460 



NATURAL HISTORY OF ARABIA. 



Forskal observed more than a hundred new species, only 

 a part of which he could rank among the known genera. 

 Of these were some with which he was familiar ; such as 

 crahs, oysters, cod, mackerel, mullet, scarus, perch, and 

 ray, hut of species unknown in our seas. Others, such as 

 the Chcetodon and the Scicena, are peculiar to the waters 

 of hot climates. Troops of flying-fishes were seen, which 

 rose from time to time above the surface. Of those ob- 

 served by Captain Head near Loheia, some were spotted 

 with glowing green and blue, others tinted with bright 

 red. The Arabs on the coast, as well as their cattle, sub- 

 sist almost entirely on this kind of food ; but the fishermen 

 always kill their prey before bringing them ashore, for 

 fear of violating some precept of the Mohammedan law.* 

 Insects. The locust, both from its numbers and its 

 destructiveness, is the most formidable of all the Arabian 

 insects. There appear to be various species. Forskal 

 calls that which infests Arabia Gryllus gregarius, from 

 their living and travelling in companies ; and thinks it 

 different from the Gryllus migrator ius of Linnaeus, which 

 passes from its native deserts of Tartary into Poland and 

 Germany. Niebuhr found nests of these insects near 

 Mosul, which he thought, with proper care, might easily 

 have been destroyed. They are said to breed three times 

 in the year. When young they are about the size of a 

 fly, but grow with great rapidity, and attain their natural 

 size in a few days. The prodigious quantities in which 

 they take their flight is almost incredible. Their swarms 

 darken the air, and appear at a distance like clouds of 

 smoke. The noise they make in flying is like the rush 

 of a waterfal, and stuns the inhabitants with fear and 

 astonishment. When they alight upon a field, it is wast- 

 ed and despoiled of its verdure in an instant. The palm- 

 trees are stripped of every leaf and green particle, 

 nothing being left but naked boughs as in the dead of 

 winter. Pulse and succulent crops are devoured; but 

 grain, either ripe or nearly so, is preserved, being too 

 hard for their use. No pen has so beautifully depicted 



* Ali Bey has noticed a battle of fishes in the Red Sea, between 

 Jidda and Yembo. The scene of action, a circular space of twenty 

 feet diameter, was indicated by the bubbling and noise of the water, 

 which extended to a considerable distance. During the finny com- 

 bat, swarms of seafowl hovered over the spot, with a view no 

 doubt to feast on the slain Travels, vol. ii. p. 148. 



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