252 INSECTS AT HOME. 



however, are not Locusts at all, the word Locust being' applied 

 in various parts of England to any large caterpillar or grub. 

 Mr. E. Newman, being aware of this fact, tried to verify the 

 ' Locust of the newspapers, and succeeded in six cases, three of 

 which turned out to be caterpillars of the Death's-head jMoth, 

 one the same insect in its perfect state ; and the other two 

 were specimens of the common Humming-bird Hawk-moth. In 

 all other instances I have gained no reply whatever, the writers 

 being so confident of their entomological omniscience as to 

 resent the idea of identification being needful.' 



Li hotter countries, however, the Migratory Locust is one 

 of the most dread plagues that can pass over a laiid. The 

 insects swarm in countless myriads, and, as they fly on their 

 course, they darken the air like black clouds. Like clouds 

 also they follow the course of the wind, for they have little 

 power of guiding their flight, and are carried along as the 

 wind happens to blow. Nothing but a change of wind seems 

 to have the least effect in checking their progress, for they 

 seem to care nothing for every obstacle that the art of man 

 can place in their path ; and even fire can do nothing to stop or 

 divert them. Vast ranges of brushwood have been fired as 

 soon as the Locusts were in sight, but the insects were swept 

 whistling along by the wind ; and though hundreds of thou- 

 sands perished in the flames, the survivors continued their 

 onward course, and the Locust army passed on, its numbers 

 scarcely perceptibly thinned. 



Even in Europe the ravages of the Locust have been 

 terrible ; and in the South of P^'rance rewards have been offered 

 for many years for tlie destruction of these insects, a certain 

 sum being paid per kilogramme of the eggs, and double the 

 amount for the perfect insects. But in Asia and Africa, their 

 armies almost exceed belief. One column of these insects 

 measured no less tlian five hundred miles in length, and was 

 so wide that, as it passed along, it darkened the earth to such 

 an extent that large buildings could scarcely be seen at a 

 distance of less than two hundred yards. This swarm occurred 

 in India. 



There is a powerful account given by Chenier, and quoted 

 by Southey in his ' Thalaba,' of the effects produced by a swarm 

 of Locusts in Morocco. 'In 1778, the empire of Morocco 



