216 SCRIPTURE NATURAL HISTORY. 



THE LOCUST. 



THIS is Certainly the most terrible and destructive insect with 

 "which we are acquainted, and the immense numbers in which they 

 collect when undertaking a predatory expedition, often renders it 

 impossible to put a stop to their ravages, which in such cases ter- 

 minate in the most complete desolation. 



The locust, of which there are many species, has several names 

 in the Hebrew Scriptures, each of which is characteristic of some 

 feature in its nature or manners. 



The great brown locust, which is the one with which we are 

 best acquainted, is about three inches in length, has two horns or 

 feelers about an inch long, and two pair of wings: the back is pro- 

 tected by a shield of a greenish color; and its general form much 

 resembles that of a common grasshopper. 



On several occasions these formidable creatures have been used 

 as a scourge in the hand of the incensed Majesty of heaven for 

 chastising a guilty world. Among the plagues which the perverse 

 and impious conduct of the haughty Pharaoh brought upon his 

 country, was a swarm of locusts, which * covered the face of the 

 whole land, so that the earth was darkened ; and they devoured 

 every green herb of the earth, and the fruit of every tree which the 

 liail had left. Nothing green remained either on the trees or on 

 the herbs of the earth, throughout the whole land of Egypt.' Exod. 

 X. 15. A similar calamity happened to the Africans in the time of 

 the Romans, and about one hundred and twenty-three years be- 

 fore Christ. An immense number of locusts covered the whole 

 country, consumed every plant and blade of grass in the fields, 

 without sparing the roots and the leaves of the trees, with the ten- 

 drils upon which they grew. These being exhausted, they pen- 

 etrated with their teeth the bark, however bitter, and even caroded 

 the dry and solid timber. After they had accomplished this terri- 

 ble destruction, a sudden blast of wind dispersed them into differ- 

 ent portions, and after tossing them awhile in the air, plunged their 

 innumerable hosts into the sea. But the deadly scourge was not 

 then at an end ; the raging billows threw up enormous heaps of 



