L O C U S T I D JE. 



the kingdom of Venice, from which 30,000 persons 

 perished. In 1 (JOO, Russia, Poland, and Lithuania were 

 visited : the locusts arriving in such immense swarms 

 that the air was darkened as in a storm. Wallachia, 

 Moldavia, Transylvania, Hungary, and Poland, were 

 inundated, in 1747 and 1748, by similar swarms, of 

 which an account is inserted in the Philosophical 

 Transactions. In 1749 tliap reached as far north as 

 Sweden; and it is recordewthal Charles XII. being 

 in Bessarabia, thought himself overcome with a ter- 

 rible tempest with hail, when a cloud of locusts fell 

 upon his army, covering both man and horse, and 

 impeding his march. During this visit their numbers 

 were so great that they were compared to a fall of 

 snow, or rather to a. cloud of smoke passing rapidly 

 along, and every spot where they stopped in their 

 passage soon exhibited the most dismal desolation ; 

 the under herbs being first attacked, and then the \ 

 leaves and even the bark of trees. In 1780 the king- j 

 dom of Morocco was subjected to the terrible ravages | 

 of these locusts, which produced a frightful famine, j 

 the poor being compelled to dig up and eat the roots j 

 of plants, and to hunt for grains of corn in the dung | 

 of animals, upon which they fed with voracity, the 

 streets and roads being strewed with the dead bodies 

 of the victims. In 1784 and 1797, Mr. Barrow, in 

 his Travels in the South of Africa, has stated that 

 they covered a surface of two thousand square miles ; 

 and when cast into the sea by a strong wind from the 

 north-east, and washed upon the beach, they formed 

 a line fifty miles long, and produced a barrier along the 

 coast three or four feet high ; and when the wind again 

 changed, so powerful was the stench which their 

 putrifying bodies caused, that it was perceived inland 

 to a distance of 150 miles. Previous to the plague 

 which devasted the Barbary States in 1799, the 

 locusts covered the surface of the land from Mogadore 

 to Tangier, according to Mr. Jackson, and presented 

 a singular observation. The entire range bordering 

 upon the desert of Sahara was ravaged by these 

 insects, whilst on the other side of the river El Kos 

 not a single one was to be seen. They had pro- 

 ceeded so far north, and then journeyed to the east, 

 so that all the northern parts of El Araiche abounded 

 in fruits and grain, whilst the adjacent country offered 

 the most complete picture of desolation. They were 

 at length swept into the Atlantic Ocean by a tempest, 

 and, as at other times, a plague was produced by the 

 odours exhaling from their putrifying bodies, but an 

 abundant growth of plants followed their departure. 

 The Arabs of the Desert, the enemies of their race, 

 rejoice when the swarms of locusts arrive from the 

 north, their arrival foretelling a general mortality, 

 which they call cl kkere, or the blessing ; they then 

 quit their desert abodes, and, with a view of plunder, 

 h'x their tents in the districts attacked by the locusts. 

 The following circumstance, recorded in an Ame- 

 rican Journal, offers a convincing proof that the action 

 of the wind is a great auxiliary in the migrations of 

 the locusts. A vessel was detained in 1811 by a 

 dead calm in the Atlantic Ocean, at a distance of 

 about 200 miles from the Canary Islands, the nearest 

 land ; and a slight wind from the north-east having 

 sprung up, the vessel was suddenly visited by a cloud 

 of these insects which lighted upon the deck, rigging, 

 &c., and, instead of appearing fatigued by their long 

 flight, they sprang into the air on being attempted to 

 be taken hold of by the sailors ; the wind, which was 

 but slight, continued for one hour ; during which 



time the locusts continued to fall upon the vessel ; 

 many also fell into the sea. 



The propagative powers of locusts are so prodigious, 

 that in the countries which they thus visit in swarms, 

 in a very little time it is easy to collect their eggs by 

 baskets full. In the south of France, where some 

 species appear at certain seasons, and produce much 

 detriment, sums are given for certain quantities of 

 these eggs, and which are then destroyed. This was 

 especially the case in 1613, 1805, 1822, and 18-24, 

 when fifty centimes (equal to 5c/.) were paid for each 

 kilogramme of eggs, and twenty- five centimes for 

 each kilogramme of insects. 



According to a statement made by M. Solier to 

 the Entomological Society of France (Annales, vol. 

 ii., p. 486), the city of Marseilles paid in the first 

 mentioned year the immense sum of 20,000 francs *, 

 and the city of Aries 25,000, for destroying the in- 

 sects and gathering the eggs. In 1822, 1227 francs 

 were paid; in 1824,5542 francs; and in 1825, 6200 

 francs for this purpose ; but in these latter years the 

 number of locusts could not be compared with that 

 of the year 1613, when they destroyed 1500 acres of 

 corn in the environs of Aries. Their migrations in 

 1 780 in Transylvania were equally expensive, fifteen 

 hundred persons being employed in collecting the 

 eggs, each of whom filled a sack ; and yet in the fol- 

 lowing year their numbers were scarcely diminished, 

 for millions of eggs were after the spring dug up and 

 destroyed by the inhabitants, who were called upon 

 to perform this labour. 



We have already said that many distinct species of 

 Locustidas have obtained the name of locust, which 

 may be regarded as a generic rather than a specific 

 term ; in like manner the term migratory locust is em- 

 ployed in a general sense, and is applicable only to 

 those which, having multiplied in a prodigious manner, 

 owing to favourable circumstances, and consumed the 

 entire vegetation of the district where they were pro- 

 duced, make their way to other districts in search of 

 food. Many species of locusts, on the contrary, 

 appear only in a single spot, where they do not mul- 

 tiply with such rapidity, although the variations of 

 heat and cold, drought or moisture, influence the 

 propagation of these as well as the true migratory 

 species. In the following year, when the weather is 

 dry and hot, the eggs are hatched, and the young 

 locusts, resembling their parents in form, but wanting 

 wings, are produced. The eggs are deposited in 

 cylindrical burrows, several inches long, near the sur- 

 face of the ground ; they are easily discovered, the 

 aperture not being closed. They are found in uncul- 

 tivated ground, and the nest is an inch and a half 

 deep in the species found in the south of France. 

 The tubes or burrows are formed of a layer of earth 

 covered by gluten, their diameter being that of the 

 abdomen of the females, their direction being gene- 

 rally horizontal. The number of eggs contained in 

 each tube is about fifty or sixty, which are inclosed 

 in a very thin and common envelope. 



We have hitherto spoken of the locust only as a 

 destructive enemy; nevertheless, in certain countries, 

 the inhabitants, as though anxious to make amends 

 for its injuries, employ it both as a food and as an 

 article of commerce, in Arabia they are collected in 

 great numbers, dried, and used as bread in seasons ot 

 scarcity. The reader will also remember, that the 



* A franc is equal to tenpence English. 



