140 Rev. F. W. Hope's Ohservations respecting 



14. Lociisia Onos, Pallas. 



The celebrated traveller Pallas, in the fourth volume of his 

 Voyages, in the Appendix, informs us that Grylhis Onos is eaten 

 by the Mongols and other Indians, " Mongolia insectum, Sinen- 

 sibus edule." — Vid. p. 678. The description of the species is 

 more fully detailed in his Spicilegiorum Zoolog. fascicul. 9, p. 17, 

 where there is an exact figure, vid. table 2, fig. 1. 



15. Acheta Smeathmanni. 



From the information furnished to Mr. Drury by Mr. Smeath- 

 man, we learn that the children in Africa are, at the proper season, 

 very busily employed digging out of the ground the females, when 

 full of eggs, of a species exactly resembling Acheta memhranacea 

 of Drury, on which they make an agreeable repast, roasting gene- 

 rally the whole animal, but eating only the eggs, which are con- 

 tained in a bag — they resemble part of the roe of the fish — 

 deeming it very delicate food. — Vid. Westwood's Edition of 

 Drury 's Exotic Insects, vol. ii. p. 91. 



A species closely allied to the above ravaged the Burmese ter- 

 ritories, and was eaten, I understand, by the people there, after 

 roasting them. 



Before concluding my observations on locustal food, I think I 

 may here be allowed to suggest some methods calculated to coun- 

 teract and mitigate the injurious effects they too often occasion. 

 First then, the legislative powers in the countries where the locusts 

 abound, should recommend them generally as an article of food ; 

 more effectual means, however, would be to employ the people 

 and children in hunting for their nests and eggs, which they might 

 in a great degree destroy ; when the young make their appearance, 

 they may be employed again, and if the insects prove too abundant 

 for them, the police and military of the district should be called in 

 to aid in the work of their destruction. On the arrival of over- 

 whelming swarms, when famine is likely to be caused by their 

 devastation, I would recommend a levee-en-masse of the popu- 

 lation to sally forth and collect them by thousands : as many as 

 may be required for food may be prepared for future use, the rest 

 should be buried in deep trenches. To attain this end, a poll tax 

 of a bushel of locusts (or any other measure deemed advisable), 

 might be required from each inmate of a house, and thus, by con- 

 siderably reducing their numbers, future famine and pestilence 

 (too often the sad effects of their visitations), might in some 



