely covered with these insects, and in two days they 

 almost entirely devoured the foliage of every plant. Fortunately, 

 however, they continued but a short time, and seemed to have 

 emigrated only for the purpose of providing for a continuation of 

 their kind. In fact, nearly all of them which we saw on the next 

 day were paired, and in a day or two afterwards the ground was 

 covered with their dead bodies."* These were not the still 

 more celebrated and destructive migratory locusts (Locusta mi- 

 gratoria), but consisted of the species called Acrydium pere- 

 grinum. 



Although the ravages of locusts in America are not followed by 

 such serious consequences as in the Eastern continent, yet they 

 are sufficiently formidable to have attracted attention, and not un- 

 frequently have these insects laid waste considerable tracts, and 

 occasioned no little loss to the cultivator of the soil. Our salt- 

 marshes, which are accounted among the most productive and 

 valuable of our natural meadows, are frequented by great numbers 

 of the small red-legged species (Acrydium femur-rubrum), inter- 

 mingled occasionally with some larger kinds. These, in certain 



* Olivier, Voyage dans l'Empire Ottoman, l'Egyple et la Perse. Tom. II. 

 p. 424. 



