ON ORIENTAL ENTOMOLOGY. 135 
In devouring the contents of a garden the noise they make is certainly 
very curious, and I never heard anything like it. It is a very terrible 
sound, because it means desolation. Hach locust makes a little noise as 
it gnaws, and as that sound is multiplied by tens and hundreds of 
thousands, it produces a very singular impression. JI remember one 
invasion of locusts, which will afford you an idea of the numbers in which 
they make their appearance. I had to travel a distance of some sixteen miles 
on horseback, and for the whole of that distance the locusts were like, 
snowflakes in the air, and my horse could not put his feet down without 
treading on them. I have thought it might be of interest to you to mention 
these things in connexion with what we read in the Biblical statements, 
- because I feel from my long experience in the part of the world I have 
been speaking of, that the more we study the narratives in the Bible, and 
compare them with what is seen and recorded at the present day, the more 
clearly do we perceive how accurate was the observation of those who 
compiled the books of the Old Testament. 
Mr. J. Sratkarrt.—I can vouch for the singular sound produced by the 
locusts, as well as for the fact that when flights of those insects have once 
settled, the difficulty is to get them up again. I have been in the indigo 
districts, where they have eaten up everything on the plantations, and the 
difficulty of the planters is how, when a swarm appears, to keep them going 
so as to prevent their settling, all the fire-pans and brass instruments they 
have being beaten to keep the insects on the wing. They may be seen 
flying in the distance like a red cloud, and sometimes they go hither and 
sometimes thither, but, whatever else they devour, they do not like the tea- 
plant. They may settle in the scrub or jungle near, but they do not seem 
to care for the tea plantations,—I presume on account of the bitter or acrid 
matter in that plant. On all the other plants, as well as on the trees and 
grasses, they settle readily. From what we see in India as to the species of 
butterflies there, everything depends on the food furnished by the different 
districts. If in any part of the country certain plants or trees are destroyed, 
we do not find the butterflies that were originally there. Butterflies of 
particular species inhabit much the same kind of districts. There being no 
cabbages out there, you do not get the Cabbage Butterfly, and the same 
observation applies with regard to the moths. These bore into the trees, 
and if the trees are cut down, no more moths of the same kind are found in 
that district. Therefore, where there is a sameness in the grass or plants on 
which the caterpillars live in different parts of the world, we may expect to 
find the same species of butterflies. I have no doubt that Dr. Walker 
would derive a great deal of pleasure from a visit to some parts of India, 
where we have the most beautiful butterflies. In the neighbourhood of 
Darjeeling he might make a splendid collection of butterflies and beetles. 
With regard to what has been said as to swarms of moths, I may add that in 
India we had swarms of beetles. They fly at night, and settle on the trees, 
the leaves of which they eat up in a single evening. When they lay their 
eggs, the grubs are a great detriment to the cultivation of the places in 
Loo 
