Pacicaru.] 



EDIBLE INSECTS. 



121 



Fig. 87. 



lielpk'ssl}- to the ground. They arc also, he says, collected 

 by cartloads -when the}' have retired to rest. " The locusts, 

 after being partially roasted, are eaten fresh, or they are 

 dried in the hot ashes, and then stored away for future emer- 

 gencies. The natives reduce them also to powder, or meal, 

 by means of two stones or a wooden mortar, which powder, 

 when mixed with water, produces a kind of soup or stir- 

 about. I have tasted locusts prepared in various ways, but 

 I caraiot sa}' that I have found them very palatable. But 

 they must contain a vast deal of nourishment, since the poor 

 people thrive wonderfully- on them." He also states that 

 "■ the Cape Colony has been particularly subject to this 

 dreadful scourge, which is 

 invariably followed by fam- 

 ine. The inroads of the 

 locusts are periodical ; ac- 

 cording to Pringle, about 

 once every fifteen years. 

 In 1808, after having laid 

 waste a (.'onsiderable portion 

 of the country, they disap- 

 peared and did not return 

 until 182-4. They then re- 

 mained for several years but in 1830 took their departure." 

 The locust is truly migratory, the undeveloped, partially 

 winged young moving from one region to another. lie 

 quotes from Barrow, who says that "the larvie at the same 

 time were emigrating to the northward. The column of 

 these imperfect insects passed the houses of two of our party, 

 who assured me that it continued moving forward without 

 any interruption, except by night, for more than a month." 

 Of very similar habits is our red-legged grasshopper 

 {Caloptenus femiir-rubrum. Fig. 87, b). It appears at inter- 

 vals in immense swarms. In 1871 it was ver}' destructive to 

 grass in northern Maine, seriously damaging the hay crop. 



25 



Destructive Grastehopiievs. 



