The Wild Animals of Palestine. 71 



Insects. 



A great many of the insects of Palestine were those familiar 

 to ourselves, such as spiders, beetles, &c. One of the most 

 curious of those not common to us is what is known as the pray- 

 ing mantis, belonging, I believe, to the locust tribe. The way 

 in which it partially sits up on end, and folds its forceps together, 

 exactly like hands clasped in praying, is very curious. The 

 genuine and dreaded locusts were occasional visitors, and when 

 they came in full force it is no exaggeration to say the air was 

 darkened by them. When, during the cloudless summer days of 

 that country, we saw what looked like a long straight bank of 

 cloud lying along the horizon we knew what was before us. The 

 destructiveness of their visitation dejiended a good deal on the 

 time of year. If they came when the corn was green it was 

 fatal. They would settle down upon a field of rich green corn, 

 and leave it in a few days as brown as though just ploughed. 

 The foliage of tig trees, vines, almond trees, &c., all perished to a 

 greater or lesser extent. The olive alone escaped. They never 

 touched the olive leaves. They would settle down for a few 

 days, sometimes as long as for a week, and then, as if by some 

 preconcerted signal, suddenly rise and depart. Another small 

 insect of the grasshopper tribe abounded. I forget, if I ever 

 knew, its British name. We always used the Italian one 

 " Cicala," that little grasshopper, which in very hot countries 

 keeps up a perpetual humming noise in the trees during the heat 

 of the day — a more drowsy sound it would be impossible to 

 imagine. If any human being can resist the soporific 

 influences of a comfortable hammock slung from the boughs 

 of a thick foliaged tree, the noontide heat, and the 

 monotonous hum of the cicalas all around, his insomnia must 

 be of appalling character. Tarantulas we sometime saw, 

 but not often, and I never heard of anyone 'being bitten by 

 one. I believe the extent of their venomous capacity has 

 been greatly exaggerated ; that it really is not greater than 

 that of a wasp. Flies, of course, were in swarms, and were cer- 

 tainly useful scavengers, but they need not be described. We 

 know what they are. You have only to imagine every common 

 house-fly in Dumfries multiplied by about 10,000, and you have 

 a fair idea of what they are in Palestine. So with mosquitos. 

 Multiply the common midge by about 20,000, his size and 



