306 THE INSECT WORLD. 



The locusts were swept with great brooms into ditches, in which 

 they were then burnt ; not, however, before they had ruined the 

 whole country. Locusts showed themselves at the same time in the 

 empire of Morocco, where they caused a fearful famine. The pooi 

 were to be seen wandering on all sides, digging up the roots ol 

 vegetables, and eagerly devouring camels' dung, in hopes of finding 

 in it a few undigested grains of barley. 



Barrow and Levaillant, in their travels through Central Africa 

 speak of similar calamities having happened many times betweer 

 1784 and 1797. They add that the surface of the rivers was thei 

 hidden by the bodies of the locusts, which covered the whol( 

 country. 



According to Jackson, in 1739 they covered the whole surface o 

 the ground from Tangiers to Mogadon All the region near to th( 

 Sahara was ravaged, whilst on the other side of the river El Klo 

 there was not one of these insects. When the wind blew they wer* 

 driven into the sea, and their carcases occasioned a plague whicl 

 laid Barbary waste. 



India and China often suffer from these destructive insects. Ii 

 1735 clouds of locusts hid from the Chinese both the sun and moon 

 Not only the standing crops, but also the corn in the barns and th 

 clothes in the houses were devoured. 



In the south of France locusts multiply sometimes so prodigiousl 

 that in a very short time many barrels may be filled with their ^g^. 

 They have caused, at different periods, immense damage. It wa 

 chiefly in the years 1613, 1805, 1820, 1822, 1824, 1825, 1832, an 

 1834, that their visits to the south of France were most formidable. 



Mezeray relates that in the month of January, 16 13, in the reig 

 of Louis XIII., locusts invaded the country around Aries. In seve 

 or eight hours the wheat and crops were devoured to the roots ovt 

 an extent of country of 15,000 acres. They then crossed over tb 

 Rhine, and visited Tarascon and Beaucaire, where they ate the veg« 

 tables and lucerne. They then shifted their quarters to Aramon, t 

 Monfrin, to Valabregues, &c., where they were fortunately destroye 

 in great part by the starlings and other insect-eating birds, whic 

 flocked in innumerable numbers to this game. 



The consuls of Aries and of Marseilles caused the eggs to be cc 

 lected. Aries spent, for this object, 25,000 francs, and Marseilles 20,0c 

 francs. ^Three thousand quintals of eggs were interred or thrown in1 

 the Rhone. If we count 1,750,000 eggs per quintal, that will gi^ 

 us a total of 5,250,000,000 of locusts destroyed in the ^gg^ whic 

 otherwise would have very soon renewed the ravages of which tl 



