Examples of Pupils' Work 159 



pupae eat up all that has grown since their parents ravaged 

 the land. 



Famines of two or three years* duration have been caused 

 in this way. Foreign locusts are splendid to look at. 

 They are dressed like soldiers in crimson and blue. Their 

 fierce eyes shine and the rush of their wings makes a sound 

 like the coming of an army. We can scarcely believe 

 or understand what we are told about the multitudes of 

 these insects which appear in the East. The Bible says 

 that John the Baptist fed on locusts and wild honey. Lo- 

 cust is the Bible name for grasshopper. 



In the far East even now people catch grasshoppers, 

 roast them, and grind them into meal which they think 

 very good ; they eat them fried in oil and salt. 



People hear with terror that locusts are coming. They 

 know their crops will be eaten up, then food will be scarce 

 and people will be poor. They fill the sky like a great cloud, 

 so that the day is darkened. When they see a green place 

 they settle to feed. In a few minutes the green is all gone. 

 The place is as bare as if a fire had swept over it. Locusts 

 fly with the wind and are often driven into the sea and 

 drowned. The coast of Africa has been found covered 

 thick with them for a space of fifty miles. 



They are very strong on the wing, some species being 

 very large. A great swarm of locusts was met by a ship 

 twelve hundred miles from shore. They surrounded the 

 ship and hid the sun. They are so strong that they can 

 go from one country to another. They fly in the daytime 

 when the air is hot and dry; towards evening they run 

 alcng the ground and eat everything in their path. 



The front of the locust's head is harder and thicker 

 than the grasshopper's. The hind legs are also thicker 

 and stronger than even the big, strong ones of the grass- 

 hopper. The locust sometimes makes loud, shrill sounds 

 by rubbing the inner surface of the hind legs against the 

 outer surface of the front wings. Sometimes the sound 

 is very loud. Locusts are land pirates and not welcome 

 visitors in the regions where they abound. 



The cricket is as happy and harmless as the locust is 

 destructive. He may be seen creeping out of the hearth 

 and waving his long feelers gently in the heat. There 



