164 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 



generally found about midsummer, and are readily distin- 

 guished by the thorax, which is somewhat like a reversed boat, 

 being furnished with a longitudinal ridge or keel from one end 

 to the other. These little locusts are analogous to the insects 

 belonging to the genus Membracis in the order Hemiptera, 

 which also are distinguished by a very large thorax covering 

 the whole of the upper side of the body, small wing-covers, 

 and have the faculty of making great leaps. Indeed these two 

 kinds of insects very naturally connect the orders Orthoptera 

 and Hemiptera together. 



After so much space has been devoted to an account of the 

 ravages of grasshoppers and locusts, and to the descriptions 

 of the insects themselves, perhaps it may be expected that the 

 means of checking and destroying them should be fully ex- 

 plained. The naturalist, however, seldom has it in his power 

 to put in practice the various remedies which his knowledge 

 or experience may suggest. His proper province consists in 

 examining the living objects about him with regard to then- 

 structure, their scientific arrangement, and their economy or 

 history. In doing this, he opens to others the way to a suc- 

 cessful course of experiments, the trial of which he is generally 

 obliged to leave to those who are more favorably situated for 

 their performance. 



In the South of France the people make a business, at 

 certain seasons of the year, of collecting locusts and their 

 eggs, the latter being tiu-ned out of the ground in little masses 

 cemented and covered with a sort of gum in which they are 

 enveloped by the insects. Rewards are offered and paid for 

 their collection, half a franc being given for a kilogramme 

 (about 2 lb. 3| oz. avoirdupois) of the insects, and a quarter 

 of a franc for the same weight of their eggs. At this rate 

 twenty thousand francs were paid in Marseilles, and twenty- 

 five thousand in Aries, in the year 1613 ; in 1824, five thousand 

 five hundred and forty-two, and in 1825, sLx thousand two 

 hundred francs were paid in Marseilles. It is stated that an 

 active boy can collect from six to seven kilogrammes (or from 

 13 lb. 3 oz. 13.22 dr. to 15 lb. 7 oz. 2.09 dr.) of eggs in one 

 day. The locusts are taken by means of a piece of stout 



