USES TO WHICH LOCUSTS MAY BE PUT. 441 



8?j?, says: "In the evening I had asked two gentlemen to dinner, and gave them a 

 curry and croquette of locusts. They passed for Cabul shrimps, which in flavor they 

 very much resembled ; , but the cook having inadvertently left a hind leg in a croquette, 

 they were found out, to the infinite disgust of one of the party and the amusement of 

 the other." 



Locusts will hardly come into general use for food, except where they are annually 

 abundant, and our Western farmers, who occasionally suffer from them, will not easily 

 be brought to a due appreciation of them for this purpose. Prejudiced against them 

 lighting to overcome them, killing them in large quantities, until the stench from their 

 decomposing bodies becomes at times most offensive, they find little that is attractive 

 in the i^ests. For these reasons, as long as other food is attainable, the locust will be 

 apt to be rejected by most persons. Yet the fact remains that they do make very good 

 food. When freshly caught in large quantities, the mangled mass presents a not very 

 appetizing appearance, and emits a strong and not overpleasant odor ; but rinsed and 

 scalded, they turn a brownish-red, look much more inviting, and give no disagreeable 

 smell. 



Fish-bait has been prepared for the sardine-fishery on the coast of 

 Spain, as may be seen in the following extract from Mr. Packard's re- 

 port : 



It is stated in the Bulletin Mensuel de la Sociele d^ Acclimation (August, 187.5) that 

 Dr. Morrau, a physician at Douarnenez, in Finistere, has thought of utilizing the Afri- 

 can locust as bait for the sardine-fishery in the maritime districts of the coast of Man- 

 cha and the Atlantic Ocean. The doctor hopes to substitute this new bait for that 

 employed until now under the name of roe (rogue), 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 powder obtained seems to make as 

 good bait as roe. It has a dark color like that of the pickled roe of Norway. It pre- 

 serves all the nutritive qualities of the locust. It reabsorbs the pickle, and is fatty, 

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

 bling 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 dtied in the sun. Different methods of preparation have been tried ; 

 cooked and salted, the insects can be piled uji in cakes, so as to be easily packed and 

 transported. 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 sacks, 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 maritime population of Douar- 

 nenez. 



Should a demand for similar bait arise on the Atlantic or Pacific coast 

 of the United States, large quantities of fish-bait could be prepared by 

 Western farmers in locust-years. 



From locusts an important chemical substance used in the arts may 

 be obtained. This is formic acid, a substance characteristic of certain 

 insect-secretions. 



Desiring to obtain as complete an analysis as possible of the juices 

 of the locusts, we engaged Mr. Emmet F. Hill, of Spirit Lake, Iowa, to 

 press a sufficient quantity of locusts, and to send the resulting fluid to 

 Prof. W. K. Kedzie, of the State Agricultural College, Manhattan, Kans., 



