ORTHOPTERA. 137 



individually, are quite as harmless, but coming, as they 

 frequently do in Eastern countries, in hosts, which darken 

 the air and cover the surface of the earth, are amongst the 

 most dreadful scourges of the human race. 



Dr. Shaw, who has given us an account of the swarms 

 which he saw in Barbary, tells us that they first appeared 

 about the end of March, and increased into vast numbers 

 in April, but retm-ned into the extensive plains in May 

 to deposit their eggs. The larvaB derived from these eggs 

 made theil* appearance in June, and were formed into 

 compact bodies, each brood covering a square fuidong of 

 gi'ound ; they marched onward in a phalanx, surmounting 

 every obstacle in their way, entering houses and chambers, 

 and desolating the gardens, undeterred by the slaughter 

 made amongst the foremost. In this manner horde suc- 

 ceeded horde, for days together. In about the course of 

 a month they arrived at their full growth, and cast their 

 pupa or nymph-skin, and as soon as their wings were dry 

 and expanded, mounted into the air. Locusts are eaten 

 in many places. They are mentioned as among the clean 

 meats in Lev. xi. 22. In the plain of Bushire, they are 

 collected, dried, and salted, and sold to the peasantry; 

 when boiled the yellow ones turn red, and eat like stale 

 shrimps. The Arabs grind them into powder, which they 

 make into small round cakes, w^hich serve for food when 

 bread is scarce. In the Mahratta country the people salt 

 and eat them. They are eaten by the Hottentots, and 

 formed in ancient times part of the diet of the Ethiopians 

 and Parthians. 



The Mole-cricket {Gh-yUatalpa) is a burrower, not in- 

 ferior to the mole, after which it is named, in the 

 singular adaptation of its structure to the habits assigned 

 to it. Like that animal, it has the fore limbs shortened, 

 flattened, and enormously strengthened, while their ex- 

 tremities are formed into broad limbs turned obliquely 

 outwards, and armed with stout tooth-like projections. By 

 the assistance of this most efficient apparatus, the mole- 

 cricket makes its way beneath the soil with the utmost 

 facility, and at the proper season digs for itself a little 

 chamber in the earth, with smoothly-polished walls, in 

 which it deposits from a hundred to three hundred eggs, 

 in their shape much like little sugar-plums. Intricate 

 winding passages lead from this reti-eat to the sui'face of 



