390 INSECTS. 



visited at the same hour the next day by the whole legion : these 

 marches were always undertaken at sunrise. These locusts were 

 at length driven by the force of the wind into the Belgic ocean, and 

 being thrown back by the tide and left on the shores, caused a 

 dreadful pestilence by their smell. In 1271, all the corn-fields of 

 Milan were destroyed ; and in the year 1339, all those of Lom- 

 bardy. In 1541, incredible hosts afflicted Poland, Walachia, and 

 all the adjoining territories, darkening the sun with their num- 

 bers and ravagiug all the fruits of the earth. 



2. Crested Locust. 

 Gryllus crh'atus. Linn. 



This is one of the largest species of the tribe : being five or six 

 times the size of the gryllus migratorius, and, together with some 

 others of the larger kind, is made use of in some parts of the world 

 as an article of food : they are eaten both fresh and salted, in 

 which last state they are publicly sold in the markets of some parts 

 of the Levant. The quantity of edible substance which they afford 

 is but small, especially in the male insects ; but the females, on ac- 

 count of the ovaries, afford a more nutritious sustenance. It is 

 well known, that different interpretations have been sometimes 

 given of the passage in the sacred writings in which John the Bap- 

 tist is said to have fed on locusts and wild honey ; and the word 

 axpia$ has been supposed to mean the young shoots of vegetables 

 rathe* than locusts; but, since the fact is established, that these 

 injects are still eaten by the inhabitants of the east, there seems not 

 the least reason for admitting any other interpretation than the 

 usually received one. Why should we wonder that the abstemious 

 prophet, during his state of solitary seclusion from the commerce 

 of the world, should support himself by a repast which is to be 

 numbered, not among the luxuries of life, but merely regarded as 

 a substitute for food of a more agreeable nature ? We may also 

 adduce in support of this idea, the testimony of Hasselquist, who 

 thus expresses himself on this very subject. " They who deny in- 

 sects to have been the food of the holy man, urge that this insect is an 

 unaccustomed and unnatural food ; but they would soon be con- 

 vinced of the contrary, if they would travel hither, to Egypt, 

 Arabia, or Syria, and take a meal with the Arabs. Roasted lo. 



