120 - LOCUSTID^— LOCUSTS. 



We now turn to the history of the Locust as an article 

 of food — a striking benefit directly derived from insects. 

 For as they are the greatest destroyers of food, so as some 

 recompense they furnish a considerable supply of it to nu- 

 merous nations — as they cause, they are frequently the means 

 of preventing famines. They are recorded to have done 

 this from the remotest antiquity. 



In the curious account given by Alexis of a poor Athe- 

 ,nian family's provisions, mention of this insect is found : 



Foi' our best and daintiest cheer, 

 Through the bright half of the year, 

 Is but acorns, onions, peas, 

 Ochros, lupines, radishes, 

 Vetches, wild pears nine and ten, 

 With a Locust now and then.i 



Diodorus Siculus, who lived about threescore years be- 

 fore our Saviour's birth, first, if I mistake not, described 

 the Acridophagi, or Locust-eaters, of Ethiopia. He says 

 they are smaller than other men, of lean and meager 

 bodies, and exceeding black: that in the spring the south 

 winds rise high, and drive an infinite number of Locusts out 

 of the desert, of an extraordinary bigness, furnished with 

 most dirty and nasty colored wings ; and these are plentiful 

 food and provision for them all their days. This historian 

 has also given us an account of their peculiar mode of 

 catching these insects : In their country there is a large and 

 deep vale, extending far in length for many furlongs to- 

 gether : all over this they lay heaps of wood and other 

 combustible material, and when the swarms of Locusts are 

 driven thither by the force of the winds, then some of the 

 inhabitants go to one part of the valley, and some to another, 

 and set the grass and other combustible matter on fire, which 

 was before thrown among the piles ; whereupon arises a 

 great and suffocating smoke, which so stifles the Locusts as 

 they fly over the vale, that they soon fall down dead to the 

 ground. This destruction of them, he continues, is con- 

 tinued for many days together, so that they lie in great 

 heaps ; and the country being full of salt, they gather these 

 heaps together, and season them sufficiently with this salt, 

 which gives them an excellent relish, and preserves them a 



1 St, John's Man. and Cast, of And . Greeks, iii. 95. 



