LIFE IN THE INSECT WORLD 115 



he could compare them to nothing but heavy- 

 flakes of snow, so thickly did they fall around 

 him. 



Captain Riley, the commander of an Ameri- 

 can vessel, who was cast away upon the coast 

 of Africa, and taken prisoner by the Arabs, 

 says, that as he was travelling with some of the 

 natives, through one of the most fertile pro- 

 vinces, he saw what he supposed to be a great 

 cloud of smoke, rising with the wind, and ra- 

 pidly approaching them. He remarked to one 

 of his companions that " there must be a mon- 

 strous fire in that quarter." " No," he replied, 

 " they are only locusts." As they approached 

 nearer, every man who was at work in the 

 fields left his employment, and stood gazing at 

 them with consternation and dismay, fearing 

 that his field might become the prey of these 

 devouring insects, and all the fruits of his labor 

 be destroyed in a few hours. They passed on, 

 however, and descended at a short distance 

 from them. As the party moved on in the same 

 direction, they found the ground thickly covered 

 with them; and as they rose to avoid being 

 crushed to death by the mules, they were con- 



