THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 325 



insects which the wrath of Jehovah disperses over the earth 

 to make manifest his power. 



Such is the wandering locust (Acridium peregrinum), one 

 of the most terrible scourges of agriculture. In Africa and 

 Asia it appears in such masses that when they are seen ad- 

 vancing at a distance they resemble immense black clouds, 

 which intercept the solar rays and plunge the country in 

 the most profound darkness. A formidable sound, which 

 Forskal compares to that of a cataract, announces the ar- 

 rival of these redoubtable insects. When they alight upon 

 the ground they form a living sheet more than a foot thick, 

 and when, worn out by fatigue, they pile themselves upon 

 the trees the branches bend and break under their weight. 

 The entire track of these devouring insects seems to have 

 been wasted by a fire ; not a trace of verdure is seen on it. 



Human skill is inadequate to exorcise this pest. In vain 

 do armies and people rise en masse to arrest these terrible 

 devastators. All efforts fail. And if death overtake these 

 famished guests, their corpses, heaped up on the soil, exhale 

 pestilential vapors ; mortality succeeds to ruin, and men 

 perish by thousands. 



These terrible emigrations have been observed in all 

 epochs of history. Moses teaches us that at the voice of the 

 Eternal locusts covered all the land of Egypt, devoured the 

 crops, and even invaded the palaces of the Pharaohs. Pliny 

 says that in Africa some countries have even been depopu- 

 lated by their ravages. The alarm they occasion drew from 

 St. Jerome these words : " What is there stronger and more 

 terrible than locusts ? All human industry cannot withstand 

 them. God alone regulates their march." 



