100 GRILLTD.'E — GRASSHOPPERS. 



An item dated Tuesday, Au":. 21st, 1*742, in the Gentle- 

 man's ^lap:azine, states: "Great damac^e has been done to 

 the i)astures in tlie country, particularly about Bristol, by 

 swarms of Grasshoppers; the like has happened in Penn- 

 sylvania to a surprisinf^ degree."^ 



A common species in Sweden, the Decticuii verrucivorus, 

 is employed by the native peasants to bite the warts on their 

 hands ; the black fluid which it emits from its mouth being 

 su})posed to possess the power of making these excrescences 

 vanish.'- This black fluid, from whatever Grasshoppers it 

 may be emitted, is called by our boys " tobacco spit," which 

 it much resembles ; and they attribute to it also a wart- 

 curing quality. When they catch one, they hold it between 

 the thumb and fore-finger, and cry out, — 



Spit, spit tobacco spit, 

 And then I'll let you go. 



The exuviae of a Grasshopper called Semmi or Scbi, 

 Kempfer tells us, are preserved for medicinal uses, and sold 

 publicly in shops both in Japan and China.^ 



Dr. James, quoting Dioscorides, says : " Grasshoppers 

 (Locusta Anglica minor, vulgatissima, Raii Ins. 60.) in a 

 suffumigation relieve under a dysury, especially such as is 

 incident to the female sex. The Locusta Africanus is a very 

 good antidote against the poison of the Scorpion."^ 



After describing the Grasshopper of Italy, Brookes says : 

 "It is often an amusement among the children of that coun- 

 try to catch this animal; and, by tickling the belly with 

 their finger, it will whistle as long as they chuse to make it."^ 



In France, Grasshoppers are called Sauterelles, Hoppers ; 

 and in Germany, Heupferde, Hay-horses, because they gen- 

 erally feed on grasses, and their head has something of the 

 form of a horse's head. 



If Grasshoppers appear early in the summer in great 

 numbers, they foretell famine and drouth, — a superstition 

 obtaining in Maryland. 



1 Gent. 3Iag., xii. 442. 



3 Good, Siudy of 3Ied., iv. 515. 



3 Pinkerton's Voy. and Trav., vii. 705. 



4 Med. Diet. 



6 yat. Hist, of Lis., p. 07. 



