674 REPORT UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



ludians be induced to eat them ? In times of famine could not the set- 

 tlers be brought to store them up and eat themf From the writer's own 

 experience locusts may be roasted and eaten with somewhat of a relish, 

 and Professor Eiley in his entomological reports has discussed this sub- 

 ject at length. 



It is stated in the Bulletin Mensuel de la Soci^t^ d' Acclimation, (Au- 

 gust, 1875), that Dr. JMorran, a physician at Douarnenez, in FinisSere, has 

 thought of utilizing the African locust as bait for the sardine-fishery in 

 the maritime districts of the coast of Mancha and the Atlantic Ocean. 

 The doctor hopes to substitute this new bait for that employed until 

 now under the name of roe (rogne), and the price of which, always 

 increasing, is injurious to the interests of French fishermen. The 

 locusts cooked in salt water are dried in the sun and ground. The 

 ])owder obtained seems to make as good bait as roe. It has a dark color 

 like that of the pickled roe of IsTorway. It preserves all the nutritive 

 qualities of the locust. It re-absorbs the pickle, and is fatty, unctuous, 

 and soft to the touch. Besides, it falls to the bottom of the water, re- 

 sembling the flesh of craw-fish, comminuted and dried fish, of which the 

 sardines are very fond. The insect can be put up in different ways, as 

 made into biscuit, pickled, salted, pressed, or dried in the sun. Differ- 

 ent methods of preparation have been tried; cooked and salted, the 

 insects can be piled up in cakes, so as to be easily packed and trans- 

 l)orted. They can also be thrown alive, pell-mell, into brine and pressed. 

 The first of these methods is employed by the Arabs. The Society of 

 Agriculture of Algeria recommends smothering the locusts in soes, then 

 drying in the sun. The bait prepared in these different modes has been 

 tried at Douarnenez with good results. The sardines bit at them eagerly. 

 It appears that in the bodies of a great number of sardines there have 

 been found on examination the remains of locusts which the fish had 

 swallowed. This last fact, stated officially, has well satisfied the mari- 

 time population of Douarnenez. 



This, possibly, opens up a new industry for the inhabitants of locust- 

 ridden districts in the West, who can put up in locust-years large quan- 

 tities of bait for the market East. 



CONCLUSIONS. 



In conclusion, we believe that the locust-years may in the future be 

 predicted by our meteorologists, and Government attention should be 

 directed to this subject, and special consideration on the part of our 

 Weather-Signal Bureau and meteorologists should be given during the 

 future to the study of meteorological cycles. Years of unusual heat 

 and dryness, which are forerunners of locust invasions, may, we believe, 

 in the future be predicted, and farmers warned, while State laws provide 

 that in years of plenty, at least in the frontier States, stores of grain be 

 amassed for a year of famine. Thus, by the predi(5tions of locust-years, 

 by the i)lanting of forests, and the free use of the telegraph in herald- 

 ing their migrations, and the publication in the newspapers of daily 

 bulletins of their direction and progress, and when they are present the 

 enforcement of territorial and State laws, as well as bounties for the 

 eggs and young, we believe that millions of property will be saved to 

 the country, and the intelligence and wisdom of the American people 

 be evinced in the truly agricultural as it already has in the mechanical 

 arts. 



