LOCUSTS 155 



Marie Pauline, who is younger than her brother, watches 

 patiently for the Italian Locust, with his pink wings and 

 carmine hind-legs ; but she really prefers another, the most 

 ornamented of them all. Her favourite wears a St. Andrew's 

 cross on the small of his back, which is marked by four white, 

 slanting stripes. He wears, too, patches of green, the colour 

 of verdigris on bronze. With her hand raised in the air, ready 

 to swoop down, she approaches very softly, stooping low. 

 Whoosh ! That 's done it ! The treasure is quickly thrust 

 head-first into a paper funnel, and plunges with one bound to 

 the bottom of it. 



One by one our boxes are filled. Before the heat becomes 

 too great to bear we are in possession of a number of specimens. 

 Imprisoned in my cages, perhaps they will teach us something. 

 In any case the Locusts have given pleasure to three people 

 at a small cost. 



Locusts have a bad reputation, I know. The text-books 

 describe them as noxious. I take the liberty of doubting 

 whether they deserve this reproach, except, of course, in the 

 case of the terrible ravagers who are the scourge of Africa 

 and the East. Their ill repute has been fastened on all Locusts, 

 though they are, I consider, more useful than harmful. As 

 far as I know, our peasants have never complained of them. 

 What damage do they do ? 



They nibble the tops of the tough grasses which the Sheep 

 refuses to touch ; they prefer the thin, poor grass to the fat 

 pastures ; they browse on barren land that can support none 

 but them ; they live on food that no stomach but theirs could 

 use. 



Besides, by the time they frequent the fields the green 

 wheat the only thing that might tempt them has long ago 

 yielded its grain and disappeared. If they happen to get into 

 the kitchen-gardens and take a few bites, it is not a crime. A 

 man can console himself for a piece bitten out of a leaf or 

 two of salad. 



To measure the importance of tilings by one's own turnip- 



