THE LOCUSTS' PROGENY. 65 



delectation. They may be said to be literally 

 ''feasting on the fat of the land." 



A twig, a foot or more in length, bearing a 

 score of dead leaves and a half dozen undevel- 

 oped acorns, comes fluttering down from the 

 branches above, strikes my shoulder and falls to 

 the ground. It is one of thousands which will 

 soon be seen hanging brown and lifeless from 

 the rim of every oak, beech and maple which 

 skirts the denser portions of the woods, or which 

 stands isolated in any degree from its fellows. 

 It has been seventeen years since the like was 

 seen. Rfot for seventeen more will it be seen 

 again, for these twigs are the receptacles in 

 which the female locusts are depositing the eggs 

 of their future progeny. By stripping back the 

 bark of the one just fallen the eggs are plainly 

 visible. Whitish, oblong and overlapping, they are 

 packed neatly in a double row. In a few weeks 

 after reaching the earth they will hatch and the 

 minute larvae will begin their burrowing into 

 those underground cavities where they will re- 

 side for more than a sixth of a century. What 

 causes many of the twigs in which the eggs are 



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